“What about your parents?”
“Gone.”
She nodded and sucked her spoon clean, “So, what do you do when you’re not riding that motorcycle everywhere?”
“I like to race and stunt. I like to travel.”
“Huh.” She huffed, “Stunt?”
“Yeah. I do dumb shit on the bike. Most days I’m good at it, sometimes the local emergency room gets to test their skills and luck.”
“That’s how you make money?”
I bleated with laughter and squinted, “Fuck no.”
I realized it was a question of what I did for a living, and I couldn’t very well tell her I trafficked marijuana and pills for the club. So, I babbled, “My, uh, my friend… He sold me that ol’ strip club on the edge of town.”
“You own a club…” She all but called bullshit with her eyes alone, patiently blinking and tipping her head.
“It used to be a club. I haven’t re-opened it yet.”
“Right.”
I reached for her plate and picked up a cauliflower bite. I knew it’d taste like shit, but I had to distract her. I dunked it and my fingers into her ranch and promptly shoved the damn thing in my mouth.
It had the firmness of a french fry, but I couldn’t bring myself to swallow no matter how long I chewed.
So much for seductive distractions!
I took up a napkin and tried to discreetly spit it out, much to her amusement.
“How the hell can you eat that?” I laughed.
“They’re good. It’s an acquired taste.”
“Yeah? What if I acquire a taste for you?”
She turned in the booth and peeked over the back of the seat, raising up just a bit to do so.
“It hasn’t escaped my notice, Mr. K.o.T., that you rather like gambling,” she teased.
Chapter Twelve
Big Wins
Crystal
My heart was racing. No one had ever been so persistent over me. It was flattering and terrifying all at once. Especially, since I wasn’t the type to trust my own shadow.
“Let’s see how that pays off, hmm?” He slid out of the booth and held his hand out for me to take. Once my fingers were locked with his, he led me to the lobby and up the ramp to the boat. The security guards posted at the entrance nodded as we passed, and I nodded back.
“They usually try to identify me any time I pass a security check point. I’m not even wearing the stilettos today,” I pointed out, feeling rather accomplished.
“You are little, but I like it. It suits you.” Anthony winked and paused in front of a machine with buffalo on it. “Let’s see your luck.”
He fed a hundred-dollar bill into the machine and stepped aside.
“Me?” I glanced at the handful of buttons on the machine and then at the screen. “I–I don’t even know how to play one of these. I never–”
