Page 33 of Playing for Keeps

“I wanna partner with you.”

A train may as well have slammed into me. Before I could recover, Lee pressed on.

“You’re an asset. You know things, can do things, I never coulda imagined. What you and your team did to bring home Viv was fuckin’ amazing. On my own, there’s no way we’da had the same outcome.”

My fingers itched and I had to force myself not to fidget.

“And with Frankie?” Lee leaned in closer, his gaze unwavering. “I get the feeling you had a hand in that as well, yeah?”

My eye twitched and Lee lifted his head and smiled.

“Knew I had too much fuckin’ good luck on that. Didn't realize anything was outta sorts ‘til I saw your work this summer. You’re good. The best. And that’s why I need you.”

Shifting in my seat, I leaned forward and asked, “What, exactly, do you expect from me?”

“A little help. Maybe a lot.” Lee tossed a glance toward the bar, then looked back at me. “The company’s not doing what it needs to. What I want it to and I know that it can. Need to build up my staff. I had Frankie doing that, but after everything that’s happened, she’s not looking to grow like I want. And I don’t have the time, not with my current client list.”

“You want me to step in to manage your company?”

A grimace slashed across his face. “I want your help finding new men, making sure they’re properly trained, and coordinating the back end. Need to bring on new clients, too, for those men to have somethin’ to do. Frankie’s the money, and with all she’s got going on, I don’t expect her to do more right now. But I can’t sit back and wait for her to get her life in order before I grow the company the way I dreamed.”

Pursing my lips, I sat back in my seat. I’d come prepared, but not for this. I had lists of potential clients, lists of potential recruits, all ready to hand over without more than a handshake. The man had helped save my sister, and for that, I owed him at least that much.

But to partner with him? To go up against my cousin and take over where she left off? It was something I hadn’t even considered. Something that needed a lot of thought.

As if he could sense my trepidation, Lee leaned forward and tapped his knuckles on the table between us, that freight train voice of his going low. “Don’t expect you to answer right away. I get it, it’s a big ask. But I need this, Vinny. Otherwise LS Security is going to wither up and die and I’ll be back in the slums, working as a fuckin’ bouncer again.”

It took everything in me to sit still. To not grab at the sleeves of my shirt and pull them down. To not chew on my bottom lip or clear the sudden scratchy dryness from my throat. As intriguing as the offer was, that voice in the back of my head was yelling at me.

You’ll never be enough.

“I need to think about it,” I finally told him, my eyes drifting across the room before forcing them back.

“Think about it,” he implored. “Talk to your team.”

My team.

Thatcher, Ford, Butterman, Angel.

Carina.

All the other hackers I knew across the world.

My resources were endless. And knowing that, knowing I wouldn’t be doing it alone, made the idea much more appealing.

Nodding, I grabbed my glass and threw back my drink, then rose from the bench and extended my hand Lee’s way. “I’ll put something together and get back to you soon.”

The emeralds in his eyes sparkled as a subtle smile split his lips. “Appreciate it,” he told me, shaking my hand. “I can’t thank you enough.”

8

Jen

The sun streamed through the little window in my bedroom, the light illuminating all of my mistakes. I swabbed at the streak of bright pink nail polish that’d somehow missed my nail completely, opting instead to trail along the outside of my little toe up toward the knuckle. An involuntary sigh left me as the polish remover soaked my toe and did little to the streak of paint.

“You sure you’re alright, pum’kin?” my dad asked, his voice in my ear sounding thin and depleted, as if the miles between us were taking their toll.

“I’m sure.” I adjusted my phone, sandwiching it tighter between my ear and shoulder as I scrubbed at the misbehaving paint. “Just trying to get the nail polish off my toe.”