“Give it a try,” Bob called from under the hood of her Civic.
Shayna pressed the clutch in and gave the key a twist, grinning as the little car whirred to life.
“There you go. Turn your lights off the next time.”
“I didn’t leave the lights on!” she protested as she switched her car off.
“Sure you didn’t,” her father teased.
“Thanks, Daddy,” she said as she gave him a hug and kissed him on the cheek.
“My pleasure, Punkin.” He picked up the dead battery and started toward his truck. “I’ll return the battery after work and give you the core charge.”
“Just keep it. It’s the least I can do for you doing this for me.”
“Nope. Can’t do it,” he said as he slid the battery into the back of the truck and wrapping a bungee around it to keep if from sliding around. “How can I hold it over your head if you pay me?”
She giggled. “Okay, fine. Thanks, again. You’re a life saver!”
“You think I’m a little piece of candy with a hole in the center? Gee, thanks!”
She giggled again. She may be twenty-six, but her father still teased her like she was twelve, and she loved him for it. He’d said many times that no matter how old she got, she would still be his little girl. She knew her parents’ love for her was unwavering and unconditional, and sometimes she felt like the luckiest woman in the world.
“Only because you’re so sweet to me.” She opened the passenger door and dragged her backpack out. She had a few hours yet before she went on shift and she’d rather spend the time studying in the employee lounge rather than driving home just to come back.
“You’re worth it.” He gave her a hug. “See you tonight.”
“Okay. I won’t be late.” She was leaving for school in the morning, and she knew her parents would wait up for her since she’d still be in bed when they left for work in the morning.
She stood in the scorching Las Vegas heat as her dad started his truck and began to drive away, then turned and hurried out of the parking lot for the casino. She threw the heavy bag into a chair in the lounge, pulled out a thick textbook, then immediately walked out again. She was starving, skipping breakfast in order to be ready when her dad arrived to pick her up.
She returned to the public portion of the casino, making her way to Tops Choice, the low-end restaurant in the casino. It was her normal lunch and dinner stop when she worked and her friend Angela worked there. Besides, with her employee discount, you couldn’t beat the $2.99 salad bar. As she waited for the hostess she could see the place was busy, but not packed.
“Hey, Shayna!” Angela said she returned to her station. “I thought you were back in school this week.”
“I leave in the morning,” Shayna replied as Angela led her to her normal table, tucked in a corner. “Ted asked me to hang around for the tournament.”
“Aha! We get a lot of them in here during lunch and dinner. How’s it going?”
“Pretty good. Boring, mostly.”
Angela grinned as she nodded. “You won’t be doing it much longer, but you had still better stop by and say hi, okay?”
Shayna nodded as she sat her book on the table then followed Angela part of the way back. “Count on it. Who else would you find to laugh at your drunken ass?”
Angela giggled as their paths separated, Shayna making her way to the salad bar as her friend returned to her station to seat additional guests.
Shayna picked over the bar, loading her plate with lettuce, then adding cheese, tomatoes, and other items. She skipped the dressing in deference to the calories and returned to her seat where her water was waiting. She was such a regular that the entire staff knew what she typically ate and didn’t bother her.
***
Beast stepped out of the tournament room and stretched. He felt like shit, and it showed in his play. He’d plied Maranda with a few drinks before she’d invited him back to her place, and he’d followed on his bike. She was fascinated by his colors and the fact that he was the president of a motorcycle club, asking all kinds of questions. Had he killed anyone? Did he get in lots of fights? Had he ever been in jail? He could tell she was a bit disappointed that they weren’t an outlaw club, but he fed her fantasy of being fucked by a big bad biker by embellishing the danger of what he did while not giving any specifics, leaving out the fact that the guns and danger was in service of his clients. As he softened her up, they had a few more drinks while Maranda listened in rapt attention to his stories. There was never any doubt he was going to fuck her, but she was a lazy lover and expected him to do all the work. She could get away with it because of the way she looked, but he’d had more than his share of stunning and sexy women, and he wasn’t impressed with her skills or attitude. As he left her snoring, he wished he’d taken Fawn up on her offer of a repeat. She might be older, but at least she was into it and it showed in her fucking.
He’d been in no shape to ride last night when he left so he’d called a cab, then gotten up early and called for another cab to fetch his bike from Maranda’s apartment. He hadn’t gotten enough sleep and was hung over. While the fresh air of the ride had cleared his head some, he was still suffering the lingering effects of his night.
