“Jacob’s a werewolf!” I call after her. “That’s basically a dog! So you should be on my side on this one.”
She ignores me. Whatever. I don’t have time to deal with her doubts. I’ve got enough to do, and it has to get done quickly.
I pull up Pippa’s location and find the name of the restaurant she’s at. Once I’ve got it, I dial Craig’s number. Craig’s a senior engineer at a big power company. He bought into one of my tournaments and came in third. Every now and then, we catch up over a drink.
I’m hoping that drink caché will buy me one big favor.
“Ryan, my man!” Craig booms into the phone. “I was wondering when I’d finally hear from you.”
Shit. Why did Craig think he’d hear from me? “Yeah?”
“It’s getting pretty close to New Year’s. I haven’t gotten the invite for your poker tournament yet.”
I wince. Shit, I didn’t even realize Craig applied to play at that tournament. I guess I was pretty distracted when I decided whose application to accept.
“Yeah. Yeah, man,” I say quickly. “Your invite got mixed up and I wanted to call you in person to let you know that you’re in!”
“Hell, yeah! I knew you wouldn’t let me down, buddy. I didn’t want to bug you at Christmas, though, you know.”
“For sure, for sure. Look, that’s not the only reason I’m calling.” I take a deep breath. “I also was sort of hoping you’d do me a favor.”
“Anything man,” Craig says cheerfully. “Make it quick though, I’m at work.”
Perfect.
“Look, Craig, this is a big ask, but I need you to cut power to a restaurant.”
“Ha. Good one.” I don’t answer right away, and Craig whistles. “Wait. You’re not joking.”
“Uh, no. I’m not.”
“You realize I can’t just take down one restaurant. I’d need to cut power to the whole block, and it’s Christmas. What is this about?”
I rub my temple with my fingers. “I can’t tell you. Look, you’re going to have to trust me. I have a good reason, and nobody’s going to get hurt.”
He sighs. “I don’t know, man. I could get in big trouble if someone found out.”
“I’m sure you can come up with an excuse. Outages happen all the time, right?”
“Especially this time of year, all those extra lights and new toys plugged in…” Craig’s voice trails off. He’s starting to wrap his mind around it. I just need to give him the extra push.
“And look, to show you how much I appreciate it, I’ll stake you into the tournament,” I add. “The full 100k buy-in and everything. I just need to cut the power to that block for, like, twenty minutes.”
…just long enough to ruin the date.
“Okay, fine. What’s the block?" Craig says.
I pump my fist in the air.Total champion.
“Sunnybrook Lane.”
I hear Craig typing over the phone. “Okay…give me a minute and it’s done. But you owe me.”
“Big time,” I assure him. “See you at New Year’s.”
Once I’ve hung up, I wait for the feeling of victory to wash over me.
For the high I always get from being the man on top.
