Seven Card Stud (Stacked Deck Book 7) Read online

  “But he’s just a pup.” William looks me up and down. “Just a baby.”

  “You got a sister, William?” I tilt my head to the side. Lift a brow. “You got a mom?”

  “My mom’s a junkie whore.”

  “Oh,” my own mom squeaks.

  That’s not the answer either of us were expecting.

  “I have a sister,” he continues. “She’s off-limits.”

  “So how about you speak of my sister the way you expect folks to speak of yours?”

  “So, not at all?”

  I nod. “We have an understanding. Welcome to Stacked Deck, William Quinn. I hope you get your head smashed in.”

  “You can call me Will.” He extends a hand, and squeezes when I take it. “Future champion.”

  “Jamie Kincaid.” I squeeze back. “Future pain in your ass if you come around my sister again.”

  Cam

  Weighed In

  I sit on the single queen-sized bed in the middle of a run-down hotel room that charges twenty-five dollars a night for the luxury of paper-thin walls, zero water pressure in the shower, and vermin… though of course, we’re used to those at this point in our lives. The bed is lumpy, and the covers are supposed to be floral print, but mostly they’re covered with questionable stains. But if I ignore those, and never strip down naked, thus preventing the filthy fabric from ever touching my skin, I’ll be fine and fit enough to live another day.

  Feet on the bed, knees up, and my back against the wall, I scroll through my social media, and wait for Will to come back from the gym.

  Because the Rollin On Gym is going to change our lives.

  “Oh look, Darcy got busted for dealing.” I speak to myself, scrolling past the post his mom made about how it wasn’t her baby’s fault, yada yada yada. “And Lara is pregnant.” The things you miss when you’ve been out of town for… twelve hours. “Oh, there’s a Terminator Tournament being held this Friday.” Will is gonna be pissed about that.

  “Come on, baby.”

  I glance to my left, toward the single filthy window that leads to the rickety balcony walkway outside.

  “Let’s go have a shower,” the voice continues, “then we can head out again.”

  “I don’t feel so good, Daddy.”

  I toss my phone at the unexpected tinkling voice. I was thinking a dude was taking his woman into a room, into a shower. So I was expecting a grown woman’s voice in reply. Instead, I race to the window and catch sight of a fighter – I can spot the build anywhere – carrying a little girl to the door of the room right beside ours.

  For just a second, our eyes meet — mine and the girl’s — through the dirty window. She’s green, sweaty, and miserable. But I lift my hand and give a little finger wave.

  The girl watches me while her dad unlocks the flimsy door. Her whiskey-colored eyes flicker over my face, but when I smile, she turns away and buries her face in his neck. “I think I’m gonna be sick again, Daddy.”

  “Hold it in. Please, baby, hold it in for just a second more.” He wiggles the keys with desperation, grunts when the door refuses to budge, then shoulder-barges his way in just as soon as the key turns.

  The door slams with a resounding crack that shakes our wall, and then the pathetic sounds of retching reach my ears through the thin walls, and my heart sighs for the sick little girl.

  “Get it up, Lyssy. Get it all up.”

  “I don’t like it,” she wails, letting out loud, keening sobs, and then a little more spew. “Daddy.”

  “I know, baby. Daddy is so sorry. Let me get you some water.”

  I already checked the taps. The toilet flushes, but the sink does not work. When I realized that about three hours ago, I took a walk to Main Street and found a store. I bought snacks, a few tins of baked beans, a loaf of bread, and…

  I walk across my room and take a bottle of water from the twelve-pack I carted back on my shoulder. It’s a good thing it’s not summer, because the walk is an incline, and the water was heavy.

  Moving out of my room and over to the next, I hold the bottle close to my chest and pray this fighter isn’t a dick like most are.

  Apart from Will, I’m not sure I’ve ever met a humble fighter. But then again, apart from him, I’m not sure I’ve ever met a decent man… at all.

  Will is going to kick my ass if he finds out I knocked on a stranger’s door. But that little girl looked so sad, and I know the taps don’t work. So unless “Daddy” is going to scoop water out of the toilet…

  I knock on the door and wait.

