Chapter 3

Greyson

Friday evenings at The Citrine were my favorite, and they always had been. The casino buzzed with a sort of energy that could only be found in Las Vegas. Large families gathered around slot machines, pretty girlfriends in sequin gowns blew on dice for their boyfriends, older couples held hands as they walked through the crowds, and the serious gamblers who took the fun out of the whole thing could be caught smiling and chatting up strangers.

This feeling of camaraderie was why I had built the place.

I cut through a throng of people to get into the lounge bar that overlooked the casino. It was up half a flight of stairs and was built to resemble a balcony. Black velvet drapes hung from the ceiling. They could be pulled back by guests sitting at the balcony and tied to the railing so they could watch the gamblers and activity half a floor below, or they could keep the curtains closed and enjoy the more intimate setting in the lounge.

A pianist was playing smooth jazz with the accompaniment of a saxophone as I arrived at the bar. The bartender, a young man with bright red hair named Lee, gave me a bright smile and began mixing me my drink of choice: a rum and coke. Simple, in my opinion, was always better.

I was aware of the middle-aged couple in the far corner snuggled up to one another like young lovers. The woman still had streaks of brown in her short gray hair, and the man was almost entirely bald. He sat with his arm around his wife’s shoulders, and she was looking up at him adoringly, like she still saw the young man she fell in love with. As I waited for my drink, I watched them giggle like high school kids.

After Lee handed me my rum and coke, I approached the couple.

“Good evening,” I said, earning myself polite nods from them both. “Do you mind if I join you for a few minutes?” I gestured at the open seat across from them.

“By all means,” the man said. Neither he nor his wife stopped cuddling.

I was smiling to myself when I sat down. “I couldn’t help but notice how in love the two of you are,” I said. Being forward like this had always been my approach.

The woman beamed radiantly and looked at her husband. “Really?” she asked as she looked back to me, eyes twinkling, cheeks flushed from the wine she was sipping.

I nodded. “Really. I had to come over and meet you both. How long have you been married?”
“Twenty-one years,” the woman said cheerfully. “We are actually here for our anniversary. We usually come to Vegas, but every five years, we go somewhere new. This is our first time at this hotel, though, and we are quite happy here. We’ll come back here for future visits.”

“Twenty-one years,” I said, knowing they weren’t aware that I owned the casino. “That’s amazing.”

The man leaned forward and held out his hand. “I’m Paul. This is Sherry. Nice to meet you, son.”

I shook his hand. “Greyson,” I said. I was often referred to as “son” by men I hadn’t met. I wondered how old I would be when that stopped. Thirty-three, apparently, was still young enough for the title.

“Do you have a special someone?” Sherry asked, sipping her wine delicately.

“Not at the moment,” I said. “Business keeps me pretty busy. I don’t know how I would find the time to date and do a decent job of it.”

Sherry smiled. It was a gentle thing that made me feel like she pitied me. Like she could see right through my excuse. “Perhaps the right one just hasn’t come along yet. Paul knew I was the one for him as soon as he saw me.”

“And when you saw him?” I asked.

Sherry’s smile grew, and she blushed. “It took him three months to get me to go on a date with him. He wasn’t the usual sort I was interested in. You know, I liked the strapping jocks, the athletes, the—”

“We get the picture, Sherry.” Paul chuckled, encouraging her to skip the parts where she listed a bunch of qualities he clearly didn’t have.

“Paul was just very different,” Sherry surmised. “And when I finally went on that date with him, I was shocked to see how attentive he was and how kind he was. For the first time in my life, he made me feel like I was the only one in the room with him. He didn’t get distracted by the televisions in the restaurant. He didn’t dominate conversation like all the others before him did. Everything was so effortless with him, and it has been ever since. Your person will find her way to you, Greyson, and when she does, I hope you don’t let her go because you’re too busy with work.”

Sherry was forward, too, just like me, and I liked that about her. I couldn’t help but smile as Paul tried to reel her in and apologize for the unsolicited advice.

“No, not to worry,” I said. “I appreciate the honesty. It’s a rare quality these days.”

I stood and fished around in the back pocket of my pants. I withdrew my wallet and dropped some cash on the table—more than enough to cover their drinks and a couple more each. Then I rolled up some bills and passed them to Paul. “Enjoy the evening on me. Spend it here at the tables, or go wherever you want on the Strip. The two of you deserve more than just that, but I hope it makes your evening special.”

