by Christa Wick
Unless he is trying to trick me away from the casino's guests without a major uproar on my part, cashing me out implies that there will be no cops and no trip to jail. My heart starts beating again and I am docile as a kitten as he leads me toward the cashier's cage. Whether he wants a bribe or has assumed I was counting cards and intends to let me off with a warning doesn't matter. I just hope it's the latter because counting cards isn't illegal and I really need the money to keep Rose alive.
More than anything, I want Rose to live.
Reaching the cashier's cage, he pushes my cup toward the woman behind the glass. She sorts the chips, counts out seventy-six hundred-dollar bills, wraps them together then slides the bundle to me. My pulse wildly accelerating, I secure the money inside my purse before looking at my captor and potential blackmailer.
He waits patiently, stone-faced and gorgeous.
"Time for that talk, beautiful." His mouth puckers as his gaze sweeps down my body. When he looks up and stares straight into my eyes, I feel like he has just sucker punched me.
********************
His identity no longer a mystery to me, Luciano Masters, owner of the Gladiator Casino and Resort, jabs a finger at the chair in front of his large, imposing desk. "Sit."
Like a confused puppy that has just had her nose slapped, I obey at once. Eyes downcast, my heart knocking around inside my chest, I try to gather my jumbled thoughts while I wait for his next command. The task proves impossible -- in no small part because I am in Masters' penthouse instead of some security holding area.
I pat absently at my side, temporarily forgetting how Masters handed my purse to a not-quite-as-hot male with the same dark hair as soon as we exited the elevator, my protest silenced with a reminder of the two warrants out on me.
That's right -- two warrants, one as a material witness, the other for kidnapping my two younger siblings six years ago. Considering I was raised by an abusive con artist, two warrants is kind of on the low side. An accomplishment, really.
"Six years off the grid and on the run." Luciano swipes a finger across the iPad on his desk. "How's that working out for you, Queenie?"
Staring at him, I inhale slowly, hoping to mask my fear and anger. "Danielle, Mr. Mas--"
"Not buying it, baby doll." Head tilted, he subjects me to another lingering inspection.
Unable to stop myself, I smooth the fabric of my skirt against my thighs. I am well-dressed for the first time in six years, my over-generous flesh concealed in the costume of a twenty-six-year old woman having a girls' night out. My blouse and skirt are a flowing georgette of a beige-gold hue that I purchased a week ago from a vintage boutique in Los Angeles. My reddish brown hair has been dyed a pale gold and more make-up than I normally wear in an entire year covers me in an unsuccessful attempt to trick the facial recognition programs the casinos run.
But none of that explains why Masters' gaze is hooked on that inverted triangle where the deep cut V of the blouse exposes the top swell of my breasts.
My nipples haven't stopped poking at the thin material covering them since Masters first curled a possessive hand around my waist and steered me into the elevator. Now, with his gaze locked on those two hard points, heat crawls across my cleavage. I tamp down on the squirm building in my ass and the need to shred my bottom lip. I can't do anything about my flexing thighs -- they move each time my cunt draws tight. More heat uncoils throughout my body, melting the spot between my legs until moisture collects against the gusset of my panties.
I swallow then roll my lips. Masters clearly wants to throw me off my game, unnerving me with fake, burning appraisals of my body. It has been so long since a man looked at me like that, and never a man like Masters, that I can't help but react.
Wrong -- I will be damned if I let him turn me into a helpless, quivering female mess.
I focus on my sister, repeating her name inside my head. The word becomes a prayer, a prayer and a reminder that Rose will die if I don't pull my shit together right now. I repeat her name until the heat dissipates and I can look at Masters with nothing more than a cold, hard stare.
When I do, his attention returns to the iPad after a few seconds. A smile lingers at the corner of his mouth. The smile tells me both that he knows that he got under my skin and he's too arrogant to conceal it. The arrogance irritates me, but I don't have time to seethe at him. So I push it down and focus on figuring out who this man really is behind his power, money and sexy façade.
