Texas Hold 'Em

by Christie Craig

  So Peggy Darlene Delmar wasn’t the only person who’d broken Austin’s heart.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  ROBERTO SAT IN his car in Sara’s parking lot for an hour, his stomach sour. What the hell had he done?

  He was an asshole. What kind of a man made love to a woman and then told her it was a mistake? An idiot. Maybe one still high on doggy pain pills.

  No, he wouldn’t give himself an easy out and use the drugs. It was the same dirty emotion he was feeling now. Guilt. He’d made love to her and enjoyed the hell out of it. And when it was over, and he’d held her soft body against his, he’d remembered holding Anna—remembered loving her.

  He’d remembered how unfair it was that she was yanked out of this world. It had suddenly felt terribly wrong that he was so happy… and she was so dead.

  His eyes grew moist. Anna was gone. He knew that. Logically he knew he wasn’t cheating. Emotionally, though… Hell, he was screwed up. And he’d hurt someone else. Sara had gone over two years without letting a man close, without trusting anyone, because Brian’s father had done her so wrong. And he’d had to come along and fucked her over again. She didn’t deserve this.

  He reached for his phone to call and apologize, then noticed he had messages. One was from Austin, the other from a number he didn’t recognize for a second. Then he remembered; it was Luke’s number. Luke was dead. He clicked on his voice mail.

  “Hey, you don’t know me. Or at least I don’t think you do. But my friend, Cruz…”

  Roberto’s heart lurched. He’d never heard his voice, but he knew. Knew he was listening to the man who’d killed Anna and his son.

  “… he filled me in on how you and Brad were buddies, and how you knew about the deal going south in New Orleans. I could be wrong, and you might be like Don and Luke, dead. But the whole time Cruz told me about you, I smelled a rat. Maybe one working with those ex-cops. If you aren’t dead, well, I’m gonna find you, and then I’m gonna gut you like a pig. And I’m gonna enjoy it. Just like I’m gonna enjoy killing Brad and those three ex-cops I think you’re both working with.”

  “Not if I don’t gut you first.” Roberto dialed Brad’s number.

  After Dallas stepped out of the cabin, Austin told Dallas about the clown suits.

  “Damn it!” Dallas argued. “It’s too risky.”

  “I got it planned out. I’ll rent a car. Even if DeLuna is at the hospital, he won’t know it’s us.”

  “It’s still risky!” Dallas snapped.

  “It’s her brother,” Austin said. “If it was your brother, wouldn’t you go see him?”

  Dallas’s expression hardened. “That’s different.”

  “No, it isn’t.”

  Dallas groaned. “I swear, if I had a tomato, I’d throw it at you.”

  Austin grinned.

  Dallas frowned. “Shit! When are you going?” Dallas asked.

  “As soon as the cats get here.”

  “Wait until tomorrow?”

  “No. The longer he’s there, the more likely DeLuna will find him.”

  Dallas frowned again, but instead of arguing, he started toward his car.

  Austin glanced back at the cabin, then followed Dallas. “What did you two talk about?”

  “About what a piece of shit you are.” Dallas smiled. “I don’t think I’m gonna have to visit you in prison.”

  “What did you say to calm her down?”

  “It’s not what I said. It’s me. I’m a rational person, unlike some people.”

  “I’m rational.”

  “Right.” Dallas opened his car door but stood outside. “Have you talked with Roberto?”

  “I tried. He’s not answering again.”

  Austin remembered that one of DeLuna’s men might have recognized him. “Where are Nikki and Zoe?”

  “We sent them on a shopping spree in New York.”

  Austin nodded. “That’s good.”

  Dallas leaned against the car. “My gut says all this is about to come to a head. There was a time all I thought about was getting that bastard. Now, more important than catching him is making sure he doesn’t hurt anyone else I care about. Vengeance isn’t as sweet as I thought it would be.”

  “I don’t know,” Austin said. “I think it’ll feel pretty damn good.”

  Dallas put one foot inside his car. “Watch out for your tomato thrower. She’s the dangerous kind.”

  “There isn’t anything dangerous about her.”

