“Mason set her up in the executive conference room, but—” I didn’t wait for Chloe to finish.
Not the biggest mistake I’d made. Not this year, and not even this month. But I didn’t need to fully open the door to see enough.
GG-Carlynn-Rush and Darius-fucking-Patera poured over a document, laughing and with body language that suggested more than work.
Fuck her—and him—and them.
I slammed the door shut and didn’t even bother going back to my office.
Scott: Taking some more days off.
Right now, I didn’t know or care if I came back.
Darius fucking Patera. I refused to be humiliated by that man again.
Scott: Basilio, got a seat at the little table? Tomorrow night.
Basilio: Certainly, we look forward to seeing you again. Your friend Mr. Bennett will also be joining us.
I’d actually pay serious money to track down GG’s ex-husband and share war-stories.
Yes, Melbourne might be a big place, but it was about time little Miss Rush learned that karma could be a bitch.
Full House
Scott
“I didn’t expect to see you here.”
I turned to see Jarryd more surprised than pleased. I was going through the now familiar motions at the security desk, getting cleared to enter the gaming room. Leaving town again on a whim, I hadn’t told my rock-climbing or card buddies about a second trip south. Other than Mason and Basilio, the only person I’d contacted was my brother. Even then, only because not turning up when I’d invited him out on my boat would have ended up in a bruising encounter.
I preferred fights I could win.
“Or you,” I replied. The truth was, I’d never boast about coming to a casino. The huge, majestic building was built to cater for professional gamblers—a label I’d never want to hold.
Yes, I played. Yes, there was usually a lot of money on the table. But when I played at Jarryd’s games, it was with like-minded, bored rich friends. Not professional gamblers. People who lost money for a living.
People like Matt Hargraves.
“Thought you were back in Sydney?”
“I needed to get out of town, and this seemed to be as good a place as any,” I hedged. Yes, it was good to see Jarryd as a friend and familiar face, but part of the appeal of going interstate was being anonymous.
Patted down and the initial buy-ins handed over, we were free to enter the card room.
“Playing the big or small table?” Jarryd asked, surprising me by already walking towards the small table.
“Maybe one day I’ll have the nerve to play with the big boys, but right now my head wouldn’t be doing my bank account any good.”
“Mate, I thought you and GG had sorted things out? What is it with you and women?”
“Next time I lose my shit over a woman, can you just cage me up until I see sense? Seriously, I actually believed that GG and I could have something, until I found out she was full of shit.”
“Look, I don’t know her well, but I trust the guy who sponsored her to our game. GG is as straight as they come,” Jarryd stopped to disagree. “I mean, yes she likes her privacy but don’t we all?”
“Well if it isn’t Scott-fucking-Alexander!” Matt Hargraves interrupted our conversation, the stench of alcohol tempering any regard for social etiquette. “James Bennett? Good to see you again.”
“It’s Jarryd, and I would have thought you’d remember me after our last game when I wiped you out,” Jarryd had the good sense to soften his words with a gentle laugh. “I was sorry to hear about your wife.”
“Thanks, but it’s only a temporary break. Or at least it is as far as the guys here are concerned.” Matt lowered his voice and pulled us aside. “I owe them a little bit of money and they think my wife is in Sydney winning it back.”
Before I could reclaim my arm and personal space, Jarryd beat me to it.
“I think our game is about to start.” Jarryd shook Matt’s hand, pushed him towards the large table while we made our way towards the small. “Friends with him?”
“Not at all, I just felt sorry for him after the last time I was here. He plays a good game but doesn’t know when to walk away.”
“Story of his life, I’ve played against him once and he handed me a nice size taking. But it’s not playing me that I’m worried about. If Matt owes money to Basilio and his guys, they don’t like waiting their debts to be repaid”
“That’s why I’m only ever going to play for the buy-in.” I shrugged, “It’s too easy to get carried away and forget that you have to pay back the losses.”
