Player: Stone Cold MC by Carmen Faye Page B

next weekend,” I said.
     
    Harry shook his head and walked around the table, coming so close to me we almost bumped chests.
     
    “Mr. Reeker, I don’t think you understand. You just signed a contract. If you don’t show up, we are going to take further action.”
     
    “It’s just a game,” I said, and I felt small all of a sudden, even though I was taller than Harry.
     
    “And sixty percent of the money you win in that game is ours. So you had better show up if you want this deal to go anywhere. If you want to stay in town.”
     
    It was a threat if I ever heard one. I swallowed and nodded. I was going to have to do this now. Of course, I could just leave Cali, leave it all behind. But the idea that there was a lot of money… and I was in with a very large group of high rollers…this opportunity only came once in a lifetime.
     
    If I was wise I would milk it. And I’d crossed paths with scum before. I could handle myself.
     
    “I’ll be there,” I said.
     
    Harry smiled.
     
    “Send Tucci my regards,” I said. The smile on Harry’s face faded, but I let myself out and walked away from him. I decided I didn’t like him.
     
    When I was out in the road again, I realized what I’d just done. I’d said yes to something I wasn’t going to be able to do without Alex. And I needed her to teach me how to play this game the right way if I wanted to keep my promise, my reputation, and my money.
     
    I took a deep breath, dialed her number, and waited for her to pick up.
     

CHAPTER NINE
     
    She wasn’t answering her phone. I needed her. I needed her to teach me how to play this damn game so that I could actually take part in a high-stakes game. I was in over my head, and this had all been my own fault. Not just because this so-called scam, which was starting to feel like less and less of a scam on my part, was my idea, but also because I’d gotten mixed up with people I didn’t know well enough.
     
    I’d assumed I knew what to expect because I knew the Stone Cold Club well enough. I assumed that being part of the club would have prepared me for being part of anything else.
     
    I hadn’t considered that I’d been in a favorable position with the Stone Cold Club, and I hadn’t once imagined that I wasn’t good enough to play this game.
     
    They’d sprung me from prison. Me instead of Emmett. I thought that meant I was good enough to make anything work. I’d just realized that all it meant was that Emmett never had been.
     
    She still didn’t answer the phone. How many times had I rung her now? Enough to sound like a stalker. Dammit. I had to make another plan to find her. I didn’t know the city; I didn’t know anyone in town; I didn’t know where I was even going to start looking for her.
     
    A black BMW pulled up next to me. It had tinted windows, and my first reaction was to start running. Ominous cars with tinted windows usually had a gun barrel on the other end of it and bullseye painted on the back of my head.
     
    The window slowly rolled down, and I would have figured it was too late if hadn’t been for the fact that it was the driver’s window, not the back window. It wasn’t a rule that they were going to kill me from the back window, but it was a good rule of thumb.
     
    Ted, whose surname I never found out, sat staring out at me with a grin like we were the best of friends. And there was no one in L.A. that I was happier to see right then.
     
    “Teddy, my man,” I said. “Brilliant to see a familiar face.”
     
    He chuckled and gestured his head to the passenger seat next to him. I didn’t hesitate. I walked over to the passenger side, opened the door, and slid into the leather seats. The car was nice, as far as cars went, but it wasn’t top of the line.
     
    Still, it was a good set of wheels.
     
    “So, I hear you’ve been getting into trouble,” Ted said. He pulled into traffic and crawled down the road like a snail. This ride was all about the image and not