Page 8 of Ensnared
"Your grandfather can always downsize and use the rest to travel." Dimitri continued, his heavy accent coloring his words with a distinctive edge. "Isn't that what most elderly Americans do?"
Looking around, the casino floor was still practically empty. Only a few people here and there dotted the machines. She could hear someone on a microphone in the distance talking over the music. Whatever was going on was keeping everyone busy tonight. Everyone except them.
Leaning on the counter with both elbows, Eve let out a sigh. "If only that was the plan. My grandparents are stuck on an insane idea as of late. They want to move into some ritzy retirement village. At first, they just talked about it, especially after a couple from church moved into it, but now they have been seeing ads about it on the internet nonstop and it's all they talk about."
Dimitri gave her a knowing smile that reminded her of a devious wolf in an old cartoon. "So, you're scared they will move away and you'll have to move out into the big wide world on your own, is that it?"
His words were a direct hit.
Eve stood up abruptly and cast him a scornful look. "Ugh, why am I even talking to you?!"
Annoyed at herself for even trying to have a normal conversation with the man, she walked to the other side of the circular bar and pulled out her phone again. Leaning against the fridge, she checked her notifications. Her thumb paused over one in particular. A line formed between her brows as she looked at the contact.
What wasshedoing texting her? A friend of her ex, Landon's more so than hers. Eve had only met the woman a few times and texted her even less.
Tapping on the text, her heart immediately sank.
Lisa M:Did you know Landon started dating someone else already? I really hate how everything ended between you two. Want to do brunch on Sunday?
Inside was a picture of her ex standing next to some girl she had never seen before. The pose between them was familiar, intimate even. The way the girl's head was leaning onto his shoulder or how his hand was holding her by the waist to bring her in close. Like watching a train wreck, Eve looked at the bottom of the photo. It was a screenshot from Instagram and she could see the date. Her stomach twisted in nausea. It was taken last weekend.
Eve bit the nail on her thumb. If her brother could see her, he would tell her to stop sucking her thumb just to annoy her and pull her from her thoughts. But he wasn't here, was he? Nothing stood in the way of the utter betrayal she was witnessing.
Her eyes began to sting just as a cabinet door shut to her right.
Looking up, Eve noticed Dimitri standing a few feet away and sliding his phone into his pocket. He gave her a cool unreadable expression before pointing to the other side of the bar.
"You have a customer," he informed her.
She frowned even deeper and turned to peer around the corner at a guy sitting at the barstool looking expectantly at her.
Annoyed and still a little dazed by the text, she slipped her phone into her pocket and walked over to the customer. As if on cue, the man pulled the vape pen he had been holding from between his lips, released a perfect smoke ring in her face, and grinned. Confused, she looked at Dimitri and back at the man as she waved away the smoke. The man just sat there grinning expectantly at her.
Then she remembered. There was some sort of vaping competition going on this weekend along with a trade show. This was probably one of the contestants. God, give her strength.
Seeing the obvious confusion on her face, the man leaned on the counter and gave her a slick smile that made her want to back away. "I would much rather be served by a beautiful girl than some dude," he explained. "Give me whiskey on the rocks."
"Of course, sir," she said through gritted teeth and turned to grab a glass, but Dimitri was already pulling the glass and grabbing the whiskey bottle off the shelf.
Beside her, the man was making another vape ring in the air, this time spinning it with his hand. Was she supposed to be impressed by this? Did he not know the health dangers of vaping? The poor regulation, the shady third-party vendors, or the major crackdown Singapore did making it illegal in the country. Eve's mind raced, recalling numerous facts about the subject—courtesy of her former part-time job, where she moonlit as a research assistant, helping graduates with their papers.
Resisting the urge to info dump on the weird man, she gave him a tired look. "I bet that took a lot of time and skill to learn," she said dryly, desperately willing this conversation to end.
Stepping up beside her, Dimitri set the drink in front of the man. "Your whiskey on the rocks," he announced.
Avoiding Dimitri's gaze with obvious discomfort, the man looked pointedly at her. "Yeah, it did," he said, referring to her question. "I took home first prize in last year's Cloud Chasers Tournament in Taiwan."
Eve nodded, praying he would walk away.
"You know," the vape guy's drawl grated her nerves. "I can show you some tricks sometime, sweetheart. Maybe after your shift, we could grab a drink."
Eve had to use all of her willpower to keep the look of surprised disgust off her face. "Umm, no thanks."
Undeterred, the man leaned forward in his chair, giving Eve an even better look at the acne covering his face and the smell of Axe cologne. "Come on, darling, don't be so uptight. I bet you've never met someone as skilled as me. Tomorrow, I'm going to win first place at the competition and walk away with tons of sponsorships and the ten-thousand-dollar grand prize check," he said, dropping that information there as if that was all she needed to hear to run off into the night with the man.
Eve couldn't stop herself and gave him a bright-eyed look. "Oh really!" She tried and failed to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. "Man, a whole ten thousand dollars. I bet your whole family will be proud of that."
Dimitri laughed from behind her and the vape guy's face turned red, his eyes darting from her to Dimitri, filled with accusation.
