Ava Gray - Skin Game

“How come you didn’t just kill me outside the bar in Eunice? You had a knife.”

“Serrano wanted the money back,” he answered, toneless. “I wasn’t supposed to proceed until I found out where you stashed it.”

“But you decided to fuck around with me for a while first. I bet you play with your food before you eat it, too.”

In the light cast by the small table light, his onyx eyes looked flat and dead. “I don’t work for them anymore. If I was still on the job, why send someone else to finish it?” He hesitated and then added, “I found the money four days ago, and I didn’t touch it. Go see for yourself.”

A bluff, she thought. Not a bad one, but she already knew Rey was a fantastic liar. “Oh yeah? Where is it then?”

“Smuggler’s compartment in the backseat, left side. It’s in a silver case.”

That shook her a little. He did know where to find the money. At any point during the last few days, he could’ve stolen the Marquis and left her stranded with nothing. Instinct told her to go check, make sure he hadn’t stolen any, but she couldn’t afford to turn her back on him.

“I’m supposed to believe that you decided you’d rather bone me than collect for killing me? You’re one sick puppy, Porfirio.”

Ah, that hit a nerve. Something like pain passed behind his empty eyes, a shadow sliding through an alley. Rey rested his hands on his knees, palms up. She knew his posture was intended to convey nonthreatening intent.

“At first you were just a job,” he said quietly. “And then I got to know you. I realized Serrano’s man had lied to me. I only commit to taking out people I’m sure deserve it. Unlike most, I’m particular about my contracts.”

“Sure you are.”

“If you’ll let me, I’ll show you the file they gave me.”

She considered. It might be a ruse intended to distract her. Once she started reading, he’d take the gun, finish the job, and drive the Marquis to Vegas, along with the rest of her cash. Logically, it didn’t make sense that he hadn’t already done that. There had been no reason for him to hang around in the middle of nowhere for four days, if he already knew how to complete the job. Rey could have snapped her neck at any time.

“Get it.” She gestured with the Beretta.

Moving slowly, he went to the living room and came back with his jacket. He retrieved a cell phone from a hidden interior pocket. Rey turned it on, pushed a few buttons, and then handed it to her. “Hit the bottom button to scroll down.”

“Ruthless criminal,” she read aloud, cherry-picking the juiciest bits. “Participated in her father’s scheme to cheat the house, stole millions, and then killed him for his cut.” Kyra looked up, eyes wide in disbelief. “ This is what they told you? Why all the lies? Don’t you assholes just take the money and do the job? Who cares about why?”

“I do. I wouldn’t have taken the job if I’d known the truth.”

“What difference does the truth make to such an accomplished liar?” Fury and anguish balled up in her stomach, tangling into knots: unshed tears and barbed wire. “I guess you figured out I didn’t kill my dad.”

“I know that. And I understand why you played Serrano. You really loved your old man. What are you going to do now?”

“I should kill you. But the sex was pretty good, so I think I’ll just leave you here. If I see you again, I will shoot you.”

“When this guy doesn’t report in, they’ll send someone else. If he doesn’t get the job done, there will be another. They’ll just keep coming. When are you going to sleep? You can’t do this alone, Kyra. It’s amazing you got as far as you did by yourself.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea. Call the woman with the gun incompetent.” She raised the nose.

For the first time, he showed signs of agitation, scrubbing a hand across his face. “Look, I didn’t mean it like that. You need somebody watching your back.”

“Like I’d trust you to do it,” she snapped.

“Who else is there?”

That son of a bitch. He had to go and remind her how alone she was. If he thought emotional dependence would dictate her actions, he didn’t know her at all. She hated that she’d mistaken sexual chemistry for something more. It made her feel stupid, gullible, another mark taken in by a strong chest and broad shoulders. Even looking at him now, she saw his bronze body on top of hers, his ebony head thrown back.

Her fingers trembled on the trigger; she was fiercely tempted to put a bullet in him. Now she liked the bruises around his eyes and his smashed nose. He deserved that and worse, the lying prick. If she could, she’d thank Dwight for roughing him up.

“Mia. I’ve been biding my time until she got back in the country. I just needed to keep moving. She’ll be in Fargo by now . . . I just need to get there. And you stay the hell away from me.”

She needed to get dressed, but she couldn’t figure out how to manage it with a gun in one hand. Pulling a shirt over her head would give him more than the time he needed to take control of the situation. Kyra tried not to show any uncertainty while she considered the problem.

“She’s not in Fargo.”

Kyra froze. “How do you know that?”

“When I called my contact four days ago to tell him I quit, he asked me to pass a message. He said to tell you ‘your friend says hello . . . Mia is such a charming woman.’”

She launched herself then, rage finally overcoming common sense. By some miracle, the hit connected, and the Beretta struck upside his head. “You asshole! They’ve had her for four days? When were you going to tell me? If anything happens to her, you’re a dead man, you understand me?”

Kyra lifted her arm, and only then did she realize he wasn’t trying to protect himself. He’d let her pistol whip him. She lowered the gun slowly, trying to understand what the hell he was doing. Nothing, it seemed. His hands were still on his knees, blood now trickling down his face from where she’d hit him.

“I should have told you sooner,” he said. “So you get that one, free and clear. I deserved it, but don’t raise your hand to me again.”

“I don’t think you’re in any position to be making demands.”

“Neither are you.”

She lofted the gun. “How do you figure?”

“I could take that from you in less than ten seconds, now that you’re within arm’s reach.” Then he did, disarming her with such lightning speed that she barely had time to dance back a few steps. “See? You may not like me, or want me around, but you need me. Mia’s in the hands of your enemies. Just how do you propose to save her alone?”

She knows I’m right. Reyes watched conflicting emotions flicker over her expressive face. Kyra wanted nothing more to do with him; he realized that. Things as they had been were over, but he couldn’t abandon her. He’d help her rescue her friend and finish things with Serrano. That meant returning to the scene of the crime, Sin City.

“I’ll figure something out,” she muttered.

“You have to take him out, you know. You started this; he has to finish it. He’ll just keep sending people after you, no matter where you run, and there’s no shortage of men looking to make a quick buck.”

Kyra appeared to sift through his words, looking for mis truths or personal agenda. She wouldn’t find any. If he had any sense, he’d walk away now, and try to forget what it had been like between them before she learned the truth. Even now he wanted to touch her, but she’d take his hand off at the wrist.

“All right,” she said finally. “We make one last run together. Vegas. When Mia is safe and Serrano is out of the picture, we go our separate ways. I am hiring you,” she added in a voice made of ice and knives. “This is business. You don’t touch me again.”