  The noise inside the room stops. Even the girl — the sobbing, out of control little girl — cuts her noise off with a snap, and the creaking of floorboards ceases.

  “I’m just a chick,” I call out, because I know what it’s like to live in an area where you don’t want folks knocking on your door when it’s dark out. “I’m not a threat to you. I’m staying in the room next door, and I heard your little girl throwing up.”

  I cast a glance to my right, to a massive fighter standing at a door all the way at the opposite end of the balcony. His chest is large, and his fists balled as he stands in front of a light and watches my every move.

  “I’m gonna leave a bottle of water here on the ground,” I say for my neighbor. “It’s untampered with. Unopened. I promise. But you have to be fast, because there are some dudes out here who might wanna create a bong from the bottle.”

  The door swings open to reveal a fighter a few years older than me. He looks about Will’s age, but not quite as big. Dark hair, dark eyes, a terrifying expression like he’s about to kill me for disturbing his peace. But then he looks me up and down, and softens.

  At the sound of footsteps on the walkway, he pokes his head out the door to find the guy from the end heading in our direction. Folding fast, he snatches up the water, then drags me into his room and slams the door.

  “Dude!” I lift my fists and try to remember the things Will has taught me over the years. “I think maybe you’ve gotten the wrong idea.”

  “I’m not gonna hurt you.”

  He turns away with the bottle of water and takes it to his little girl, who stands at the door of the bathroom. Cracking the bottle open, he sniffs the contents, then chugs a quarter of it, and waits a moment.

  I guess I pass the test, because he gives the bottle to the girl and brushes her sweaty hair off her face. “Have some water, baby. It’ll make your throat feel better.”

  “It hurts,” she rasps out. “My froat, Daddy.”

  “I know, baby. Drink up.” He helps her lift the bottle. Speaking a little louder, he says, “You shouldn’t be knocking on stranger’s doors.” He looks over his shoulder and studies me. “You’re a minor, no?”

  I fold my arms over my chest in an effort to hide my nerves. “I’m seventeen.”

  “Too young to be in this hotel, for starters. Too naïve to be left alone. You shouldn’t have knocked on my door.”

  “I saw your daughter,” I murmur. “She was sick, and I had water.”

  “I appreciate that. But now you’re on that guy’s radar. You’re on mine, too, and you have no clue who I am.”

  “You’re a dad.” I look to the girl, and fake a smile when she studies me. “And she’s cute. So there’s that.”

  “Maybe I stole her. Maybe the cops are looking for us, and now you’re gonna have to be disposed of.”

  “She has your eyes.”

  He holds his composure for a moment, serious and formidable, but then he loses it and looks away with a chuckle. “She sure does.”

  Standing, he tucks the girl against his side and rests his hand on her shoulder. “Miles Walker. And this is Alyssa.”

  Instead of stepping forward and offering a hand, I only tighten my arms and nod. “I’m Cameron, but people call me Cam.”

  “You’re a minor, you’re in a seedy hotel around fighters… Are you looking to become a statistic?”

  “Um… no.” I jab a thumb over my shoulder. “I�
�m here with one of the fighters. He’s… uh, Will… he’ll be back soon.”

  “He told you to stay in your room, didn’t he?”

  I shrug. “He’s gonna be mad if I’m not there when he gets back.”

  “You said his name is Will?”

  I nod again.

  “What’s your last name?”

  “Why? Are you a criminal looking to steal from us?”

  He snorts. “No, I’m a dude who’s gonna look for Will when I get to the gym, then I’m gonna remind him not to leave you in a dive hotel all alone. He left, he trusted you to be good, and now you’re inside another man’s room, and hell, what if I was that other dude?” He extends a hand toward the walkway. “He wouldn’t be gentle.”

  “I can take care of myself.” I lift my chin in defiance. “I live in the ghetto. You and that other guy wouldn’t be the first I’ve had to dismember.”

