“Easy for you to say. You’re not the one who has to win tonight.”
“Like I said. Don’t overthink it.”
“I’m gonna get caught,” I muttered as I sat up and stretched my legs out on his bed while he zipped up his bag. I had been practicing for the better part of the last leg of the trip. My eyes ached from staring at cards, but the view out the window made up for it.
In another life, I would have loved to take a cross-country train ride. Thirty-five hours of bouncing from the Chicago skyline to the plains of Kansas through the Colorado mountains to the desert in New Mexico and Arizona was otherworldly. I loved how the earth made me feel small when life was too much. It made it easier to breathe.
“You know,” Jude said as he sat opposite me and stared out the window. “There’s an Amtrak line that goes down the WestCoast. Seattle to Los Angeles.” A soft smile crossed his face. “It’s been on my bucket list for years.”
I let out a slow breath. “I bet that’d be beautiful.”
Jude stroked his hand down his cheek where his beard used to be. Now, it was covered in day-old stubble. “What are you gonna do after this?”
A caustic laugh slipped free. “IfI make it out . . .”
He shook his head. “Don’t think about that. Make plans. Decide what you’re going to eat afterward. Get excited for the next game you want to watch or movie you want to go see. Tell yourself youwillmake it out.”
“Fine. What areyougonna do after this?” I sassed.
He didn’t even hesitate. “I’m gonna find you.”
I jerked away from the window and stared at him. It wasn’t the resolve in his words that startled me. It was the words themselves. “What do you mean, you’re going to find me? Why wouldn’t you be with me? You have to help me get the money to Valentine.”
“I will,” he said. “But there’s business I have to attend to after things end in Vegas.” He reached across the bed and squeezed my hand. “And then I’ll find you.”
The truth was in everything he didn’t say. He had walked away from John Valentine’s organization without a second thought, and he had done it for me. He had put his life on the linefor me.If there was anything I had learned about John Valentine, it’s that he was one hell of a vindictive man. There would be recourse for Jude’s actions. It made me physically ill to think about what that would be.
I slid across the bed and curled up between his legs as he wrapped his arms around me. “Tell me the plan again,” I said quietly as I traced abstract shapes across his chest.
“We’ll arrive in Kingman and then take the bus to?—”
“No, tell me the plan once we get to the casino. I’ve never played with a partner before.”
Jude kissed the back of my head. “Don’t think of me as your partner. You’re playing alone. I’m just your eyes and ears.”
“What’s my story?”
“Make a splash.” He kissed my temple. “Don’t blend in. Win big. Win fast. You’re not staying, so don’t go for subtlety. Vegas casinos are looking for card counters who are sneaky. Ones who don’t want to be seen. They’re looking for people who work in teams and wear disguises and have flagmen to mark which tables are hot. Go in loud. Clean house. Be excited. Have the night of your goddamn life and walk out with your head held high. They won’t be expecting that.”
I groaned as I sank deeper into his chest. “Easier said than done. I like playing subtle games.”
Jude’s scruff abraded my neck as he kissed my shoulder. “Never once have I been able to take my eyes off you. You are the furthest thing from subtle.”
Neither of us said much of anything as we finished the final leg from Flagstaff to Kingman. Thanks to the onboard showers, we were able to freshen up before disembarking and boarding the bus to Las Vegas, which was necessary after a day and a half on the train. What I hadn’t prepared for was the blistering heat once we arrived in Arizona. We had been spoiled in West Virginia with the high elevation, cool mountain air, and thick tree cover.
After a sweltering, nerve-racking, hours-long wait at the Greyhound station, we finally boarded the bus for Vegas. I was wheezing as we lumbered across the state line into Nevada while the air conditioning spat and sputtered. Frankly, it would’ve been better for the bus not to have it at all. The half-assed effort from the AC was a sick tease.
We were unceremoniously delivered to the Las Vegas Strip in the early morning hours and dumped onto the sidewalk with only our backpacks full of cash and snacks. Any other day, it would’ve been a great combination. But the moment my shoes hit the ground, the nerves set in.
“Come on,” Jude said as he took my hand and nearly dragged me through the crowded bus station. Since he seemed to know where he was going, I didn’t say a thing.
Maybe it was because of his past life as a Navy SEAL, but Jude had an impeccable sense of direction. Not once in our entire cross-country trip had he used a GPS.
I used a GPS to get around New Haven.
There was something different about him today. Throughout the remainder of the train trip, his head had been on a constant swivel. Now that we were in Las Vegas—where I was certain he would be twice as uptight—he was the exact opposite.
I thought maybe we’d immediately catch a ride to the casinos. Or maybe grab a quick bite to eat. Instead, he dragged me into a high-end boutique. It struck me as odd that a retail store would be open this early. Then again, I suppose Vegas never really slowed down.