Paul blinked at the bills in his hand, and his mouth fell open when he realized I had handed him two thousand dollars. “I can’t accept this,” he said, looking up at me. “This is far too much money to give two strangers because you like their love story.”

I laughed and shook my head. “No, it’s all right. This place,” I gestured all around us, “is mine. The money is no trouble. Just make sure you have fun, will you?”

I left before Paul and Sherry had more time to protest. They were good people, and accepting the cash did not appear to be easy for them. Once they had a couple more drinks and started spending, I knew that unease would go away.

I ordered two more rum and cokes and slipped into one of the service halls. I walked deliberately, knowing my destination, and chatted up some of my employees as they passed.

I arrived at the security office and shouldered the door open. Meek was sitting in one of the plush leather chairs with his hands clasped behind his head. Without looking up at me, he said, “That better be spiced rum.”

I dropped into the open chair beside him and handed him his drink. “Have I ever brought you one that wasn’t? Give me a little credit, will you? Besides, I don’t think this is how things are supposed to work. I’m the boss. You should be bringing me drinks.”

Meek cracked a grin and looked over at me. “Want me to buy you one of those ‘Best Boss Ever’ mugs?”

“I don’t need stuff,” I said jokingly. “Just a little appreciation every now and then.”

“Ah.” Meek nodded. “Right. That sensitive soul of yours needs daily positive strokes. I forgot. Thank you for the rum and coke, you handsome devil you.”

“That’s more like it,” I said, now scanning the thirty-five monitors mounted to the wall in front of us. “Any action tonight?”

“Nope, been pretty quiet. I’ve had my eyes peeled for John, but he hasn’t shown his face.”

“I don’t expect him to,” I said, taking a mouthful of my drink. The room was quiet for a moment. “Hey, Meek, be honest with me for a minute here. Is it time for me to start dating? Do I need a woman in my life?”
Meek looked at me out of the corner of his eye. His expression was completely unreadable until he suddenly burst out laughing and slapped his knee like I had just told him the funniest joke he’d ever heard.

“What’s this all about?” I asked, eyes narrowing.

Meek shook his head and dabbed the corners of his watering eyes with his thumbs. “You are a sensitive soul.”

“Shut up,” I retorted. “I was being serious. I’ve been living and breathing this casino for such a long time that I’ve forgotten what it’s like to care for someone.”

“You care for me, don’t you?”

“Different,” I said, resisting the urge to roll my eyes.

“Uh huh. Well, if you want my opinion—”

“Which I do, otherwise I wouldn’t have asked,” I said sourly.

“Right, whatever.” Meek waved his hand. “In my opinion, women are more trouble than they’re worth. And, in my experience, all they do is thin out your wallet and your hair.”

I laughed before I realized he was completely serious.

Meek waited for me to get myself under control before he started speaking again. “Listen, they all want the same things. Money and security. That’s something you can definitely offer, Greyson. You’ll be an easy target to be taken advantage of. Love, especially for someone like you, is a pipe dream. It’s never real. It’s always this artificial layer that covers everything and spoils it.”

“Wow,” I said. “That’s inspiring.”

“You asked,” Meek said. “So, I told you what I think. A woman has the power to destroy you, Greyson, if you let her. And you won’t even see it coming.”

Part of me wanted to ask my friend more questions. The one at the foreground of my mind was straightforward: what terrible thing had a woman done to him in his past? I held my tongue and tried to extinguish my curiosity. Some questions were better left unasked, and I knew this was one of them.

Meek was the one person I trusted more than anyone else. Maybe his words held more truth than I was giving them credit for. I was extremely wealthy, and that alone would be a hard thing to navigate if emotions came into play. How could I know if someone loved me for me or just for my money?

Maybe Meek was right. Maybe love wasn’t worth all the turmoil and risk and loss. I was a businessman. I had other pursuits to focus my energy on. It had worked well for me up until this point. Why should I expect it to change?

I finished my drink and leaned back in the chair. “You are an enigma, Meek, truly. But I’m glad I have you around. I need someone to tell me how it is, and you never fail to disappoint.”

Meek raised his glass to mine. “Cheers to that.”

We both sipped our rum and cokes and watched the monitors. While Meek was probably watching for someone counting cards, I was watching the smiling faces of my guests. This was my favorite seat in the house.

“Hey,” Meek said. “If Cameron gets a raise, I want one too. Just saying.”

“Consider it done, my friend,” I said, unable not to smile. “Consider it done.”