Tough Guy: A Hero Club Novel by Jamie Schmidt (the reading list .TXT) 📗

in for questioning as soon as I can push the paperwork through.”

“Then what are you still doing here?”

“I need to let you know that Leonidas is going to retaliate once he’s out on bond.”

“How long is that going to take?” I asked.

“I’d be surprised if he’s not out by dinnertime. He knows where your girlfriend is. You need to warn her and don’t let her come back to Dalton’s until we can lock down the Rivs. Leonidas is going to be out for your blood. I’ll put a tail on him, but he’s a slippery bastard. We’re trying to get a few warrants out on him to stall the process, but he’s lawyered up well. It’s going to be an uphill battle.”

“Damn it,” I said, slamming my glass on the table.

“Just a few more weeks.”

“I don’t have a few more weeks. I suppose you need me to stay local.”

“I’d appreciate it.”

I wanted to bang my own head on my desk.

Grier tossed back the rest of his drink and stood up. “Thanks for everything. I’ll give you the all clear when we nail this asshole, but in the meantime watch your back.”

After Grier left, I called Jackie.

“Hi,” she said, her voice happy and breathless. My gut unclenched. She was all right. “I’m going to stay over in Carson City another night. I want to see Lisa’s show.”

“Good. How did everything go?”

“Not as bad as I feared, but not as well as I’d hoped.”

“That’s the way it goes sometimes,” I said, wondering again how I was going to convince her to stay in Carson City.

“I’m going to crash on Parker and Lisa’s couch tonight, but I’ll be back on the first flight out tomorrow.”

“Yeah, about that, I’ve got some good news and bad news.”

“What’s going on? You sound weird.”

“The police may have found my uncle’s murderers.”

“That’s great! Why don’t you sound happy about that?”

“It’s going to take a while to build the case, but remember the local gang I was telling you about?”

“The Rivs?”

“Yeah, they’re extorting me for money, and they said if I don’t pay up they’re going to kidnap you and traffic you to someone who wants a blond sex slave.”

“What?!”

“They knew you were in Carson City and they knew you were looking at the burlesque show. I’m going to need you to stay close to Lisa and Parker.”

“I can’t do that after tonight. I’m already on tenuous ground. Having me for a houseguest for another week might destroy the peace Lisa and I have tentatively agreed to. Why can’t I just hang out at the Wynn and you can come visit me?”

“I’d love that. Truly. I don’t want to say goodbye so soon, but I believe the threat. I think maybe you should cut your vacation short and go back to New York. Save the week of vacation and come back down when the coast is clear.” I couldn’t believe I was saying this.

“When’s that going to be?”

“I don’t know. Hopefully not long, but it’s not going to happen in a few days. Leonidas has people in Pahrump and Carson City, as well as Las Vegas. I don’t want you in their sights.”

“I wanted to say goodbye to Chance in person. And I never thought that last night would be the last time we saw each other.”

“It’s not forever. I’m not ready to end this, are you?”

“No,” she said shakily. “I’ve never done a long-distance relationship before. Is that what you want?”

“Yes,” I said firmly.

“Are we exclusive?”

“Yes.”

“That’s going to take a lot of trust,” she said.

“On both our ends. Are you willing to try?”

“Yeah,” she said, but she sounded so heartbroken I wanted to do anything I could to make it up to her. Grier had told me to stay put, but in Carson City I’d only be about an hour flight away. It was just for one night.

“Look, why don’t you get a hotel room at the airport? Once I make sure everything is settled here tonight, I’ll fly in and we can have one more night together.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Jackie said.

“I want to.” This was going to be a lean month, with all the money I was throwing around, but I didn’t care. I needed one more night to get me through the long months ahead.

“All right,” she said, perking up. “I’ll call you with the room number.”

After she hung up, I had another glass of the scotch and wondered if that had been the right thing to do. The club needed me to be here. How the crap was I going to explain all of this to Highway and still justify leaving tonight? I knew I had to start trusting my people to do their jobs without me watching over them because I was burning out fast.

“It’s one night,” I said to Johnny Walker. The bottle didn’t answer me back.

“Boss, a couple of cops want to talk to you,” Mav said into my Bluetooth.

Now what?

“Be right there.”

Two of Las Vegas’s finest were standing at the door. It wasn’t a good sign that they weren’t watching the girls. They were watching me, and their hands were on the butts of their pistols. I spread my hands out to my sides to show them I wasn’t carrying anything.

“What can I do for you?” I asked.

“Miles Carvello, you’re under arrest for the attempted murder of Leonidas Kiryakis.”

“If I wanted that shitbag dead, I wouldn’t have stopped hitting his head on my desk.”

One of the cops winced and said, “Sir, you have the right to remain silent. I suggest you shut the hell up.”

I listened to the rest of the Miranda rights and let them cuff me. “Call Highway and get me bonded out,” I said to Mav as they led me into the police car.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Jackie Mitchell

It was the Mondayest of all Mondays.

Miles had ghosted me.

I wouldn’t have believed it was possible after our last conversation. He never showed up at the hotel Saturday night and he hadn’t returned any of my phone calls. After