Page 74 of Salvatore
That wasn’t true. Valerie had gotten it from the first go around, but it’d be harder to enjoy her magazine and endless Twizzlers once Winnie realized she did.
The girl scratched her head in slight confusion. “How did you convince Sal to let work at the gift shop again?”
Pulling out another Twizzlers, Valerie felt Winnie’s eyes on her. “I think he wanted to get rid of me so he could get some work done for a few hours.”
Moving in front of the counter, Winnie started restocking the candy. Valerie dipped her head back to the magazine at the girl’s accusatory glance.
“Who does Sal work with here at the Casino Hotel?”
Valerie raised her eyes at the weird tone in Winnie’s voice then tried to hide a knowing smile once she might have realized the source of the question. It didn’t hurt to confirm her thoughts. “Why are you wondering?”
“I’m just curious …” Winnie tried giving an indifferent shrug that Valerie saw right through before coming back behind the counter to sit down on the stool next to hers. Opening a bag of Starbursts for herself, Valerie’s eyes dropped to the red Starburst in her hand as she started peeling the wrapper. “I’m stuck in here all the time, and I’m not allowed on the casino floor. I don’t know much about anything about anyone who works here or what their jobs are.”
“Join the club,” Valerie huffed out. Sal didn’t want her meeting any of the men who worked here. While she was allowed on the casino floor, she figured Winnie wasn’t because the girl didn’t look to be twenty-one yet. The sweet girl was lucky to be eighteen, by the looks of it. Her flame-orange hair, chubby red cheeks, and freckles really solidified Winnie’s fate of having to be carded until she at least reached thirty years of age.
Watching Winnie choose her next Starburst that matched her flame-colored hair, Valerie’s mouth watered. Everyone knew orange was the best.
“Can I have one?”
Winnie held out her hand with the Starburst in it. “Sure.”
“I know what some of the guys do,” she politely offered after snatching the candy with lightning-fast reflexes to pop it into her mouth. “Others, I don’t.”
Carefully taking out another orange Starburst, Winnie slowly unwrapped the candy with painstaking precision. “I didn’t say I wanted to know abouta guythat works here, per se …”
“Please.” Valerie eyed her and the piece of candy. She knew when a girl wanted info on a guy, and this was definitely it. “Now, who is it you are curious about?” Valerie asked before Winnie could place the candy in her mouth.
Slumping her shoulders, the girl finally gave in, “Amo.”
Valerie happily snatched the candy cube. Amo, she definitely had gotten acquainted with. “What would you like to know?”
Winnie sat up straight, losing all pretenses. “What job does he do in the casino?”
She had to think for a moment of what she could tell the girl. “Well, he works on the very bottom floor of the casino.”
“But this is the bottom floor?”
At her confusion, Valerie simply played dumb. “Is it?”
Getting serious, Winnie took out another Starburst before rephrasing her question. It was obvious she knew something shady went on in the Casino Hotel, but she had yet to know what that was. “What’s Amo’s job?”
Yellow.Everyone knew yellow was the worst. “You have any more orange?”
Winnie switched the yellow out for the orange.
“Security guard.” Valerie couldn’t help it; she was easy.
“Really?”
“Yup,” she confirmed, popping the orange square in her mouth without remorse for being bought so easily. “You should see him walking around, checking on all the dealers and making sure everything is on the up and up from time to time.”
Winnie leaned to the side in her chair, trying to take a peek out the giftshop door to look out onto the casino floor. “How come I’ve never seen him?”
“Must be missing him.” Valerie shrugged.
“Interesting.” The girl mulled it over before giving up in trying to find him when she almost fell sideways out of her chair. “That makes sense, considering how b—” Her cheeks grew a brighter red after realizing she had gotten a bit too comfortable speaking. “Bighe is.”
It was hard for Valerie not to chuckle a bit when Winnie forced the last bit of her sentence out, but she didn’t, not wanting to embarrass the sweet young girl.
