Page 18 of Reckless Roulette

I step into the casino and instantly make a beeline for the back. I don’thatesocial things like this or clubs, but I sure don’t like them either. It’s always so loud, and so many people, and of course he lets people smoke in here. So here I am, with my hand clamped over my nose, rushing through the place.

When I reach the back, I find a guard who looks like he’d have an idea where Kade is.

“Hey, can you tell Kade I’m here? Tell him his new friend has arrived.”

The man just stares at me, then with a wave of his hand to shoo me off, he turns back to another guard who is clearly more important than me.

He must think that the wave is enough because he starts grumbling to his buddy as he checks his phone. “I’ve been here twelve hours at this point and just want to go home. My daughter’s first birthday party is in an hour.”

The other guard also chooses to ignore me; this one doesn’t even look at me as he angles his body toward the first guy, so I step back just a little to listen. “Kade wants this place locked down tight in case Norn stirs up trouble, which we all know he’s going to do, but we’re going to be dead from exhaustion by the time he comes. He really needs to hire more people,” the other says.

“He won’t though. He hates hiring people he doesn’t trust.”

“Then he can deal with the consequences of overworking us. I already feel like quitting.”

Clearly, no one cares that I’m patiently waiting as I step in closer to them. “Sooooo… can I just go on back, then?” I ask as I reach for the doorknob.

“Fuck off, man,” the guard says as he puts his arm out.

I stand there for a moment, then look to the door, then back at him. “But Kade is in there… and I’m out here… do you see the problem? Either of you?”

“Who is this fuck?” the first guard asks the other.

The second scrutinizes me for a second before he says, “I dunno, want to kick his ass?”

“He does look kickable.”

I look them over then glance at myself. “Why? What part of me looks kickable?”

“Every part,” the first guard says.

I smack his hand away and pull open the door before one of them grabs onto my midsection and starts pulling me away. Clinging onto the doorknob, I glance into the room and find Kade talking to some people from his spot in a large chair.

“Kade! Kade! Hey, Kade!” I call.

“What the fuck?” he asks as he stubs out his cigarette. “What are you doing?”

“I guess your guards don’t like me or something. They said I look ‘kickable,’ which I feel like is a mildly unfair way to judge me,” I say as they hold me, now unsure of what to do with me seeing as Kade has acknowledged me.

“Um… boss… do you want to… see him?” the guard holding me off the ground asks. He’s a bit worried now that he’s declared me the enemy when Kade knows me.

“Sure.”

The guard quickly puts me down and pats me on the shoulder. “All you had to do was ask to see him.”

I turn on him with wide eyes. “DID I?”

“I’d have let you in if you’d have simply said something,” he says before following me into the room that fucking stinks. I grab the ashtray and toss it in the sink before running water over it, hoping to kill the smell a little.

“God, you reek,” I tell Kade as everyone in the room stares at me like I’m an alien. Last I checked, I’m not… but does onereallyever know?

“What are you doing here?” Kade asks, which makes him weirdly sound like he’s not elated by my presence.

“I wanted to see if you still had your head or not,” I say as I grab a chunk of his hair and give it a tug. “Eh! Looky there, it’s still attached. Firmly too. How nice!”

“No thanks to you.”

I grin as I slide into a seat across from him. “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. You haven’t gotten shot, punched, or threatened once while I was around. Also, you need to give your poor guys a break and this dude over here just wants to see his daughter’s first birthday party. If you’re not careful, your employees might off you before your nemesis does.”

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