“It’s not the forgetting part that Matt has a problem with,” Jarryd said as we claimed our seats, nodding to the other players. “It’s coming up with cash to pay it back. Apparently, he used to have daddy’s money and then he had his wife’s skill at the card table. His father cut him off a year or two ago and now that his wife’s left him, Matt needs to stand on his own two feet.”
“Mr. Bennett, so nice of you to join our little game.” The young dealer welcomed Jarryd like an old friend.
“Johanna, as always, the pleasure is mine.” Jarryd was never this charming back home. “It’s nice to sit back and relax without my normal hosting duties.”
“If there is anything I can do to make you more comfortable, please let me know.”
While we waited for the final player to arrive, I sat back and watched Jarryd win over the dealer and barmen with his charm, quickly ingratiating himself with all the other players. Half an hour, he’d gone from stranger to everyone’s best friend.
Not my scene. I’d come here to play, not be played and these poor fools didn’t know the difference.
Jarryd never played at his own table, but it only took watching him work the room and play the first few hands like a demon for me to realize I was in the presence of a champion. Jarryd hid his tells, played a straight hand and kept up a steady stream of chatter that kept other players off their game.
Especially Matt Hargraves.
I hadn’t been the only one fascinated with the not-so-subtle encouragement from Basilio’s enforcers who steered Matt away from the big table when he couldn’t come up with enough collateral to back his place.
“We would prefer you get your confidence back at the smaller table, where your losses are more limited.” One of the fierce men in black suggested just loud enough for others in the room to hear. Yet another reason, I thought, to play smart and within budget.
Yes, Mason. I have a fucking budget and I’m not afraid to play to it. Asshole.
“Well gentlemen, it looks like we’re going to have a long night.” Matt started the evening jovial enough and competed with Jarryd in driving the trivial conversation. “What brings everyone to sunny downtown Melbourne?”
“Usual, I guess.” Jarryd had learnt the art of playing, thinking and talking at the same time. I admired Jarryd’s lazy response, “Pleasure and business. The more I win tonight, the more pleasure I’ll get tomorrow.”
“Sounds reasonable, almost predictable,” Matt laughed at his own joke. “What about you Mr. Alexander are you here for love or for money?”
“Let’s just say I’m luckier at cards than I am in love.”
“Aint that the truth. I thought that when you got married, it would be forever, unfortunately no one told my ex-wife. What about your exes, are they wives or lovers?”
“An old-fashioned love story with a depressing twist. I fell in love with the girl and didn’t realize that she was also seeing someone else. Unfortunately for me, the other guy wacked a hell of a punch.” Enough time had passed for me to be able to rub at my scar without remembering the girl. Then again, the whole Carlynn situation proved that this falling in love shit wasn’t worth the pain.
“Is that all?” Matt sneered, “I expected a lot more to drive you to the card table.”
“Cards are more predictable than women,” I admitted. “But in my case, the woman I thought was per
fect for me at work, in bed, even at the card table, decided that it was far better to lie to my face and break my heart. So here I am.”
“That sounds harsh,” Matt at least tried to sound sympathetic but not believable.
Regretting my outburst, I tried to close down the conversation. “I didn’t understand the meaning of ghosting until it happened to me, if you don’t mind, I’d much rather talk about your love life instead of mine, or we could just play cards.”
Thinking about GG only amplified her absence at the table. As much as I’d hoped Melbourne would help me feel closer to her, without being pitted up against those dark glasses and ponytail, half an hour into play and I’d already lost the taste for the cards. Unfortunately, I couldn’t just change my mind, grab my chips and leave.
Lost in my own thoughts and head, it was only Jarryd’s reaction that snapped me back, almost missing Matt’s droning whine.
“My charming wife used to sit where you are now. Man, she is a good poker player. We’d play hard, fight hard and fuck harder.”
