Page 38 of Texas Hold Em'
I hadn’t thought about Abraham in a long time, and now there he was, visiting me in my dreams. I rubbed at my eyes and shook off the lingering nostalgia of the dream. Austin had never felt as far away as it did then.
With a sigh, I settled back under the covers, rolled toward Carrie’s side—and found it empty.
“What the fuck?”
I sat back up and looked around. My ears strained as I tried to listen for her moving around in the apartment. Maybe she’d gotten up to go to the bathroom or grab a glass of water. But the place was silent.
She was gone.
“That woman,” I growled as I threw the blankets off and hunted in the dark for my phone. I’d left it in the living room. I punched out an angry text demanding she tell me where she’d gone off to at this hour. It was damn near four in the morning.
What was she doing running around behind my back like this?
Was this the first time she’d snuck out?
Had Jackson been right all along? Could she be trusted? Was she playing me?
Fuck.
Had I been so easily distracted by sex that I missed all the red flags?
No, I told myself. Carrie wasn’t sneaking around behind my back. She was working.
She was trying to catch a big fish, but she had no idea how unprepared for the fight she was.
CHAPTER 16
CARRIE
Caroline’s red lipstick blended with her bloodied nose. She licked her upper lip and her tongue came away stained in red. She didn’t spit. She swallowed.
I wanted to lean forward and brace my hands on my knees to catch my breath. I wanted to drink a gallon of water and nurse my injuries. Caroline was a fierce fighter, but she’d underestimated me. I was not Suzie. I was a trained Ranger, and I could take a hit just as good as I could give one.
I forced myself to smile. “Are you done yet?”
Caroline threw her head back and laughed.
Meanwhile, her two guards, who I’d mentally nicknamed Meat and Potatoes because they looked like thick-skulled dimwits who were good for nothing besides knocking skulls and eating carbs, stood beside the Rover with their arms crossed over their thick chests. At Caroline’s laughter, the taller of the two shuffled his weight from side to side and looked at his feet.
I had to admit, it was an unsettling sound.
Caroline dragged her hand under her nose, and her knuckles came away stained in red. “You know, I have to give credit where credit is due. You know what you’re doing, Hart. I underestimated you.”
My guard shot up. “I prefer when you don’t compliment me.”
“I’m not a one-sided bitch, Hart. Sure, I’m a ruthless businesswoman, but I can appreciate skill when I see it. You’re still alive for a reason. Now that reason is starting to make a little more sense.”
“I hardly think you can call yourself a businesswoman.”
“What would you call me, then?”
Skank. Criminal. Bitch. Master Manipulator. Murderer. Con Artist.
“Something more colorful,” I said.
Caroline laughed again. “Get in the car.”
“Uh, no thank you. The last time I tried that you sucker punched me.”
