Page 14 of Smoke

He flips the card over slowly and sets it down. Everyone lets out a collective sigh. I give him a wink. “Lady luck is on your side tonight, buddy.”

“Holy shit! I won again!” He screams as he holds up the ace of spades. He’s so fucking happy, he’s about to cry.

Darla rolls her eyes before she turns around on his lap. It takes him less than ten seconds to unzip his pants and pull his cock out. She seats herself on him and goes to town, riding him hard while the other three players’ eyes bulge out of their sockets.

The other two tables won’t be so lucky tonight.

My hand goes to the gun behind my back as a loud crash erupts from the main room, followed by shouting. “Finish him now, Darla. I gotta go check this out.”

She groans as she fucks him harder. “Come on, baby. Be a good boy and fill me up with your cum.”

“Oh shit,” he rasps. “Fuck, yeah.” He grunts as he thrusts up a few times and lets out a loud moan. “Ahhh. Oh my gawd.”

“All right, let’s go. Time’s up.” I yank Darla off his lap while he’s still cumming. But he doesn’t seem to mind. He finishes releasing into his own hand. “Go clean yourself up and then come find me so I can give you your bonus.”

She nods, her eyes vacant as she saunters down the hall toward the bathroom, indifferent to the cum streaming down her thighs.

I raise my pistol and freeze as soon as I come around the corner. Cherry’s got a piece of broken glass pressed against Hawk’s throat. He looks like he’s about five seconds away from taking it from her and returning the favor.

Here we fucking go.

There aren’t enough curse words in the English language to express my murderous fucking rage right now. A bunch of strange men ogle me from poker tables that are spread out across my living room. But they don’t dare say a word.

“Are you out of your fucking mind?” It takes me less than ten seconds to assess what’s going on, grab a beer bottle, break it, and pin Hawk against the wall. I press one of its fragmented shards against the base of his throat.

He glares down at me as if I’m the one who’s done something wrong. “Put it down and let’s go talk about this outside.”

“You’ve turned my apartment, my sacred space, into an illegal gambling den. Now all these vile pieces of shit know what the inside of my place looks like. They know the exits, what rooms are where, and what brand of fucking tampons I have in the bathroom,” I grit out as I dig the shard in a little deeper. Just enough to draw a tiny droplet of blood.

“They also know who you run with and that we aren’t to be fucked with. So calm the fuck down before you give yourself an embolism.” He leans into the pressure, daring me to stab the shard straight through. No fear.

“Careful, Hawk. You remember what happened the last time I had a sharp object on you?” My gaze flits to his scar. Out of my peripheral, I can see Omen and Scarrow closing in. They’re about ten steps away from tackling me. But until then, I’m not backing down.

“I remember that it didn’t end well for you after.” Hawk wraps a hand around my wrist, applying light pressure with his thumb. He’s toying with me. Pressing any harder will force my hand open. The shard will drop to the floor and I will be the one in trouble.

“Is that what this is about? Tit for tat?” It’s the same old song and dance. We trade our licks, push each other to the edge, and then tap out before any real fucking damage ensues.

He smirks while still glaring with those cold dead eyes. “We needed a spot to run the event tonight. That’s it. Our place is compromised… It’s a lotta money, Cherry.” He leans in closer, taking the jagged edge into his flesh another centimeter. “But it’s just a dent in what you owe us,” he whispers in my ear. “It barely scratches the surface.”

I shudder as his warm breath tickles my ear. It sends a shiver down my spine. I try not to imagine what his lips would feel like. We came close once. Too close for my daddy’s liking. He caught us in the game room one night, pressed up against the pool table, our faces inches away from each other… We weren’t allowed to be alone in a room together for weeks after that.

Eventually, we cooled off and convinced him he was overreacting. That there was nothing but stepsibling love between us. I think he even gaslit himself at one point and chalked it up to being tired and overworked. Like he imagined it or something. But deep down, all three of us knew that sins were being committed. Even without a physical act, the dirty thoughts persisted… Fuck. I’m having them right now.

I take a deep breath and start to lay into him again when I’m grabbed from behind. “What the fuck?” I yell.

“You’ve had your fun. Enough is enough,” Scarrow barks. He yanks my head back and wraps another massive arm around my waist just as Hawk digs his thumb hard into the inside of my wrist, forcing me to drop the makeshift weapon as I knew he would. “Fuck you. Let me go.”

“Nah, not until you stop causing a fucking scene,” Scarrow snarls in my ear as he drags me down the hall.

“Show’s over. Get back to your events,” Omen orders. He gives me a smug look before I disappear into the back bedroom with Scarrow.

He tosses me on the bed. “You gonna behave?”

I whip around, snarling like a rabid dog on all fours. “You have no right. This is my apartment.”

He leans against the door, his arms crossed over his chest. His biceps are so fucking big they barely fold. And my god are they sexy with all that ink… “We got issues, you and me. Big fucking issues. I mean, are you actually fucking okay in the head?” The sarcasm drips from his tone. “You see, you seem to forget that I helped cover up the fact that you murdered three people.”

My heart sinks. Fuck. My fingers start to tremble. Every time I think of that night. Before they got there. What those pigs did to me. “You think I killed them for fun?” I cry.