Page 37 of Reno

I wanted her to understand that the last thing I expected any of the men to do was to say anything, but I couldn’t tell her why. Nor could I tell her the truth about what happened.

I lowered my head. “I’m sorry, mother.”

She looked at Sam. “Do not.” She shifted her gaze to me. “Tell.” Her eyes darted back and forth between us. “Your. Father.”

I swallowed heavily. “Yes, Ma’am.”

She looked at Sam.

He nodded. “Yes, Ma’am.”

She poured a cup of coffee, added cream, and then took a drink. After taking another, she lowered the cup and looked at me. “I want you to stay away from this man. Hopefully, he’ll forget you exist.”

“He comes into the restaurant,” I said. “I can’t deny him service.”

“If you must...” She turned away. “Get a different job.”

14

Reno

I sat through another relatively meaningless Devil’s Disciples weekly meeting with my mind elsewhere. While Baker talked about the dangers of dealing with the Tijuana Cartel, my thoughts drifted to Carma.

Although I should have been focused on protecting her, the difficulties we faced with Alacrán, and making sure she was up to speed on the plan’s progress, they weren’t. Instead, I was recalling how her left eye squinted when she smirked, and how cute she looked when it happened.

“Meeting adjourned.” Baker said.

I looked around the room.

Thank God.

Baker glanced at each of us. “Where does everyone want to eat?”

“We’re going to eat?” I asked.

“Everyone said they wanted to,” he responded. “Where the hell were you?”

“I was thinking about going to Vegas,” I lied. “It’s about time for me to go shoot some craps.”

Cash picked a large crumb off his lap, looked at it, and then poked it in his mouth. “Ready to lose another two hundred grand?”

“I’m due for a win.” I looked at Baker. “My vote’s Mexican.” I rubbed my stomach. “I’m feeling an enchilada dinner.”

He gave me a look. “Why am I not surprised?”

“You asked where. I gave an opinion. The food’s good.”

“I want to try it,” Ally said. “You both sang the place’s praises.”

“Ditto,” Goose said. “I want to try it, too. You fuckers went without us the other night.”

“We were helping plan that upcoming poker run,” Baker explained. “I wanted to get the information before our Wednesday meeting, so we could vote on it.”

“Doesn’t matter what the reason is, you went without us,” Goose said. “I say we give it a try.”

“Agreed,” Tito said. “I haven’t had good Mexican in forever.”

“It’s good,” I bragged. “Really fucking good.”