He decided what he needed was food. Food and another dose of Advil. He wasn’t in the mood for anything heavy or elaborate, bypassing upscale restaurants, before stopping at one that looked more to his taste.
“One,” he said as he approached the hostess.
“Right this way, sir.”
Beast followed the hostess into the restaurant, doing a double take when he spotted Shayna sitting in the corner, her nose in a thick book, her fork hovering over a half-eaten salad as she slowly chewed.
“There’s my party,” he said as he changed course for Shayna’s table.
“Is she expecting you?” Angela asked, as she arced around a table in pursuit of Beast.
“Nope,” he replied, ever slowing.
“I have a table right here for you, sir,” she tried, not wanting him to bother her friend.
“No, this one will do fine,” he said, never slowing as he weaved toward her table.
Angela followed, not sure what to do, finally deciding to see if Shayna would allow him to sit down. She’d normally try to accommodate a guest’s request for table preference, but she was in a bind. Had Shayna been a guest she’d have put a stop to him on the spot, calling for security if she had to, but Shayna was an employee, a hostess just like she was. It was their job to be accommodating to the guests. If Shayna allowed him to sit down, fine, but if not, she’d sit him somewhere else or have security remove him.
She was deep in her Internal Medicine text, reading the pathophysiology of heart murmurs, when she became aware of Beast standing at her table.
“May I sit down?” he asked.
Angela was standing behind him looking apologetic.
“I’m having lunch.”
“So I see,” he said as he pulled out a chair and sat down.
She sighed. “Thank you, Angela.”
“Thank you,” Beast said as Angela placed a menu in front of him.
“What can I do for you?” Shayna asked.
“Have lunch with me.”
“Appears I don’t have any choice.”
Beast smiled. “You do. If you ask me to leave, I will. But before I go, I’m sorry I made you nervous last night.”
“You didn’t make me nervous.” She could tell from the look on his face he wasn’t buying it. “Not much anyway.”
“What can I get you, sir?” Carol asked.
Beast looked at her, obviously waiting on her to say something. “Go ahead.”
When Beast opened the menu, Carol opened her eyes wide and briefly fanned her face, making Shayna smile.
“Black & Blue Burger and fries.”
“Pink or no pink?”
“Pink.”
“Anything to drink?”
“Just water.”
“Be right out,” Carol said, picking up his menu then turning away, looking back over her shoulder and winking at Shayna.
Beast looked at the textbook open on the table. It was upside down for him, and it didn’t help that it was full of long words he wasn’t sure he could pronounce, like valve stenosis, valve regurgitation, septal defect, or even worse, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. “Are you a doctor, or a rocket scientist, or something?” he asked as he nodded at the book. Damn! Smart and beautiful! This girl has got it all!
Shayna giggled at Beast’s dumbfounded expression, and tipped the book up. “Doctor,” she said, knowing the pictures of the dogs on the front of the book would tell him what kind of doctor.
“A vet?”
“That’s right. I attend the College of Veterinary Medicine at Western University in Pomona.”
“Pomona, California?”
“That’s right.”
“That’s a hell of a commute.”
She smiled. “I live there through the week, come home on the weekends to work.”
He nodded, impressed in spite of himself, and said so. “How much longer you have to go?”
“Two more days. I leave in the morning to go back and take my final,” she said as she waved her hand over the book.
“You won’t be here for the tournament?”
“I go on shift at four today. I’ll be back on Friday. Why?”
He grinned. “Not that I’m superstitious or anything, but I’ve been playing like shit this morning. I think it’s because my good luck charm isn’t in the room with me.”
“Me?” she asked, as she scrunched her face and rolled her eyes at the lameness of the line.
He chuckled. “What can I say? I could do no wrong last night. This morning I’m just holding my own. If my luck turns around after you come into the room, then we’ll know.”
“What if you’re out before I get there?” she teased.
“I’m not playing that bad!”
Shayna giggled. “Okay. If you’re still in the game, we’ll see. I’ll even give you that rap on the table for luck if the dealer doesn’t mind.”
“Deal! So what about you? I assume you will quit the casino after you graduate.”
Shayna closed her book. “Eventually. I have to get my license first, then land a position somewhere.”
“How hard can that be?” he asked. “Seems to me that once you’re a vet, you can write your own ticket. No? I’ve never heard of an unemployed doctor.”