  “Yeah?” He lifts a brow. “We all think we’re invincible when we’re your age, but we’re not. We’re flesh and blood, we’re flawed. You’re not immune to bad things finding you. Thanks for the water.” He squeezes his daughter tight and flattens his lips. “But please don’t knock on any more doors. You got lucky this time, but it would gut me to see you on the six o’clock news after guys like that,” again, he points to the door, “get their hands on you. You seem like a good kid. I want you to stay one, naiveté and all. Now come on, I’ll walk you back to your room.”

  He picks his daughter up and holds her on his hip, then, moving around me, he cracks the door open and looks outside to make sure the guy along the way isn’t nearby.

  When Miles deems it safe, he opens the door the rest of the way and lets me out. “Go inside.” He follows me to my door. “Put a chair under the handle, and do not open your door for anyone that you don’t know. Am I making myself clear?”

  Without waiting for my answer, he opens my door and pushes me inside, but before I can close him out, he pops his foot in my room and peeks into the corners. “Are you safe with Will?” he murmurs. “Is your fighter the good kind who is taking care of you, or the kind you need to get away from?”

  I pull my bottom lip between my teeth and smile. “He’s the best kind. He left me because I promised to stay here and be good. He figured it’d be safer than if I went to the gym with him.”

  “He was wrong. Because with his back turned, it would take only minutes for the guy at the end to ruin your life in the most traumatizing way.”

  “You think you get to be a hero?” I stand taller and meet his eyes. Because I’m a stubborn jerk, I guess. “You think you’re my knight in shining armor?”

  “I have a daughter.” He hugs Alyssa tighter. “It’s my job to make this world safer for all women. Stay inside, be safe.”

  Twenty minutes after he slams my door closed, and after the shower next door has been turned on, then off, headlights shine across the parking lot outside as Miles and his daughter leave for the gym. Only a few minutes after that, Will stomps up the stairs, and walks from the direction that means he has to pass the room of the guy on the end.

  It’s strange that I know Will from the sound his boots make on the ground, but I guess when you literally only have one person on this planet, you know their every defining feature.

  I’m sitting on the bed again, my back against the wall, my phone once more in my hand, as Will’s shadow pauses outside the door.

  I frown at his hesitation, and toss my phone down when the door remains closed, but before I can get up to investigate, the flimsy timber creaks open, and Will steps in with shadowed eyes and firm lips in defense of the biting cold that rushes in.

  “Bubbles.”

  He catalogues me from head to toe while he closes up and shivers in his coat. His eyes stop for a minute on mine as he plucks the beanie from his head and tosses it to the couch he thinks he’ll be sleeping on.

  No way is he sleeping on that thing, when there’s a perfectly good cum-stained bed here. I’ll sleep on the couch; I’m shorter, I’m lighter, and I’m not fighting this week.

  “Have a good afternoon?” he questions as he takes off his coat and tosses it to the couch. “You stayed in like I said?”

  “Uh huh.” I look to the bag of chips on the counter, at my blaring lie, and amend, “Well, I went to the store earlier. It was daylight, and the hotel was still basically empty, so I didn’t really see anyone.”

  “Mm,” he grunts from the back of his throat as he toes his boots off.

  The snow is already falling; the chill bites through the window and my jeans. But the room isn’t so bad. There are cum stains, and no water, but there’s a heater bolted to the wall, which is a sad step up from our usual living arrangements.

  “You didn’t go out other than that?” he presses.

  “Er… nope.” I bound up from the bed and shake a can of beans. “Dinner?”

  “Cameron.” Will’s cutting tone should be my first hint that I’m in big trouble. “Turn around and look at me.”

  “Hm?” I face the sink instead, and begin peeling the lid off the baked beans. “What’s up?”

  “Miles Walker is a fighter. He’s also our next-door neighbor, and he left a note on our door.”

  I spin to find a torn piece of paper in Will’s hand. “That snitch!”

  “You knocked on a stranger’s door, Bubbles! What the fuck is wrong with you?”

  “Alyssa was vomiting. They had no water. We do!” I turn to the packet and snatch a bottle for him. “She’s, like… I don’t even know! Two years old? She was sick, and I knew she’d want water.”

  “So you knock on a stranger’s door and expect not to die?”

