AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What?”
“The marketing numbers,” he said. “Profits are up. You win. This time.”
I nodded, not even a hint of joy rising to combat the hollow space in my chest. Was I happy that the firm Brynn loved wouldn’t be in his hands? Absolutely. Did I give a fuck about anything outside of getting Brynn back? No.
“Shit,” Doyle said, glaring at me. “You don’t even seem happy by it. If you didn’t care about it why the hell did you work so hard to take it from me—”
“Cause you’re an asshole,” Ethan cut in before I could answer. “And because he could.”
Doyle shoved away from the table. “You’re all dicks,” he said. “If you keep treating me this way, I’ll have half a mind to give up my seat.”
Ethan raised his brows, his silent look screaming that’s exactly what he was going for.
“Fuck you all,” Doyle said, then looked down at Serenity. “Play my hands, girl, and don’t fucking lose anything.” He stomped off without another word or instruction, and poor Serenity’s eyes were as wide as saucers as she hurried into her father’s vacated seat.
“You can fold every hand if you want,” Ethan said while he dealt the cards, his tone completely different than what he’d just used on her father.
“She knows how to play,” Gareth grumbled.
Ethan cocked an eyebrow at him.
“I do,” Serenity said, her voice quiet, almost too soft to hear, like she’d been conditioned her entire life to not draw too much attention to herself. “I’ve watched you all enough to understand the unique betting rules.”
“Okay,” Ethan said, finishing dealing. “But no pressure.”
His kindness almost made a laugh tumble from my lips, but not quite. He was the epitome of Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde. He could be such an asshole to his players or the press or outsiders, but he was sitting here ensuring the daughter of the biggest pain in our asses felt safe and comfortable. Fucker needed to apply that to someone who could actually stand him for more than a week. It would level him out, I bet.
“Stop coddling her,” Gareth warned, and that drew all of our attention. “She can handle herself.”
Serenity flashed him the sweetest, most prideful smile, almost like she’d never heard that kind of declaration before, but snapped the look right off her face the minute Gareth’s eyes lifted from his cards.
Interesting.
I reached for my phone, the instinct to text Brynn and fill her in on all the tea so intense I almost forgot she wasn’t speaking to me.
Fuck, I felt like my heart had been ripped out all over again. I folded my cards, scraping my palms over my face. I hadn’t gone a day without speaking to Brynn since her freshman year of high school, and we were going on seven days of no contact now.
It waskillingme.
“Are you going to actually let us in on why you’re a miserable shit right now,” Ethan asked, spreading out the flop for the only two players in the hand, Serenity and Gareth. “Or are you going to keep letting us guess?”
I glared at him for a few seconds.
“We know something is up,” Crossland offered. “You’ve folded every single hand and I’ve seen you play garbage before just because you were bored.”
“Weston,” Asher said, his voice full of concern. “Where is Brynn?”
Of course they’d noticed her absence, since she never missed a trip.
“She’s not speaking to me,” I admitted, and the truth lifted a little of the weight off my chest.
“What did you do?” Ethan asked, dealing the turn on the row of cards in the middle of the table. Serenity bet, and Gareth immediately called.
“I messed up,” I said, shrugging. “And I have no idea how to fix it.”
“Scale of one to ten,” Asher said. “How badly did you mess up?”
“Eleven,” I said instantly, and each of them hissed. I’d had a week to go over every misstep I’d made with Brynn, and they started long before Lena made herself a problem or I fucked up with the proposal.
