Page 66 of Black Jack (Advantage Play 5)

“Bianca?”

She flinches as she registers my voice before forcing a smile on her face. It doesn’t reach her eyes. “Sorry. Hey.”

“Where have you been?”

“Since when is that any of your business?”

Someone’s pissy this evening, I note to myself.

“It’s not,” I answer, carefully. “I guess I was just making conversation.”

Her frigid expression softens as she finally meets my gaze for the first time. I can feel her studying me, drinking in my weariness like it’s her own.

“What’s wrong, Jack?”

“Nothing.”

“Hmm.” Lips pursed, she rounds the edge of the couch, then sits on the cushion next to mine. Her hand grazes my fingers, plucking the beer bottle from my grasp before she takes a quick swig of the amber liquid while keeping her gaze glued to mine.

“You know, I’ve heard beer has a lot of hidden calories,” I point out.

“Mmhmm,” she hums. Tipping the bottle back, she chugs the rest of it down her long, slender throat, then hands it back to me.

“Rough day?” I ask once she’s finished.

She doesn’t answer but gives me a subtle nod.

“Me too,” I return.

With her elbow on the back of the couch and her feet tucked under her ass, she rests her head in her hand, and just…looks at me with an understanding that tells me I’m not alone. That I can trust her. The combination is so natural that it makes my chest ache.

“Why was your day rough, Jacky Boy?” she asks, clearly more invested in my issues than her own. Or maybe she’s deflecting and isn’t ready to open up to me quite yet. And that’s okay too. As long as she keeps tossing little crumbs of trust my way, then I’ll give her as much time as she needs.

Replaying the conversation with Kingston for the thousandth time, I rub my hand across my face. “I’m being kept in the dark.”

As if my words have the weight of a wet blanket, she freezes and pulls back a few inches away from me. “W-what do you mean?”

“My old colleagues who are working Reed’s case won’t tell me what’s going on. The only information I have is the shit on the news, and it’s worthless. I even called Embry today, digging for information, but he refuses to tell me anything, either. I just….” I drop my head back to the couch and stare up at the ceiling. “My entire future is riding on this, but I feel like I’ve already lost.”

Her dainty little hand squeezes my thigh. But it isn’t sexual. It’s comforting. “What do you mean?”

Raising my head, I look over at her. “I’m scared that even if Reed gets put in prison for the rest of his life, I’ll still be looked at like the dirty cop.” Then I laugh dryly. “But they’ll be right. Because once everything settles, I will be a dirty cop. I’ll be in Kingston’s back pocket for the rest of my career.”

“You agreed to that?” Her eyes widen in surprise.

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

This is dangerous territory and incriminating as shit. If I were smart, I’d keep my mouth shut, but apparently I can’t help myself when I’m around her.

“Kingston was going to kill your brother, but I traded my loyalty in exchange for his life so that he could testify against Reed and clear my name.”

“But in order for Dominic to agree, you had to marry me,” she surmises.

“Yeah.”

“Seems like you’ve been making a few deals lately.”

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