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“Uh-huh,” I said, lifting into a sit again. “Could that have been around October?”
Kai chewed on the inside of his cheek.
“Right around the time I gained entry into Neri’s games?” I asked.
“Does it matter?” Theo interjected. “I’m here, you’re here, Kai’s here.”
“And you’ve appeared out of thin air with a new proposal,” I said. “That you took to Kai first.”
What I wanted to say was,you chose to contact an FBI agent over your ex-girlfriend. A girl you said you’d choose over all else.
“Yes.” Theo stood. “Go home.”
I gave half a head-shake. “Nope. Next suggestion, please.”
“This is not for you, Scarlet.” He stepped closer, and in automatic defense, I scooted away. I didn’t need to feel his heat, as well as his voice, against my skin. “Look at what it’s done to you already.”
“Made me stronger?”
“No.” He bent down to my level, but I didn’t want him to spot even a glimmer of tears. “The woman I’ve seen in the game rooms, decorated in lace, hidden in couture with a smile of stone, pocketing scores of ceramic chips to the chagrin of many powerful men, this isn’t what I wanted. You were supposed to go back to your old life—”
“How?” I asked, defiant. “How was I supposed to do that when you tore me out of it the instant we met?”
Theo, a man of few words, had run out. He backed off.
“I don’t trust either of you,” I said. “So let’s get this boat to land.”
“Play me for it.”
I cut a glance to Theo, rigid, as usual, in a dimly lit section of the room. For an instant—less than a second—I wondered if he strayed to dark interiors not to increase his predatory effect on people, but because he was … ashamed … of his new face.
Pressure increased in the back of my jaw, and I released my molars. I could not fall victim to wanting to heal him. Not again.
“Excuse me?” I said.
“Yeah, excuse you?” Kai asked Theo.
Theo reached into his pocket and pulled out a deck of cards. “You and me. One on one.”
“Besides the fact that you wander around in a suit with a pack of cards in your pocket,” Kai said, “we had a deal. I agree to cooperate with your intervention only so I can get my girl, then get her home.” Kai glanced sideways at me. “I don’t betray the FBI for just anyone.”
“Don’t make me feel guilty for your choices,” I said to Kai, feeling strong enough to stand. I had to dosomethingto equal the playing field. “And as for you,Sax, that’s a hard no.”
Theo cocked a brow. “You tell me how good you are and your ability to run these games and the men within them just fine, and you don’t want to sit down with me over a simple run of Head’s Up?”
I licked my lips.
“Scarlet,” Kai said. “Don’t you dare say yes.”
“What are the stakes?” I asked.
“I win, you go with Kai onto a plane to New York without so much as an arm-swing or a peep,” Theo said.
“And if I’m the winner?”
“That’s up to you.”
“No. Nuh-uh,you two crazy kamikazes,” Kai said. “You know what she’s gonna say, Sax, why thehellwould you—”
