Page 47 of Texas Hold Em'
My chest tightened.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to make things worse. And if he hadn’t brought you into this, everything would have gone according to plan. But now I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where to go. He’s going to call me in the next few days, before Friday obviously, and he’s going to tell me to end your life, and if I don’t do it, well, he’ll kill me too.”
I stared at the phone in my hand.
Carrie knit her fingers together and her knuckles turned white. “Please say something.”
“You were reckless.”
“I know.”
“You could’ve been killed.”
“I know,” she said again.
“But,” I said slowly, “I think you succeeded in creating the window of opportunity we’ve been trying to get but have failed to achieve at every corner. You got us a promised location with Bates and all his men, and it’s away from town so there won’t be any collateral damage. I don’t think this is what you want to hear, but I’m going to say it. I’m impressed.”
Carrie blinked rapidly.
I grinned. “This could be the finale we’ve all been working toward. This could be justice for William.”
Carrie snatched the phone out of my hand. “Did you not hear me? I have tokill youin order for the deal to go down!”
“Oh, I heard you.”
Carrie shook her head incredulously. “Really? It sure as hell doesn’t look like you heard me. Why are you smiling?”
I chuckled and got to my feet. “You underestimated Bates, and you’re underestimating us, too. Come on. We have to go.”
“Where?” She eyed my hand suspiciously as I held it out to her.
“To talk to Jackson,” I said simply.
CHAPTER 20
CARRIE
Itossed and turned in Tex’s bed and missed the warmth of his body next to mine. I’d convinced him to let me get some rest before we talked to Jackson. It had been a long night.
It was half past eight in the morning. I’d been lying here, sweating in my yellow sheets despite the comfortable temperature of the bedroom, wondering who the hell I thought I was running after Bates like I did tonight. Back in Austin, this kind of behavior would have gotten me written up or worse, suspended.
I rolled onto my back and draped my forearm over my eyes to block out the sunlight. “And I’d deserve it.”
Tex had been all too gracious about this whole thing. For a biker and a hellion, he had a lot of patience, and I wondered if I’d misjudged him and every other man like him for my entire life. Yes, he was a criminal. And yes, he’d crossed a lot of lines where the law was concerned. But if I’d learned anything since becoming a Ranger, it was that nothing was black and white in this life.
Tex was still a good man, and I believed the others were too.
Even Jackson.
I sighed.
I get why he hates me now.
The bikers on Harleys with chips on their shoulders and hell in their hearts weren’t the loose cannon here. I was.
With a disgruntled mumble, I rolled back onto my side and drew my knees up. Minutes ticked by. A bird chirped outside the window and a neighbor took the trash out. I heard garbage bags rustling before the lid of the bin fell closed and the stranger muttered something about the garbage smelling foul.
“Fuck,” I hissed, sitting upright and rubbing at my eyes. My body felt so tired and lethargic, but my mind wouldn’t slow down enough for me to drift off to sleep.
