Page 27 of Her Intense Protector

Sam had to elbow her way past the men at the craps table in order to get to the far wall. She gritted her teeth when she felt someone stroke her butt. This was not a place where she wanted to cause a scene. She wondered how many other people in this private club had been strong-armed to give their money to some creep, or were the poker players just the lucky ones?

When she got past the roulette wheel, she saw that the ladies’ room was down one hall to the left, and the men’s room was farther down the right and down another corridor.

Yay! Carl was going to be hard-pressed to decide which hallway to guard. She watched as he took a post near the roulette table, but that was pretty crowded; he was going to have a hard time staying focused. When she neared the ladies’ room door, she saw an exit door at the end of the corridor.

Whoo-hoo, another yay!

Rushing down to the end of the hall, she saw that there wasn’t an alarm on the door, so she grabbed a tissue out of her purse and wadded it into the latch strike so the door couldn’t lock, then prayed the men’s room had an exit too.

Hallelujah and a bag of chips, it did.

She started knocking. And knocking. And knocking.

Some guy she didn’t recognize opened the door. “What do you want, lady?”

“I need to talk to my husband privately.” She pulled a picture of Phil that Toni had given her out of her cross-body purse. The man looked at her like she was crazy. She fished out a twenty-dollar bill from her wallet. “Please.”

“Fine,” he said. He was clearly exasperated. “Wait here.”

The longest two minutes ensued, then Phil opened the door. His eyes widened. “It’s you, the queen of hearts. Why did you want to see me?”

“Don’t you think this game is kind of shady?” she asked.

“Hell yeah.”

At least he wasn’t slurring. That was a good sign.

“I’m positive that the guy who is winning is a plant for the house.”

“The fuck you say.”

Samantha nodded.

“I want my money back.” This time his voice came out a little slow and belligerent. Now she could see the effects of the bourbon.

“Phil, the only hope you have is not losing all your chips. You’re making poor bets, you need to fold more.”

“I want my twenty-thousand.”

“Carl, Murray, and the game-runner aren’t going to allow that.”

She watched as he deflated. “You’re right. I’m going to lose everything.”

“No, you’re not. Not if you do what I say.”

“I don’t play good like you. I’m going to lose.”

“We don’t have much time. You’ve got to think about your family. You need to do what I say and follow my lead.”

His head jerked up. “How do you know about my family?”

Samantha fumbled through her purse and pulled out the picture of Phil, Sharon, and their son. Then she pulled out a picture of the baby scan. “A friend sent me. They’re concerned about you. Sharon wants you back. She’s sick with worry.”

He took the scan of the baby from her and traced the picture with his forefinger. “Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?”

“A little girl,” Sam lied. Anything to get him to respond and get with the program.

“A daughter,” he sighed with a smile.