  Dallas quirked an eyebrow. “That’s what I thought about Nikki. And look what happened.” He crawled into his car and drove off.

  “Bullshit,” Austin said to himself, and went to face the tomato thrower. His tomato thrower? Damn if he didn’t even like the sound of that.

  She was resting on the bed, flipping through a magazine. All the tomato drippings were cleaned up.

  She looked up.

  “You didn’t have to clean up. I’d have done it.”

  “I threw them,” she said.

  He wasn’t going to argue with that. He moved in and stood at the table. “I’m sorry if Dallas came off like a jerk.”

  She stared at the magazine. “He didn’t.”

  “Good.” She looked good in bed. In his bed. His tomato thrower. In his bed.

  She glanced up. “We’re still going to see Luis, right?”

  Had she heard them talking? It didn’t matter. “I’m calling Rick to make sure it’s safe. If so, we’ll leave after Tyler gets here with the cats.”

  They stared at each other for a pulse of silence. Something felt different. Good different, but he was afraid to hope. He turned to grab a soda.

  “I’m sorry, too,” she said.

  Standing at the fridge, he looked back. “For the tomatoes?”

  “No. You deserved that.” She half smiled, and damn if his heart didn’t melt. “But you, and your two friends, didn’t deserve what Rafael did. I’m sorry.”

  Hundreds of people had told him that, yet her words mattered when none of the others had.

  Emotion tightened his chest. “Soda?” He held up a drink.

  “No.”

  He shut the fridge and stared back at her. “I never blamed you. I didn’t expect to like you, but I never blamed you.”

  Their gazes met and held. It felt like a new beginning. Could they find their way back to what they’d had before?

  She’s the dangerous kind. Dallas’s warning rang in his head. He pushed it aside and reminded himself that they lived in different cities. Whatever this led to, it wouldn’t be too serious.

  The sound of a car echoed. He moved to the window. His truck and Tyler’s car pulled in front of the cabin.

  “It’s Tyler and Nance. You ready for your cats?” Friggin’ hell, he knew he wasn’t.

  The homecoming of cats wasn’t as bad as he imagined. It was worse.

  Tyler and Nance came in and Austin made quick introductions. Unlike with Dallas’s introduction, there was no tomato tossing. But there was a second when Austin wished they hadn’t shown up. Leah had actually smiled at him. Then bam, Tyler and Nance were there and Austin realized the probability of them exposing another of his lies. One he should have come clean on but simply forgot.

  He hadn’t had a cat that died. Those avocados were gonna hurt more than the tomatoes.

  Tyler shook Leah’s hand, as if assessing her. Was she friend or foe? Nance did the same. Leah was eager to bring the cats in. One by one, five cat carriers were brought in.

  Like an idiot, Austin suddenly realized something; he’d be sleeping, or rather, not sleeping, in the same room with five friggin’ cats. Unless he decided to turn the bathtub into his sleeping quarters. What had he done to deserve this hell on earth?

  Yeah, he and Spooky had almost become friends. The cat peered out of the carrier at him. But that could have changed.

  Sort of like his and Leah’s relationship. It wasn’t on solid ground.

  Plus, the real problem was Leah’s cats.

>   When the cats were free of their carriers, Austin noted Tyler and Nance watching him. Probably mentally laughing their asses off. How long, Austin wondered, before they exposed his fear of cats? Five minutes? Ten?

  Austin went out to the truck to grab a bag of cat litter. Returning, he inspected the room for cat status. He set the litter by the pantry, spotting only three cats. Leah was on her hands and knees whispering sweetly toward the underside of the bed. No doubt, her two semi-feral kitties were in hiding.

  Suddenly, Spooky moved around the sofa, heading right at him. The cat stopped at his feet, raised up on his hind legs, put his front paws on Austin’s knee, and meowed. Austin touched the cat’s head.

  “I won!” Nance belted out. “He touched one! You owe me fifty bucks!”

  “I don’t believe it,” Tyler said.

  “What?” Leah stood.