“You have to find a clinic that needs another doctor,” she explained. “There aren’t many big vet hospitals. Most clinics are owned by one or two doctors. I need to find a clinic that needs another doctor because their practice is growing, or one of the doctors is wanting to retire. I’m confident I’ll find one, but it takes time for something to open up.”
He nodded. “I guess I can see that. I assumed a doctor, once they were out of school, had people waiting in line to hire them.”
“It would be nice, but it doesn’t work that way. At least not for DVMs.”
“DVMs? Oh, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, right?”
“Right.”
“What made you decide to become a vet?” he asked as his burger arrived.
She shrugged. “Don’t know. Just have always been interested in animals.” She smiled at the memories. “I was always bringing home some stray dog or cat. My parents are saints. I remember this three-legged dog I brought home. Tripod, Dad called him. Always knocking stuff over but he was such a good dog.”
“Was?”
“Yeah. He crossed the Rainbow Bridge about three years ago.”
He didn’t know what the meant, exactly, but he could assume from the melancholy in her voice he’d died. “Are you going to stick around Las Vegas?” he asked to change the subject.
“I don’t know. If I can land a position, yeah, probably. If not, I’ll go where the work takes me. I want to open my own clinic someday, but I have to work and build up a client base first. And, of course, save up enough money to actually do it. Ideally, I would like to take over someone else’s practice. The client base is already there and that makes it easier.”
“You have this all figured out, don’t you?”
Shayna grinned. “I have a plan, yeah. We’ll see if I can make it work. What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Any plans? What are you going to do with your life if you win?”
“Don’t know. Unlike you, I’m not going to be some rich doctor.”
Shayna spluttered. “Despite what you may think, there isn’t a lot of money in being a vet. Fifty to sixty to start. About ninety on average. But if you win, you’ll be set for life. Then you can go find what you’re looking for.”
“You remember me saying that?”
“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t know you were listening.”
Shayna placed her fork in her empty plate. “I was listening. I thought it was interesting that you were risking everything to try to find what was missing from your life. I’ve always known what I wanted to do, so I have a hard time understanding how someone doesn’t know what they want.”
He shrugged as he chewed. “I wish I knew what it was that I was looking for. That would make things a lot easier.” He looked at her a moment. She had such lovely eyes behind those oh-so-stylish lenses. “I guess I never had the chance to figure out what I wanted to do.”
“Why’s that?”
“My dad was killed about five years ago. I took over the club at twenty-two. I was too young and wasn’t ready, but the job was kind of forced onto me.”
“I’m sorry,” she said softly. If her parents were to die unexpectedly and young like that, she didn’t know what she’d do. “What about your mom?”
“Don’t know her. She ran off when I was young. Haven’t seen her in, let’s see, almost twenty years now. She didn’t even come back for Dad’s funeral.”
“That’s terrible!”
Beast shrugged. “It is what it is. They were never married, and I’m past it now. My dad and I were tight, though. I was kind of raised in the club.” He smiled at the memories of the older members doting on him as a kid. “I have more aunts and uncles than you would believe and I was going to take over the club when he retired.” He smiled sadly. “I just didn’t know it would be so soon. So I finished what he started, and now I’m looking to do something for me. Whatever that is.”
“I hope you find it,” she said sincerely. Listening to his story, hearing the sadness in his voice as he talked about his father, humanized him for her.
He grinned, throwing off the darkening mood. “Me, too. Which is why I need some luck. Skill can take you only so far. The cards have to break your way, too, and that takes a bit of luck.”
“Then I hope you have some.”
“Thanks,” he said as he wiped his mouth. “And thanks for having lunch with me. It doesn’t replace the dinner I’m going to take you on, though.”
“Oh, you are, are you?” she teased. She was softening up toward him, but he was still too presumptuous by half, and she wasn’t going to be at his beck and call, no matter how delicious he might look.
“Yes. Sooner or later, I’m going to wear you down and you’ll have dinner with me.”
“I will? What makes you so sure?”
He pressed his lips together as if thinking as he bobbed his head slightly. “Call it a feeling. There’s more to you than meets the eye, and I would like to get to know you better. I admire the fact that you have such a clear vision of your future. I’m fascinated that you’re an incredibly beautiful woman, and yet you’re also obviously incredibly smart. But you know what I find the most intriguing about you?”
“What?” she asked. He’s a smooth bastard, I’ll give him that!
“I am intrigued that you’re your own woman and you don’t need anyone to validate you.”
