Page 7 of Mine

“What the fuck?”

“Gabe?”

Heavy sigh on the other end. “Yeah, sorry,” he grumbled. “Where the fuck are you?”

“Home. Why, what’s up?”

He cleared his throat. “Did Ellis Kady place any bets with you last week?”

“No, I cut him off.”

Several ticks of silence went by. “Trevan, the man owns three nightclubs, a restaurant, and a car dealership. Why would you cut him off?”

He didn’t sound mad; he sounded more like he was fishing. Sometimes when I refused to take bets from people, Gabriel Pike called to find out why. He never forced me to go against my gut feeling, but he liked an explanation. If he felt I was being unreasonable, he would take the bet from the player himself. Most of the time, Gabe took my advice and let the client walk, but every now and then, he overruled me and the little voice in my head.

“T?” he prompted.

“I cut him off because he didn’t pay me two weeks in a row.”

“But you weren’t short.”

“Have you ever known me to be?”

Heavy sigh. “No, Trev, you’re the best goddamn runner I’ve ever had.”

“Well, that’s nice to hear, but I carry my friends, not assholes like Ellis Kady who think they’re too fuckin’ good to pay me.”

“What does he owe you?”

“That’s between me and Ellis,” I told him. “I paid you, you paid Adrian—I’m square with the house, and that’s how I like it. Whatever else is my problem.”

“Normally I would agree, but a couple of his boys just did a number on Benji. The police found him in an alley, and he had to go to the hospital.”

“Oh shit,” I groaned. I liked Benji Matthews. He was a nice guy, sweet and even tempered. When our paths crossed, we always ended up eating together or having a cup of coffee before going our separate ways. “How bad was he hurt?”

“I dunno. Tony went to the hospital, and he says he’s a mess, so now me and Ira and Pete are going back to see Kady and figure out what the fuck is going on.”

“Just the three of you?”

“No.” His voice dropped low.

I understood. I needed to stop asking questions about what they were going to do. “How do you know it was Kady?”

“He called Adrian and told him that any runners of his he found on the street were dead.”

“That’s pretty fuckin’ clear.”

He grunted.

“Okay.” I took a breath.

“I’m sending Francesco to pick up your drop.”

“If he’s coming right now, I’ll run down and give it to him, but if not, I’ll just bring it by in a few hours.”

“You sure? I know you, you hate carrying.”

“I’ll call Connie when I’m ready, and he can ride with me.”