Page 4 of Under His Protection

“Ricky,” Tessa said in an exasperated tone, “you were in debt before your dad passed away. Now you’re only in deeper debt, losing everything he left you.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “And you know half of that was for Nina. What makes you think your so-called luck will improve tonight?”

I covered my face with my hand. “Don’t encourage him.”

“I’m not. I’m merely pointing out that he’s not going to be lucky. Ever!”

He chuckled. “Prepare to eat your words, girls.”

I thrust my fists down at my sides. “We won’t! It’s not a matter of luck. It’s about odds. The statistics of it!”

“Like you’d know,” he scoffed. “All you do is read and act like a loser homebody.” He buffed his nails on the front of his shirt. “Don’t worry about it. I got this handled. I got an idea that’ll make it all back.”

I don’t even want to know. “An idea,” I deadpanned.

“Yeah.” He smiled wider, smug and stupid. “And it’s genius.”

“You? A genius?” Tessa mocked.

He frowned. “Hey.”

“Ricky, do not go up there and gamble another penny.” I sidestepped to block him from leaving the cramped small corner of the Hound and Tea’s breakroom in the back of the kitchen. Tessa noticed that I was physically trying to deter him from going up the stairs.

“There are other ways to get back on solid ground,” she advised.

He hardened his face into a scowl. “Oh, yeah? You speaking from experience?”

I dropped my jaw. “Shut up.” That was uncalled for, tossing her circumstances in her face like that.

“What?” Ricky shrugged, feigning innocence. “It’s true. She’s just as poor as we’ve ever been—before or after Dad leaving us any money.”

I gritted my teeth, wondering how this guy could share any genes with me. He was an imbecile. “It doesn’t matter. You can’t hold that against her.”

Tessa held her hand up to quiet me down. “I don’t care. He can say whatever he wants. It doesn’t change the fact that I—that we—know what we’re talking about. Going up there to gamble is not the answer.”

I nodded, grateful for my friend. “Exactly.”

Ricky wasn’t impressed. “Oh, so we’re supposed to do what, then? Wait ten more years for you to waitress to make back a fraction of what I happened to lose?”

“Happened to lose?” I fumed, stepping into his personal space and ready to punch him. “Nothing happened. It’s not some natural disaster that struck. You chose to gamble. You made the decision to throw it all away. Every penny you’ve touched, you’ve thrown it away in the name of fucking luck!”

He rolled his eyes, standing up straight. “You don’t understand.”

“I understand that you are clueless, Ricky. Completely clueless, and you will never learn. You should’ve let me take over the account once it was cleared.”

He was quick to shake his head. “What? No. I’m the man of the family now.”

I laughed. It began as a light chuckle, morphed into a harder giggle, and ended as a hysterical cackle. “You’ve never been the man of the family. You’ve never tried to keep a job for more than a month, and you squander away everything I make while trying to take care of you!”

“Then I’ll pay you back tonight,” he bit out. “Trust me.”

I grunted a dry laugh. “I can’t. There is no way I can trust you.”

Leaning in closer, he towered over me and tried to use his height to intimidate me. “Too bad. You’re gonna have to learn how to trust me tonight.”

“Ricky, just go home, all right?” Tessa pushed his shoulder to get him out of my face. “Go home, have a beer, and take a nap or something. Just stay out of those gambling rooms.”

He reared back and stuck his hands on his hips. “You’re never going to get it. Both of you. You’re always going to think you can tell me what to do. That you’re in charge of any decisions around here.”

“I should be!” I shouted and didn’t care who heard. “I should be in charge of all the decisions about our future.”

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