Feeling and ignoring Jarryd’s stare, I faked a smile. There had to be more than one ex-wife who played cards and moved from Melbourne to Sydney. Except, my charming card-playing GG freaked out at the thought of me coming to Melbourne to play.
It didn’t help when another player ribbed Matt about how his luck at cards died with his marriage.
“Mr. Hargraves.” We all flinched as a security guard announced, unnecessarily to the table rather than pulling Matt aside. “Mr. Calibri would like to remind you not to over-extend yourself tonight.”
The table fell silent as we each pretended a great deal of interest in our own cards, not wanting to add to Matt’s humiliation as the security guard continued, “Any losses you have tonight will be added to the $500,000 and is payable within one week.”
Crap.
Yes, I’d lost big before. Most of my friends had been down six figures once or twice. But I’d never owed that sort of money. To be reminded so publicly, what an insult.
“You know I’m good for it.”
“Can we assume the lovely Miss Carlina is coming to your rescue again?”
Carlynn. Carlina.
No!
Jarryd’s jab to my ribcage came seconds too late, after I asked, “Carlynn Rush? She’s your wife?”
“Her name is Carlina, Carlina Hargraves.”
I couldn’t text Carlynn until the break. But even if I did, what the hell could I say? Your ex is a loser, she probably knew. I beat your ex last week and I’m gonna clean him out tonight, would she even care—and if so, who would she care about?
My relief when the security guard looked me up only to leave the table, was short lived. The chill came from more than air conditioning when two security guards asked the dealer to cash in Jarryd’s and my chips. Before we had a chance to ask questions, we were being escorted to different rooms.
Basilio Calibri sat behind a large wooden desk with an impressive leather insert and old hunting knife casually placed on top of a black and white photo. Matt Hargraves and his wife, Carlynn. The room, situation, everything was set up Godfather style for maximum intimidation.
So what if my Carlynn used to be Matt’s wife? I tried to convince myself they’d split before I met her. I’d done nothing wrong. My only consolation was if I’d broken some unwritten code or rule, the knife wouldn’t be wielded by Mr. Calibri and there wouldn’t have been this opportunity to talk.
A firm, tattooed hand on my shoulder helped me into the uncomfortable wooden chair. Was it intentional that it seated lower than a normal chair—having to sit upright just to peer across the desk?
“Mr. Alexander, I didn’t know we had so many friends in common.”
A hundred board meetings under my belt, I’d learned the value of saying less to say more. I waited for Basilio to continue, ignoring the two men fidgeting either side of me. Flexing muscles and grunting. Giving me no illusion what would happen if I lied, but it would help to know how Basilio would take the truth.
“Do you remember when I said you are welcome at any of my games, until you are not?”
“You have been a very gracious host.”
“Jarryd Bennett is an old friend.”
I waited for Basilio to ask another question.
“How well do you know Ms.Hargraves?”
“I know a Carlynn Rush, but it won’t help her ex-husband to find out how well I know her.”
“Mr. Hargraves has made undertakings to us that his wife would cover his debts.”
“Then we obviously know two different women, because the Carlynn Rush I know cut her husband loose months ago and hasn’t had and doesn’t want to have anything to do with him.”
“Can you be more precise?” Basilio asked, still I felt the man would pounce on any mistake.
“She doesn’t talk about him or their life together—if anything, it was pretty clear that she is starting a life alone and from scratch.”
“Then that puts us all in a rather awkward position, wouldn’t you say?”
“I don’t see how.” It shouldn’t have come so easily, the need or want to defend GG. “For the debt to be Carlynn’s, doesn’t she have to agree to take it on?”
“Mr. and Mrs. Hargraves are separated, not divorced.” Basilio explained, not expecting or wanting my advice on whether it was flawed. “Therefore, the debt of one means the debt other, wouldn’t you say?”
My safety or Carlynn’s?
Or were we now linked because the one time I didn’t have my poker face in place had been the only fucking time lives actually depended on it.
I needed time to think. A glass of water would be nice, although no one had offered.
