Page 62 of Don't Bet On It
I was impressed despite myself. “Good choice.”
“I thought so. What’s your favorite scary movie?”
“The originalHalloween. I’m a big fan of the music. I loveThe Shiningtoo.”
We talked about movies for an hour. Then we talked about books. I figured he would be a literary fiction guy. Turned out he liked grocery store murder mysteries. I did too, so that conversation carried on for another hour.
I was about ready to call it a night—risking another kiss wasn’t in the cards this evening—when movement caught my eye near the slot machines. At first, I thought I was seeing things. Then I realized Iwasseeing something. It was something important. “Is that…” I didn’t finish the question. I just stared.
Ronan contorted in his seat to see what had garnered my attention. He went ramrod straight. “That’s my father,” he said.
It was indeed his father.
“With Ryder Stone,” he added, confusion knitting his brow.
“Yeah.”
“What are they doing together?”
That was a very good question. “Do you want to follow them?” Ryder and Norbert were walking away from us in the direction of Horseshoe.
Ronan’s gaze snapped in my direction. “Do you think we should?”
I shrugged. “I’m kind of curious.”
“Yeah.” Ronan drained the rest of his drink and held up his finger to the server. He handed her a credit card to check out before I could tell him that drinks were on me. “I’ve got it,” he said when I opened my mouth to argue. “No lip.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You’re kind of bossy sometimes.”
“It’s the Hawthorne in me. I can’t escape it.”
“It’s my least favorite of your traits.” That wasn’t true.
“I don’t believe you.” Ronan signed the tablet screen presented to him by the server. “You like it, and you know it.” He hopped to his feet and held out a hand to me. Did he realize what he was doing?
The problem was I did kind of like his bossy nature. Ugh. It wasn’t only his bossiness. I liked all of him. Why, though? That was the part I couldn’t wrap my head around. I should’ve been well past the crush phase of my life.
I considered my options for exactly three seconds, then I slipped my hand into his. “I hope they’re not doing anything illegal because I don’t want to die tonight.”
He laughed as he led me toward Horseshoe. “Something tells me you’ll survive.”
Because I believed him, I let him stay in the lead. “I guess we’ll have to wait and see, huh?”
“I guess we will.”
WE SPENT TWO HOURS TRAILING RYDER ANDNorbert. They hopped from table to table in Horseshoe, playingblackjack and conversing the entire time. They seemed serious. Whatever they were talking about, it was a big deal. I didn’t know what to make of it.
“What are you thinking?” I asked Ronan as he walked me back to my apartment. We’d eventually given up following them. We ordered a few cocktails and swiped our credit cards into the slot machines to cover ourselves for the duration of our spying mission. It had stopped being fun relatively quickly, however.
“I don’t like it,” he replied as he leaned against my door, his arms crossed over his chest.
“Are they close? Ryder and your dad, I mean.” I honestly didn’t know. All of the casino owners had little clubs that outsiders couldn’t be part of. I’d never heard rumors of a link between Ryder and Norbert, however, even though it seemed logical that would have come out after Ryder’s downfall became public knowledge.
“I never knew them to be close.” Ronan cocked his head, as if trying to remember. “They interacted some when they were at school events. I remember that. They seemed keen to get Zach and me to hang out a few times.”
“And how did that go?”
“I wasn’t the most social kid. I was crippled with anxiety when I was in middle school, which was when all of this started. By the time I got to high school, Zach was well entrenched in his friendship with Rex. There was no separating them.”
