Page 22 of Wild Card (Advantage Play 1)

She flattens her lips to keep them from quivering before hastily wiping at the tears threatening to spill beneath her eyes. I’ve pissed her off, and a hum of guilt quickly follows.

“Did you really just go there?” she whispers.

“Dammit, Regina!” I slam my hands against the desk. The sound makes her flinch.

With a sigh of frustration, I squeeze the back of my neck and take a second to breathe. How can I be expected to lead this family when my own sister looks at me with so much misery and disdain? “You’re right. I know how much it pisses you off when I talk about you like a pawn instead of a person. It was a hit below the belt, and that’s on me. I’m sorry, okay?” Grudgingly, she gives me a jerky nod, accepting my apology before I continue. “Listen, I know how much you miss him even though he was a shit father sometimes. I miss him too, but that won’t bring him back. You don’t remember when Mom passed, but I do. And it sucked. Just like this. We’ll get through this. But I need you to promise me that you won’t try to ditch Stefan every time you try to sneak out. If you want to leave, fine. But leave from the front door and take someone with you. I’m really close to pissing off the Allegretti family, and I don’t want you to become collateral because of it. Understand?”

“What do you mean, you’re really close to pissing off the Allegretti family?”

I frown. “You know I can’t tell you that, Regina. It’s—”

“Business. Right.” She pouts.

“Don’t be like that—”

“Like what, Kingston?” she argues. “For a guy who claims to respect women, you sure know how to put them in their place.”

“Regina—”

“No,” she cuts me off with an icy glare and a wave of her hand. “I’m going out. Bye.”

Knowing it’ll piss her off but left with no choice, I yell to her retreating form, “Don’t forget to take Stefan!”

“Asshole,” she shouts back. Seconds later, the front door slams, and I pull out my phone to text Stefan.

Me: Regina just left. Follow her.

Chapter Twelve

Ace

After my surreal encounter at the Charlette, I almost head to Dottie’s before remembering my busted up face. There’s no way I can get by without an inquisition from Gigi and Dottie herself, so I choose to go home early tonight, instead.

My backpack is thrown over one shoulder as my feet scrape against the gravel, taking me to my humble little apartment. When I see my dingy building, a wave of relief rolls through me.

Sliding between a cut in the chain-link fence, I enter the parking lot and keep my head down but my eyes up.

Eddie, one of the sweetest old men you’ve ever met, is curled up into a ball near a set of trash cans, and I decide to go say hi.

“Hey, Eddie,” I greet him. Checking my pockets, I find a crumpled-up ten-dollar bill and hand it to him.

His toothless grin makes my heart ache. “Thanks, Ace. You know you don’t have ta do that.”

With a shake of my head, I argue, “Yes, I do. You keep my place safe, remember?”

A light blush peeks through his weathered skin at my compliment, but it isn’t a lie. In a roundabout way, he does keep an eye on my apartment in case anything fishy goes on while I’m away. I couldn’t be more grateful for an extra set of eyes.

“Don’t mention it, Ace. You know I’m happy ta help.” Tilting his head to the side, he covers his mouth in shock when he looks up at me. “What happened ta your face?”

I lift my hand to touch the sensitive bruise. “Ran into a door.” The lame joke slips past my lips, followed by a dry laugh and the memory of Jack’s concern. “I’m okay. Promise.”

“Ya sure?”

“Positive. Goodnight, Eddie. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“’Night, sweet girl. I’ll keep an eye on the place. Won’t let no more monsters get to ya, I swear!”

With a soft smile, I reach down and grab his frail fingers with my own before squeezing them softly. “I know you won’t, Eddie. See ya!”

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