Hold ’Em Hostage by Jackie Chance Read Free Book Online Page A

hadn’t knowingly seen anything underhanded going on besides a murder here and there, but I was no Pollyanna and the fact it existed didn’t scare me.
    â€œAnd,” Frank continued, “your name keeps cropping up in the tips.”
    â€œWhat!?” I sloshed coffee on my robe as I spun to face him.
    He was wearing his cop face, which softened for a moment as his gaze drifted to where the coffee and cream had landed in my décolletage. “Would you like me to clean that up?”
    Raising my eyebrows, I shook my head and reached for a napkin on the bar. “Considering you’re going to use something other than a towel to do it and we are sharing a suite with others, you might be starting something you can’t finish right now.”
    â€œOh, I promise I can finish it.” He flashed a grin. “Remember, we have a suite to ourselves just floors away. We can be there in minutes.”
    â€œFrank…” I sobered. “I can’t. I have to stay with Shana right now. She’s an emotional basket case.”
    Frank frowned. “Ben’s here with her.”
    I blew out a breath. “And you think my brother is going to help her emotionally ?”
    His frown deepened. “Dammit, Bee, can’t you put us first for once?”
    I cocked my head at him and let his question hang in the silence. All the times he’d had to cancel weekends together because of his mystery missions that I couldn’t know about or he chose not to elaborate on popped up like silent sentries. Over the last year and a half, we might have evolved into an “us” but definitely not one with a capital U . “Come on, Frank. You can’t be serious. It’s not ‘us first’ once in a while. The ‘us’ needs to be first always. Your life is so severely compartmentalized that you wake up each day and prioritize your compartments and sometimes the ‘us’ is first and sometimes it’s last. Sometimes it’s not even on the list.”
    He spun on his heel and turned away from me to stand at the window, looking down at The Strip. “That’s not true.”
    â€œAnd,” I continued, “it’s okay if the ‘us’ is last if you let me into the other compartments every now and then. Because then what you have to do is what we have to do.”
    â€œYou know I can’t do that,” Frank told the window.
    â€œYes, I’m clear on the fact that you can’t. I just don’t know why.”
    I could see Frank wrestling with himself. Nothing about him was easy, except maybe the sexuality he exuded. Whether it was the secrets he kept, the life he led or the hurt he’d endured, he found it difficult to trust. The muscles along his jaw rippled. The knuckles whitened on his coffee cup. He sighed, still looking down at Las Vegas Boulevard. “You know I love you.”
    â€œI do.” And I did. But it might not be enough.
    Finally Frank turned away from the window. “Right now, I just want to find a way to keep you safe.”
    He was prioritizing those life compartments again, but I let it go. A part of me realized I might never know Frank, not completely. I’d pushed as hard as I could right now.
    â€œI might remind you that I asked you to quit playing Hold ’Em. As much as you love your independence, taking my advice might be for the best, at least for right now. Forgo the Main Event and just hang out in Vegas until the Clark County boys clear you to return to Houston. Have a real vacation for once.”
    â€œI have to play,” I murmured, closing my eyes.
    â€œYeah.” Frank kissed the top of my head. “With me.”
    â€œNo, Frank, I really have to go through with the tournament,” I said softly, still avoiding opening my eyes to the intensity I knew was coming.
    â€œHoney Bee, you’re not losing anything if—”
    â€œExcept maybe Affie.”
    â€œWhat?” He