I scan the room. Behind him is a massive credenza and hutch of dark wood and glass. I ignore it. The items on its shelves will be a projection of what Masters wants other people to think about him, not who he is. I look instead for the things he keeps close at hand or in his line of site.
There is no clutter on his desk. A laptop rests on the left, its screen closed in favor of the iPad he is using to sift through my life. A red leather writing pad and a Waterman rollerball pen rest on the right. In front of the pad is a small wooden stand that holds a single coin upright. Half a foot in front of that is a picture frame but all I can see is the back of the frame.
I study the coin. It is not actual currency but the kind of token military units and their commanders hand out. Memories I am not proud of squirm inside my head. My father used challenge coins like this as a recipe for a quick score by finding a bar frequented by active duty service members and veterans. Add a sob story to the coin and, presto, he had instant buddies he could scam for enough gas money to get us to the next con.
The coin and the fact it is on Masters' desk with no protective covering tells me a lot. For starters, he handles it -- perhaps daily -- so it is important to him and a part of his self-image. Then there is the significance of the familiar horse's head stamped with Roman numeral XII and the crossed daggers behind the chess piece. It is a commander's coin from the 12th Psychological Operations Battalion.
With a trickle of dread running down my spine, I finally look at the credenza behind Masters. The coin is too small for me to clearly see its face in the glass reflection. I can, however, just make out the details of the photograph in the frame -- an adult male with blond hair. The color suggests he is not a blood relative, yet his photograph holds one of two places of honor on Masters' desk.
Don't ask, don't tell.
Fabulous! I have been collared by a potentially gay, potentially former PsyOps casino owner pretending to be sexually attracted to me. I am sunk and almost out of time. I look at the clock on the credenza to see just how little remains.
"Am I keeping you from a hot date, Marie?"
My attention slides back to Masters and I wonder how long he has been studying me as I examined the things that are important to him.
Leaning forward, his gaze narrows. He places two fingers center of the iPad's display and draws them apart, expanding whatever text or image he has been looking at. "Your eyes are listed as brown."
"So is my hair," I snap back, wanting his attention anywhere but on the color of my eyes. "It's called a disguise."
He licks his lips as if the juice of my confession already coats them. A predatory grin shapes his mouth into a thin, feral line. "You admit you are Marie Lafayette."
My shoulders bounce in a non-committal shrug. At this point, I will admit almost anything to keep his attention off the contact lenses turning my golden-brown gaze blue. I have a driver's license and a useless credit card stating I am Danielle Hilton. Both are extremely good fakes. And, while I have never been fingerprinted, I am willing to bet my prints were pulled from the trailer I lived in when I ran off with the twins when they were fourteen.
Rose's name rises in my mind again and I realize how truly fucked I am unless my luck changes fast.
Rule number 3 -- Luck never gives, it only lends.
The same is true of time. I have until six a.m. to return the contacts and the money I won to Solandro Ortiz or Rose is dead. I only have until two a.m., however, to return to the motel room I stashed my brother Tommy in or he will rabbit,
just as I instructed.
"Tell me about the clock, Marie." Standing, Luciano pushes the tablet aside and comes around to the front of the desk. His big, lean body looms over me, his proximity making it all but impossible to breathe. One finger traces the curve of my jaw as he leans even closer to whisper in my ear. My muscles heat as his deep timbre soaks into my skin.
"I can't help you if you won't tell me."
I don't snort but I want to. Obviously, Masters doesn't know rule number 4.
You can't con a con.
It doesn't matter if he's gay or straight -- I know he won't to do squat for me. I have to get out of this on my own, but I am seriously out of practice. I have kept my nose as clean as a nun's ass since I took the twins from my father and ran. I work multiple jobs, spend every day exhausted from ninety-hour work weeks and catch most of my sleep during long bus rides between work and the cheap one bedroom apartment where Tommy sleeps on a pull-out couch and Rose and I share a bed.
Gently pinching my chin, Masters forces me to look at him. "I want to help you, Marie."