  Nance continued, “I told you if anything could get him over… what do you call it, ailurophobia, it would be a hot chick.” Nance looked at Leah. “I say ‘hot chick’ with the upmost respect.”

  Leah didn’t respond to the hot chick comment, she was obviously too busy trying to put two and two together. And Austin already knew where this would lead. Back to him being in the doghouse.

  “Who’s ailurophobic?” Her gaze shifted from Nance to Tyler, then him. And from the look in her eyes, it was a damn good thing they were out of tomatoes.

  Leah, dressed in a baggy polka-dot clown costume, with a white face and a big painted-on red smile, had gone silent again. When Tyler and Nance left, he made them sandwiches, minus tomatoes. Leah ate in silence. Austin called Rick. He got the thumbs up, so the visit with Luis was on.

  It was only a thirty-minute drive to Austin. He had suggested they get dressed in the clown outfits. She didn’t argue. Probably because she wasn’t talking to him.

  On the drive, kids in other vehicles on the freeway pointed and waved. While not speaking to him, Leah waved like a happy clown. A mile from the car rental place, he informed her of how things would go down.

  “We’re only staying a few minutes at the hospital, okay?”

  She nodded.

  He yanked off the red wig, which made his head itch like hell. “Are you ever going to talk to me again?”

  She looked at him. “You never had a cat who died, did you?”

  “No,” he said. “I’m sorry. You put me on the spot by trying to get me to adopt one, and I had to come up with something.”

  “Why don’t you tell me everything you lied about so I can get furious and get it over with?”

  He exhaled. “The cat thing just about covers it.” Then he remembered. “Except… the water gun. It was mine. I bought it the day I broke into your apartment.”

  She stared in total bafflement. “Why?”

  “Because cats don’t like water, and I don’t like cats.”

  “You squirted my cats with a water gun?”

  “No, I didn’t have to. They didn’t attack.”

  “But you were going to?”

  “If they’d attacked, I would have.” He frowned. “It was better than using a real gun.”

  She turned to the window. After a minute, she faced him. “Why are you afraid of cats?”

  He gripped the steering wheel. “Because they’re vicious.”

  “Please.”

  He pulled back his ear. “See the scar? A cat damn near took my ear off.”

  “I don’t believe that,” she said.

  “Believe it. And I had sixteen stitches under my arm, too.”

  “Cat’s don’t just attack.”

  “This one did. I saw the cat carrying her kittens into a shed. I went to get a peek and she damn near killed me.” He frowned. “Then because she disappeared, I had to have shots in the stomach for a month of Sundays.”

  “She was trying to protect her babies.”

  “I was four and not much more than a baby myself.”

  She sighed. “Why did you agree to keep Spooky if you’re so scared?”

  His chest tightened, but he told her the truth. “Because you said I’d be your hero. I wanted that.”

  She straightened her rainbow-colored wig and stared at him. But with her face painted, he couldn’t read her expression.

  She didn’t speak again until they got into the rental car. “Give me the receipt.”

  He rolled his eyes. “It was my decision to rent the car.”

  “You’re renting the car so you can take me to see my brother. It’s my expense.”

  “Fine.” Frowning, he handed it to her.

  They were almost to the hospital when his phone rang.

  “Where are you?” Urgency rang in Dallas’s tone.

  “Almost to the hospital. Why?”

  “Turn your ass around and head right back to the cabin.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  “WHAT’S GOING ON?” Austin asked Dallas, seeing concern flicker in the eyes of the cute clown in the passenger seat.

  “Roberto called,” Dallas said. “DeLuna and his friends are in Austin. I’m ten minutes away. We’re moving Luis Reece to a new hospital.”

  “Has anyone shown up at the hospital?” Austin asked.

  “No, but—”

  “Then let her see him for a few minutes?”

  “I’m seeing Luis!” Leah seethed.

  “Goddamn it.” Dallas’s voice boomed through the phone. “If they’re here, then that means they are looking for the kid. In spite of what Rick told them, they have him listed under his real name. DeLuna probably knows where he is.”

  “You don’t know that for sure.” Austin stopped at a red light. “We’re almost at the hospital. I’m going to ride around. If it’s clear, I’m bringing her in. We’re in costume; even if he’s there, he won’t know it’s us.”

