Black Jack (Advantage Play #5) - Kelsie Rae Page 0,50

Tipping the bottle back, she chugs the rest of it down her long, slender throat, then hands it back to me.

“Rough day?” I ask once she’s finished.

She doesn’t answer but gives me a subtle nod.

“Me too,” I return.

With her elbow on the back of the couch and her feet tucked under her ass, she rests her head in her hand, and just…looks at me with an understanding that tells me I’m not alone. That I can trust her. The combination is so natural that it makes my chest ache.

“Why was your day rough, Jacky Boy?” she asks, clearly more invested in my issues than her own. Or maybe she’s deflecting and isn’t ready to open up to me quite yet. And that’s okay too. As long as she keeps tossing little crumbs of trust my way, then I’ll give her as much time as she needs.

Replaying the conversation with Kingston for the thousandth time, I rub my hand across my face. “I’m being kept in the dark.”

As if my words have the weight of a wet blanket, she freezes and pulls back a few inches away from me. “W-what do you mean?”

“My old colleagues who are working Reed’s case won’t tell me what’s going on. The only information I have is the shit on the news, and it’s worthless. I even called Embry today, digging for information, but he refuses to tell me anything, either. I just….” I drop my head back to the couch and stare up at the ceiling. “My entire future is riding on this, but I feel like I’ve already lost.”

Her dainty little hand squeezes my thigh. But it isn’t sexual. It’s comforting. “What do you mean?”

Raising my head, I look over at her. “I’m scared that even if Reed gets put in prison for the rest of his life, I’ll still be looked at like the dirty cop.” Then I laugh dryly. “But they’ll be right. Because once everything settles, I will be a dirty cop. I’ll be in Kingston’s back pocket for the rest of my career.”

“You agreed to that?” Her eyes widen in surprise.

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

This is dangerous territory and incriminating as shit. If I were smart, I’d keep my mouth shut, but apparently I can’t help myself when I’m around her.

“Kingston was going to kill your brother, but I traded my loyalty in exchange for his life so that he could testify against Reed and clear my name.”

“But in order for Dominic to agree, you had to marry me,” she surmises.

“Yeah.”

“Seems like you’ve been making a few deals lately.”

“Seems that I have.”

“And do you regret them?” she whispers, peeking up at me through those thick, dark lashes.

Good question.

She’s not the only one who’s curious. I’ve asked myself the same thing a thousand times. But I’ve never known the answer until now.

“No. I don’t regret them, Bianca. But I’m sorry you were dragged into a situation you wanted to steer clear of.” Cupping her cheek, I rub my thumb along the thick makeup that I know camouflages her birthmark. The one she’s so ashamed to claim that anytime I take in her flawless complexion, I’m riddled with loss. Because she doesn’t see what I see every time I look at her. Her flawless complexion only serves as a reminder that she’s hiding herself from me. It makes the tiny breadcrumbs of trust that she’s given me seem meaningless because she’s still too terrified to open up and show me who the real Bianca is when she isn’t wearing a mask.

And every time she covers her birthmark, it proves that’s exactly what she’s doing even if she refuses to admit it to herself.

Unable to help myself, I lean in a little closer and breathe in her unique scent. It’s a combination of expensive perfume and her own natural pheromones that manage to drive me crazy anytime we’re in the same room together.

It’s the latter that really does me in though.

I run my thumb against her cheek again. “Why don’t you go take off your makeup, get into some pajamas or something, and meet me back here? Then we can watch a few movies, get drunk off our asses, and just…not think for a bit.”

She pulls away from my touch but doesn’t stand up. “I can watch a few movies, get drunk off my ass, and not think for a bit with my makeup still on, Jacky Boy.”

I’d back off if it weren’t for the look in her eyes and the indecision that seeps from her pores