"Then let me leave." My bottom lip quivers and I can feel the swell of tears fighting to escape. "Keep the money and let me walk. I won't come back."
With a scowl on his face, he shakes his head. He returns to his side of the desk and sits down. His gaze hooks for a second on the picture in its frame before his focus lands on me. He studies me another long, uncomfortable minute. "You can leave when you show me how you cheated."
"Counting cards isn't--"
Another shake of his head, this one hard and bordering on angry, stops me. "Keep lying to me, Queenie, and that sweet, lush ass is going to jail."
He can't know that jail is the least of my worries. Ignoring his reference to my ass, I chew on my lip and focus on the meaning behind his return to calling me Queenie instead of Marie. I desperately need him to think of me as Marie. Queenie Lafayette spent more than a decade running cons for her dad, half of those years counting cards in casinos she wasn't old enough to be in.
I, on the other hand, kept Tommy out of the morgue and make sure both of the twins are fed and warm. Masters might let Marie walk out of the casino in time to keep Tommy from bailing and rescue Rose. Queenie -- well, that bitch is dead meat in any Vegas casino.
I stop fighting the tears and give him as much of the truth as I dare. "If you don't release me now, you're killing my sister Rose."
My big, dramatic reveal is punctuated by the office door opening but he keeps his impassive gaze on me for another half-minute. Finally looking toward the visitor, Masters stands and gives me a one-word command.
"Stay."
The air like acid in my lungs, I watch him walk across the room and confer in whispers with the man who took my purse. Masters dismisses the man and returns to stand in front of me again, thick arms folded across his broad chest.
Sensing it just might be time to beg, I open my mouth.
"Don't." He motions for me to stand.
Without thinking, I obey, only to pull back when Masters cups both sides of my face and steps all the way into my space. He won't let me retreat. His grip tightens and he takes another step closer until his torso presses into my full breasts and rounded stomach. His body heat permeates the silk suit and the thin georgette of my clothing until I feel like my flesh will melt if he holds me another second.
His mouth waits a hair's width from mine and then he speaks. "I believe you, Queenie, but girls like Rose die every day."
"Bastard!" He doesn't know Rose or what she's been through in life, the things she has witnessed. Unthinking, I raise my hand. My open palm lands hard against his angular jaw.
Masters catches me by the wrist before I can form a fist and strike again. Spinning me, he grabs my other arm and pins them across my stomach. A hard yank on my wrists and I find my backside cinched tightly to him. Hot tears splash against my cheeks and chest as I struggle in his embrace.
His beard brushes against my shoulder, paralyzing me. Lips whisper against my neck. As if tendering my temporary surrender, my head rolls back. Masters nuzzles the skin below my ear, his warm breath falling hypnotically against my neck. Trapped in his arms, I smell a warm, sensuous mix of citrus and cinnamon emanating from his body and the tension inside me eases another degree.
"Yes, I'm a bastard." He kisses where his lips nuzzled my skin and then again a little higher. "But you'll take my help and thank me."
My mind numb, I look around the room with its trappings of wealth and success and think of the coin. It is his, not something given to him by a cherished or hated relative. So he has at least a decade on me of playing this game and has done so at levels I can't begin to understand. Aware of how painfully sexy he is, he is not above using his body as a weapon against me.
I comprehend that his actions are all a show, but I can't stop myself from falling deep into his trap. The intimacy produces his intended effect. Starting with a reflexive tightening of my labia, a contraction rolls through my pussy, its outward vibrations so strong they momentarily fragment my spine and I am only standing because Masters holds me upright.
"You can run your errand." Slowly stepping back, he gives me time to recover my legs before he lets go. "But you will return."
"Of course." I agree too fast, my mind already running through a dozen ways I can ensure I will never see him again. "Thank you, Mr. Masters."
"Luke," he tells me. His palm against my back, he propels me toward the office door. Stopping right before we reach it, he steps in front of me. One hand on the knob, he curls the other along my chin and leans in. "We'll discuss my compensation upon your return."
