Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 93984 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93984 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
Justin stood and shook Carson’s hand, smiling broadly at the man while inwardly wincing at the use of his other name. Well, one of his other names. He glanced over at Gabriel to find nothing but a benign smile on his lips, but there was something almost evil dancing in his dark eyes. The fucker was enjoying this.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Justin asked, flopping back down into his seat. As he spoke, he changed his entire demeanor, becoming a little less loose and a little bigger, as if he’d somehow picked up more girth by just willing it to be so.
Carson jerked his thumb over his shoulder toward a table where a group of men sat talking. “Here with some friends.”
“What? Are you running with doctors now?”
“Screw you!” Carson laughed, a blush dusting his narrow cheeks. “I don’t discriminate just because someone feels the need to dig their hands into another’s guts.”
Justin held up both his hands as if to ward off his words. “Save it, ambulance jockey. I’ve still got to eat.”
Smiling, Carson looked over at Gabriel, and Justin knew the man was expecting an introduction. He’d known Carson for almost two years, and he’d had drinks with him on more than one occasion. He was genuinely a nice guy, and it didn’t hurt that he’d unwittingly given Justin a working knowledge of some of the local hospitals when he’d needed it. Nothing illegal, of course. Just enough that Justin could fake his way in a time or two.
“Carson, this is an associate of mine, Gabriel Prescott. Gabriel, this is an old friend, Carson Warner. He’s an EMT for UC Hospital and a pretty good guy when he’s not telling disgusting stories over dinner.”
Gabriel stood and stiffly shook the man’s hand, his smile polite but not particularly welcoming. “A pleasure, Mr. Warner.”
Carson seemed a little uneasy and was more than happy to release the man’s hand before taking a step back. “Yeah, sorry to have disturbed you. I just wanted to pop by and see if you were going to be at B-Dub’s this weekend for the fight. A friend is claiming Dos Santos is going down in the second round.”
Justin grinned wide at the man, trying to put him at ease again. “I’ll see if I can clear my schedule. There’s no way in hell Dos Santos is falling.”
The other man gave him a quick wave and walked away, crossing to the table with his companions. He watched as Carson slid into his seat while another man placed his arm around his chair and leaned close, nearly brushing his lips against Carson’s ear as he spoke.
Anxiety coiled in his stomach as he turned his attention to Gabriel, who was reclining in his chair, staring into the wineglass he held in his hand. Here it comes…
“B-Dub’s? What’s that?”
That was not what he was expecting. Carson had caught him flatfooted. All of his attention had been on getting through the meeting with Gabriel. He hadn’t thought to look for potential problems that might arise at the restaurant. The key to managing multiple identities was making sure they never crossed over each other. It was careless, sloppy, and unprofessional. If he’d been working a target, Carson’s greeting could have potentially blown all his hard work out of the water.
But Gabriel wasn’t calling him out on his obvious mistake.
“Local sports bar chain. Wings and beer. They show the MMA fights when they’re on Pay-Per-View.”
Gabriel nodded and drank his wine. “Knowing an EMT must come in handy.”
“At times,” Justin hedged.
In all the years he’d lived in Cincinnati, he’d never been caught quite like that. He was always careful to keep his various contacts spread around the city, so it was unlikely that two separate identities would ever cross paths. Of course, he hadn’t been the one to pick The Club. No, that had been Marilyn. But he also hadn’t argued about her choice, because he honestly hadn’t fucking thought about it.
As Justin waited in tense silence for the other shoe to drop, the server deftly delivered their food and refilled their glasses of water. They were halfway through the meal before Justin finally cracked. He couldn’t understand this guy. They had taken their digs at each other, and this was an easy opening. Why was Gabriel letting it go?
“You’re seriously not going to say anything?” Justin bit out.
One corner of Gabriel’s mouth jerked as if he were trying to fight a smile. He stared at his plate another second, then lifted his eyes to Justin. “About what?”
Justin glared at him, his fingers tightening around his fork until his knuckles turned white. Gabriel’s face morphed into a slow, wicked grin. “You mean about being Mark and Justin?”
“Yes,” he hissed, his voice barely over a whisper.
“You act like you’re the only one who uses multiple names.” Gabriel gave an elegant shrug and returned to his meal. “Besides, seeing you flustered and twitchy is enough to amuse me. It’s an interesting insight into your character. You don’t let go of things that you see as a mistake easily. You stew on them, and you obviously expect others to call you out on them.”