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“And I’m sure she’d be thrilled with this course of events.” When he only frowned, she beat back a pang of remorse. He was being an idiot. Not to mention this was her job. She was responsible for getting them all to the venue on time.
Yep. That totally requires you hijacking his phone.
She huffed out a breath. “Look, I’m sorry. I’m not your mother, nor do I want to be.”
“That would be creepy. Esp
ecially where your hand was about three minutes ago.”
“Would you be serious?”
“Do I have to?”
Damn that grin. She didn’t want to be charmed by him. Not now. Right now she was pissed off at him and was probably going to have nightmares about tonight for weeks. She really didn’t need any more in her repertoire.
He dug out his wallet, opened it, then flashed it at her before tipping his head back. “About that mugging.”
The thing had been practically cleaned out, minus his license. The credit card slots were empty.
She narrowed her eyes as he pocketed the wallet. “Were you really mugged?”
His gaze lowered to the ground. “Let’s just say I was taught a lesson about best practices at a gaming table.”
She rubbed her arm to ward against the chill that raced through her. And the muggy July evening had nothing to do with it. “Dammit, Ryan.”
“I mean, yeah, take the cash, but the cards? Fuck.”
“One of the reasons why I use banks as little as possible.”
He ran an unsteady hand through his hair. “Wait, what? Did I know this?” He shook his head. “I’m a little fuzzy.”
She ignored his question. No way was she delving into that explanation. “You smell like bourbon and bad decisions. Were you drinking?” He didn’t drink.
“Just enough to blend in.”
“Blend in where?”
“I was at...” He blew out a breath. “I was playing cards.”
“You what?” Not Ryan. She shook her head. She had to have heard him wrong.
“I wasn’t losing or anything. Quite the opposite.”
She swept her bangs out of her face. “Then why…” She couldn’t even get the words out.
He shrugged. “The people who own the Rooster sort of frown on counting cards.”
“You did not.” She whirled away from him and paced the sidewalk. “Are you out of your mind?”
“Admittedly not my finest hour, but I was doing really well there for a while. Too well.”
He curled his fingers around his ribs. “So, they made sure I was aware of a few rules.”
“I can’t believe you.”
“It was just for fun. No big deal.”
“Oh, yeah? Feel fun now, you idiot?”
