"Nah. But if she hears about it, it needs to be from the right person."
I tried to think. "You mean…Griff?"
"Yup."
"But what does he have to do with it?"
"He's the reason I came here in the first place." But then Ryder added, "Well, that and some property."
This was the first I'd heard of it. "What property?"
Sounding amused, he said, "Trust me, you don't wanna know."
Now, I was even more curious. "Sure I do."
This made him chuckle. "You wouldn't say that if you saw it."
I considered what I knew of Ryder Vaughn – not the guy walking beside me, but the hotshot real estate mogul from Chicago. "So it's what? A hotel?"
"A dump is more like it. But yeah, Griff's staying there."
I knew nearly nothing of Griff, but if he and Ryder Vaughn were friends, I doubted he was poor. "But why would he stay in a dump?"
"Because of the bet."
I almost groaned. "Youdorealize you've just taken me full circle, right?"
"Yup."
"So?" I persisted. "What kind of bet?"
"The short version? Griff was in a funk, and he needed a reset, whether he realized it or not. The guy's stubborn as hell, so I had to give him a nudge."
"What kind of nudge?"
"A bet."
This again?"You mean like a dare?"
"Nah. Like a bet, literally. Poker. If Griff lost, he had to go away for a while, andIgot to pick the place."
I was still trying to make sense of it. "But what if he won?"
Ryder only laughed. "It wasn't gonna happen."
"Why not?"
"Because I made sure of it."
Something tugged at my conscience. "Wait…you're not saying you cheated?"
"Me? Nah." But then, he ruined it by adding, "I had someone else do it."
To me, it was a distinction without a difference. "Who?"
"I guess you'd call him a friend."
"So, what's his name?"
