Page 18
Story: Devil in the Details
They both had secrets...and they both knew it.
The dealer began shuffling for the next hand. Caleb’s stomach butterflies had transformed into something else entirely — the pure, clean excitement of competition. No powers, no shortcuts, just his wits against the other players...even if some of them weren’t playing entirely fair.
He could win this thing. More importantly, he could win it right.
Chapter Five
Delia’s phone rang, and she lifted it from where she’d set it on the counter at Caleb’s old house. The broker’s open house was due to start in ten minutes, and she hoped no one was calling to cancel. The more people here to look over the place, the better the chance that one of them would have a client who thought it was absolutely perfect.
But she recognized the number on the screen right away.
Caleb.
“How’s it going?” she asked, since she knew he was at the tournament.
“Great,” he said. “We just played the first three hands, and now we’re taking a break. There’ll be two more after this, and then that’s it for the day.” A pause, and he added, “I won my first two hands.”
“You did?” she responded, then hoped she didn’t sound too surprised.
“I did,” he said, and now his voice was clearly amused. “Straight-up regular playing, no hanky-panky.”
By “hanky-panky,” she assumed he meant he’d accomplished those wins through pure skill and none of the same powers he’d used to amass his current fortune.
“That’s great,” she told him. “I knew you had it in you.”
“Did you?” he returned, his voice now teasing. “You were sounding pretty doubtful a couple of days ago.”
“Just doubtful about you doing something so public,” she said at once. “It had nothing to do with your skill as a poker player.”
“Good to know.” He paused there for a second, then asked, “What time are you going to be done with your open house?”
“Around six, probably.”
At least, that was her best guess after holding dozens of these over the years. Sure, there was always that one agent who turned out to be a real chatty Cathy and wanted to stay behind, but mostly, brokers came to these things to get the information they needed and then headed right back out again.
“Serendipity,” Caleb said. “I should be done around the same time. Want to meet for dinner somewhere?”
Probably smart of him not to come by the house. Although she hadn’t noticed anything odd today when she’d come by to set up and make sure everything looked picture perfect, she still couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching the property. If that turned out to be the actual case and not just her nerves getting to her, then much better for him to stay far away.
Before she could respond, he added, “I noticed something weird this afternoon during the game, and I wanted to talk to you about it.”
“Weird” was a general word that could have meant almost anything, but in this context, she had to believe Caleb was talking about some kind of demonic activity.
“Oh?” she managed.
“I’m not totally sure,” he said. “Still, I thought it would be better to get together and discuss it.”
“Where would you like to meet?”
“At Battista’s,” he replied, naming a restaurant that wasn’t too far away, one they’d already gone to once before.
Well, she’d never been one to turn down some carbonara.
“Okay,” she said. “Let’s aim for six-thirty, just in case someone decides to hang around after the open house is officially over. I could kick them out, but — ”
“But you don’t want to offend someone who might bring you a client,” he finished for her. “It’s cool. Then I’ll meet you at Battista’s at six-thirty.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18 (Reading here)
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85