Page 57 of The Gambler

Angel cocked a brow. “If we say we are, then we are. We can be anything we want,comrade.”

“Ah, hell, not the comrade talk again.”

“You Americans are so fixated on creed.”

“I bet you two are bloody American too,” Luca disputed.

“Only our mom,” Angel said. “And even she had a hint of Mohican in her.”

Right. “Mohican, huh? Doubtful. I distinctly remember a movie calledThe Last of the Mohicans.”

“Don’t believe everything Hollywood tries to sell you,” Angel warned. “Our mom was a Mohican medicine woman. Spoke to spirits and stuff.”

He needed more drinks. A lot more. “Get me a bottle of your good stuff.”

He was just about to get shitfaced when some leather-clad hand snatched the glass from him.

His heart started to pound. For a millisecond, he’d believed it was Tess. Then he looked into Onyx’s face. Though her eyes were the copy of Tess’, the two women didn’t look much alike. She didn’t come across like an evil mastermind either. What she looked like was a grunge co-ed with dreadlocks.

“Well, isn’t it nice of you to visit me. Look, boys, this is the snake that put my ass in jail. A fucking woman. Why are you here?”

She didn’t even acknowledge the twins’ presence. Her sole focus was on him.

“I need your help.”

Was she for real? “You’ve got some fucking balls to ask me for anything.”

“If I had balls, you would have probably killed me by now.”

It sounded as if she was stating a fact, not gloating at him being unable to kill a woman.

“I would have, regardless of you not having any balls,” Damon said softly.

Her head snapped up to him and her eyes narrowed.

“We both would have,” Angel added menacingly. “We believe in equality between the sexes.”

Luca had to give it to her, she didn’t step back or even look afraid. There was a determination in her eyes that screamed she would go through all and everything to get what she wanted.

Then she turned back to him. “Someone kidnapped Tess. You have to help me.”

“Yeah, why should I care?”

Like he was going to believe this cooked-up story. Or that the two rival hackers had suddenly become friends.

Onyx cocked her head, eyes blazing. “I’m sorry, did I hear you right? Did you just say that you shouldn’t give a shit that Tess is taken?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“This is not the time to wallow in self-pity and drown your woes in alcohol. If you care about Tess, you’ll swallow your damn pride and help me.”

The fear in her eyes made his stomach churn. “Shit. You’re serious. This isn’t just a way to get my attention.”

Onyx’s curse was followed by slaps on his arm. “No, you idiot. Do I seem like the kind of woman who needs any man’s attention? Your gender is dead to me. If I didn’t need you, I wouldn’t be here. I don’t know who this guy is, but he took me down, and when I woke up, Tess was gone. I tracked her watch—that grandfather of hers is just brilliant, putting a tracker in it—and followed her to a warehouse. They have a small army inside.” She took out her phone. “Shit. They’re on the move.” Her eyes looked at him pleadingly. “Tess isn’t like you and me. That guard who died? That’s on me, yet, she takes it on her. Just like she took the responsibility for your incarceration. She can’t live with the fact that she hurt someone, let alone you. Me, on the other hand, I will do anything to protect or avenge the ones I love.”

Looking into her stormy and somewhat crazy eyes, he believed her. Fuck. Did he have the same deranged look when he spoke about Cruz? For the first time, he considered that maybe Tess had a point about the path he’d chosen.

He grabbed his jacket and took the safety off his piece when she waved her phone in his face. What was it with women waving stuff in his face? Shit, he missed Tess doing just that. How the hell could you miss an annoying habit like that? It didn’t make any sense. Yet here he was, wishing Tess would roll her eyes at him, and wave a leather-clad finger before his eyes.

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