Page 47 of Property of Player

She takes it. “Taylor.” She cocks her head. “Are you a hangaround?”

I shrug and giggle to put her at ease. “I guess you could say that. I dance at The Crystal Palace. The MC owns the place. Sometimes it's fun to come up here and hang out. They let me drink for free. What do you do?”

“My mother owns The Rusty Pelican.”

I cock my head. “Never heard of it.”

“It’s down in Dewey Beach.”

“Oh. Do you work there?”

“I’m back in town because she got sick, so I’m helping out.”

“Sorry to hear that. I hope she gets better.”

“Thanks.” She washes her hands and dries them. “Well, nice to meet you.”

“Yeah, you too.”

With that, she tugs the door and walks out.

I return to the pool table and keep a low profile, staying out of sight of the bar around a short wall.

I’d planned to try to get Player drunk tonight and have sex with him, but I can tell that plan has zero hope of working. The only way I’d get that man in bed with me was if I drugged him.

Biting my lip, I consider it. I bet Duck would get me anything I want if I told him it was part of the plan to get the Depraved Sinners what they want when the time comes. If he believes I plan to use it on Gage’s daughter, he’ll give it to me, no problem.

Chapter fourteen

Player

My father sits flipping his Zippo lighter on the bar top, lost in thought and a million miles away.

I take a sip of my beer and lean toward him. “What’s got you distracted?”

I hope it's not my sister. I really don’t want to be put on the spot about last night. The last thing I want to do is tell him where I dragged her out of last night.

“I had another offer on the land south of Millsboro.”

“Granddad’s old farm. How much?”

“They doubled my asking price.”

I whistle. “What the hell do they want that land for? Who are these people?”

He shrugs. “No clue. When Jimmy was handling it, he told me they wished to remain anonymous.”

“That’s fucking weird,” I say.

“He said companies like Walmart do it all the time. They don’t want the seller to increase the price when they find out some big company wants their land.”

“Dad, it’s in the middle of nowhere. They’re not building a Walmart out there.”

“I know that.”

“It’s too far out to even build a subdivision, and it’s not even good farmland from what you told me.”

“Not really. The soil is crap, and it's rocky. About the only thing it's good for is hunting land.”