Smashed (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #8.5)(23)

He considered me in silence for a long moment. “She’s in rough shape without you, Arys.” It wasn’t news. Not really. Still, it made me feel both worried and relieved.

“How did she look? Was she ok? I mean, all things considered.”

“She looked good,” he said, picking his words carefully. “Beautiful, really. Leaking power like a sieve though. She’s pretty jacked up on the juice. I don’t think she knows how to calm it.”

I sighed and shook my head so droplets of water fell from my wet hair. “I don’t know what to do, Jenner. How long do I let her go on like this?”

“I wish I could help you, brother. Really, I do.”

My phone rang, destroying the quiet and causing me to jump up in alarm. I snatched it from the coffee table, mildly disappointed to find Jez’s number on the display.

“Arys?” The leopard launched in right away without any forced pleasantries. “Alexa just called me. She wants to meet me tomorrow after sunset. She said that she needs to talk.”

“And why are you telling me this?”

“Because I think you should come with me. She needs to see you, even if she doesn’t want to,” Jez said, becoming one of my favorite people with those words.

I glanced at Jenner who nodded his agreement. The thought of seeing Alexa under such circumstances didn’t sit well with me. However, if she wasn’t going to come to me, this might be the next best solution.

“Where should I meet you?”

After making arrangements to meet Jez the following evening after dusk, I sat back in my chair and stared at the clock above the television. It was going to be a very long day.

“You’re not going to sleep at all today, are you?” Jenner asked knowingly.

“Not likely. Help me pass the time.” I grabbed a deck of cards from the small side table next to my chair and tossed it at Jenner. “Shuffle those.”

“Hey, I didn’t say that I wasn’t going to sleep,” he protested, though he shook the cards from the pack anyway.

“If I can’t sleep, then you can’t sleep.” I grinned. “Texas hold ’em?”

Jenner shuffled the deck of cards with a dramatic flair. The cards moved between his hands with a precision even a Vegas magician couldn’t match.

“Are we making this interesting?” The glint of mischief in Jenner’s eyes was worrisome.

I raised a brow. “Don’t go there, Jenner. Whatever you’re thinking, no way.”

“When did you become such a *?” he challenged. “I guess you don’t think you can beat me after the way I spanked you in Vegas.”

His taunting laughter brought forth a less than savory memory. The crap he’d pulled on Alexa and me in Vegas had been both clever and downright nasty. We had turned his own game against him, but it had come at a price. Jenner might feel he had come out of that worse off than we had, but it was no great joy to me that Alexa had enchanted him. It was something I didn’t even know she could do until I saw her do it to Sinclair.

Too many memories.

“Have you forgotten how the rest of that played out?” I asked with the barest hint of gloating.

“Do you want to play cards or not?” he demanded.

“I do.”

“Then let’s make it interesting.” Jenner’s insistence was annoying. It almost made me reconsider.

“How so?” I didn’t want to know what he was thinking. Still I wasn’t all that surprised at his request.

“If I win, you let me take a run at Alexa’s sister.” His face lit up with a devilish delight.

For a moment I debated on tossing the cards onto the floor and saying f*ck it. It was times like this that reminded me why Jenner and I had butted heads so much. He could be a good guy, but he could also be an antagonistic prick.

“You’re a real *, you know that?” I grabbed my cards and appraised them. Two aces. I could work with that. “If you win, you can ask her out. No manipulation. She either accepts you or rejects you all on her own. Got it?”

Jenner considered my stipulations and then nodded. “Sounds fair.”

“I mean it, Jenner. No enthralling Juliet.” I ignored his dismissive wave and kept talking. “If I win, I want you to take Sinclair back to Las Vegas with you.”

He looked up from his cards in surprise. “You really are going mad, aren’t you? I hope you’re not really delusional enough to think he’ll just happily hop on a plane. Fuck, Alexa would kill you.”

I clenched my jaw and glowered. “Not if it’s his decision, she won’t. I can handle Sinclair. If he really wants what’s best for her, he’ll leave.”

“Oh, brother, you are something else.” Jenner chuckled, a wicked sound I’d heard many times before. “Deal. If you win, I’ll take Sinclair home with me.”

It was a mistake. I knew that. Desperation knew no limits though, and I was quickly growing desperate. As the poker game went on, I found myself hoping that I would lose. But I was going to try like hell to win.

* * * *

“I thought you weren’t supposed to be hanging out here anymore,” I said, taking in the cluster of leather-clad youth waiting to get into the busy rock bar.

Jez’s glare was stern as she puffed away on a cigarette. “What do you care? I already have two babysitters breathing down my neck about it. Lay off.”