Call My Bluff

by Elizabeth Knox

  She was beautiful, strong and fiercely independent.

  The walls around her heart were up, but the fire in her eyes and her love for the club fueled my need to have her by my side.

  And on the back of my bike.

  When her safety is threatened, I'll do everything to protect her and get her to trust me. But after a lifetime of broken promises, will it be enough?

  Other books in the series:

  Chelsea – The Club Girl Diaries Book 2

  Blizzard – The Club Girl Diaries Book 3

  Hadley – The Club Girl Diaries Book 4

  Family – The Club Girl Diaries Book 5

  Wrench – The Club Girl Diaries Book 6

  Skylar – The Club Girl Diaries Book 7

  Shake -The Club Girl Diaries Book 8

  Meyah – The Club Girl Diaries Book 9

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  About the Author

  Addison Jane is a born and bred kiwi girl with a passion for romance and writing.

  When she gets the chance, she enjoys the little things in life such as reading, dancing, music, and Facebook, but her world really revolves around the little girl who calls her Mum. It’s an awkward balance between alpha males and Disney princesses, but it works.

  Growing up on a small farm next to the beach will always make her a country girl at heart. But since moving away to a small town close to the city, she’s discovered a dangerous love for shopping.

  Writing stories has been something that’s come naturally since she was young, and with the massive support of her friends and family, she finally decided to step out of her comfort zone and share them with the world.

  She enjoys bringing her books to life with strong female leads, sexy, passionate men, and a rollercoaster of twists and turns that lead to the happily ever after that her readers desire.

  No Warning

  Sam St. James

  Blurb

  I knew the chaos and pain didn’t end when the battles of war were over.

  Setting up Siren Security would bring veteran women together. Build on their strengths to protect and serve the innocent.

  We are a team of women, stronger together, fighting for those who need us. Even those who think they don’t.

  My life—turned upside down in an instant.

  Everything I’d ever been afraid of happened before my eyes.

  So, I’m turning my pain into power.

  I will overcome everything that’s sent to destroy me.

  But first, I need to save the next target.

  Chapter One

  HONOR

  Nevada straight doesn’t give a fuck.

  Every mile I had covered getting here this morning reinforced that as fact. And the crazy just got more real in the center of Las Vegas.

  Wondering if she was here, I scanned the crowds as scantily dressed young women were smiling and flirting with overweight middle-aged men, with teens weaving around them, shrugging heavy backpacks, and adjusting headphones just trying to get to school.

  It’s just before 7:00 a.m. and I felt like I had been awake forever.

  In my mind I went through the plan again. Nothing mattered except keeping her safe. If I could do this, get the agency up on its feet, it would provide a career for the women who had served alongside me, by using their skills here in the civilian world. But first I needed to save Grace.

  Being here felt foreign, and I needed to get my shit together, so I wouldn’t be the reason anyone died today. Unless they really pissed me off, then it might be justified.

  Leaving everything else, I grabbed my phone and adjusted the corset I’d put on at my last stop forty miles outside of Vegas. Locking the car, I shoved the key into my concealed pocket and took off.

  Rounding the corner, my view was obliterated by the rising sun glaring off the windows of the huge new casino building. Getting in wasn’t going to be difficult but getting in unnoticed was going to take skills I don’t think I possess.

  Lightly touching Ravi’s name on the screen, I lengthened my stride. Walking in like I owned the place, my secret weapon since junior high was going to have to suffice as a cover.

  “Hmmmffttt?” Ravi’s mumbled greeting was a relief. I hadn’t been sure she would even answer because we had worked so late last night.

  “Morning. I’ve arrived, and I need you to go over the floor plan. Guide me in.”

  “This may surprise you, but the floor plan of the casino and hotel hasn’t changed since we went over it at midnight.”

  “Well, Rav, I need to look busy and as if I belong here. Talking to you sounds legit and will keep anyone from asking if they can help me… at least until I can get upstairs.”

  “Did you just say that I am the only one who can help you?” Hearing the laughter in her sleep-clogged words made me smile.

  “Nope, just that I needed a cover until I get upstairs.” I threw my hair over my shoulder as the defiance in my words became a physical action.

  “What’s the place like?” Knowing Ravi’s question was more than professional detachment, she was curious, I slowed my stride.

  As I entered the massive cavern that passed for a lobby I looked around, spotting the long reception counter, bright neon blinking through open doorways to the gaming area, the calm of the currently silent cocktail bar, and the clusters of lounge chairs that beckoned in a darkened corner.

  I sighed. “No way anyone can walk through this lobby and believe they can win. Every inch screams opulence and glamor, and that’s with me heading up the back stairs.”

  “That’s a shit description, I need to live through your movements. You have to send me photos later. ‘Cause nothing much is online yet, at least until they officially open. Think of the intel I can help with once I can see it all. Ohh, better yet, FaceTime me, just like a tourist would. I gotta take in the atmosphere!”

