“Time to rotate out,” Jeremiah said as he strolled in and shucked off his jacket. Even though the mid-May temperatures were balmy during the day, the ocean brought in a chill once the sun went down.
My attention darted back to the grid of video feeds. “Go have a cigarette. I don’t want to have to deal with your irritable ass when I start yawning.”
If there was anything I could count on, it was that Jeremiah needed at least two smokes to get through the night. Usually he’d slip out the back door just after midnight, but he was jittery tonight.
“Already did,” he said as he grabbed the back of the rolling chair. “Al is heading outside, Tommy’s got the door, and you’re on the floor.”
“Who’s on the high roller tables?”
“Boss said to stay outside the door tonight.” Jeremiah glanced at the clock. “His guests are on the way.”
I glanced at the screen, where Amelia had won another hand and the game was coming to an end. I didn’t know who Valentine was entertaining tonight, but I hoped it was one of the regular pieces of shit he did business with. Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.
Amelia hit. Wait . . .Why the hell did she hit when she had nineteen in her hand?I studied the screen until I could see the card she got. Five of hearts.
She sighed and, for a moment, I believed her disappointment.
That was, until I mentally calculated how much she had made tonight.
Even after losing that round, she was still sitting there with ten grand to take home.Clever girl.
Static burst in my earpiece as Al’s voice came across the line. “There’s a silver sedan parked two blocks away, sitting in the alley. It’s been there for a couple hours. Someone’s asleep in the passenger’s seat. Boss wants the area cleared out.”
“Driver probably drank too much and passed out,” I said.
“Local plate?” Jeremiah asked.
“Connecticut,” Al said.
I groaned internally as Jeremiah shoved me out of the seat while Al rattled off the plate number. Before Jeremiah could run it in the database, I said, “Tow it.”
“Easy enough,” Al said.
Jeremiah started to bitch me out, but I walked out onto the floor. Guests sitting at the poker tables paid me no mind as Islid between the seats. That was the benefit to working the floor. People feared the guys who patrolled the mostly abandoned block that the Four Horsemen called home. They tried to suck up to whoever was watching the door. But once they landed at a table and put money down, everyone keeping an eye the floor disappeared. Dollar signs were a damn good distraction.
But Amelia certainly wasn’t distracted by them. Her mouth moved in a silent whisper as she counted her winnings and weighed them against her losses.
I didn’t know who John Valentine would be seeing at the high roller table tonight, but the ten grand Amelia had won was pocket change compared to the money that would be played—and the blood that would be spilled if it wasn’t paid.
She had played a solid game and hadn’t drawn too much attention to the fact that it wasn’t beginner’s luck, but it was time for Amelia Hawthorne to leave.
I sidled up to John Valentine, putting myself between him and Amelia. “Sir, your guests will be arriving shortly. We’re clearing the vehicles around the block.”
Amelia stiffened.
Good. Leave.
John frowned. “Seems a little unnecessary, Jude. Don’t you think?”
“Better safe than sorry, sir.”
“I suppose I can’t argue with that,” he said with a chuckle as he reached for his glass and rattled the ice inside. “Get me another, will you?”
And now I was a fucking waiter.
“I think I’m going to call it a night,” Amelia said as she adjusted the tacky tiara on her head. “I probably need to go find my friends before they start to worry.” She began to collect her chips.
“Color up,” John said to the dealer, cocking his head at Amelia. He offered her a kind smile that was coated in insincerity. “Tell the dealer to color up, and he’ll exchange your chips for bigger ones so it’s easy to move tables or cash out.”
