Page 9 of The Game

My phone buzzed with the warehouse office number onscreen. I didn’t answer it.

I’d sat here for an hour. I should be with the other men, being taken down to the basement cages. We were told to come in well ahead of time so we didn’t see the women, but they’d keep us separated until now.

Which made me late.

Still, I’d wanted to wait. I’d wanted to see my angel arrive.

She hadn’t come.

I’d watched a nervous blonde woman approach and be shown in. Then a short and athletic twenty-something. A third had been dropped off by a woman who appeared identical to her but twenty years older, so I guessed her ma. Weird family dynamic, or maybe a healthy one. Who was I to judge? The fourth had been tucking her hair into a chunky braid on her approach as if needing the action of her hands to settle her. But the fifth, my angel, was a no-show.

For a week, I’d stalked her. Just lightly, not giving her any reason for alarm. The woman needed a protector in her life, that was for sure. She had people taking advantage of her all over the place. Her neighbour blocked her parking space. Or he had until I’d smashed his roof and hauled him out of his car for a chat about it. The guy had pissed himself but promised to park better.

Her car had needed a few repairs here and there. I’d done them when she was working or in meetings.

Fixing the problem with her job had been trickier. A wee chat with her colleague had clued me in to her career prospects. She worked horrible hours and had for years. The job she aspired to was blocked by some fuckers too stubborn to retire.

Where there was a will, there was a way.

One woman heard me out. She’d considered retirement but had a savings goal she hadn’t yet met. Money talked louder than any other form of persuasion, and I had a lot of that going for me. I’d paid her off and paved the way for Emmeline to take over her job.

Anything to make my angel’s life easier.

Yet she hadn’t come tonight, which meant I was in a fix. I had never been good at small talk. God knew I wouldn’t be able to charm her in passing. No, this was how we were supposed to officially meet. I’d run to her. Break bones to reach her. Make her mine.

My phone rang again. I snatched it up and answered.

“Get inside,” Shade told me.

What the fuck? I grouched back, “If you knew I was here, why not come and invite me in yourself?”

A knuckle rapped on my window, startling the shite out of me. It was the gang enforcer himself, all in black and grinning at me. He lowered the phone and jacked his thumb to indicate me getting out.

Obliging him, I chucked my phone in the cupholder—it would be confiscated anyway—and left my car.

“Now lock it and give me your keys.”

I hit the button and held them out, annoyed an unreasonable amount. I’d wanted this so badly, but now I was here, my heart was set on something else. Stupid fucking heart.

Shade pocketed my keys and walked away. He knew I’d follow. I had no choice.

“What if I don’t want this anymore?” I called after him.

Weaving between two rows of cars, he shrugged. “Didn’t take ye for nervous.”

“I’m not fucking nervous.”

Abruptly, he stopped and wheeled around. “Ye assured me you’d done the thinking. Ye knew the risks. The rules were good. What gives?”

Something tight coiled in my chest, making it hard to breathe. He was right. I wasn’t an impulsive man. Violent and with dark humour, perhaps, but every move of my career was well thought out. I researched my opponents religiously. I trained hard and ate good food I prepared myself.

That had been my answer to one of his questions. What I had to offer a lass that wasn’t by way of money or my body. I liked to cook. I wanted to be the chef in the relationship. When I’d thought about the game over the past week, all I’d imagined was claiming the shy little doctor and taking her home. Until her promotion, she’d work long hours. I did, too, but not all the time. Either way, I’d make sure she ate well.

From one ten-second glance, I’d made up an entire life with my angel.

I needed therapy. “All of that is still true.”

Shade regarded me. “See the group of men to the right of the doorway over there?”

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