Page 5 of Gamble (Black Light #38)

“What’s your point? We should both just spend the rest of our lives happy with getting sucked off by strangers just to avoid getting hurt?

You may be happy with that, but I sure as hell am not.

I was too young to know what the fuck I was doing when I got married the first time.

I stuck with her because of the kids, but not again. I’m not that stupid kid anymore.”

Elijah wanted to argue back, warn Kent he’d only get hurt again, but when he opened his mouth, the words didn’t come out.

Who the fuck was he to give advice on relationships?

BDSM mechanics, sure. Even BDSM power dynamics, but genuine relationships…

Hell, he’d been wrong about Shane Covington and Nalani being good for each other.

And there was no way he’d have ever thought Nolan Boeing and Piper Kole could be in the same room without killing each other, let alone be getting married.

I clearly haven’t a clue on what makes a good relationship.

“Screw this. I need a drink,” he spat back, already shuffling his way through the throng of people until they were back in the comparatively quiet bar.

The urge to tell Crawford to fuck off and leave so he could get back to work was strong. Instead, he pushed his internal angst down and headed for the two open spots at the end of the bar.

The men had only sat down when the back entrance door from Runway opened and Avery came in balancing two trays loaded with food.

Like the southern gentleman he was, Kent jumped up, rushed toward her, and grabbed one tray just before she dropped it. “Let me help you with that, darlin’. Looks like you have your hands full.”

Elijah’s stomach growled on cue. This was one if his favorite times of the night, when Avery brought down the leftover appetizers and desserts she’d made for Runway but that hadn’t been eaten when she closed down the kitchen.

She was always so thoughtful, knowing that the crew of Black Light would be working well into the early morning hours and wanting to make sure they had some snacks.

“Right on time,” he greeted the head chef placing the trays of food in front of him.

“I even have one more upstairs,” she said a bit out of breath. “I knew I never should have made another batch of the mini mushroom quiche when we ran out around eight-thirty. The only reason I made them was I knew they were one of your favorites.”

He loved Avery’s sassy smile as she held the appetizer out for Elijah to snap up.

“Thanks,” he said, his mouth half full. “But for the record, I’ve never eaten anything you’ve made that I didn’t like.”

Elijah knew Avery still had at least an hour of clean up before she could go home. The nice thing for him to do would be to offer to run upstairs and bring the final tray of food down so she didn’t have to. The only thing stopping him was his aching hip.

Without even discussing it, Kent jumped in to offer instead. “I’ll be happy to grab the last tray if it means I get to escort this lovely lady upstairs.”

Avery’s face lit up, and for the briefest of seconds, Elijah felt like an outsider at his own bar watching the instant connection the chef and his buddy had.

Kent stretched his hand out. “My old friend here is falling down on his host duties. I’m Kent. I’ve known this old man here for over twenty years,” Kent said, thumbing in Elijah’s direction.

“Wow, that’s a long time,” Avery said, still holding hands as she added. “I’m Avery, and I’ve only known him for three years. I bet you have some grand stories to share.”

Kent looked his way, a grin on his face before looking back at the chef. “Hell, yeah. And I’d love to share them all with you… say, over dinner sometime?”

It was Avery’s turn to glance at Elijah. He sensed she was looking for his approval—not in the permission sense of the word, but in the ‘please tell me if this guy is a loser’ friend sort of way.

Unsure why it bothered him, Elijah pushed down his annoyance to do the right thing. “He’s a good ole Texas boy, which means he’s old fashioned, but you could do worse,” he joked, enjoying the dirty look Kent threw his way.

Avery just laughed. “Well, with that resounding endorsement, I’ll take you up on your offer. I work Wednesday through Sunday, though so we’d need to make it on a Monday or Tuesday night.”

“Deal. Now let’s go get that other tray of food.”

Elijah sipped on the bourbon Suzi had shoved in front of him while he waited for his friend to return. Each minute of the ten he was gone had Elijah’s blood pressure rising until he was just about to go back to his office when Kent returned with the tray of snacks.

“About fucking time. I’m on the clock here, you know,” he groused.

“Oh, come on, you run the place.” Kent regained his seat on the stool next to him before adding, “I don’t think you are upset you need to work. I saw the dagger in your eyes after I asked Avery out.”

“No daggers. You’re both consenting adults. Do whatever you want.”

“Really? That wasn’t jealousy I saw there?”

He looked Kent in the eyes as he replied. “Avery is like a sister to me. A younger, innocent sister who I feel nothing but a sense of protection for.”

