by Keira Beck
“Have a better offer?” Danny asked. “Is there a girl back home you’re not telling us about?”
“If there was, I wouldn’t tell you. I don’t need to hear the ‘whipped’ jokes. Besides, you’re the one wrapped around your lady’s little finger.”
“Oh, yeah?” Danny said. “Braelyn’s not the boss of me.”
Ethan flicked his wrist and made a whip-cracking sound.
Noah was single and wouldn’t be part of that conversation, so he tuned out the banter and listened to Seger, letting his mind drift to the girl from the bar.
“At least I have better sense than to be with Braelyn at Cap’s bar,” Danny said.
They sure circled around fast.
“And he didn’t even get the girl’s number.” Mac shook his head.
“Number?” Danny said. “He didn’t even get her name.”
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to be in the ‘taken’ camp instead of being chronically single. But he could hardly defend her honor or his decision when he didn’t even know who she was.
Whoa! Was he seriously thinking about a commitment with a girl he’d never see again?
If he could only get her out of his head. But she’d taken up permanent residence in his brain.
No. Not going to happen. Not going to wallow in ‘what if’ scenarios. He was only thinking about her so much because he couldn’t have her. If they’d exchanged information, he probably wouldn’t have called her again.
Too bad he couldn’t sell himself acres of ‘prime real estate’ in Florida. That pitch would be more believable.
He looked out the window, watching the bright lights of the city reflect off the dark water of the river below. They were almost there, then he could drown his sorrows. As far as casinos went, it was on the newer side. At least compared to Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Smaller, too. But they poured liquor freely at the tables, and if he got too drunk, he’d check into a room. They’d just opened the attached hotel last week, and he doubted they were full.
The track switched to “Night Moves” and Noah rolled his eyes. “Hey, Dan. Did you ever hear from Vinnie and the guys?”
“Yeah. They can’t make it. Their women are forcing them go to a premarital workshop in Greensburg.” Danny laughed.
“Yuck it up, man,” Mac said. “You’re lucky you’re not right there with them.”
They pulled up to the valet area, and Noah looked around while Mac traded keys for a ticket. Lit marquees advertised current and future performances. Comedian Justin Thyme was headlining, and in two weeks, the Bellhollow Cloggers were taking the stage. Noah had never heard of either of them, but the comedian had a sold-out sticker on his poster.
Mac finished up, then they all headed inside. The usually-crowded casino was a lot calmer than usual. Instead of a cacophony of bells, whistles, and clinking tokens you almost had to yell over, there was just a lonely chime here and there and a soft jingle of the occasional small jackpot. A few old ladies sat at slot machines, but the for the most part, the traffic and noise came from the bar areas. From what he could see, those were packed past capacity, the overflow spilling into the hallways outside their respective doors. That’s where all the action was, where all the bets were being made.
And the guys wanted none of it. None of them had money on the basketball game. They were there to gamble.
“Craps?” Danny suggested.
“Sure,” Ethan said. “Let’s go.”
They made their way through the unmanned slot machines and headed over to the tables. Two older men—one wearing a Vietnam Vet hat, the other with a cane and a prosthetic leg—were hunched at the rail. The one with the cap had the dice, and both men cheered when he rolled double fours.
“Bet they’ve got some stories,” Ethan murmured.
Mac nodded. “I’d buy them drinks if they weren’t already free.”
“What do you think?” Danny asked. “Stay and chat or give them space?”
They stood there watching the vets play the next point. The stickman pushed the dice back to the guy with the cap. He scooped them up, glanced at Noah and the others, then offered a curt nod before turning back to the table.
“Let’s give them space,” Mac said. “Maybe we’ll catch up with them later.”
They made their way to an empty table and passed cash to the dealers in exchange for chips.
The boxman gave Noah the stink eye. Instant dislike in both directions. He already hated the SOB and figured the bad vibes were going to sour his play, so when he got his chips, he turned to Danny. “Hey. I’m going to go check out the poker room.”
“Now? We didn’t even start rolling yet.”
“Relax. I didn’t ask you to come with me. I just want to sit my lazy ass down and suck back a few beers before I start shooting.”
“Suit yourself.” He rattled the dice in his hand, his gaze focused on the table.
Mac and Ethan seemed as transfixed as Danny. Noah didn’t even say goodbye. He walked by them and retraced his steps past the vets, through the slots, and over to the poker room. A couple of guards were posted outside the doors, and they gave him the same dirty look the boxman had. He shrugged it off. At least they wouldn’t be in the room, scrutinizing every breath he took. Fuckers.
Noah flung open the door to the poker room and walked inside. Of the forty or so tables, most were empty. There were maybe ten people there, and the lights over the majority of the room were dimmed. Only three tables were brightly lit and had dealers. He chose the table with the fewest people—a couple who were either recently married or the guy had shelled out a pretty penny for the girlfriend experience—and sat to the left of them.
He won the first hand. His tablemates shot him a dirty look then left to try another dealer. Hell, he was making friends all over the casino. Maybe he was projecting his shitty mood onto everybody else.
“Changing dealers,” the pit boss said.
