“I don’t cheat,” Dani declared. “I don’t have to.”
Gray waved off Conall’s attempt to deal him in for another hand. “As much as I enjoy getting my ass whipped, I think I’ll sit this one out.”
“If you want to practice discipline, you should watch him,” Ava murmured, tipping her head to indicate Gray. “He’s the only one of you without a single tell.”
Maya rested one elbow on the table and propped her chin on her hand, studying Gray with curious eyes. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure, why not?”
“So, like … Are you a secret serial killer with bodies buried all over Atlanta?”
Conall choked on his beer. “Is he what?”
Maya kept her attention on Gray. “I worked for the VP of Behavior, and she really thought you were trouble. Granted, she also thought Knox was a company man, yet here we are.”
Gray smiled—rare, unrestrained. “Your boss seriously overestimated my industriousness.”
Dani laughed. “Wait, your defense is that you’re too lazy to be guilty of this?”
“Says the actual serial killer,” Luna muttered behind her cards.
“Hey,” Maya said, straightening. “Dani is something else, entirely. She’s an energetic vigilante.”
“I might qualify as a serial killer,” Ava mused.
“Oh, we’re all so surprised,” Rafe snapped, glaring at his cards. “Who do you murder, orphans and grandmas?”
“Only if they run the top criminal organizations in the D.C. area.” Ava tilted her head. “There are two who are grandmothers, now that I think about it, but neither is currently on my list of potential targets.”
Rafe groaned and leaned forward, smacking his forehead lightly against the table. Dani rubbed his back with a soothing noise, then offered him her flask.
“Wait—” Maya started.
It was too late. Rafe took a giant swig, then spit it out all over the table. Maya held up her arms with a squeal as everyone else at the table ducked—except Ava, who watched Dani with renewed interest.
“What the hell is that?” Rafe roared.
“Grain alcohol and spiced rum.” Dani glanced around the table. “What? It’s good.”
Gray grimaced. “It’s lighter fluid.”
“Rookie mistake, man.” Maya shook her head and tried to wipe the liquor from her cards. “Never drink from Dani’s flask. She doesn’t feel pain, remember?”
“Apparently,” Rafe said before draining half his beer.
The banter continued as they started the next hand, but they’d settled into an easy rhythm. Knox left them and paced back to check the machines, which were churning away with agonizing slowness. There was nothing he needed to check. Nothing for him to do. There were no contingencies to consider. No files he could pore over a third or fourth time. Nothing to plan. No concrete actions to take.
Nina had arrived with her mission laid out with admirable precision, but her aggressive confidence had left Knox …
Lost.
He paced the warehouse to check the various machines again, then circled back toward the table. No one seemed to notice Gray as he pushed silently away from the table and came to stand next to Knox.
“Not in the mood to lose your shirt?” he asked.
Knox snorted. “I’ve gambled enough with Ava, I’d say. I don’t like my odds.”
“It’s just as well.” He paused. “I heard Nina tell Maya she was heading upstairs. The roof.”
“Did she seem okay?”
“Not really.” Gray slanted him a look. “You know she’s in love with you, right?”
Knox froze. The words, delivered in Gray’s casual, unhurried drawl, were so unexpected that all he could do was stare. “She … what?”
Gray let his head fall back with a groan. “Look, I know you think Nina’s a saint and everything, but even saints don’t mount million-dollar rescue missions for assholes they hate—or, worse, don’t give a fuck about.”
As far as Knox could tell, Ava was footing most of the expense—a penance she most certainly owed, in Knox’s opinion. But Ava’s money didn’t change the effort involved, or the risk. Or the fact that Nina could have asked Ava for anything—all the supplies she wanted for her library, everything she needed to help her neighborhood …
Instead, she was here. Saving his life. Saving all their lives.
“Oh,” he said.
“Oh,” Gray agreed. “So—if you don’t mind me asking—what the hell are you doing?”
“Honestly, Gray? I don’t fucking know anymore.”
He snorted. “At least you can admit it now, I guess.”
He could. Knox didn’t know what the hell was going on. There was no briefing file to read, no research tasks to assign Conall. No mission objectives, no rules, no way to collect intelligence and make plans. He wasn’t in control of this moment.