Page 43 of The Gambler

Tess looked worried. She shook her head, her eyes looking down meaningfully. Get down, they said. Lay down, let it be over.

Fuck.

This.

Shit.

Teddy looked disappointed. “Fucking suit,” he spat.

It was as if a bomb went off inside Luca’s head. Wires got fried. Electricity sizzled through his veins. The next uppercut was from Luca’s fist. It was the same fucking fist that had smacked the asshole in the shower against the wall. His same fist gave Teddy a major blow against his head, making him do a half spin.

He managed a laugh, while trying not to focus on his burning ribs. It sure felt like he cracked a few.

After that, everything became a blur. He heard a loud tear, only to discover that Teddy had ripped his shirt off. White pieces of cloth hung around his body. From the corner of his eye, he saw Tess put a hand to her mouth.

Then he remembered. The scars. The row of scars painting his back from his neck down to the small of his back. It was like a jigsaw puzzle. Courtesy of a courtyard fight and a convict cutting his back open, over and over again.

Another jolt of electricity hit his brain, focusing on the one who had exposed his pain to the world.

Fucking Teddy.

The next moment he came to himself, they were hauling him off the big guy. Tess was screaming something into his ear, but he didn’t hear her. He didn’t hear or see anything but four walls keeping him inside.

“It’s okay, Luca. Come on. Please snap out of it.”

Smack!

Followed by anothersmack.

He grabbed her hand. “Dammit, Tess. Will you stop slapping me?”

“Not until you snap out of whatever it was that came over you. You looked like a crazy vigilante. It’s not a good look on you, by the way. You are not that kind of guy.”

He opened and closed his fist. It didn’t seem like it was broken. “I’m not what kind of guy?”

“You know. The big, bad warrior. You’re more a guy of… negotiations. That’s what you told me, right? A businessman.”

He got back on his feet, looking down on Teddy. “You forget, unicorn, first and foremost, I’m a gambler.”

Then he drew Tess up with him and went for the door again. This time, no one tried to stop them. When the bartender saw him, he tapped on the bar, extending him a drink.

Luca chugged it in one move. Cheap whiskey. He tapped on the bar. “Give me another one. Make it your top shelf this time.” He fucking deserved it.

After having his second glass of whiskey, a better one this time, he looked around. It was dark inside the bar. Rings of smoke filled the room. People were playing pool in a corner. Other than it being filled with bikers, it didn’t look very different from what a roadside bar would probably look like.

“I’ll be right back,” Tess said, and took off.

He didn’t bother to go after her. Everything fucking hurt. Hanging at the bar, pretending to be peachy keen, was a much better look on him.

The bartender gave him a chin jerk. “She with you?”

“Yeah, she’s with me.” She was his wild card.

The guy nodded. “Nice ass.”

He supposed it was meant as a compliment, so he chin jerked back. Thing was, he’d never met a woman like Tess before. She was straightforward, almost to the extreme. Best thing was, he never had to guess what she was thinking. She didn’t play the games women played to get a man interested in her, or worse, play hard to get.

She returned in no time. However, he didn’t spot a geeky guy she was supposed to buy stuff from.

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