Page 34 of Filthy Little Lies

“Hey. These two hustled us out of a few hundred dollars.” The blond pipes up. The table between us gives him just enough bravery to intervene.

With a nod of my head, my cousin, Lucian walks around the table toward him, backing him into the wall. Cassie’s eyes go wide, and she backs up right along with him.

“Grown ass men don’t realize when two women are hustling you because you’ve been eye-fucking them the whole time.” I squeeze his throat.

“Gabriel. Stop.” She yanks on my shirt. “He didn’t do anything.”

I move my gaze to her. She retreats a step.

“He touched you.”

Her eyes flick to him. “He didn’t hurt me. You’re going to kill him. Stop.”

I shake him, bringing my face in front of his so I’m the only thing he can see.

“If you so much as breathe the same air as her again, I’ll rip your lungs out through your throat. Do you understand me?”

He nods—well, as best he can given I’m still holding his throat.

“Take your friend and get out.” With one more shove, I let him go. He scrambles to right his footing, holding his throat while trying to suck in valuable air.

“You should probably go, too.” Lucian says, standing over the blond.

Three more of their friends follow them from the bar, maneuvering through the onlookers. They disperse the second I set my eyes on them, splintering off to other parts of the bar or back to their stools.

“You didn’t need to do that.” Savvy plants her fists on her hips. “I would have handled him.”

“You wouldn’t have had to if you hadn’t pulled your little stunt.”

She rolls her eyes. “It was just a little fun.”

“You hustled two men you didn’t know. How do you know they didn’t have weapons on them, or that their little friends didn’t? How can you be sure you weren’t going to get hurt?”

She cocks a brow and shrugs. “It hasn’t happened yet.”

“How many times have you two run this hustle?” I dare to ask, already knowing the answer is going to make my palm itch.

The recklessness of this woman will have me gray before I hit forty.

She glances at Cassie, who seems oblivious to the murderous look on Lucian’s face as he observes the scene.

“I don’t know…ten, fifteen?” She asks Cassie, who lifts a shoulder.

“I think it’s probably more like seventeen. You always forget the two in Indiana.”

“I don’t think it’s hustling when you count cards at the blackjack table. That’s just cheating.”

“The casino in Hammond?” Lucian demands, then lifts his eyes to mine.

Ralph Russo’s crew runs the security. If they’d found these two counting cards, it wouldn’t have just been a ride in the back of a police cruiser. It could have been a boat ride to a secluded island, where men with deep pockets pay whatever is asked in order to do whatever they want to pretty women.

“Nothing happened,” Savvy says quickly, as though that makes it any better.

“I don’t understand how you’ve managed to live as long as you have. You keep pulling scams on the wrong people.”

“A few hands going our way in a casino isn’t going to put up any flags.” She picks up the bottle of beer from the high table and takes a long pull.

“Winning by luck is one thing; winning because you cheated the casino is different. The people who own and run that place aren’t as accommodating as I’ve been.”