Page 34 of Hidden Ties (Made Men #11)

TWENTY-EIGHT

ENGRAVED WITH THE NAME CARUSO

“ I have a very addictive personality.”

You don’t say? he thought; better to not speak the fucking obvious out loud.

“It’s not fair that you don’t have an addiction,” she continued pitifully as she was dragged out of the gift shop. “You wouldn’t get it.”

Sal threw her his own look of pity. “Who says I don’t?”

“Yeah, right,” she huffed, giving up and letting him lead her away. “The only thing you’re addicted to is buying organic snacks.”

“Because I used to eat out of a dumpster,” he reminded her calmly.

“Oh, right.” At the reminder that it could always be worse, her mood lightened. “Fuck Game Hookup. I’ll start my own company if I have to.”

“That’s okay. I have a feeling they’ll be calling you soon.”

“You think?” Valerie asked hopefully while also chewing on her nails nervously. It was another habit she was starting up while waiting for an answer from the company.

“They’ll have no other option but to,” he promised nonchalantly. “Just give it till the end of the day. If they don’t by then, I’ll be the first to invest in your new company. Then I’ll make Lucca your second.”

“Okay,” Valerie said gleefully, knowing it was a win-win either way. “What should we do in the meantime?”

Sal brought her closer to his body in a sudden rush.

While he was at work, he had gotten a notification that a movie-accurate Harlequin cosplay costume that went with her bat had arrived.

He had to go back to receiving all his mail here at the Casino Hotel, but it wasn’t that big of a deal to swing by the front desk to get it.

As long as it didn’t have a picture on it of what was inside the box.

You win some, you lose some.

Leaning down, he hovered his lips a few centimeters above hers in a sensual smile. “I have a few ideas that come to mind.”

Valerie entered the Underground for the second time, but this time, she did so alone as she sat at the barren Black Jack table, just like she had been told.

“Sorry, honey, this table is currently closed.” The female pit boss came over, giving her an apologetic smile and waving to a table that was already almost full. “At this time of day, we’re a bit slow, but you can join this table over here.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Valerie quickly explained, “It’s just my first time playing, and I’m a bit nervous to join another table, but I totally underst—”

“That’s okay, sweetie; you can stay right there.” The pit boss kept her from getting up to join the group of men after seeing the apprehension on her face. “I always love a good reason to deal again, so what the hell? I’ll help you out.”

Relieved, Valerie puffed out a huff of air. “My gosh, thank you so much. That is so kind of you!”

“Of course. It will be my pleasure to show you the ropes. What’s your name, honey?”

The gorgeous woman with blonde streaks through her hair looked like she belonged on the front of a Playboy magazine.

Getting an eyeful of her ginormous tits, Valerie adjusted the extravagant earrings that Sal had given her as a gift, already devising a plan to use them in his death if he wasn’t able to talk his way out of this one the next time she heard his voice in person.

She racked her brain if Sal had taken this woman back to his house but definitely didn’t remember her, and there was no fucking possible way you could ever forget a woman like the one who stood in front of her.

Ha-ha! He wishes!

“My name’s Valerie. Yours?” she said, laying the light stack of cash down.

“Sadie.” She took the cash and quickly turned the bills into chips. “It’s nice to meet ya. I haven’t seen a fresh face down here in a while, and it’s always good to see such a pretty one.”

“Aw, thanks. It’s nice to meet you, too.” Blushing, she took it more as a compliment from Sadie than she had with Amo as she watched her shuffle the deck with expert precision. While she did so, Sadie gave her a rundown of how to play the game and the rules.

“Think you’re ready?”

“Yep. I think so …” Valerie nodded as she began to deal the cards. It started off as a no-brainer for Sadie to explain what she should do by the book of basic strategy when Valerie was dealt a twenty and the house revealing a face card.

Waving her hand above the table, Valerie was trying to stand. “Like this?”

“You got it!” Sadie praised as she flipped the house card to reveal a six and then busted on an eight. “See? You’ll be a pro in no time.”

Giving Sadie a wink, she ignored the small laughter in her ear. “Well, I’ll have you to thank for that.”

While the hands went on, they got trickier, but Valerie stopped to listen to her coach, sure to take her time in making the right call when it came to her.

The hardest part was making sure no one wanted to sit down at the table with her and ruin her flow.

She had to do everything she could to think of as a way to scare off the men, including letting them know that it was her time of the month and she might not make rational decisions at the moment.

While she talked with Sadie about her current blood flow, the last gentleman to sit next to her hadn’t even set the chips down on the table before he scrammed.

“Wow. You’re doing quite well,” Sadie told her appreciatively as the chips began to fill the table. The pit boss totally caught on to what Valerie was doing by talking about her period but didn’t seem to mind, enjoying the solo female company.

“Beginner’s luck,” she told her simply before moving on. “I’ll have to put you into my next video game. You’d make for a sick character design.”

Having heard all about her video game obsession, as she had now been sitting here for over an hour, Sadie’s hand fell across her cleavage. “I’d be honored. What’s this one about?”

“I think this time, I’m going to do more of a story campaign. Think Law and Order meets The Godfather meets Sons of Anarchy .”

“Sounds interesting.” Sadie smirked right before the house busted yet again.