  “You should be here instead of me.” The words slipped out of my mouth and the full meaning of what I said punched me in the gut. Ravi should be here, she’s much more suited to this than I am. Her training, her life, has gotten her ready for these types of jobs. My training feels like a lifetime away. It was, two lifetimes away, and two heartbreaks.

  “I can do whatever you need from here. Find out what your room is like and get back to me.”

  Pocketing my cell, the heavy fire door slid shut silently behind me and I start counting the steps past the elevator to 812, the room the casino has set aside for my use while I was here. My heart dropped, seeing that the door was open slightly.

  Gently pushing it with my foot and stepping quickly inside, then guiding the door almost shut again, I let my eyes adjust to the dark. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as I stepped sideways with my back against the wall into the room. I held my breath listening for any sound to tell me if anyone was in here with me. Inside I was screaming at myself trying to remember the floor plan of the room. I held my breath and cursed the plush carpet that muffled the sound of footsteps, not being able to place exactly where they were coming from.

  Damn curtains were pulled shut, and due to the block-out material used I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. Suddenly, I felt more than seeing the presence, their breath sounding loud in the quiet darkness. Grabbing my gun from my corset, a bright light suddenly blinded me, making me snap my eyes shut.

  Forcing them open, all I could see was the form of a man, carrying a large bag as he stepped silently into t
he hall. As the door closed, I caught a glimpse of him reaching the stairwell.

  Once again in the darkness, I took slow, shallow breaths to listen for anyone else in this room who was meant for me. As the seconds passed, my gut told me I was on my own again. I pulled my sleeve over my hand, drawing down on the handle and again flooding my face with light from the hallway.

  Repeating the same action again I opened the heavy door to the stairs and strained to hear anything that could tell me where the welcome wagon that I hadn’t been expecting had scurried off to.

  Not much shook me anymore, but so much was riding on this. Whoever had been in that room sure as hell wasn’t leaving extra towels.

  Why in the dark?

  If they legitimately needed to be there, why the hell hadn’t they done whatever it was with the light on or curtains drawn?

  I wanted air, to figure out what my next step was.

  I needed to get a plan in place.

  Remembering two floors up there was a large garden off a cocktail bar for high rollers, so I took the stairs two at a time to use up some of the adrenaline flooding through my body. Stepping out into a tropical oasis there were carefully placed tables spaced so the conversation could be carried out in private, with palm trees and exotic bird-shaped plants which made strange shadows in the bright morning sunshine.

  At the moment, everything felt eerie, poised on the edge of waiting for something—guests, I supposed. This place, like Vegas, was made for night time, for shiny lights and glitter. The day time wasn’t kind, and even the newness of everything around me highlighted the fact that it needed people to come alive.

  I took a deep breath and double-checked the safety was on, as I lifted the hem of my shirt and held it under my chin, quickly fastening my weapon back into the beautiful corset. Okay, well, not actually beautiful, but I felt sexy as hell wearing it. And it was so much easier than the holsters I had been so used to wearing.

  Feeling my cell vibrate, I turned to take in the Strip, the people below, and the desert beyond before I glanced down. Seeing a number I didn’t recognize, but knew by the area code was local to where I was standing, I swiped to answer.

  “Powell.” Answering with my last name as I had done for years felt right again. It was a habit I hadn’t really tried very hard to break when I was a society wife. It suited me in ways that being arm candy hadn’t.

  “This is Sawyer Ford, Ms. Powell. Can you tell me when you’ll be arriving? I’d like to meet you, and have your room ready when you get here. “

  My eyes squinted at his words. I was glad he couldn’t see me, as I bit my tongue thinking now of how ‘getting my room ready’ had taken on new meaning.

  “Ms. Powell?” he asked again impatiently.

  “Thanks for your call, Mr. Ford. I will be with you inside an hour.”

  He might be the one paying for me to be here, but his emails had been my only contact with him so far. The deep rumble of his voice surprised me, and it didn’t match with the mental picture I had, or the awkward teen photographs online from the party scene which had given him a questionable reputation over a decade ago. He had become an enigma since then when his father had died suddenly. Nothing online, no society headlines, just his name listed as the head of the company that had been in his family for three generations.

  I understood that well. How once you lost everything, the shiny façade you showed the world no longer mattered.

  I wanted to have another look around before I met with him and his team. I would go back out, grab all my things, and come in fresh and FaceTime Ravi like a tourist. She was right. The information she could glean from seeing inside this place would be valuable. And if it made me look like a freaking tourist I didn’t care.

  “Okay, I will let the front desk know, and see you in about an hour then.” His words were polite but they came out like a growl.

  The call disconnected in my ear, even as my lips formed a reply. Well, well. The fact that I wanted to snap, “Yes, Sir!” back shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did. And it made me smile.

