had plenty of medical supplies that he’d made available to Joel. The back room on the club’s first floor was almost an OR. Mostly because this wasn’t the first time that an attack had occurred on the premises. And since Kingston and his employees didn’t exactly like to report workplace injuries, he’d made a habit of keeping medical gear on hand for emergency situations.
“You heard I lost my last doc, didn’t you?” Kingston murmured as they watched Joel meticulously pull up another stitch.
“You mean the resident that you were slipping cash to treat your crew? I did hear he’d gone to Florida.” She pursed her lips. “That bit of gossip might have reached my ears.”
“That why you brought the new doc with you tonight? You looking to loan him out to me?”
She focused on Kingston. “Joel is not up for loan. He’s my partner.”
A nod. “You just brought him here then…so, what? I’d owe you?”
Yes, actually. One of the reasons.
“How’d you know we’d need his services tonight?”
She had to laugh at his question. “You always wind up needing a doctor at one of your card games.”
Joel’s head whipped toward them. He stared at her. Then his gaze drifted to Kingston.
“I don’t think that your partner likes it when someone else makes you laugh,” Kingston told her.
“That’s a strange thing to say.”
“Is it? Laughter can be a very personal, intimate thing. Especially with a woman like you.”
Joel had gone back to work.
Chloe considered the situation. “I don’t see laughter as intimate at all.”
“In order to laugh, you have to let someone close enough to be able to amuse you. You don’t let many people that close, Chloe.”
“Neither do you.”
“True.”
They watched in silence as Joel finished his stitches. He yanked off the bloody gloves. Tossed them in the trash then leaned down to say something to Jimmy. She couldn’t see his lips so Chloe wasn’t sure what Joel had said, but a moment later, he was striding toward her.
“All done?” Kingston asked. “I’ll assume my employee is no longer in danger of bleeding out?”
“He was never in danger of bleeding out. It looked one hell of a lot worse than it was.” Joel’s hands were fisted at his sides. “Told the asshole he’d better not do anything to rip out my stitches or I’d be pissed as hell.”
“Um, yes, can’t have stitches ripping.” Kingston turned on his heel. “I take it you’re now ready for payment?”
“I don’t want your money—”
Chloe put her hand on Joel’s chest. “He’s not talking about money.”
Joel’s gaze zeroed in on her.
“And, yes,” she continued when Joel didn’t speak up, “we are ready for payment.”
“Then follow me. He’s waiting for you.”
She started to follow—
Joel snagged her wrist. “He?”
“Yes. I expect the payment we’re about to get is the card cheater. And it’s perfect because he’s the man we needed to interrogate.”
Joel shook his head. “How are you so calm? Is this a typical Saturday night for you or something?”
“Yes.”
He blinked.
“We should hurry. I’m not certain how long we’ll have with our suspect before he passes out.”
A muscle jerked along Joel’s clenched jaw. “Why the hell would he pass out?”
Chloe winced. “Because he broke Kingston’s rules.”
***
The club was a freaking maze. Joel followed Chloe and Kingston down a dimly lit hallway, and the next thing he knew…
What. In. The. Hell?
He was in another back room. Only this one wasn’t nearly as clean as his make-shift operating room had been. This place was covered in dust and heavy boxes lined the walls. Right in the middle of the room, sagging in a chair that sat beneath one overly bright light, was the man Kingston had called Eli.
But Eli wasn’t just sporting a broken nose any longer. His eyes were both black. His jaw was swollen. And blood dripped from his busted lip.
“Dammit,” Joel snarled. “Am I supposed to patch him up, too?” He took a step forward.
Kingston lifted a hand and blocked his path. “You have five minutes to talk to him.” His stare remained on Eli. “You will answer their questions honestly. If you lie, Chloe will know. She’ll tell me. I’ll hurt you.”
Eli cracked open his eyes. The narrow slits glared at Joel. “How’d you…know…what I was…”
“I knew you were cheating.” Chloe’s heels tapped across the floor. “Because you were winning more hands than was statistically possible.”
“Bitch…could h-have been…having good n-night…”
“When you lost, it was on a pattern. Too predictable. And you always lost on the smallest pots.”
“Y-you were…g-guessing…”
“I don’t guess,” Chloe informed him. The woman even sounded