“Mr. Alexander?”
“I am an accountant and there are clear rules about debts and accounts payable. I am not an expert in marital law. Given that there is a time element to be served before a separation can become a divorce, how do you judge a spouse when one partner is refusing to finalize the divorce, or continues to rack up debts in the marital name?”
Using the same tone Mason had become familiar with, I hoped Basilio heard respectful disagreement. The alternative was I’d just dug a hole big enough to be Carlynn’s grave.
“You make a reasonable argument, and now that I am aware of the true nature of Mr. and Mrs. Hargraves relationship, I can assure Mrs. Hargraves that any further debts that her husband incurs will not be held against her. However, we still have the outstanding matter of half a million dollars, plus whatever Mr. Hargraves chooses to lose tonight.”
“Your man at the table said that Mr. Hargraves has a week to pay off his debt.”
“The debt has been building over the past six months, and I am a businessman not a charity.”
“Would you say right now the debt is doubtful to be reclaimed, based on Mr. Hargraves expertise at playing cards?”
I clutched at imaginary straws. For everything Carlynn and I could have been, I needed to play this right. For her.
“Quite the contrary Mr. Alexander, I think the quality of the debt is quite high given the incentive that Ms.Hargraves will have to clear it.”
Basilio stood and the meeting was over before I had a chance to understand, let alone negotiate the terms.
Head spinning and feet moving of their own accord, I resisted the urge to brush away my security guard escort back to the main room. Jarryd was already back in his seat, offering me a wry smile while Matt’s face was whiter than the playing cards.
Not that I’d been counting, but I could almost bet on Matt’s stack of chips having halved since I left.
Stupid, fucking prick.
“Would you like to continue with your previous stack?”
The smiling dealer asked me, not that I was in condition to make any decision. I needed time to think, process, figure out how I could help Carlynn—who didn’t even know she needed help.
I’d come here for solace, not expecting to win—easy to consider my buy-in a sunk cost. If I c
ould actually string together some luck, it might help reduce the debt that Carlynn didn’t even know she held.
Fuck, who was gonna tell her? Basilio? Jarryd?
“You think you should still be playing?” I asked Matt who hadn’t excused himself from the game, yet. The dude was not only clueless, but he also couldn’t even read a room.
“Do you think you should have been fucking my wife?”
“How about you cash in your chips and two of us go and have a chat about how you are going to get Carlynn out of this mess?” Calling her is wife or correcting it to ex-wife wouldn’t do either of us any good. What we’d done had gone past physical fucking.
Something had changed.
The logo on the financial report hadn’t been hers. Yes, Mason had asked her to start some kind of special investigation, but she hadn’t finished it.
Whatever we were, we weren’t over.
It had taken looking into the eyes of her ex to realize.
Maybe, he wasn’t the only stupid prick in the room.
“How about you fuck off and let me live my life.”
“Why? Because you’ve been doing such a fine job on your own?”
Before I had the chance to convince Matt to leave with me, have a drink and sort things out, two of Calibri’s goons manhandled Matt from the table and room. The only saving grace I could see was that Matt’s remaining chips would have covered the buy-in without increasing his debt. Now Carlynn’s name wouldn’t be attached to any new debt, I also assumed Calibri’s associates would make sure Matt didn’t find another game.
Half a million dollars. In my wildest dreams I couldn’t fathom how one person with no credit could rack up so much. Okay, I’d seem men lose their shirts over horses and the stock market. I’d even watched a young financier go in too far with some deals, only to lose his career when his company couldn’t front the lost millions. Luckily, the guy had one asset to sell—his body. Matt didn’t even have that.
Half a million fucking dollars. It kept coming back to the size of the debt. I doubted Calibri was holding it on his own. If he answered to others, then his debt was only a sign of bad judgement, and I couldn’t imagine his bosses or partners being patient.
Reckless Gamble: a billionaire high stakes suspense romance (City Sinners Book 4) Page 19