  I can do this.

  Turning to walk back into the hotel, a slight movement caught my eye. The white rubber tips of a popular sneaker, just like the ones on my feet, were bobbing up and down. Instead of the nearly gleaming pristine white of my shoes, these were scuffed and worn. They had seen battles and had the look of a favorite defiance. Ripped and torn designer jeans came into view next, and with another step, I could see the upturned smiling face, eyes closed, hoodie, and headphones transporting her to another place. She couldn’t be more than thirteen or fourteen.

  I stood transfixed. I had spent so many hours dreaming about what Kylie could look like, what her likes and loathes might have been, had she lived. And for just a moment, I let all the what-ifs wash over me.

  I waited for the sharp pain that sometimes caught me by surprise if I was in Walmart and a group of young girls were laughing in the aisle next to me, or a young boy was whizzing round with a ball, car, or Nerf gun.

  Just at that moment, her eyes opened, and her head tilted slightly and with a soft smile she said, “Hey.”

  When I didn’t reply right away her brow furrowed, and she asked, “Do you need me to go?”

  “Nope. I’m not really supposed to be here either. I wanted a quiet place to think. Didn’t realize anyone else was here.” My shared confidence made her smile again.

  “Yeah, when this place opens it’ll be a bummer, ‘cause then it will be different. I have been so used to it being quiet. It’s nice. For now, it is a great place to…” the momentary pause almost screamed hide, but she quickly covered it with, “… think.”

  “Are you listening to them?” I motioned to the concert tee she was wearing, with the latest album cover of the band tipped to have the hit of the summer, that seemed to be on constant rotation radio play this morning on my drive from Los Angeles. They also happened to be playing the opening concert of the casino-hotel where we were standing in less than a week.

  “They are awesome, but not really my style. The shirt is more to look cool for school. I am listening to Blueface.”

  I grinned, thinking of the rap sensation, wondering at the young woman in front of me.

  “Speaking of school, I’m late.” Then she grabbed her backpack and checked her cell another time before gracefully getting up and ducking past me. “See ya,” she tossed over her shoulder before placing her headphones back over her ears and disappearing around the palms in front of the doors leading to the inside of the hotel.

  It was only then I realized that the pain hadn’t come like normal and I wondered to myself if what I was doing was healing. If even more than the drive I felt to create this business, to right the wrongs, if it was helping the hurt to become less.

  And what that would mean for everything else I was about to do?

  Chapter Two

  SAWYER

  I nodded to the young man behind the desk as I replaced the phone. The possible hour to have up my sleeve, to wait, to watch, gave me insight money couldn’t buy.

  I headed over to the cluster of club chairs, choosing my favorite, a spot where I could see everything and not be seen.

  “Ry, my man!” The booming voice calling my brother’s name caused my head to jerk to the open doorway of the casino. My brother, still dressed as he had been last night, was greeting a group of men just outside. His shirt hanging loose was the only indication of his late-night as he led the group of men across the lobby. They headed into the elevators and disappeared inside just as a young mother and her son came into the lobby.

  To give the new staff practice we had joined with a local charity to provide a break for teen parents. It gave the staff experience before the doors officially opened and it felt good to give back to young families who often couldn’t afford to stay in places like this.

  She held the young boy’s hand tightly, but he was reaching for something, squiggling, trying to twist away. He returned to her triumphant and spoke to
his mother with excitement asking if he could keep it. I saw her scan the whole lobby, her eyes resting for the briefest second on mine, before she kneeled before her son and said, “Before you can keep it, you need to make sure it doesn’t belong to someone already here. Go and ask the elderly man over there if it belongs to him.”

  I saw him, his fist tightly squeezed as he walked toward the cluster of chairs, and looked back over my shoulder, to see where he was heading. Who the ‘elderly’ man was. As my head came back, I realized the blue-eyed tyke was stopped at my knee with his mother watching carefully from several feet away.

  “Did you drop this, Mister?” His small chubby hand turned over to reveal a very crumpled twenty-dollar bill.

  “Nope. I’ve been here a while. Waiting for someone. Haven’t seen anyone else drop it either. Must’ve been meant for you.” His eyes never left my face, but his smile grew with each word I said. “You tell the man at the desk you found it, and I say it’s yours. Finders keepers, right?”

  Watching him run as fast as his little legs would carry him back to his mother, it sunk in that she saw me as old. Elderly even. I mean I felt it, but it shouldn’t show. Shit, this was so far away from what I thought my life would turn out like.

  I looked down at my flashing screen and could have groaned. Picking up my cell I saw the business day had started, by the number of messages and email alerts coming through. Rylan’s message was top of the screen and his ‘Ready when you are’ barely registered as I opened the message from Grace’s school. My heart stopped at the automated message asking me to confirm that she wasn’t attending today.