Soren shut his eyes briefly and prayed to any rudimentary gods that Rafferty was in a good mood tonight.
Leaning forward, Rafferty squinted hard at Toby. The longer the silence stretched, the quieter the card game across the room seemed to get. After what felt like a century, Rafferty slumped back in his chair and let out a loud guffaw. “Who the fuckareyou?”
Toby laced his fingers primly on the table. “Dr. Tobias Eastman.”
Rafferty gave no indication the name meant anything to him. His gaze shifted to Soren. “And you?”
“His cousin.” Soren offered a close-lipped smile.
“Bullshit. Try again.”
The spiky-haired guy who’d led them to the room dipped low and whispered in Rafferty’s ear. Rafferty’s gaze returned to Soren and lingered, his eyes hardening, before moving back to Toby.
For the first time that night, adrenaline flooded Soren’s body and tensed his shoulders. He didn’t like the predatory gleam dancing in the guy’s eyes, and after a few mental calculations, he decided the odds were decent that he could be across the table and do some damage to Rafferty’s throat before one of Rafferty’s men could whip out a gun and shoot him. That would give Toby time to—
“Soren Warner,” Rafferty drawled.
Soren lifted his hand as if answering roll call. “That’s me.”
“Heard about you.” With that simple acknowledgement, Rafferty flicked his attention back to Tobias. “You offed Killeen.”
“I did.” Toby’s serene confirmation had Soren’s cock taking notice. He hadn’t given the doc enough credit for being calm under pressure. In fact, Soren wasn’t sure Toby felt any sense of pressure whatsoever, which was even more interesting.
“And now, you’ve come to ask me to remove the price from your head. That’s correct?” Rafferty continued.
“Correct.”
Rafferty barked another laugh. “And is it also true you both came here unarmed?”
“It is,” Soren jumped in.
“Christ.” Rafferty’s grin widened to unsettling Cheshire-cat proportions and then erased itself abruptly. He cocked his head at Toby as he thumbed in the direction of the cuffed guy who appeared on the verge of passing out. “I’m thinking you might look good next to my friend over there.”
“I don’t play poker.” Toby shrugged.
“But you like gambling.” It wasn’t a question.
“Sometimes.” Toby smiled. “I know a good deal about your operations and some of the men you’ve got under your thumb. Sometimes, the house loses. That’s the sort of gambling I like.”
Rafferty exhaled a quiet laugh through his nose. “This has been an entertaining night.” With a tick of his chin, two of his men stepped closer. Soren leaned forward in his chair, muscles coiled tight and ready to spring. “I didn’t put a hit on you, though I’m starting to see why someone would. I wasn’t sorry to see Killeen go. Rumor has it he was on some sort of list floating around.” His flinty gaze pinned Soren. “You wouldn’t know anything about that sort of list, would you?”
Soren shrugged. “I know enough to know your name’s not on it.” It was a truth he hoped would get them back out the door, though he and Rafferty both knew it didn’t mean dick in their world. By nature of his position, Rafferty was a perennial target.
Rafferty narrowed his eyes in Toby’s direction. “If I find out any more of my men are patients of yours in the future—and I will—you won’t have to worry about them because I’ll take care of them myself.” Rafferty flicked two fingers toward the door. “See yourselves the fuck out and don’t come back ever again.”
Once they were back in the main room, Toby nudged Soren’s shoulder. “Want a drink?”
Soren stared at Toby for a long moment before cracking up. “Goddamn, you really are fucking out of your mind. No, I don’t want a drink. Typical etiquette is that when the mob lets you live and tells you to get the fuck out, it’s a good idea to take those next steps and”—he gestured toward the front door—“get the fuck out.”
“Key point is that he let us live,” Toby pointed out. “And also, I’m thirsty. Besides, you were curious what I’d order earlier, weren’t you?”
“I already guessed what you’d order,” Soren said, but he let Toby lead them toward the bar regardless and felt every inch of the doctor’s body heat against him when they squeezed into a bit of real estate near the end of the bar.
“I never confirmed it.” Toby’s smile was charmingly coy for a man who’d just narrowly avoided death.
Soren wondered if he realized it. Probably so. Why did that thought turn him on, too?
He waved the bartender off, checked a message from Ronin on his phone, and then tucked it away. He tilted his head at Tobias when he ordered one of the locally-made beers on draft. “Isn’t that a little lowbrow?”
