I take the payout while Raquel pouts about losing. We go a few more rounds like that, each of us betting the opposite of the other. After her third loss, Raquel sighs.
“This is getting kind of boring,” she says, allowing a slight whine into her voice. “Maybe we should play something else?”
One of the drunk guys, whose gaze has barely left Raquel’s cleavage, tosses her a chip. “Try betting on the numbers, sweetheart. That’s how you win big.”
Raquel gives him a coy glance from under her lashes. “But how do I pick which one?”
As the guy leans across to “help” her, I glare at him as if I’m jealous, then roll my eyes and set a single chip on each of six different numbers. This is where the real gamble comes in. Before, Raquel and I were simply covering each other’s losses. If none of the numbers I just bet on hit, then we’re going to start losing.
Surprisingly, the number Raquel picked is a winner. She offers the winnings to the guy who gave her the chip, but he waves her off and she beams at him. Raquel returns to playing it safe while I go another two rounds betting on random numbers.
On the third round, I win again, and I collect my payout with a big smile and a nod to the dealer while Raquel does her overly excited girlfriend act. She has a small stack of chips of her own by now, and she trades them in for ones of a higher denomination after loudly complaining about having to keep track of all of them.
First world problems, right?
I pretend to be helping her gather her chips, palming one of the more valuable ones from her stash, then place a few of my own chips onto the layout. Three of them on random numbers and one on the “2nd 12” spot. The dealer cuts off betting, then spins the wheel and drops the ball.
As soon as the ball slides into the pocket at red sixteen, I tap Raquel’s foot with my own and she reaches across the table, excitedly pointing at my chip sitting on number sixteen. While everyone’s attention is on the number, I slide my hand with the palmed chip toward the “2nd 12” square and slide the higher denomination chip under my original one in a quick, well-practiced move.
The whole thing takes less than a second, but my payout just quadrupled. The payout would have been even higher if I had been able to pull the trick off on number sixteen, but there’s nothing wrong with starting small.
We continue playing, pulling the trick with a second chip a few more times before Raquel signals that she needs a break. I gather our chips, toss one to the dealer as a tip, then follow Raquel toward the back of the casino where the bathrooms are. She half jogs into the lady’s room, returning a few minutes later with a small stack of bills.
“The guy next to me was so busy staring down my dress, he never noticed my hand sneaking into his jacket pocket and grabbing his wallet.” She fans the bills out with a grin. They’re all hundreds.
I grab her wrist and push her hands down, glancing around to see where the nearest camera is. “Are you crazy? If he notices his wallet is missing, you just showed anyone watching that you’re thethief.”
“We’re done with that table anyway.” She shrugs me off. “How much have we gotten so far?”
I do some quick math in my head. “Around a thousand?”
She hums and leans down to rub at her ankle where the strap of her shoe has left a red mark. “That’s not much, but let’s cash out what we have so we have a more solid number. Then we can decide if we want to play a couple more tables.”
“Works for me,” I say, linking my arm through hers and leading her toward the cashier area as I let out a silent sigh of relief.No more shifter dealer.
We’re barely halfway across the floor when a hand lands on my shoulder, stopping me in place. My nostrils flare, my wolf going on red alert as my whole body goes cold and my stomach sinks down to the floor at my feet.
“You two need to come with me,” says the shifter behind me, digging his fingers into the back of my neck to prevent me from slipping out of his grasp. “There are some security issues we need to clear up.”
Two
Neil
Tobeclear,I’mnot a career criminal or anything like that. In fact, I’d like to think I’m generally a good person. I have a job—albeit a crappy one—I pay my rent, I don’t gamble all my money away, and I even return my shopping cart to the cart corral thing when I’m done with it. The only time I find myself on the wrong side of law is when I need to help out a friend or get myself out of a bad situation, and those aren’t regular occurrences.
I’ve spent my entire life living in and around Las Vegas, and Raquel and I only score a little extra cash like this twice, maybe three times a year. We never take more than we need and it’s not like the casinos are hurting for money. If anything, what we do is practically a victimless crime.
I doubt whoever is waiting to question us will share that belief, though, especially if—or more likelywhen—they figure out I’m a shifter.
In the crowd of humans on the casino floor, I could easily pass unnoticed unless the employees were specifically trying to scent other shifters. Now, with only Raquel to help hide my scent, even a cursory sniff would reveal what I am. There’s a chance I can play the clueless human role well enough that they won’t look too closely at me, but I’m not holding my breath on that.
The casino security officer, a broad-shouldered shifter with dark hair, maintains a tight grip on my upper arm as he guides me and Raquel toward an unmarked door in the far corner. He’s not restraining Raquel, and I want to tell her to run, to get out of here while she still can, but I know well enough that she won’t leave me behind.
So, I keep my mouth shut, my mind spinning as I try to come up with a way out of this. And failing. Miserably.
My dread grows as we draw closer to the door. Leaving the casino floor means there will be no witnesses to whatever happens next.
The security officer wordlessly opens the door, and without releasing my arm, gestures for Raquel to precede him through it. She darts a glance at me and raises her brows as if asking what todo, but… I’ve got nothing. There’s really no other choice but to follow. We’d be caught in less than a minute if we tried to make a run for it now.