  “He had a little girl.” I set the bottle on the counter and broaden my shoulders. “I won’t apologize for helping a sick little girl.”

  “You’re fucking lucky that this dude was decent, because if he wasn’t, you wouldn’t be here right now. I’d have gotten back to our room, spent the next six years looking for your fucking body, then gone to prison when I found out who hurt you.”

  “I’m clearly fine. I didn’t knock on every door, just the one, and I gave him a bottle of water, then I left.”

  “Did you or did you not go into his room?”

  “Oh my god, how much did he snitch?”

  I storm forward and snatch the paper from Will’s hands. Unfolding it with fast, jerking movements, I stop barely short of tearing the thin sheet in half.

  To William in Room 13.

  My name is Miles Walker. I’m staying in 12. I met Cam today. I’m an honorable man, I didn’t touch her, and I told her off for knocking on doors. She gave me water for my little girl.

  Thank you for that.

  I sent Cameron back to your room, but the dude in room 3 got a good look at her first. Keep an eye on that situation, because not all guys are gonna let her walk away untouched. She’s young, and some pricks are into that kinda thing.

  She said you didn’t take her to the gym because you figured it would be unsafe. I suggest from now on, you tie a kiddie leash to her wrist, and take her where you go.

  Come talk to me if you have questions. But if you’re coming to cause trouble because you think I wasn’t honorable while she was in my room, then don’t.

  Don’t bring trouble to my daughter. I won’t lay down.

  Other than that, I’m looking for peace and quiet. I won’t be a problem for you. If I see Cameron up to no good again this week, I’ll be sure to send her home.

  See you around. She said you’re a heavyweight, so we won’t meet in the cage.

  Miles in 12.

  “He told you every damn thing!”

  “Makes him a decent man,” Will grumbles. “He knew that, by having talked to you, he could invite a war to his door. I could take it out on him. But he ran that risk because he wants you to stay safe.”

  “He’s a filthy snitch.”

  “He’s got the guy code down,” Will counters. “When I win, I’m gonna buy him a beer. Don’t
knock on random fucking doors again, Cameron. Have you learned nothing? And who the hell is the guy in three?”

  “Scary,” I admit on a quiver. “He’s just… I don’t even know. He stares too much, and he does this weird thing with his teeth, like he’s sucking on them. I wasn’t planning on going into Miles’ room, but that other guy was looking at me like he wanted to eat me, so Miles tugged me in and closed the door. I don’t know his name, but I’m steering clear.”

  “You’re coming with me from now on.” Will crosses the room and tugs paper plates from my shopping bag, then slices of bread, and lays them flat. “Baked beans are full of protein. Good choice, Bubbles.”

  “Am I in trouble?” My voice comes out on a low whisper when our shoulders touch. He stands right beside me, tangible, commanding, and fury radiates from his every pore. “Will?”

  “I’m not mad at you,” he admits after a moment. “I’m mad at me, because if anything ever happened to you, it would be because I made the wrong move.”

  “Will…”

  “Let’s imagine for one sec that the guy in three grabbed you. I could have taken you to the gym. I could have left you back at home and in school. I could have done a million different things, but I left you in our room, and some motherfucker got his hands on you. That’s on me.”

  “You can’t see the future.” I hate how my voice cracks. How memories batter at my brain, and insist on surging forward. “You can’t know which way to turn every single time.”

  “But I’m gonna damn well try. We got lucky tonight, which is why I’m gonna buy Miles a beer. He had our back, and we don’t even know him. For the rest of time, I’ll remember what he did for me.”

  “He snitched,” I glower. “That’s unattractive behavior.”

  “He kept you safe while my back was turned. That’s a debt I’ll need to repay. Now I’m here, and we know we have an enemy in room three.”

  “A guy doesn’t automatically become an enemy just because he looks at me, ya know?”

  Will stops working with the bread and looks down into my eyes. “No, but the teeth-sucking, wanting to eat you up thing; that makes him a problem I’m gonna clean up. You don’t have to worry about it. I’ll bury him before he gets anywhere near you.”