Despite herself, Shayna could feel his pull. She was expecting some trite come on, but he’d seen past the way she looked and saw her as a person. She was so tired of people, men especially, thinking that because of the way she looked she was either always horny, stupid, or both.
“Thank you, Beast. Maybe I will let you take me out to dinner some time.”
He chuckled. “Is it something I said? Look, I’ll be straight with you if you think you can stand to hear it.”
“Hit me,” she said as she leaned forward a bit.
“Okay. I don’t have trouble picking up women, but I don’t want to just pick you up. After talking with you yesterday, and now, I think you’re someone I would like to get to know, someone who’s worth knowing more about.” He shrugged, then grinned. “I think it’s because you kept kicking me in the nuts when I was trying to find out something, anything, about you.”
Shayna giggled. “Well, then consider this another kick. I have to go. I have work to do that’s more important than sitting here while you flatter me.”
He quickly pulled his hands from the table and reached out of sight, obviously grabbing his crotch as he hunched over and made a comically painful face. “Ooohhh…right in the plums! I got this,” he smiled, placing his hand on her check as she started to rise.
“You don’t have to do that. I get an employee discount.”
“I insist.”
“You realize it changes nothing, right?”
“I would be so disappointed if it did.”
She watched him a moment, searching his eyes. “Then, thanks.”
“You’re welcome. See you at four.”
***
Beast stopped at the hostess station on his way out. “Do you know Shayna?” he asked Angela.
“Yes, why?”
“Know where she lives?”
“Yes,” she said more slowly, her eyes narrowing slightly. If he thinks I’m going to give him her address, he better think again.
“Can you do me a favor?” he asked as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his money clip. “At your next break, will you please go the florist and have a bouquet of something she likes sent to her house?” He tossed a hundred dollars onto the podium, then another twenty off to the side. “That’s for your trouble. I would like the card to read, ‘For luck.’ Can you do that for me?”
Angela stared at the money a moment then gathered it up. Why can’t a stranger send me flowers? “I can do that for you.”
Beast gave her his best smile. “What’s your name?”
“Angela. Why?”
“Because, Angela, I’m going to mention to management how helpful you’ve been.” He gave her a wink then moved off. It was almost time for the tournament to start and he needed to get his head in the game so he’d still be there when lady luck arrived.
***
Shayna snuggled into the most comfortable chair in the lounge and propped her feet up in a chair she’d dragged from the table. She opened her internal medicine text to the heart murmur section she’d been reading before Beast had interrupted. She had a hard time getting focused, thinking about her parents dying. She and Beast must be about the same age, and she couldn’t imagine living, even now, without her parents in her life.
She shook her head again, her brow wrinkling as she tried to shove the unpleasant thoughts away. She pushed her glasses up with a practiced touch at the left temple, and forced her attention back to her text. Beast intruded into her thoughts several more times, but slowly she lost herself in text.
***
The three players in the game laid their cards down on the table. “Flush, Queen high, Straight, Queen high, and three Eights, Flush wins,” the dealer said.
Beast smiled as he raked in the pot, not letting the other players see him sweat. He’d won the pot, his luck improving after lunch, but it appeared all the fish were gone. These guys played for keeps and his ability to win with impunity was gone. He began to stack his chips as the bell sounded, announcing the closing of another round. There were only four players left at his table, which meant it would be either be closed when he returned and the players distributed to other tables to bring them to full strength, or they would seat four more players at his table. The rule seemed to be that five or more players still at a table kept it open, three or fewer closed it, and four could go either way.
“This table will be closed, gentlemen,” an organizer said as he stepped to the table. “Please collect your chips.”
Beast grimaced. He was sure it was all psychological, but he didn’t like moving to a new table, much preferring if new players were seated at his. It always seemed like players being added to the table were at a disadvantage, probably because they had to learn the playing style of everyone, where those who remained already knew the playing style of those at the table. Beast nodded as he continued to count. He was still up for the day, but nothing like he’d been the first day.
“You made it, I see,” Shayna said as she stepped up behind him.
He didn’t stop counting, but smiled at her voice. “Yeah. I told you would still be here,” he said after he had his chips counted. He decided not to bank any. The blinds, and raises, were getting bigger and it slowed down play to have to keep calling on his bank for more chips.
“Are you up, down, or even?”
“I’m up, but I’m not at the kiddie table anymore. These guys play tough. We’ll see what happens after I return from the break.”
