Page 42 of Bad for You

“Why do they call you Grifter?” she asked softly.

I didn’t like talking about my past, but Lila was my woman and if I wanted to keep her, I needed to share some of this stuff with her. “We were with the club a lot growing up, family parties, gatherings, rallies, shit like that. The old man took me with him more often than not.” I grinned. “I learned quickly that when the guys were drunk, I could cheat them out of money. I’d come up with new angles to empty their wallets.” I chuckled. “One night I made five hundred bucks doing some lame-ass card trick. The drunk pricks couldn’t work out how I kept picking their card.”

I didn’t share that the old man would disappear for weeks on club business, leaving us with nothing. My mom was too scared to show him up by asking the club for help, so I’d find ways to help. We’d needed money for rent—so we could eat.

“How did you trick them?”

“Found a big box of playing cards behind a warehouse. Stole it. I took all the five of clubs out and made a new deck. They never worked it out, not until I told them years later. I did a lot of shit like that. Someone came up with the name and it stuck.”

She laughed. “You were an evil genius.”

Christ, she was pretty when she laughed. “Yep. You hungry?”

“You brought food?”

I’d stopped by Lake’s End Café before I picked her up. “We can thank Addie for our lunch.”

“Are we having a picnic?”

Could she be any cuter? “Yeah, why not.”

My phone rang and I wanted to ignore it, but I checked in case it was Stones. Ignoring the president was never a good call.

It wasn’t Stones, though, it was the nursing home my mom was at. Shit. “Yeah?”

“Hey, Jesse, it’s Corinne.”

“She okay?”

“She’s not doing too great. She’s been non-communicative for a couple of days. She didn’t eat at all yesterday. We just can’t get through to her.”

My grip tightened on the phone. “I’ll be right there.”

I loved my mom, but why now? Why did it have to be now? “We gotta leave, Bambi. I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

“What’s going on?” Worry etched her pretty face.

“It’s my mom. I’ll explain later when we get there. Promise.”

I climbed on the bike and she quickly slid on behind me. The care home was in Spring Haven, where Lila had grown up. She’d know the place as soon as we rolled up, and I didn’t have time to take her home first.

Fuck.

Chapter Eleven

Lila

I was cold and sore when we finally stopped. It was late afternoon and the warmth the sun had provided was now gone. Jesse’s jacket had done its job, but my legs and hands were like blocks of ice.

The old house we were parked outside had been converted into a care nursing home fifteen years ago.

Jesse’s expression was grim, resigned.

“Your mom’s here?” I asked him gently. Whatever was going on, it clearly hurt him.

“Yeah.” He took my hand and led me inside. There was a couch against the wall in the reception area and he motioned me toward it. “I’m not sure how long I’ll be. Will you wait for me here?”

A million questions flew around my head, but I kept them to myself. There was no missing the stress lining his handsome face. I nodded and he strode down one of the long hallways.