Page 73 of Texas Hold Em'
Then she spotted me covered in blood.
Her icy blue stare raked up the length of my body. “It would have been preferable if you kept things clean.”
I stared at her. “Well, too bad.”
She stared back.
My tongue felt like it had become glued to the roof of my mouth, and I waited for the whole ruse to fall apart.
Caroline moved forward and the enforcer, Moss, followed her into the depths of the hall. They strode toward me.
Caroline cocked her head to the side. “You look absolutely fucking terrible.” She pulled a soft kerchief from her purse, wrapped it around her thumb, and wiped blood from my chin. “Better. Lead the way, Hart. I don’t want to breathe this air any longer than I have to.”
How long had I given Brody and Tex? Would it be enough time?
I walked slowly down the hall. My pulse thundered in my ears, a steady drumbeat as we walked toward what I was now certain would be the end of us all.
“What a shithole,” Caroline muttered as she followed.
Moss chuckled. “It suits a dog like the Devils.”
I gritted my teeth and stepped into the apartment. They followed. I closed the door and approached the bedroom, wrapping my arms around myself and beginning to rub at the blood on my skin. I nodded up ahead through the bedroom door. “He’s in there.”
Caroline gave me a curious look. “Don’t tell me you feel bad for putting the bastard down?”
I swallowed. “It… it didn’t go as planned. I had to improvise. I just… I didn’t expect all the blood. Is there usually this much blood?” I looked down at my hands and rubbed at my palms like Brody had told me to do.
Caroline huffed and threw her kerchief at me. “Clean yourself up.”
I muttered a weak thank you before Caroline pushed forward into the bedroom. I half expected her to walk into Brody or to find the bed empty. I waited for her to storm out with her gun raised and accuse me of being a liar.
That didn’t happen.
Instead, Moss followed her in, and the two of them spoke quietly to each other before calling out to me.
Feeling like I existed outside of my own body, I moved into the bedroom. I looked everywhere but at the bed, where I could see Tex lying out of my peripheral. He didn’t move. The room felt still, the air heavy. It felt altogether wrong.
“Well done, Hart,” Caroline said. She had two fingers pressed to Tex’s throat. She straightened with an approving smile. “One down. Seven to go.”
I looked down at him.Shit.
I shouldn’t have looked. A sleeping man and a dead man were two different things, and Tex was definitely dead. His eyes were half open, his lips parted, his arm hanging limp over the side of the bed.
My stomach lurched.
Caroline held out her hand to Moss, who passed her another kerchief which seemed to materialize out of nowhere. She used it to wipe the two fingers she’d checked Tex’s pulse with while she watched me with amusement. “Did he see it coming?”
I shook my head.
“How long did it take?” Caroline asked.
“How long?” I asked weakly.
“For him to bleed out.”
What the fuck was wrong with her? Why did she want to know that? “I don’t know. I didn’t fucking time it.”
Caroline moved away from the bed. I tried not to sigh with relief. As she passed him, she bumped Tex’s dangling hand with her kneeand recoiled. She kicked the mattress and spat a curse at his lifeless body, and the way he just lay there broke me.
