3 Sin City Hunter Read Free Page B

harder and said, “It was bad. But you were cute. Let me grab my phone, and I’ll see if I can show you.”
    I wanted to slide off the stool and sink into the floor. If he recognized me from the evening newscast, what if o ther people did, too? I suddenly felt as though everyone w as staring at me.
    “Here you go,” he said still smiling as he handed his phone to me. He had already cued up the report from the two sportscasters. I pushed the play button.
    “Bob, the Blue Ball Blades hockey team arrived today and will be trying this weekend to break a six-game losing streak. These guys are surely frustrated, but you wouldn’t know it from the videos we received from onlookers at O’Hare airport this morning.”
    “That’s right, Steve. Take a look at this. We received several cell phone videos of these guys running through the airport to catch their plane after an extended layover in Chicago. It seems the main focus of the video takers was on Dell Grady, the team’s star right wing player, and Scotty O’Brien, the center. Grady had a woman hanging on his back, and O’Brien was running with a purse slung over his shoulder and carrying a pink suitcase. Do you think these guys could give us any more fodder for jokes, Bob?”
    Oh my gosh! The videos had been cobbled together to make one video of the guys running through the a irport, and it was obvious I was bobbing up and down on Dell’s back. As the video showed the guys running away from the cameras, I wanted to die . My sweat er had ridden up and I was centimeters away from showing a plumber’s crack.
    “I’m telling you, Steve, it’s just too easy. Our very own Jessie Manchip caught up with Dell Grady a few hours ago and had this short exchange with him.”
    “Dell. Dell. Who was the woman in the airport this morning, and why was she on your back?”
    There was a close-up of Dell with a huge sm ile on his face. He proudly proclaimed, “Oh, that was just Susan. I was giving her a lift to the gate, and let me tell you, it was great fun, and I’d like to do ‘er again.” He nodded to the camera as he walked away from the reporter.
    Jessie Manchip turned to the camera and said with a big grin, “Well, folks, you heard it, too. It was just Susan, and Dell wants to do her again.”
    Bob and Steve were laughing so hard neither of them could speak. Bob finally managed to say , “The Blue Ball Blades need to get their act together and start winning some games. Once they do that and get rid of some of their frustration, they definitely need a name change.”
    Both men started laughing again, and they cut to commercial. I looked at the bartender with miserable eyes and said, “Please tell me this was a local sportscast and not ESPN or some other major broadcast.”
    The bartender could obviously see my distress , but he couldn’t help much. “It was local, but several of the videos are already on YouTube, and Dell Grady is pretty popular, so …” he let his words trail off, ending with one soft word under his breath … “viral.”
    If Dudley hadn’t already left, I might have moved down to the end of the bar to join him. I moaned to the bartender , “Give me a shot of Jack.”
    He smiled and poured the shot for me. “Don’t worry about it, Susan,” he said. Oh, sure, now the bartender knows my name thanks to Dell. “It was funny, but the focus was more on the team and their name. It’ll all be forgotten in a day or two, especially if they win.”
    “Thanks,” I told him dryly and threw the shot back. I paid my bill and walked out into the casino.
    Twenty minutes later I was up $2,125!
    After leaving the restaurant, I sat down at a Wheel of Fortune slot machine. I was hitting more non-winning spins than winners. I was contempla ting moving to another machine, when I hit several winning spins in a row. I stuck with the machine and watched my win amount creep up over $100. I told myself I would cash out after two more spins. The second spin hit on