“It’s been my pleasure.” The original dealer raised his hands and turned them so Noah could see he wasn’t hiding any cards, then he bowed. “Good luck.”
Figures. One winning hand and they switched everything on him. He looked down, sorting his chips into neat little stacks while he waited for the swap. Determined to be more cheerful with the new dealer, he pasted a smile on his face and looked up, ready to shoot the breeze.
His greeting died on his lips.
“Hello. I’m Daphne. Good—” She stared at him, wide-eyed. Then she whispered, “Luck.”
His one-night stand, in the flesh.
Maybe his fortune was about to change.
Chapter Three
Noah recovered from the shock first. “So, would you rather I pretend I don’t know your name, or can I call you ‘Daphne’ now?”
Her cheeks went from blood-drained white to humiliated red in a heartbeat. He tried not to smile but couldn’t keep the corners of his lips from twitching.
The pit boss stepped over and leaned in to whisper something in her ear.
She squared her shoulders, stood up straighter, then started to deal. There was a slight tremor to her fingers, but other than that, she was the personification of professional.
Noah played three hands in total silence. The pit boss finally drifted toward another table, but still he and Daphne didn’t say a word to each other.
After Noah won the fifth game, he tried again, this time barely above a whisper. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“Perhaps you’d like another table? Or to go watch the championship game?”
“If I was interested in basketball, I wouldn’t be in here. And I definitely don’t want another dealer. I’m feeling pretty lucky with the one I’ve got.”
“Look…”
“Noah.”
“Noah. This is a conflict of interest. I’m not even allowed to deal for people I know.”
“People you know? You didn’t even know my name until a second ago.”
She leaned over and whispered through clenched teeth. “I th
ink knowing someone in the Biblical sense counts as ‘knowing’ them.”
He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Okay. Call the pit boss over and explain to him that, while you didn’t even know my name when I came in here—still don’t know my last name by the way—you know me too well to deal to me. I’m sure you want to explain where that intimate knowledge came from.”
Her cheeks reddened again, and a spark of fire danced in her eyes. “This is why I didn’t want to exchange names. Because this—” she pointed back and forth between the two of them “—could never work. To think that I was with someone so callous, so selfish, just because he was good looking.”
“So you are interested.”
Her jaw dropped. “That’s your take-away from what I said?”
The pit boss looked their way, and Daphne dealt the next hand. As she worked, she spoke in a hushed tone. “Sex with you was a bad idea. A terrible decision. The apex of mistakes at the top of the mountain of awful days. And here it is, come to bite me on the ass.”
That brought up an image she probably didn’t intend. Then again, he’d had plenty of those visions since their storeroom adventure. He started to reach for her hand, but her eyes widened and she shook her head. Fucking casino rules. He needed to touch her, needed to explain.
“Can you take a break? We need to talk.”
“I can’t. I just got on the floor.” She turned over a card then looked at him. “And there’s nothing to say.”
“There’s plenty to say. You’ve got the wrong idea about me. I want to make things right between us.”
“There is no ‘us’ so there’s nothing to set right.”
“Daphne.” He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. She had him so worked up, he screwed up and lost the hand. And he couldn’t have cared less. “You told me you never have one-night stands. What made that night different?”
“I am not discussing this with you. That night is just supposed to be a memory. It’s not supposed to pop up at my job!”
“Maybe there’s a reason I’m here. Could be fate’s way of telling you one night isn’t enough.”
“It’s going to have to be.”
“Why? Are you involved with someone else?” God, he hoped not.
“No! I would never cheat on someone. I don’t sleep around.”
Said the girl who was in the storeroom with him five minutes after meeting him. Despite that, he believed her. And he was finally starting to understand what she was thinking. “Is your problem with that night or with me? Because I think you have the wrong idea.”
She shuffled, avoiding his gaze.
“You think I’m some kind of man-whore who sleeps with any girl who asks, and it’s freaking you out.”
Daphne looked up. “Is this where you try to convince me I’m wrong? Because I was there. You weren’t interested in getting to know me or in keeping in touch. That’s the hallmark of one-night-stand behavior.”
“You wouldn’t give me your name before. I was hoping to get it after, but you ran away.”
“And you didn’t follow.”
“I did. As soon as I got dressed, I did. You were gone.”
She shook her head. “Noah, this… I don’t even know what to say. I honestly never did that before in my life. You, on the other hand—”
“I’m not going to say I never had a one-night stand. But there has always been a getting-to-know-her aspect to the night first. And an amicable departure. You’re the only woman who I ever got so carried away with that the before was so short and the after nonexistent.”
“That’s what we’re calling it? Getting carried away?”
“Look, I was a little drunk. Maybe a bit more than a little. If I had been thinking clearly, then—”
“Oh, my God. You’re telling me I took advantage of you?”
“No. This is coming out all wrong.” He sighed. “If I’d been sober, I’d have done a better job of the getting-to-know-you phase of our relationship.”
“We don’t have a relationship.”
“Well, maybe we should, damn it.”
She stared at him, jaw slack. Silent. Blinking.
