Page 10 of Wild Card (The Trident Trilogy 3)

“What the fuck, man?” I walk over to him.

“What? Didn’t everyone know that?” His eyes aren’t blinking. He wants this to end badly, but that’s not going to happen right now.

Millie and Raine walk through the porch door. Everyone’s still looking at their feet. JJ and I are glaring at each other.

“What’s going on here?” Millie says, looking at me with her eyes wide.

I walk quickly over to her. “Nothing. We were waiting for you to get out here. Butch wants to play poker. I knew you’d want in.”

Butch jumps up and starts clearing one of the tables. “Yep,” Butch says, throwing his keys to Bryce. “Go get the chips and cards out of the trunk.”

“Roger that,” Bryce says, walking quickly out of the gate.

I glance back at JJ. He’s still staring at me, shaking his head. I’m going to have to get into it with him but now’s not the time.

I take Millie’s hand and lead her over to a chair—pulling her down onto my lap. “How was your girl time?”

“Disturbing, as usual,” she says, her forehead scrunched up. “What was that about with JJ? Were you fighting?”

“No, babe, we’re just smack-talking. You know how it gets when we’re all together.”

Her eyes look worried and a little sad. I hate when they look that way. Since the moment I met her, I’ve done everything I can to make them look happy all the time.

“Are you sure?” she says quietly. “I know he doesn’t like me, but don’t get sideways with him about it. It’s no big deal.”

“Baby,” I say, kissing her forehead, “it’s nothing. Really. Don’t worry about him. Just concentrate on you and me, okay?”

She nods as she rests her head on my shoulder. I wrap my arms around her tightly and bury my face in her hair. Butch and Bryce are setting up the poker table. Millie loves to play with them because they’ve never come close to beating her. She’s got the best poker face I’ve ever seen. It drives Butch crazy.

“Let’s go, Mills,” Butch says, crooking his finger at her. “It’s me, you, Hawk, and Bryce, and the only person who will not win tonight is you.”

Millie laughs as she stands up. I give her a pat on her butt. “Go get ‘em, baby.”

I watch her walk over to the table and then look back at JJ. He’s flipping through something on his phone. He’s distracted and nervous. Culver told me he wasn’t right for the team lead. I convinced him otherwise, but I’m starting to think maybe he was right. JJ’s one of the best operators I’ve ever had on my team. He’s been my number two for years. It’s the perfect time for him to take the next step, but something’s not clicking.

He just went through a nasty divorce. Maybe it’s too much change for him. If that’s the case, he’s going to flip out when I tell him Butch and Hawk are retiring. They’re going out at the end of the year—within a few months of each other. They’ve asked me not to tell him yet. In the long run, it might be a good thing for JJ to get new team members. Hawk and Butch have been on my team since day one. I’m not sure they could take orders from anyone else at this point.

I look back over to Millie. She’s laughing as she shoves Butch on the shoulder. Hawk and Bryce start laughing, too. They always light up when they’re around Millie—like everyone does. Everyone except JJ.

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