Page 131 of Fighting Chance

Layla gasps. “They’re leaving already.” She looks from me to the space over my shoulder. “He just said hi and cocked his head and she followed him like a puppy.”

“Bunnies,” Valenti grunts, his expression more sour than usual.

Layla slides off my lap and I let her this time as she whispers, “I’ll go get us a drink.”

Giving her a thankful smile for sensing the need to talk to Valenti I wink at her as I take out my wallet and hand my card over. “Thanks, sunshine.”

She looks down at the card before wrinkling her nose. “I can afford two Cokes.”

Spinning on her heel, her fiery red hair brushes my outstretched hand and I can’t help but smile as I watch her walk to the bar that’s slowly beginning to thin out as the evening goes on. I have to rip my eyes away from her, Momma Bear Carson’s words ringing through my mind.

Once I finally do slide my attention to Valenti, he’s already watching me.

“What happened?”

He arches a brow. “Can’t get much past you, can I?”

“Never. Want to talk about it?”

A muscle feathers in his jaw, his gaze flicking over my shoulder to the door Ellington left through.

“Does he know?” I ask as he remains quiet, broody.

That has his eyes piercing me to the spot. “Know what?”

I cock my head. “Come on.”

Running a hand down his face, he sighs heavily. “Fucking psychic.”

I lean back in the booth. “Layla calls it my superpower.”

“She might be on the money with that one. You’re like an emotional sniffer dog.”

Clicking my tongue, I glance at the bar, triple-checking she’s okay before turning back to Valenti. “Which is why I want to know what has you looking so depressed.”

“It’s Evie.”

“Figured as much. Has something else happened?”

Valenti is slow to nod, his hand on the table clenching before he sees that I’ve noticed it and shoves it under the table. “I…found out something that is going to utterly break her.”

The severity of his tone has my spine straightening. “Does Ellington know?”

He shakes his head. “No one but me and—” Valenti cuts himself off abruptly.

“And…?” I probe.

At the slight flush to his cheeks, my stomach turns sour. I’ve never seen Valenti nervous in all my years playing alongside him.

“Shit, dude, what the fuck did you do?”

“I may have…hired a PI.”

My jaw drops. “Y-you what?”

He moves forward, his arms spreading across the table. “I know, okay? I know it’s an invasion of privacy but I had to figure it out. I had a fucking hunch the second that dick turned on her.”

“Is he cheating?”