front of me. The men eyed me—not as a piece of meat which I’d hoped for, but as an opponent. They all knew what they were doing. I knew that. What I needed tonight was to fall back on my counting skills. I wasn’t going to rely on luck and a gut feel with this amount of money involved.
Opening bet was two grand. Enough to make my head spin.
The game kicked off. Somewhere after the third hand, I ordered another drink. Two hours in and someone had dropped out. I was still going strong and getting more and more confident. I just had to keep my eyes on the cards.
I had a king and an ace in my hand. I was going to cream this one.
There was a commotion in the next section. Security guards ran past, and I let my eyes follow them. The handsome guy from earlier was dragged by, screaming something in colorful words. Another guard joined them and escorted him out.
Despicable. People like that had to learn how to behave themselves in public.
When I turned my attention back to the table, I realized I’d missed something. The distraction had gotten me behind.
Shit.
I picked up the corner of my cards and peeked at them like the idiots I despised. King and an ace. Right. I could still win this.
We were one card short of a flush. Was I going to risk it? I hadn’t been counting, but my gut was screaming at me.
All in. I pushed my entire stack of chips toward the middle. Some onlookers gasped, but I was happy. I was going to win this one. My gut never betrayed me.
The guy flipped the cards. It wasn’t the jack I’d been hoping for. Instead, it was another queen. Someone else had two queens making it a triple. With an ace kicker, winning. And since I’d been all in, I was out of the game.
Fuck.
I got up, smiled politely, and thanked them for the game. My smile faded the moment I walked away. That idiot and his distraction had lost me all my money. I was walking out of the Harlan Gold with nothing.
My mood turned black, and I stomped out of the VIP section. I’d lost more money than I’d ever lost in one night, and I looked like a fool to boot. The people who invited me into the VIP section must really think they made the right choice.
Dammit!
I was so angry I was about ready to slap someone. And the people who saw me picked up on it, too, because they stayed out of my way. A path opened for me when I walked to the door. It was all because of that guy.
The good-looking one. I should have known he was going to be trouble. He had it written all over that face of his.
I swear, if I got my hands on him, I was going to bloody murder him.
CHAPTER THREE
I crossed the state border into California and something warm and nauseatingly emotional welled up inside of me. I hated to admit that that was what it was, but these were facts, and not even I could run away from them, no matter how hard I tried.
California was Emmett’s kind of place. The weather, the people, it all worked for him. I hadn’t been back here without him. Part of it was because I wasn’t up to walking those memories alone. I stopped at a gas station a couple of miles in and decided my plan of action.
I wanted to lie low, be out of the public eye for a bit. The club was getting a bit hot on my ass. But at the same time, I didn’t want to stop playing the game just because I was in a bit of trouble. That just spelled out pathetic. So it was going to have to be a big city. Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose… there were a lot of choices. Los Angeles jumped at me. Of course, I was in the Golden State.
I liked the idea of L.A. It was close to the sea, and it had been a while since I’d gotten my toes wet. Besides, it was packed with the rich and famous, and they all needed somewhere to blow their money.
I got back in my car and drove the last stretch without stopping.
By the time I got into the city, it was just past midnight. The city wasn’t asleep