His lips, flushed and warm, flatten against mine before his tongue expertly draws me into the kiss with teasing licks along the seam of my mouth. Certain I will collapse unless I have something to hold onto, I reach for the lapels of his jacket. His tongue pushes deeper and he wraps a hand around my head to control the kiss. My torso curves backwards. Standing only on my toes, I flex my hips until my mound pushes against his groin.
Another contraction rolls through me and I find that I can no longer breathe.
I want to hate myself for being so weak, but I can't. I have been on the run for six years, working and moving constantly, the only male in my life my baby brother. For twenty years before that, I remained under the watchful eye of my father. This isn't quite my first kiss, but it is pretty damn close and I am certain I will never experience another like it.
Luke steps back and opens the door. His gaze narrow and on me, he pivots on one heel to reveal just how he has secured my return.
In front of me, sitting on a couch, Tommy waits handcuffed and gagged.
********************
"Remove those immediately!" I move across the room as fast as my fat legs can carry me. With his lean muscular body, Masters makes it to the couch several strides before I do. I reach for the gag anyway and he catches my hand.
He nods at the man standing guard over Tommy. "Let him talk."
"The cuffs, too." I struggle to free my hand from Masters' tight grip. "You have no right -- this is kidnapping!"
Continuing to wedge his body between me and Tommy, Masters wraps an arm around my waist and glares down at me. "No, beautiful, it's a conspiracy."
Conspiracy.
That one word shuts me up fast. Masters is right -- Tommy can be charged with conspiracy. If I don't cooperate, not only will Rose die, but Tommy could go to prison.
My legs threatening to fold, I stop fighting. Masters keeps his grip firm as if I might be faking my capitulation. Knowing that I won't be free until he releases me, I can't hold back the angry, helpless tear that rolls down my cheek. Breaking left, it lands on my bottom lip. I suck it in. The salt bites my tongue and my bottom lip begins to quiver. Only then does Masters let go.
The removal of his hand triggers more of my tears and he pulls the linen handkerchief from his front breast pocket. His big frame blocking Tommy's view, Masters dabs at my cheek. The press of th
e fabric is soft against my skin and his knuckles gently graze my lips. The gesture is intimate, as if we are long-time lovers instead of strangers.
Finished erasing the evidence of how helpless I have become, he steps aside.
"Key." Masters holds his hand out to the guard while I remove Tommy's gag.
He gives me the key, only to take it back a second later because my hands are shaking too much. Bending to reach the cuffs, he stares Tommy down and unlocks them. "I'm sure you want to help Rose as much as Marie does."
Tommy looks at me, rubbing his wrists and ignoring both men.
I sink onto the couch. This close, I can see that there is swelling around his eye and bruises on his arms. I shoot an accusing looks at Masters. "He needs ice."
Masters subtly gestures and the guard scurries across the room to return a minute later with an ice pack.
I touch the pack to Tommy's cheek. When he winces, my chest constricts painfully in response. It kills me that he is hurt. He has received more than enough black eyes and bruises at the hands of our father to last him a lifetime. We both have.
I meet his gaze and silently try to tell him how sorry I am and that I will fix everything. The look in his eyes tell me it is not my fault, but he is twenty and doesn't know how wrong he is. I have let him and Rose down tonight. I got too soft to play the game. I didn't keep better track of Rose and the people she hangs around with. I could have done a dozen things to stop the relentless march to this point in time.
"Clock's ticking, Marie."
My head jerks up and I glare at Masters. "I'm aware."
More than aware, I am over-the-fucking-top aware of how many seconds and minutes closer I am to failing Rose. Even so, I can't pull myself away from Tommy. It's not right to pick favorites, but Tommy is mine. Rose was always a daddy's girl, untouched by Troy's fists or belt. Of course, she never said no to his cons, never judged him and she forgave our father every last bruise he left on Tommy's flesh and mine.
Time has done little to change her. Even so, I want her safe -- but I want Tommy safer.
