You've Got Fail(32)

She crept down the hall, her eyes still wide. “Hi?”

“This is Sparky. The one I told you about.” I snapped my fingers, a signal to my sister that the game was afoot. “I’m Scarlet.” We’d been running games our entire lives. She’d fall right in with the Scarlet routine.

Willis shook his head. “My name’s Willis, not Sparky.”

“Hi, Willis.” She put her hand out to shake.

He took it, giving me an opening to scoot away, though I missed his body heat and the enjoyable feel of him against me.

“Nice to meet you. I hope everything’s okay?” He wouldn’t get anything out of Hannah, but she had that wide-eyed innocent look to her—the same look that made her the perfect ringer for card games.

“We’re fine.” She glanced at me, a small smile playing at the corners of her lips. “You never told me he looked like this.”

A blush crept into my cheeks, the heat making me feel like I was sixteen again. “I said he was a cute nerd.”

“Yeah.” She appraised him. “But he’s a built, cute nerd. Hot. You forgot that part.”

“Crackerjack.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Fine.”

“Crackerjack?” Willis had puffed up during Hannah’s “built” commentary, his Thundercat on full display. Now he gave me a curious stare.

Hannah swiped her hair over her shoulder and shot me a dirty look, though I could tell she didn’t mean it. “You always call it before I have a chance.”

“What is Crackerjack?” Willis persisted.

“A delicious, crunchy popcorn snack that comes in a box.” I reached for the door handle. “Now, as you can see, we’re perfectly all right here. So you can go ahead and—”

A boom rattled the door, the thunk of a meaty fist shaking it on its hinges. I jumped, then flipped the nearest deadbolt right as the handle began to turn from the other side.

“I know you’re in there, Hannah.” Pauly’s voice.

I pointed to the hall, and Hannah dashed away and disappeared into her room. Willis stepped up, but I pressed my finger to his lips, which turned down in a frown. He’d morphed into a wall of tense muscle, every sinew pulled tight.

“Go away, Pauly. We already have a deal.”

“Let me in so we can talk.” The handle shook.

“Not a chance.”

Another boom. “Don’t be such a bitch.”

Willis tensed even more, his hands curling into fists. I shook my head and mouthed “don’t.”

I had to get Pauly away from the door before things got out of hand. “You’ll have your money when I said you’d have it. No sooner. Stop sniffing around here like a starving dog.”

“Send Hannah out.”

“No.” With a shaking hand, I silently turned the second deadbolt.

He beat on the door, and for a moment, I feared the old timber would give way. The pounding stopped, and I could hear him shuffling around in the hallway.

“I could get in there if I really wanted to.” His sinister voice vibrated close to the door jamb.

“Hey, asshole. You step foot in here and you’ll be whistling out your dick!”

I shot Willis a death glare, then a confused glare, because what kind of threat was that?

“Who’s in there?” Pauly’s voice vibrated with aggression.

“Your mom!”

I slapped my hand over Willis’s mouth. “My cousin. He’s visiting from Wisconsin.”

“He’s going to need to cut his visit short, or I’ll take him for a little ride out to Jersey. One way ticket.”

A chill went through me, because I knew how serious Pauly was with the threat. He was more than just the lowlife that managed to bust Hannah at counting cards. He was a killer for one of the larger organizations in the city. When I’d found out Hannah had gotten caught, I was sick. When I found out Pauly was the one she’d been cheating, I started packing. But it was too late. He would have found us no matter where we went. And now we owed him the money he lost to the other players at the table that night. Fair? No. Inescapable? Yes.

I tried to add a calming note to my tone. “He’s going back soon.”

“He better. If I catch him out and he gets mouthy with me again…” He ended on a low laugh that sent fire ants skittering down my spine.

“He won’t.” I kept my hand over Willis’s mouth, and he let me. He could have swiped my hand away and talked more shit, but my fear—which I was telegraphing like Samuel Morse—must have given him pause.

Pauly coughed and slapped the door once more. “Watch yourself. All of you.”

“Yep, will do.”

“Time’s a ticking.” He chuckled. “Tick tock. If you don’t have my money, Hannah needs to get back to the table.”

Bile churned in my throat. “I’ll have your money.”

“You better.” He shuffled around, and then his footsteps receded down the hallway to the stairs.

My knees knocked, but I stayed upright and peeled my hand from Willis’s mouth. He reached for the door handle.

“No!” I slapped his hand away.

“Let me go after him, have a talk.”

“Not a chance.” I shook my head vehemently. “He’s not the kind of man you just talk to.”