She smiled at him. “I guess we will,” she replied before she moved off to circulate and take care of her guests.
As he exited the room, Beast pulled the man supervising the room for the network aside. “You see that hostess, the redhead?” he asked.
“Yes sir.”
“My table was closed. When I return I would like to sit in her section, please.”
“May I ask why?”
Beast smiled. “Let’s just say I played better yesterday when she was in the room.”
The man nodded. He was used to all kinds of weird superstitions from these guys, from the guy who wore no socks, to the woman who wore an Army cap pulled low over her eyes, to the man who insisted he had to have peanut M&Ms at his table, but always left the brown ones behind. Placing a competitor at one of twenty-five tables was a piece of cake.
“Of course, sir. We’ll try to accommodate you.”
“Thanks,” Beast smiled. I have a feeling my luck is about to change.
“Beast! How’s it going? Are you splashed out yet?” Hightower asked in way of greeting.
“Not bad. Today’s a much tougher day, but I hope my luck is about to change,” Beast said into his phone. “How’re our guests?”
“Milk run, just as expected. They go in, talk to Boeing, and they come out. Nothing to it. We’re nothing but babysitters on this job.”
“Just the way I like it. Did you get the thing with the Sons set up?”
“Yes, we’re set. McKinnon agreed to let Palmetto tag along, but he will have to leave in the evenings and go back into town. He’s putting him up at his house. Did you know those bastards are building a motel?”
“No. We should look into what they hell they’re doing. Sounds like they’re printing money and we need to get in on some of that.”
“Maybe you and I need to run through the experience? See what the big deal is.”
Beast smiled. “Maybe. In any event, we need to send them a bonus for working with us on this, and bill it to the Argentine government.”
Hightower chuckled. “Agreed. He seems to like the mutts.” Hightower had lived in the United States for more than fifteen years as a resident alien, but he still hadn’t lost his accent or his slang.
“We heard anything on the Dubai deal?” Beast asked. He was running out of time and needed to wrap this up.
“Nothing yet. Let me worry about DRS, you worry about poker.”
Beast smiled. The club would be in good hands with Hightower. “Okay. Thanks, brother, for picking up my slack.”
“You’ve done enough,” Hightower said after a short pause. “It’s time for us to step up and do something for you.”
Beast’s lips tugged into a smile. “Thanks, man.”
“Water with a lemon twist,” Shayna said as she sat the glass in the holder.
Beast was at his place, organizing his chips before the game started. “Knock for luck?” Beast asked.
Shayna kept her hands at her sides as she waited for approval from the dealer to touch the table. “What’s that?” the dealer asked after picking up that Beast and Shayna were waiting on her.
“I’m asking her to tap the table for luck,” Beast replied. “It’s only once, after each break. It won’t interfere once play starts,” he added when the dealer hesitated.
The woman didn’t roll her eyes. She had a master’s degree in mathematics and knew poker was a game of statistics and probability. She didn’t understand all the superstitious mumbo jumbo that so many players seemed to subscribe to. Still, he was guest and she couldn’t see how having Shayna knock on the table could influence the game, so she gave Shayna a curt nod.
Shayna smiled and tapped the table in front of Beast before stepping back. She wanted to stay and watch, to see if his luck changed, but she had a job to do. With a smile at the table, she turned and began to slowly circulate, making sure her guests were well taken care of.
***
It was Beast’s last hand of the night. Both bells had already sounded, but Beast and another man where still going at it, raising each other over and over. Several players were clustered around the two men, and as much as she wanted to see, she held back.
Beast didn’t look at his cards, playing it calm. The man was nervous. Hell, he was nervous. With almost a half-million dollars in the pot, who wouldn’t be? If he lost this hand he was probably finished. He still has about thirty thousand in his bank, but at his level of play, that wasn’t enough compete. He could easily lose that much in one hand.
The man glanced at his cards again. “Call,” he said, tossing in another twenty-five thousand in chips.
The men turned their cards and the crowd murmured in excitement. “Four Aces and a Straight Flush, Five high. Flush wins.”
The man banged his hand down on the table and shoved his chair back, his jaw muscles working. Beast didn’t want to gloat, but he couldn’t keep his smile off his face as several people slapped him on the back. He’d suspected the man was sitting on four Aces, but he’d dropped his bluff tell, giving every indication he was trying to buy the pot. That false tell was useless now, but it had served him well to this point.
