He looked at Block. “Tell Two-Times to get his ass over here, yesterday. We’re having church in twenty minutes. He’s late, it’s five hundred to him.”
“Jesus,” Roman muttered.
Har looked at him. “Gotta him ’em where it hurts, brother.”
Stephanie
IF EVER THERE WAS A time to stay in the casino, the night before an eight a.m.-to-four p.m. shift seemed to be it. I woke up at five-thirty and went down to the workout room, since that was part of my stay.
Even though swimming was my exercise of choice and I had told Har running was not my thing, I could put in quite some time on the elliptical. Still, being on the elliptical wasn’t the same as actual running. For one thing, I never hit that so-called runner’s high most runners raved about, and for another I could take it or leave it. If time on a machine were equivalent to running, I figured I should be addicted, but I wasn’t.
Back in my room, I took a fast shower so I could attempt to blow-dry my wavy hair straight. My work with the roller brush and the hairdryer, which vacillated between scorching heat and no heat, led to lackluster results, so I gave up after ten minutes. Then again, Turk’s words from last night wouldn’t leave me alone even over the screech of the travel-size hairdryer.
Hate to say it, honey, but he wants even more space away from you.
My mother’s voice resounded in my head. “That’s the price you’ve got to pay, Stephanie. The moment you put your faith in any man, you’re gonna pay the price. Period. The sooner you learn that the better off you’ll be.”
I sighed and dug out my eye makeup. My every instinct told me I would need all the help I could get for tips since it was hard to say how business would be in the middle of the week.
Plus, I’d booked the room last night, but even employees were obligated to a two-night minimum stay. That outlay of cheddar set me back a fair amount, but I considered it an emergency expense.
When I reported for duty at eight, my manager had me train a new dealer at an empty table. I didn’t move into rotation on the floor until closer to eleven. The second table I reported to, there were two players, but there were stacks of chips in front of seven other seats. As I took stock of the state of my chips and cash on hand, I sensed the players returning to their seats.
I looked up to find seven Riot MC brothers seated across from me.
My every instinct warred against itself. I wanted to laugh, I wanted to scream, and I wanted to cry.
With a deep breath, I took in the big blind button sitting in front of Roman. Lifting my eyes to meet his, my words died on my tongue.
I heard chips hitting the table from his vicinity. “Got my blind posted, Stephanie. So does Brute.”
I nodded at his words and retrieved the new deck from the shuffler. Knowing there were multiple men who could distract me from doing my best at my job, I paid close attention to what I did. Everyone folded to the blinds, Brute and Roman. Then to my surprise, Brute folded.
“Guess everyone gets a walk every once in a while,” Brute muttered.
I shoved the miniscule pot to Roman and shifted the buttons.
As I swapped out the decks of cards, Roman murmured, so low I wasn’t sure anyone else could hear him, “Could be wrong, but even Har might deserve a walk. Whatever you said, it pissed him off. And he isn’t known to lose his temper to a woman.”
I kept my eyes trained on the cards and the players at the table. As hands were folded, I collected them, and when it came back around to Roman to call or fold, I smiled at him. “Thank you for the information. I’ll keep it in mind. Action is to you, sir. Forty to call.”
He looked to the man on his left, then back to me with a grin. “I raise. Two hundred on top.”
I waited for him to put the chips in before I looked to the next player. “Two hundred to you, sir.”
He silently folded and before I could look to the other three players, they had all folded. I pulled the required amount of chips for the house rake before I collected the chips and shoved them Roman’s way.
Roman looked at Brute gave him a shrug and a grin. Then he pulled a fifty-dollar chip from his stack and tossed it my way. My eyes widened, but I looked at him when he spoke.
“I’m a man who always tips my dealer. And believe me, I tipped you in more ways than one, Stephanie.”
I didn’t understand why he emphasized my name like he did, but Brute’s frown while he watched Roman saunter away said it had to do with more than cards.
With a thunk on the tip box, I slid the chip into the slot and listened to it clink to the bottom. The sound gained me Brute’s eyes.
“You might think about calling your old man.”
My brows knit together.
Brute shook his head. “He ain’t put a cut on you, but the way you two are together, he’s as good as your old man.” My face fell and he smiled. “Yeah. See you don’t realize how serious he is about you.”
After a curt nod, I said, “If he were serious, he’d understand where I was coming from rather than reacting the way he did. But, that’s neither here nor there.” I looked to the other players at the table. “Blinds, please, gentlemen.”
Chapter 24 Winning Trifecta
Har
BY THREE-FORTY-FIVE, Har let himself into Stephanie’s hotel room using the key Delmas gave him. The room was clean and empty, as he knew it would be because Charlie had told him she wouldn’t get off work