When she dealt the next hand, Valerie had given her the sign to split.

“Are you sure you want to do that? The book doesn’t recommen—”

“Oh, I’m sure.” Valerie smiled sweetly.

Sadie split her tens, then dealt two tens to place on top of each hand, giving Valerie two hands of twenty. Doing this made the house bust as small cards flowed out next. However, the house wouldn’t have busted if it had drawn that first ten.

Giving her her winnings, the pit boss couldn’t believe the sheer luck. “Wow, that was something you just pulled off.”

“Beginner’s luck,” Valerie told her again with a shrug, about to change the subject she had been saved, when Amo appeared behind Sadie.

“Hey, Sadie, I keep getting complaints that there’s a woman asking men if they have any tampons or a pa—”

Neither Valerie nor Sadie could keep themselves from laughing, causing Amo to finally see who customers had been complaining about.

“I should have known,” he said, shaking his head at her. “You’ve been the bane of my existence since you moved in with S—”

“We’ll keep it down from now on,” Valerie choked out, stopping him before he could finish his sentence and not only completely embarrass her but ruin the fun by mentioning who it was she had moved in with upstairs.

Amo was her new next-door neighbor who hated her with a passion; this time, it was so much sweeter with a view and a boyfriend. “I promise.”

“Okay, fine,” Amo conceded, understanding what she was doing, but he had to still put his foot down or Lucca would kick his ass. “You can play for another hour by yourself at this table, but that’s it.”

“Aw, thanks, Amo.” Valerie smiled at him but wished it had been less of one at his next words.

“You know, I could be a model for your game, too,” he suggested with a hell of a lot of confidence. “Matthias isn’t the only one around here with tattoos.”

While that was news to her, considering she didn’t think the Carusos were allowed them, she was still happy to burst his bubble.

“Bubblegum Blitz has already been fully approved by Game Hookup. They’re going to announce the release date soon,” Valerie said with pride but then had to avert her eyes down to the table. “Maybe in the next, next one.”

Both Sadie and Valerie burst out into tearful laughter at the inside joke that he wasn’t even going to make it into her mafia video game.

Amo couldn’t help himself from getting one last dig in before he left. “Just keep the fucking noises to a minimum the next time you two go at it.”

She watched him walk away in shock from what he had said, but it took only a few seconds before both girls turned back into laughing hyenas.

“Hey, ladies.” A cold voice had sat down beside Valerie, announcing his arrival and silencing their laughter. “What joke did I miss that sent Amo away like that?”

Seeing Lucca sitting right next to her had Valerie’s heart pumping.

“Oh, nothing, just a little girl humor,” Sadie told him while winking at Valerie.

Lucca, dressed in his all-black suit, took his Zippo and cigarettes from his front pocket and lit one up. “It seems you have collected quite the winnings, Valerie.”

“Mmhmm.” She nodded nervously, adjusting her hair over her earring.

“I didn’t know you gambled,” he said, expertly blowing a cloud of smoke in her direction. “I didn’t even know you played.”

“First time,” she squeaked out after inhaling the intoxicating scent. The slight rush of nicotine made her heart rate calm enough to say her usual go-to. “Beginner’s luck, I guess.”

“That’s some beginner’s luck,” he agreed, taking in the stash carefully to count how much she had accumulated.

Her hand drifted a little bit closer to his cigarettes. “Are you going to play or …?”

“Let’s see …” He mulled the thought over before looking at Sadie. “How much did she put in?”

Sadie quickly ratted her out. “Five hundred.”

Lucca picked up five hundred dollars’ worth of her chips and took them for himself, putting them in the designated circle on the table all in one hand. It was a measly little stack in comparison to the amount she had accumulated. “I guess I will.”

“Goddammit! Abort mission! Abort mission!”

The yelling voice that rang in her ear blasted beyond its usual capabilities as the earring was then snatched from her ear by Lucca and squashed like a bug into tiny little pieces in his hand.

Her huge, wide eyes had grown so much in fear at witnessing him obliterating her hidden earpiece, she began blurting out her words like vomit.

“I’m sorry! Sal made me do it! I didn’t actually think he could really count the card—”

“It’s all right, Valerie. You can relax,” Lucca told her as he motioned for one of the servers to bring him two Jack and Cokes. “Sadie, do me a favor and go find where Amo went to. I think it’s his turn to try his hand at dealing.”

Valerie tried her best to take his advice and relax, but it was much easier when the drink arrived, followed by an upset Amo taking Sadie’s place on the other side of the table. Not a peep came out of his mouth, taking his punishment of not realizing their scheme.

Satisfied with his demands, Lucca opened his pack of cigarettes and held one out in offering to Valerie. “Now, do you really want to play?”

Blinking in disbelief, she wondered if she was actually sleeping and merely just dreaming this impossible-to-believe scenario in her mind.

Fuck it. She accepted his offering; she would go back to her Twizzlers tomorrow.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, regardless of real or not real, and she was going to pick the brain of one of the most notorious mob bosses until he grew sick of her voice, and then she’d ask him permission to use it in her next game.

“Oh, and, Valerie.” The Boogieman gave her a sinister smile and flipped the end of his antique Zippo that was engraved with the name Caruso. “Welcome to the family.”