I finished wrapping up the tattoo, locked up the shop, and checked my phone. It was almost one and I hadn’t heard from Eden. I’d lost track of time as I’d put the finishing touches on the piece, so it hadn’t even occurred to me until I was done.
I texted her.
BISHOP: Did you decide to stay in?
I hoped she hadn’t. Tonight was the best night for her to check blackjack off her list. I just hoped she didn’t get bit by the bug and want to go more often. It wasn’t something I could do with her because showing my face in a casino was the fastest way to bring my past crashing down on me.
Now that I had something to lose, I wasn’t taking any chances.
My phone buzzed with a text as I wiped down my station. It wasn’t from Eden.
CON: Your girl is playing deep at the tables. She a card shark?
BISHOP: Never played before in her life.
CON: Something seems off. Pit boss is watching her close, but it’s not my place to step in.
An uneasy feeling twisted in my gut. Fuck. What the hell was going on?
BISHOP: Beginner’s luck?
CON: More like card-counter’s luck.
My stomach twisted and fell to my feet. Eden wasn’t a fucking card counter. No fucking way. I grabbed the keys to my bike off the counter and headed out the back.
When I parked my bike in the lot closest to the casino, I hurried up the stairs. My phone had two more texts from Con. The last one was from two minutes ago.
CON: I’m going over there. I think the pit boss is about to call security.
I flashed my ID for the guy at the door and rushed past him. If he ran my ID, there was a good chance it would pop up in the system.
“Hey, I need to see that closer.” He stood to follow me, but I wasn’t stopping for anything.
I scanned the tables, looking for Eden. I’d get her and get the hell out before security caught up with me.
I returned a text to Con.
BISHOP: I’m here.
But before I could find Eden, I saw two men in suits closing in on a blackjack table. Con’s blond head stood out above the crowd as they stopped.
Fuck.
“She’s done. She’s leaving. It’s a simple case of beginner’s luck,” Con told the men as he stood between them and Eden. Lord, Titan, and Simon were headed over as well.
“I didn’t do anything. Mr. Titan showed me the ropes and I started playing. This dealer just gave me good cards.”
“We need you to come with us, miss. We just have a few questions for you and your associate, and we’ll need your ID.”
“Associate? I don’t have an associate.”
One of the security guys had a man in a white shirt and brown pants by the arm. “We’ve been watching both of you. You’re clearly working together. You both need to come with us.”
I stepped up to the other side of Eden. “Not fucking happening. She’s leaving with me.”
Her head whipped around and shock flashed over her face at my appearance. I didn’t fucking care if she was pissed because there was no fucking way I was letting casino security take my girl any goddamned place.
“Gentlemen, I think you’re getting worked up over nothing. She’d never played before we sat down tonight. She also doesn’t know this man.” This came from Titan. “To assume anything else is simply ludicrous.”
The pit boss recognized Titan. “Mr. Titan, we appreciate you vouching for her, but we need to handle this internally.” To the dealer, he said, “Take her chips.”
The dealer reached for them.
“Seriously? You’re gonna go there?” Con interjected.
“I won those myself,” Eden said, protesting as the dealer pulled them away.
Another man in a suit joined the group. “Do we have an issue here? All we ask is for your cooperation. Please come with us.”
“Fine, but I didn’t do anything wrong.” Eden stepped toward them in a move that seemed like she planned to follow them.
I grabbed her arm. “No way. She’s leaving. Keep the fucking chips. We’re done here.”
“Sir, that’s not your call.”
Eden whipped around to look at me. “It’s fine. I’ll explain, and they’ll understand this is all a big misunderstanding.”
Did she seriously think I was going to let her go? I kept a firm hold on her arm and pulled her behind me. “You gonna back me up here, guys?”
Titan, Lord, Con, and Simon formed a wall between me and Eden and the casino security personnel.
“It would be in your best interest for you to let them leave,” Titan said, his tone daring them to try to do anything else.
“Mr. Titan, we’re not looking for trouble.”
“Then you should get back to work. There’s a fundraiser happening tonight, and you’re attracting the wrong kind of attention from your patrons.”
A crowd was gathering around us, including Yve, Vanessa, Charlie, and Elle. The entire place felt like a powder keg about to blow if the security crew took one wrong step.
I took advantage of the moment of stillness and turned to hustle Eden out the nearest fire exit. The alarm blared, but I didn’t give a shit.
“What the hell are you doing? Stop. They’re not going to do anything to me.”
“You don’t know a goddamned thing about what happens in the back rooms and basements of casinos, cupcake, and you’re not going to fucking find out while I’m breathing.”
She struggled against my hold, so I lifted her up and tossed her over my shoulder. Her scream barely roused any strange looks, not that I cared about that or how she beat against my back with her hand and small purse. When I reached my bike, I lowered her to her feet, and an enraged Eden, the likes of which I’d never seen before, greeted me.
“You fucking caveman! What the hell is your problem?”
I grabbed the helmet off the back and strapped it onto her head, avoiding her slapping hands. “Get on the bike, and we’ll talk about this at your place.”
Three men in suits were running toward us down the sidewalk as I started the bike.
“Oh my God, are they coming after us?”
“And the cops are probably next.”
One man had a phone to his ear, and when Eden finally regained some of her common sense and hopped on, I tore out into the street.
No one would catch up to us on a bike, but I still took turn after turn just in case someone was trying to follow us. When I finally pulled up in front of Harriet’s house, Eden flew off the bike and ran toward the gate to unlock it. I pushed the front tire up over the curb and followed her through with my bike, hoping like hell the passageway was wide enough. It was, but barely.
When I dropped the kickstand and stood it up on the cement pad, Eden ran back and slammed the gate shut.
“What the hell just happened?”
My entire body buzzed with the rush of adrenaline, and I stalked in circles around the courtyard.
“Go upstairs. Inside. I’ll be up when I’ve cooled the fuck down so I don’t say anything I’m going to regret.”
Eden’s face paled in the moonlight, but her mouth flattened into a thin line. She didn’t say anything before she stalked up the spiral stairs and unlocked the apartment door.
I would have bet money on the fact that Eden wanted to slam it, but was too worried about waking Harriet to do it.
My phone buzzed, and I pulled it out of my pocket as I paced.
CON: That was fucking crazy. They ran out of here after her. Asked for both your names. I didn’t give them.
BISHOP: Thanks, man. I’m at her place. I appreciate you coming to her rescue. I don’t know what the fuck happened tonight, but it’s not fucking happening again.
CON: I think it’s safe to say that neither of you should be coming back anytime soon.
BISHOP: Not a fucking problem. Sorry to interrupt your fundraiser.
I shoved my phone back in my pocket and sucked in a few deep breaths.
Visions of what could have happened to Eden had flashed through my head the entire way to the casino and all the way home. I knew better than to think they’d give her the benefit of the doubt because she was a woman.
Guilt and pain from everything I’d fucked up before battered me. I hadn’t been able to stop them when they had dragged my cousin Abby into a back room along with me. There was no fucking way I’d ever let that happen to Eden, regardless of her need for independence.