“I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind, Daphne. I’d really like to see you again. And not just at a poker table where I can’t even hold your hand.”
“You’ve been thinking about me?”
“Pretty much non-stop. When you’re done here, can I take you out for coffee? Or dinner? I’d like to get to know you. So far, all I know is your name, your excellent taste in music, and your job.”
“Excuse me! Your attention, please?” A man had climbed onto one of the tables and brandished a gun in the air. Two other armed men walked from one door to the next, locking the deadbolts. “Hate to break it to you all, but we’ve just upped the stakes.”
Chapter Four
Noah started to rise, and three men aimed guns in his direction. He froze, half-on, half-off his seat.
Daphne squeaked.
“No one needs to play hero, pal.” The guy jumped down off the table, walked over to Noah, and pushed him back onto his seat by jamming the gun against his forehead.
He kept eye contact with the gunman until the guy backed away, looking over the other people in the room. Only then did Noah glance around. Three armed men, total. Didn’t seem to have a lot of ammo on them, so they weren’t expecting a shootout or a long standoff. This strike was intended to be surgical.
The gunman gestured to a wall in the dark section of the room. “I want all of you to get up slowly and proceed to this section of the room. My associates will be collecting your purses, wallets, and cellphones.”
Everyone moved at snail-speed. Noah took inventory—one pit boss, three dealers, five other players plus himself. Haul-wise, these guys were going to strike out. Security-wise? This was probably the best they would get. Only four employees and no guards. Still, the room had cameras. The casino probably already had people on the way.
He walked closely behind Daphne and whispered in her ear, “Don’t worry. It’ll all be okay.”
She didn’t answer, although he thought she might have bobbed her head in agreement. But the movement was so fast, so subtle, it was hard to be sure.
They lined up against the far wall and surrendered their phones, wallets, and purses. It bothered Noah. Why didn’t the gunmen ask for any jewelry? Why didn’t they bust open the lockboxes at the tables and take the cash? Hell, they didn’t even pocket any chips.
The gunman—the only one who’d spoken so far—used his weapon to point to the floor. “Okay, everybody. Have a seat. Quietly.”
Noah was starting to think of them as the ringleader and the henchmen. One of the goons stood sentry, watching them, his gaze—and his gun—sweeping back and forth over the hostages. The other two clustered around the closest card table, rooting through the booty they collected, their guns set aside. While those two weren’t looking, and when the guard looked the other way, he might be able to overpower the one closest to him, use him as a shield against the other two. But the hostages…
When the guard’s eyes turned away from him, he gestured to everyone to drop even lower. The old couple at the far end of the line weren’t looking at him, and the pit boss glared and shook his head no. Both male dealers looked to their boss for direction, and Daphne clutched his hand. Even if he could get the demonstrative couple and the other random guy to follow his instructions, there were too many variables. Someone who didn’t hit the decks could get shot.
The sentry wheeled around, pointed his gun at Noah’s head. “Hey!”
The two guys at the table turned. “Deuce?”
He pointed with his weapon. “This guy moved, Ace.”
Ace, the ringleader, walked over and stooped down to talk to Noah eye-to-eye. Cocky bastard didn’t even take his weapon with him. “Are we going to have a problem? Everyone else is on their best behavior.”
Noah’s jaw ticked. “I didn’t move.”
“Are
you calling my man a liar?”
Deuce stepped closer, held the muzzle of his gun against Noah’s temple.
Daphne mewled and shook her head. “Please. He didn’t do anything.”
Noah’s heart dropped to his stomach as Deuce turned his gun on her. He’d never been so scared in his life.
She trembled, but she lifted her chin.
“Hey. Deuce, is it?” Noah said. “Over here. Leave her alone. She’s no danger to you.”
Deuce looked at Ace, who turned around. “Joker? Come here.”
The other goon came over, and he brought his gun with him.
Ace looked at Noah. “Mr.—?”
“Crawford.”
“Mr. Crawford, would you like to know why we call my associate ‘Joker?’”
“Because he’s a clown?”
He sneered. “Because he’s the wild card, Mr. Crawford. You never know what to expect from him.”
Joker cocked his hand back then swung it forward, the barrel of the gun impacting Noah’s temple with a loud crack.
Chapter Five
Noah crumpled to the floor, dazed. His vision blurred, voices sounded like they called to him through a long tunnel.
The only thing he was clearly aware of was Daphne.
The sweet, clean scent of her perfume beckoned him. Her warm hand in his anchored him to consciousness. He blinked, focused on her face. She was pale, her eyes were wide. And she was closer than she had been since their night together.
Right outcome, wrong circumstance.
Noah tried to remember what had happened as he struggled to sit up. Something thick and sticky ran into his eye. He swiped at it. Pain lanced through his head and his hand came away smeared with red.
“Easy,” Daphne whispered. “You’ve got a nasty cut. I can’t believe he didn’t knock you out cold.”
It would hurt a hell of a lot less if he had. But then, he wouldn’t be able to help Daphne and the others. Then it all came rushing back. The gunmen. The pistol-whip. He looked around, but all three guys were at the card table now. So he whispered to her, “What were you thinking?”
