Colorado 01 The Gamble by Kristen Ashley Read Free Book Online Page A

living room. The dirty sheets were on the floor.
As the advertisement said, washer and drier but also a bunch of man
stuff that needed to be organized.
    I let that stuff be. I put the sheets in the
washer.
    I packed my bags and decided that Max could
have the groceries. He and Becca and the unknown Mindy could have a
party. I didn’t care. I was out of there.
    Then I poured myself another cup of coffee
and found the phonebook. It was thin; I’d never seen a phonebook so
thin.
    I realized why it was thin when I looked up
taxi companies. There was only one. But one was enough.
    I went to Max’s phone, pulled it out of the
receiver and punched in the number.
    “Thrifty’s,” a woman answered.
    “Hello, my name is Ms. Sheridan and I need a
taxi to town.”
    There was a pause and then, “Nina?”
    My body jolted and then I froze with the
phone to my ear.
    “Hello?” the voice called.
    “Um… yes?”
    “This Nina?”
    “How do you know who I am?”
    “Welp, Max called, said a lady with a fancy
accent by the name of Nina would call, askin’ for a taxi. You’re a
lady with a fancy accent and you’re askin’ for a taxi. Get some of
those callin’ with British accents, not a lot. So I’m takin’ a wild
guess. You Nina?”
    I wondered if I could make it to Denver then
to England before anyone discovered Max’s body. Then I wondered if
anyone would bother with extradition if they figured out it was me
who did the deed. That was a lot of paperwork for one big, tall,
domineering, jerky mountain man. Then I wondered, considering Max
was so tall and big, how I’d kill him.
    Then I decided, poison.
    Then I answered, “Yes, I’m Nina.”
    “Max said you been down with flu, girl, you
need to rest,” the woman advised me.
    “I thought I’d check into a hotel room in
town.”
    She hooted in my ear but said no actual
words.
    “What?” I asked.
    “Girl, Holden Maxwell quarantined me to his
house and he was in it, I wouldn’t go lookin’ for no hotel
room.”
    I felt my brows draw together. “Who’s Holden
Maxwell?”
    “Who’s Holden Maxwell?” she repeated.
    “Yes. Who’s Holden Maxwell?”
    “Girl, you’re livin’ with him.”
    His name was Holden? What kind of name was
that? No wonder he called himself Max.
    I decided not to ask about the origins of
Max’s name or explain the fact that I was not living with him and told her, “Well, he isn’t
actually here, so I’m quarantined alone.”
    “Oh, he’ll be back.”
    I didn’t doubt that.
    “Since you probably know where he lives,
will you please send a taxi?” I asked.
    “Nope,” she answered.
    I was silent a beat, mostly shock, a little
anger then I repeated, “Nope?”
    “Nope.”
    “Why not?”
    “’Cause Max says you need to rest.”
    Yes, definitely poison.
    “I’ll pay double.”
    “You still gotta rest.”
    I was seeing red again, I ignored it and
offered, “I’ll pay triple.”
    “Triple shmiple. You gotta rest.”
    “Listen –”
    “Come into town with Max when you’ve
recovered. I’ll buy you a beer.”
    Did she just tell me she’d buy me a beer?
How did we get from me ordering a taxi to her buying me a beer?
    “What?” I asked.
    “Name’s Arlene. Come to The Dog. Show you
the town only locals know.”
    “But –”
    “Gotta go. Get some rest, you hear?”
    Then she hung up.
    I stood staring at the phone buzzing at me.
Then I beeped it off and put it in the receiver.
    The internet advertisement didn’t say
word one about nutty
townspeople. Not word one . If
it did, I definitely would not have hit “book now”.
    I looked back through the phonebook. No more
taxi companies. There were three rental agencies but they rented
ATVs and snow mobiles. I didn’t think that would help.
    It was either walk, when I felt like taking
a nap, or I was stuck.
    Which meant I was stuck.
    Which meant I needed to take a nap so I
could be energized and clearheaded when I plotted Holden
Maxwell’s murder.
    Before that, I had one