“Well then, you are over the hill. If you look at that woman and see anything other than sexy perfection, then there’s no hope for you.”

“She’s my co-worker,” he groused. “I don’t fuck people I work with,” Elijah groused, hating the grain of truth to his friend’s words.

“Then it’s my lucky day. You sure you’re okay with me asking her out?”

“Sure. Why wouldn’t I be?”

He felt Kent’s glare on him, but he didn’t turn to give him the satisfaction of looking him in the eyes.

“Well, for what it’s worth, I told Avery our date would need to wait a few weeks because I have a trip out of town coming up first.”

“I thought you were filming in town at the studio. You have another gig on-location?”

“Naw, I’m taking an old friend to Vegas for his birthday,” he answered, sipping from his own drink.

It was the way Kent said it that put Elijah on edge. He’d been ignoring the upcoming date on the calendar, determined to make turning the big 5-0 just another day. The last thing he wanted to do was make a huge deal about hitting his fifties.

He played dumb. “Oh? Have a great time. You always loved Vegas.”

“You used to, too, if I remember correctly.”

His friend wasn’t wrong, but since he didn’t gamble and he could hook up with random women at Black Light, his desire for trips to the debauchery capital of the country had gone down.

“Ancient history,” Elijah confirmed, hoping to put an end to the conversation.

“Bullshit. I’m not gonna let you curl up and just wait to die. I may call you old man, but you have another good twenty-five years in you.”

“Ha, when was the last time a stuntman made it to seventy-five?” Elijah asked.

Being the smart ass he was, Kent spent the next two minutes naming off an impressive list of still living previous co-workers, some in their eighties.

Maybe the asshole had a point.

“Hey boss. That Dom that’s visiting from the East Coast club is wanting us to green light him to use the latex breath play table. Spencer doesn’t have an approval process in place like we do to make sure he’s qualified to lead a breath play scene. What do you want me to do?”

Thank goodness for Tyler’s interruption. Maybe it would get Kent to change the subject.

“If I remember, he’s been a Black Light member for over two years, right?”

“Yeah, according to his membership file.”

“Then he’s good to go. Maybe move over closer to his station and keep an extra eye on him. I’m just wrapping up my visit with my old friend. I’ll come in to help in a few minutes.”

Always friendly, Tyler reached out to shake Kent’s hand. “Any friend of the bossman is a friend of mine. Tyler.”

“Kent.”

The interaction should have ended there. It did not.

“I’m glad you came over, Tyler. I need your help.”

Elijah felt a headache coming on.

“Sure, anything.”

He gave Kent a dirty look, but it didn’t stop his friend from proceeding with his request.

“You may not know it, but your boss here is about to turn the big 5-0 next week, and while he would love nothing more than to sweep the whole thing under the rug, I feel obliged to make sure he celebrates the achievement properly. After all, birthdays are always an occasion to celebrate when you have someone with the number of accidents he’s had in his past.”

“Wow, that’s great! But I thought you were already in your fifties,” Tyler added before his smile turned to a frown after realizing what he’d said. “I mean… not that you look old, just that you’re so wise and…”

“Fuck off,” Elijah groused, trying not to feel even worse than he had before.

Kent chuckled before adding, “So, I know he’s going to say he’s too busy and there’s no way he can get the time off work, but I also know him well enough to know he has a couple years’ worth of vacation days accrued he hasn’t used.

Any chance you and your co-workers could do without him here next weekend?

I have a bunch of old stuntmen friends lined up to go to Vegas with us for a long weekend. ”

Elijah held his hand up and protested, but Tyler’s whooping approval to Kent’s plan overrode his lame objections.

“Great. So, it’s all set. I booked our rooms already. We’ll leave on Friday. The guys and I are all riding our Harleys. I know you don’t have one, but I’m renting you one for the weekend, my treat.”

A feeling close to homesickness invaded Elijah. He missed riding his old motorcycle. Riding had been one of his favorite pastimes when he wasn’t on an active movie set. It was just one more casualty of old age.

“I’ll pass on the bike. My hip won’t tolerate it.”

“Ah, but at least you didn’t say no altogether so that’s a good thing.”

He hadn’t said no, and it surprised him he didn’t even want to. It had been a long time since he’d gone anywhere that wasn’t work related. And despite, or maybe because, he had been feeling like an old man, the idea of getting out there and having some fun lifted his spirits.

And who doesn’t love a trip to the city where what happens there stays there.