My Stepfather Lost Me in a Poker Game, Then I Cleaned Him Out novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: Sign Off

Aimee's POV

I walked into Necaise Bail Bonds a little after midnight.

The waiting room was empty for once.

The plastic chairs were lined up, and the red sign buzzed in the window behind the open blinds.

Andre sat behind the counter in reading glasses I'd never seen, filling out a bond by hand.

He looked up when the bell rang, and he took the glasses off slowly.

"Well," he said.

"Hi."

He didn't get up.

He looked at me for a long time, from my face down to my shoes and back.

"You left my roof," he said. "My rule's over. So what do you call this?"

"I call it my idea."

"Is that right."

"Laurent walked into the general manager's office this morning," I said. "In front of the state gaming agent."

"He told them about the game and the deck. He put his badge and his license on the desk."

Andre sat back in his chair.

He was quiet so long that I heard the clock over the door.

"Damn him," he said at last.

"That's all?"

"That's a lot, coming from me." He rubbed his knuckles, the ones he'd hit Laurent with. "It costs him everything he's got."

"I know."

"Do you forgive him?"

"I don't know yet."

"Do you forgive me?"

"For what?"

"For believing Russ about you. For two years." He looked at his hands. "For standing up at that wedding."

I walked around the end of the counter.

He didn't move, and I stopped between his knees.

He lifted one hand and touched my lower lip with his thumb, where the cut was healing.

"It's closing," he said quietly.

"I don't know that either," I said. "Ask me again when Russ is done."

"Fair."

"I need you at the table Saturday," I said. "I need somebody he's afraid of in the room."

"I'd have been there if you'd spat in my face."

"I know that too."

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