Page 17 of Diablo

“Hey,” Mack said, spreading his hands. “Are you leaving?”

“We can finish it later,” I replied over my shoulder.

“No, no, no. If you walk out, you forfeit!”

He gestured to the stack of cash on the edge of the table—$200, waiting to be claimed by the lucky winner. Under normal circumstances, I would have put my head down and finished the game in a few brutal moves.

But LeBlanc had hunted Stevie down. Talked to her. Mentioned…us.

That meant LeBlanc had been following me. Tracking who I talked to, taking note of who I was close with. And I hadn’t even noticed. If he went through all that trouble to find Stevie, he intended to use her as collateral against me. Putting her in his crosshairs as leverage so I would do what he wanted.

I had to catch up. Fast. LeBlanc was three steps ahead of me by now and I had no idea what he was planning. That part worried me the most.

“Fine,” I said, shoving the door open. “I forfeit. You win.”

I squinted in the harsh glare of the sun as heat blasted me in the face. Just as the door closed behind me, I heard Tank’s voice.

“Where’s he going in such a hurry?”

“No idea,” Mack replied. “I’ve never seen him quit without putting up a big stink about it.”

As I climbed onto my bike and started the engine, I muttered under my breath, “I guess there’s a first time for everything.”

***

As soon as I was inside my camper, I yanked the trash can out from under the sink and dumped it on the floor, searching for LeBlanc’s phone number. Why did I throw it away in the first place?

Stupid, cocky move.

I knew LeBlanc wouldn’t simply vanish if I ignored him. And now, I was scrambling to gain the upper hand before innocent people got in trouble because of me.

There.

I spotted the playing card peeking out from beneath a greasy barbecue takeout container. Snatching it up, I wiped it on my jeans and dialed the number. As the phone rang, I was too restless to sit still and paced the length of my camper.

Finally, LeBlanc picked up with a lazy, drawn out, “Bonjour, Enzo.”

“You’ve been spying on me,” I replied.

He hummed, as if he had to consider whether or not my accusation was true.

“That’s a bit harsh, my friend. I would prefer to call it…observing my surroundings.”

“I don’t give a fuck. Call it whatever you want. The bottom line is that you’ve been following me.”

LeBlanc clucked his tongue.

“Enzo. That’s hardly fair. I assume you are so irate because I met Stevie Malone today. Your lady is a lovely woman. Stunning figure. That mouth could use some taming though.”

I clutched my phone so tight that it creaked in my hand, threatening to break. Anger burned a hole in my stomach. God knows I’d had my fair share of hook ups. But something about Stevie made possessiveness linger in my blood. And I didn’t like the way LeBlanc spoke about her—leering and perverted.

“She’s not my lady,” I countered.

“Oh,” LeBlanc said lightly. “So, she’s free for the taking then?”

No, she isn’t, I wanted to say. LeBlanc was looking for a reaction though and I wouldn’t give him one. He wanted to poke me, prod me into exploding, and he knew exactly what buttons to press to make that happen. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of losing my shit because of his taunting.

“Well,” LeBlanc said with an exaggerated sigh. “She’s a bit young for my tastes.”

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