Beast began to count his chips, preparing to bank them for the evening. He didn’t know if it was because after eating lunch he began to feel better and his play improved, if the cards just favored him, or it was Shayna’s tap of good luck, but whatever it was, he’d gotten through another day.
He set aside a single chip then counted the rest into his bank and signed the slip. He rose and Shayna was there, a glass of water in her hand.
“I thought you might need this,” she said as he smiled.
“Thanks. This is for you,” he said as he extended the chip.
She took the chip and though it wasn’t polite to look, she glanced at it before tucking it away. Her hand froze and she opened her hand more fully to see the gold chip. “Beast, I think you made a mistake.”
“No mistake.”
“This is a five-hundred dollar chip!”
“I know.”
She looked around, noticing that several players were staring at them. She closed her hand over the chip to hide it. “Thank you, but are you sure?”
He took a sip of his water. “Only fifty is for you. The other four hundred fifty is for lady luck that’s sitting on your shoulder.”
“But…”
“Take it,” he insisted. “Put it toward a down payment on your own clinic or something.”
She opened her hand and stared at the chip again. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Thank you?” he suggested.
She giggled. “Yes, thank you!”
“This has nothing to do with that,” he said as he nodded at her hand, “but would you like grab a beer with me? I need to unwind before I will be able to sleep.” He saw her hesitate, clearly feeling trapped. “Another time, perhaps,” he said before turning away.
“I need thirty minutes to change,” she said suddenly. She was going to turn him down to show him he couldn’t buy her, but when he turned to go, she changed her mind.
“I’ll meet you in the lobby by the front doors.”
She smiled and nodded. “I’ll be there.”
***
Beast was standing there, though it took her a moment to spot him. “You changed,” she said as she stepped up to him. He donned a leather jacket with a skull-faced reaper on the back and riding boots.
“Yeah. I thought we’d ride. It helps clear my head. You ever ridden on a bike before?”
“Not in years. Dad used to have one, but he finally sold it.”
“Good. Then I won’t have to explain to you what to do, and not do. Come on.”
He led her out into the still warm night air and to his bike. They talked about the tournament as they walked and how he was a nobody before, but he was on everybody’s radar now.
“Here, wear this,” he said, handing her the helmet.
“You don’t have one.”
“I’m good.”
He sat down on the machine, Shayna hopping on behind him and settling in. As he pulled out of the lot, she let him ride, not trying to help him steer the bike, nodding to himself in approval. She was comfortable in the saddle, and his estimation of her ticked up another notch.
“Where’re we going?” she asked as the big Harley vibrated at a stoplight.
“A little place I know.”
“Your place?”
He chuckled. “No. Is that where you want to go?”
“No. I was just checking.”
“Figured as much,” he said as he eased the clutch out and accelerated away from traffic.
Less than twenty minutes later, he pirouetted the hog around and backed into an open space in the parking lot of a large bar north of the city. The parking lot was full of bikes and loud music thumped from inside. It wasn’t a dive, but it wasn’t exactly Tops either.
The music assaulted her as he opened the doors, a driving beat she could feel in her chest. The bar was full of men and women dressed in leather, various patches displayed on the backs, and the entire bar was covered in Harley Davidson memorial.
They were three steps in when “Beast!” rolled though the bar like thunder. Beast smiled and waved as he led her deeper into the bar.
“They know you here?”
“Yeah. This is kind of neutral ground. The Reapers hang out here.”
“Neutral ground?”
“Yeah. This place is sort of known in the biker community, and people ride in from all over to come here. The Reapers, we have…an arrangement…with the owner. We provide informal security for the place. We usually have a couple of guys here all the time.”
“And what do you get in return?”
He grinned. “A place to hang out and unwind.”
“That’s it?”
“That, discounts on the menu, and a small fee if we have to knock heads.”
“That happen often?”
“No. It works for everyone.”
“What can I get y’all?” a waitress asked.
“You know what I want,” Beast said. “Try either the Tailwagger Wheat or the Black Lab Stout. They’re local and very good.”
“I’ll have the Tailwagger,” Shayna said.
“You play pool?” she asked after her second beer arrived.
“Do you?”
“A little. Want to play?”
“Sure,” he said rising from the table. Whether she played or not didn’t matter to him, but he wouldn’t mind watching her bend over the table.
She was on her second beer and, though not yet tipsy, she was beginning to feel the effects. She was beginning to relax around him, and he hadn’t spent the entire night hitting on her or trying to seduce her.