  “At least wait until I get there.”

  “That I can do.” He paused. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

  “I was worried.”

  Austin sighed. “You worry too much.”

  “You worry too little.”

  “Call me when you’re at the hospital.” He started to hang up, but added, “Be careful.”

  “All I want to say is I’m sorry. Please pick up.” Roberto saw Brad step out of the sandwich shop, so he hung up.

  “Who do you keep calling?” Brad crawled into the car. He dropped a sandwich in Roberto’s lap. Roberto wasn’t hungry.

  He’d called Sara five times since he’d left her apartment. He’d met Brad at a service station and they were scouting out six locations where Brad knew DeLuna had stayed in the past. So far, they hadn’t found him. Dallas had suggested they keep driving between the locations until hopefully they came across him.

  Roberto pocketed his phone. Obviously, Sara wasn’t in the mood to talk to him, or to forgive him. Not that he deserved it. He was an asshole.

  “You calling that chick?” Brad asked.

  “Yeah.” Why lie?

  “You like her, don’t you?”

  “Yeah, but I screwed up.”

  “What did ya do?”

  “Nothing,” he said, unwilling to share.

  “I messed up with Sandy in the beginning. She forgave me.”

  “Yeah.” Roberto doubted Brad had screwed up that bad.

  After a pause, Brad asked, “What did your PI friends say?”

  Roberto had realized that Dallas, Tyler, and Austin wanted DeLuna as badly as he did. Together they actually stood a chance of getting him.

  “We’re going to meet up and work out a plan as soon as they get Luis Reece moved.”

  “You sure about them?” Brad asked. “I beat up that blond cop pretty bad.”

  Roberto looked at Brad’s face. “He got in a few licks, too.”

  “He might hold a grudge.”

  “You helped him save Leah Reece. He owes you.”

  “I hope so. You think they’ll go along with my plan?”

  “Yeah,” Roberto said. Brad’s plan might really work. Get the c
ocaine back to them and call the cops. But there was one flaw to Brad’s plan. He thought he could find DeLuna and Cruz and simply sneak in the powder. That didn’t sound so simple. They needed an inside man. And Roberto was it. DeLuna might think he was the rat, but if he showed up with a hole in his leg, and a good story, he could plant the evidence himself.

  Was it risky? Yeah. There was a chance he wouldn’t make it out of this alive. But he hadn’t gone into this two years ago thinking he stood much of a chance. Of course, then he hadn’t been so sure he’d wanted to live. Now, he couldn’t say that.

  He just wished he could talk to Sara. He wanted to tell her she hadn’t been a mistake. She’d been one of those rare gifts, so wonderful he didn’t deserve it.

  Leah, scared she wouldn’t get to see Luis, waited for Austin to pull over before she spoke up. “I’m seeing Luis. If you or anyone tries to stop me, I’ll—”

  “Slow down.” Austin held up his hand. “I’m going to take you, but you need to know DeLuna could be there. And we’re waiting until Dallas is there for backup.”

  Her throat tightened. Not from fear, but emotion. She wanted to see Luis. Needed to see he was okay.

  “But”—he pointed a finger at her—“the moment we step out of this car, you are to do exactly what I say. If I tell you to do jumping jacks, you do friggin’ jumping jacks. Got it?”

  She nodded.

  He exhaled. “Shit. If you get hurt, I won’t be able to live with myself.”

  “I won’t get hurt.” Tears filled her eyes. “Thank you,” she said.

  “Thank me when this is over and you’re not hurt.”

  Sara’s phone dinged with another message. She ignored it and continued scrubbing the grout in her kitchen floor. It had been bothering her for a month since Brian had spilled grape juice on the floor. Who wanted purple grout?

  Who wanted to be someone’s mistake?

  It didn’t matter if the mistake was due to the unjust, untimely death of someone’s ex-spouse. Sure, she sympathized with him. She knew how it hurt to have someone yanked from your life. But what was she? Chopped liver? Oh, no, he told her what she was. A mistake.