Smashed (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #8.5)

“You’re not going to sleep at all today, are you?” Jenner asked knowingly.

“Not likely. Help me pass the time.” I grabbed a deck of cards from the small side table next to my chair and tossed it at Jenner. “Shuffle those.”

“Hey, I didn’t say that I wasn’t going to sleep,” he protested, though he shook the cards from the pack anyway.

“If I can’t sleep, then you can’t sleep.” I grinned. “Texas hold ’em?”

Jenner shuffled the deck of cards with a dramatic flair. The cards moved between his hands with a precision even a Vegas magician couldn’t match.

“Are we making this interesting?” The glint of mischief in Jenner’s eyes was worrisome.

I raised a brow. “Don’t go there, Jenner. Whatever you’re thinking, no way.”

“When did you become such a *?” he challenged. “I guess you don’t think you can beat me after the way I spanked you in Vegas.”

His taunting laughter brought forth a less than savory memory. The crap he’d pulled on Alexa and me in Vegas had been both clever and downright nasty. We had turned his own game against him, but it had come at a price. Jenner might feel he had come out of that worse off than we had, but it was no great joy to me that Alexa had enchanted him. It was something I didn’t even know she could do until I saw her do it to Sinclair.

Too many memories.

“Have you forgotten how the rest of that played out?” I asked with the barest hint of gloating.

“Do you want to play cards or not?” he demanded.

“I do.”

“Then let’s make it interesting.” Jenner’s insistence was annoying. It almost made me reconsider.

“How so?” I didn’t want to know what he was thinking. Still I wasn’t all that surprised at his request.

“If I win, you let me take a run at Alexa’s sister.” His face lit up with a devilish delight.

For a moment I debated on tossing the cards onto the floor and saying fuck it. It was times like this that reminded me why Jenner and I had butted heads so much. He could be a good guy, but he could also be an antagonistic prick.

“You’re a real asshole, you know that?” I grabbed my cards and appraised them. Two aces. I could work with that. “If you win, you can ask her out. No manipulation. She either accepts you or rejects you all on her own. Got it?”

Jenner considered my stipulations and then nodded. “Sounds fair.”

“I mean it, Jenner. No enthralling Juliet.” I ignored his dismissive wave and kept talking. “If I win, I want you to take Sinclair back to Las Vegas with you.”

He looked up from his cards in surprise. “You really are going mad, aren’t you? I hope you’re not really delusional enough to think he’ll just happily hop on a plane. Fuck, Alexa would kill you.”

I clenched my jaw and glowered. “Not if it’s his decision, she won’t. I can handle Sinclair. If he really wants what’s best for her, he’ll leave.”

“Oh, brother, you are something else.” Jenner chuckled, a wicked sound I’d heard many times before. “Deal. If you win, I’ll take Sinclair home with me.”

It was a mistake. I knew that. Desperation knew no limits though, and I was quickly growing desperate. As the poker game went on, I found myself hoping that I would lose. But I was going to try like hell to win.

* * * *

“I thought you weren’t supposed to be hanging out here anymore,” I said, taking in the cluster of leather-clad youth waiting to get into the busy rock bar.

Jez’s glare was stern as she puffed away on a cigarette. “What do you care? I already have two babysitters breathing down my neck about it. Lay off.”

I held my hands up in surrender, having no desire to engage with the feisty werecat. “No need to rip my head off. Just trying to show some friendly concern.”

We stood in the parking lot of The Spirit Room, the popular rock club where Jez had told me to meet her. It was relatively early in the evening, yet the line to get in already stretched down the block.

“Sorry,” she grumbled, dropping the cigarette and crushing it beneath her heel. “I’m just a little testy these days. Withdrawal is a bitch.”

“So you’ve been ok then?” It was difficult to make conversation with her. I wasn’t usually one on one with Alexa’s friends. I knew Jez well enough to know she loved Alexa like a sister. And she could hold her own in a fight. In a tense situation like this one, I didn’t quite know what to say.

“I’ve had better days,” she said, pulling a cell phone from her pocket. “I slipped a few times. Just a little. Alexa doesn’t know that. Anyway,” she glanced up from the screen, “she’s expecting me soon. Are you ready?”