She let him rack the balls and break. He wasn’t bad and she watched as he sunk a couple of balls, then tried a complicated bank shot and missed.
She stepped up to the table. “I’m stripes, right?”
“Right,” he said as she leaned over, her jeans hugging her ass just right. She sank a few then scratched.
They finished the game, with Beast eking out a narrow victory. “Want to play again?” she asked as he sank the eight ball.
“Sure,” he said then began racking the balls.
“Want to make it a little more interesting?”
“What do you mean?”
“A wager.”
“What did you have in mind?” he asked, as he quickly arranged the balls in the triangle and then carefully lifted it off.
“Hundred bucks says I beat you.”
“Do you have a hundred bucks on you?”
She smiled and fished the chip he’d given her out of her pocket and placed it on the table. “You can have that as collateral.”
“And if I win?” he asked.
“What do you want?”
He stared at her a moment. “If I win, you have to let me take you to dinner Saturday night.”
“That’s it? Dinner?”
He smiled. “We’ll see what happens after that.”
She smiled and oozed up to him. “If you win and take me to dinner, I’ll let you take me,” she murmured softly.
He smiled. It was only a matter of time.
“Lag to break?” she asked.
“Sure.” He turned and picked the cue ball up off their table set it on the table beside theirs, placing the two balls side by side. “One…two…three.”
She stuck the ball sharply, the two cue balls caroming off the header rail then the footer rail before rolling to a stop. Her cue ball was noticeably closer to header rail when they stopped rolling.
“I break,” she said with a grin.
Beast picked up their cue ball and returned it to the table then watched as Shayna ran the table, sinking ball after ball after ball. When she struck the six, and the cue ball ricocheted off two rails to stop in perfect position to sink the three, he knew he was beaten. At least he could still watch her ass.
“You’ve done this before,” he said dryly as he propped against another table, holding the cue in front of him, watching the three disappear down the hole.
“A few times.”
“You hustled me.”
“Yeah, I did, didn’t I?” she grinned over her shoulder as she bent over and, with a deft stroke, sank the eight ball.
He chuckled as he pulled out his money clip and counted off four twenties, tossing them on the table. “Where did you learn to shoot pool like that?”
“School.”
“I thought you were learning to be a doctor, not a pool shark.”
She giggled as she pocketed the money. “The student center has a couple of pool and ping pong tables. Cheap entertainment, and sometimes it gave me a little spending money. Want to go double or nothing on ping pong?”
He chuckled and help up his hands. “I don’t think my bankroll can stand it.”
***
“I had a good time,” Shayna said as she stepped off his bike in the Tops parking lot.
“So did I. Thank you for having a beer with me.”
“Thank you for being a good sport with the pool. Because you didn’t pout or complain, maybe I’ll let you take me to dinner Saturday anyway.”
Beast grinned. “What about the rest?”
“Ah, ah, ah. You didn’t win. But…we’ll see what happens.”
“It’s a date.” He stepped in closer, placed his hand behind her head, and pulled her into a gentle kiss. He didn’t hold her there long before releasing her and stepping back. “That was nice, too.”
She smiled, liking the fact that he didn’t hesitate, but kept it short and pleasant. “Yes. Yes it was.”
“Good luck on your test. See you Friday?”
“If you’re still in the game.”
“See you Friday.” He watched a moment as she walked away, turning once to give him a brilliant smile and a small wave as he debated with himself on what to do. He’d taken a room in the casino on the assumption that he and Shayna would spend the night together. He didn’t have a change of clothes, but he didn’t feel like going home either. He finally slipped the Harley’s keys into his pocket and followed her. He’d call Hightower and have him drop off a change of clothes in the morning.
As he stepped into his room and began to undress, he smiled to himself, deciding he was actually glad he lost that game of pool. She was a feisty one, and he was looking forward to the challenge of winning her over.
***
Shayna stepped quietly into the kitchen, the house dark except for the light on over the sink. It was nearly two and her parents were in bed. She’d called them before meeting Beast, told them not to wait up, and that she’d see them in the morning. She paused to look at the large purple bouquet in the center of the table. These came for you, a note in her mother’s handwriting said.
She found the card and opened it. For Luck. She smiled as she slipped the card back into the holder, remembering the kiss Beast had given her after dropping her off, and she could feel a pleasant warmness flow through her. If he continued to play his cards right, she might be willing to allow him to do more than take her to dinner.