High Card: A Billionaire Shifter Novel (Lions of Las Vegas Book 1) Read Free Page B

humans. Stronger blood. Still…Blake’s management. He should be setting an example.
    “The college girl…I, uh…?” the security guy stammers.
    “C’mon, man!” Blake shouts, scaring the dude half to hell.
    “She’s…I think she’s…playing the Savannah.”
    “We’re in Savannah’s, you idiot!” Blake says. “Are you high?”  
    “No. I mean…she just dropped a stack. Brown under two reds.”
    My breath catches in my throat. “Did the croupier see? Did she call the high bet?”
    Security guy shakes his head. I check his name-tag. Savannah’s employs over ten thousand people. I’m still working on remembering names. “Are you sure , Darren? The croupier did not see her place the high bet?”
    I’m speaking real slow. Over enunciating.  
    “No, sir. The high bet wasn’t called.”
    “Fucking bitch,” Blake scowls. “I knew it! I’m gunna cut her throat—”
    The serving girl flinches. Just a little.
    I shoot Blake a watch-your-mouth glare.  
    Me, Blake and Darren the security guy are huddled tight around the monitor now, our attention glued on the college girl. She’s tapping her palm with her index finger in an odd, nervous way. Could just be excitement. But it doesn’t feel that way. I’m no expert in gaming. But I can read people pretty well, especially humans.
    This one is up to something.
    Excitement races through my blood. I reach up and loosen my tie. I thought the casino would be mostly all show. No bite. But this? This could get interesting. If she’s caught she’ll be in my debt—
    Then I scent something. Blake’s hunched over right beside me. Gripping the edge of the table. His claws slowly slipping into the wood as his animal emerges.  
    I give him a hard slap on the back.
    “You all right?” I ask.
    “Sure. Yeah. Just…pissed off is all.”
    “Right. Remember who you are,” I say, lifting the security clearance badge that says his name and title. “Remember what you’re here for.”
    Blake flicks his narrow tongue over his thin lips. “Sure, little brother. Anything you say. Now. You mind if I get back to work?”
    This was a lousy idea.  
    The casino.  
    Partnering with Blake.
    Moving Blue Line’s headquarters from Belgium to Las vegas.  
    It was all one colossal fuck-up of an idea.
    Why, then? The question I’ve asked myself for months as we went through the long process of designing and building the world’s largest most expansive casino.  
    For family loyalty.
    Because we look after our own. The pride comes first. Always.
    Even if they’re a bunch of fuck-ups.  
    Or in Blake’s case…murderers.
    At least that’s what I keep reminding myself.
    But the hard truth is…I came to Vegas for me.
    I cut the thought short and return my attention to the girl. She’s wearing a blouse that’s exactly the right kind of revealing. Her laugh comes easy, ostensibly loosened by the Long Islands she’s been sipping for nearly an hour. Suddenly I feel myself…intensely drawn to the screen.  
    To her image.  
    Like I could watch this girl all day and never get bored. There’s something in how she carries herself. Her shoulders held up, capable but not haughty or arrogant. Self-possessed, maybe. I can’t see her eyes very well, but I get the feeling they’re pretty. Fiery. Not bitchy or condescending. Simply…alive. Quick. Sharp. I get the sense this is a girl who’s been hit hard by life and keeps on fighting—
    “Do we have a goddamned name yet?” Blake shouts in Darren the security guy’s ear.
    “The woman is a grifter,” someone says from directly behind me. “And she’s violating federal parole.”
    I drag my gaze away from the screen, surprised by my reluctance to stop staring at the girl. A weird voyeuristic sensation tingles through me. I think about watching her undress. See her stepping into the shower, hot steam billowing around her—
    Shit.
    This potential thief-girl is under my skin. What the hell?  
    That never happens.  
    Well,