The Player's Club: Scott Read Free Page A

mailboxes, or in the elevator,” Amanda said, even as part of her felt intrigued by the idea. “It’d be awkward. It’d be awful. ”
    “You’re a wuss,” Jackie said, but dropped it. “So, what are you going to do instead? No vacations, but you want an adventure. What are you going to do? Bungee jump or something?”
    At the thought of heights, Amanda shivered. “Not even remotely.”
    But the idea of an adventure—a real adventure—had her brain buzzing.
    Maybe that’s what I need.
    “You could go to…oh, wait, you hate flying,” Jackie said. “How about one of those Outward Bound things?”
    Amanda hooted. “Do you even know me?”
    “Girl, you are hopeless.” Jackie shook her head. “You say you want an adventure. You say you want to be different. But in six months, I’m going to find you with a business plan in hand and you’re going to be neck-deep in eighty-hour weeks, and we’ll be back to monthly brunches.”
    Amanda swirled her drink around in its heavy glass. Jackie was right. Ethan had been right. It all depressed her even more. She’d gotten on this treadmill and it made her miserable, but she seemed drawn to it like a magnet.
    No. She wasn’t going to keep doing it. She was going to do something different…even if it was uncomfortable. Even if it were hellish.
    She wanted to be an adventurer. No. She needed it.
    “All right,” she mused. “I’ll ask Scott to dinner.”
    “Good.” Jackie smirked. “Of course, I’ll believe it when I see it.”
    “You’ll see it.” Amanda finished her second drink more quickly than her first. Then she stared down at her plate. She motioned to the waiter.
    “Yes, miss?” he said, shooting a nervous glance over at Jackie.
    “Give me the damned pancakes, would you?”
    “Goody! You are serious!” Jackie burst out laughing. “Now, this is going to be interesting.”
     
     
    IT’S A GOOD THING YOU’RE having trouble sleeping anyway, Scott told himself as he scanned the street. Because this is getting ridiculous.
    It was three o’clock in the morning, again. A few days had passed since he’d seen the random collection of men disappearing into the alleyway across the street. He hadn’t gone out on the fire escape again, but he had found himself looking out the window whenever he was awake that late at night, especially when he just would’ve been watching whatever movie was on cable at that early hour.
    Too bad you can’t be having hot cocoa with your cute neighbor.
    He smiled as he thought of Amanda—her makeup-free face, the billowing T-shirt. The shapely legs beneath it…
    She was the polar opposite of his last girlfriend, Kayla, he thought as he continued to search the street for signs of the suspicious. Kayla was sophisticated, a sexual siren.
    People often wondered how he could have landed a girlfriend like Kayla. Hell, he’d often wondered himself. Kayla’s life was filled with drama—drama that he had usually bailed her out of, as he recalled. She hadn’t complained about him being “too nice” then.
    Not that he was bitter or anything.
    Anyway, those days were behind him, he thought, taking a sip of his beer. He wasn’t going to get involved with a woman until he was damned good and ready. In the meantime, he had this little mystery to unravel. It might be boring to someone like Kayla, but he knew that a puzzle like this would pester him until he solved it. And he was determined to do it.
    Amanda didn’t think it was boring. She seemed to find it amusing, maybe even interesting. He glanced up, wondering if her light was on. If she was even awake. She said she’d just sold her business. Maybe she had trouble sleeping, too?
    He could always go out on her fire escape again…
    Focus, you idiot.
    He glanced down at the street, then abruptly held his breath.
    They were back. He recognized the look of the men who were slowly heading for the alley, making their way to the Chinese supermarket one at a time, or sometimes two or