Player: Stone Cold MC by Carmen Faye Read Free Book Online Page B

interested in. I don’t want to date, you know that.”
     
    “Sure,” she said, and I imagined her shrugging. “Well, I just want you to be careful. By the sounds of it, you’re on top of things, and that’s all I needed to know. Take care of yourself, okay?”
     
    “I’m going to be fine. You don’t have to keep worrying about me.”
     
    “You know I always will.”
     
    She was the one who hung up first. I put the phone back in its cradle and carried on with the dishes I’d been washing.
     
    She had a point. The guys I attracted were never the good kind. Never like Collin, who had swept my sister off her feet just after my mom had died and given her the fairytale she’d always dreamed of.
     
    But Cass was perfect. She was innocent and pure, and everyone wanted to know her because they felt like they were better people around her. That was why I stayed away. I hated being reminded of the fact that I wasn’t perfect. Next to her, my flaws were emphasized.
     
    Besides, I couldn’t be a housewife the way she was. I couldn’t sit around, watch the kids, and let someone else take care of me. So what if I didn’t know if I could trust Rip? So what if I didn’t know if he was good for the money? I wasn’t going to waste time wondering about what-ifs.
     
    No, my life was exactly what I wanted.
     

CHAPTER EIGHT
     
    I didn’t know how I was going to tell Alex about the final deal with the Crucifix Six. I was in, my foot was in the door, and we could start making our money now. But it had to be damn good money if we wanted to make anything substantial after giving away our sixty percent.
     
    I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing, if I’d made the right call. But I knew that if I hadn’t agreed, I wouldn’t have made it in, and then it was all over. I’d rather have forty percent in our pockets than nothing at all.
     
    It was three days since I met with Tucci at Rumor’s Lounge, and I hadn’t spoken to Alex since. She’d tried to call me a couple of times, but I’d ignored the calls. Like a coward, I’d been avoiding her.
     
    We had a standing arrangement though, so I was going to have to face her at some point. We were meeting for a business lunch, as she called it, so that we could discuss our next move. If it hadn’t been for the fact that the meeting was already set up, I would have had to answer one of her calls.
     
    I really preferred doing this face-to-face. Then I could do some damage control.
     
    The place she chose was a pop-up venue in the local park. They did it the first weekend of every month, apparently, and changed their locations every time. The idea seemed nice if you were into that kind of thing.
     
    I just thought of phoning her to find her in the crowd of people when I spotted her. She wore a light orange tank top, shorts, and white sneakers. Her hair was in a loose braid and she wore very little makeup if any at all. No jewelry either. That was why I hadn’t spotted her before, I realized; she looked completely different than the previous two times I’d seen her.
     
    She looked younger than before and innocent. It was a breath of fresh air, and without all the accessories and makeup, I realized how very beautiful she was.
     
    “Nice of you to come,” she said. The sarcasm was thick in her voice. She may have looked different, but she was still very much the same person.
     
    “Am I late?” I asked, glancing at my phone screen to see the time. She shook her head.
     
    “I just didn’t know if you were still going to show. You haven’t been answering my calls.”
     
    I shrugged. “It’s been rough. I’m sure you know what that’s like.”
     
    She looked at me with that perfect poker face, and I was aware of her lips again. No lipstick. Her natural color, just a bit of gloss to draw attention. And it did. She had all my attention. How was I going to keep this professional if I kept getting caught off guard with how attractive she was?
     
    She gave me a