Page 42 of The Brave and the Reckless (Bravetown #1)

THE MOONLIGHT CASINO

Place your bets and try your luck in the Arcade at the Moonlight Casino. Purchase your gold tokens at the booth and then step right up! Make the daily high-score board, compete against friends, and take home adorable prizes.

Games are evaluated for content using American Amusement Machine Association (AAMA) standards.

N OAH

The next time the Stallions put on their cowboy burlesque show at the saloon, all the girls were there again, including Zuri.

Things had been a little tense between Esra and her brother.

I hadn’t asked for more details, but seeing her and Zuri become more talkative and smiley over cocktails was good.

If things turned sour between them, I wasn’t sure where I’d stand anymore.

A few weeks ago, I would have automatically sided with Sinan on everything. Now…

I hung back by the bar just so I could walk Esra home after the show.

The stage lights swiveled through the room too brightly for my taste, the music was too loud, and I definitely wasn’t interested in the shirt-ripping on stage.

At some point one of the ladies from accounting came up to me and offered to set me up with her nephew– because why else would I be at a male burlesque show– but I barely even looked at her, too focused on Esra leaning over the balcony to point at something, drink sloshing in her glass.

If Adriana noticed me staring while she refilled my water, she didn’t say anything.

She and Esra had gotten close, so for all I knew, she was already aware of what was going on and had been sworn to secrecy.

Two of the dancers spotted Vivi wearing a crown and sash for her birthday and made their way to the staff balcony.

Somehow their cowboy hats, oiled chests and body rolls had all the girls whooping and hollering.

The pink and blue cocktails may have been at fault for that too.

Watching from afar, sober and straight, the whole thing just gave me second-hand embarrassment.

Right up until one of the dancers swung a leg over Esra’s chair to give her a lap dance.

His denim Speedos were keeping things contained by a thread.

I clenched my fists, ready to rip this man off my girl.

I could. For all anyone knew, I was just making sure Sanny’s little sister wasn’t getting whipped in the face by a stranger’s dick.

“Down, boy.” Adriana slammed a bowl of nuts on the counter in front of me.

“Excuse me?”

“It’s supposed to be funny and embarrassing.” Adriana clasped my underarm on the bar, keeping me rooted in place even as Esra clearly shook her head and waved the dancer’s unwanted attention off. “They actually have a very strict contract about not getting frisky with any of the saloon guests. ”

“How do you know that?”

“Because that guy grinding up on Esra is called Sam. He has a pierced dick. And I’m not technically a guest at the saloon.” She whipped her hair over one shoulder and shrugged.

“I get why you and Esra get along so well.” I shot another look at Sam, but lucky for him, he shimmied his way over to the next lap. Esra had a hand clasped over her face, laughing. “She told you?”

“Nope. Well, only that she’s getting it good, but thanks for confirming.”

“Fuck. You’re not part of the betting pool, are you?”

“Technically, yes, but I put my money on her punching you in the nuts. We’ll just have to wait and see on that one.”

“Great, thanks.”

“Hey, if you keep up the jealous watchdog act, I might get my payout sooner rather than later.”

Instead of rising to the bait, I turned around and put my attention back where it belonged. Every now and again, Esra looked over her shoulder and scrunched up her nose or gave me a smile, just to acknowledge my presence.

Every single look squeezed the air from my chest. Maybe I was jealous after all.

The second we were home and in our hallway, and I was sure no one would see, I pulled her into my bedroom. I just needed her to myself, just for a few minutes.

“Ooh, scandalous! Are you going to rip my clothes off, Young?” She twirled in the center of my room, swaying lightly.

“You’re gonna have to be quiet, princess,” I whispered and furled my arms around her, shushing her with the kind of kiss I’d wanted to break out in the saloon, in front of everyone, just to mark my goddamn territory. She tasted like sugar and champagne.

“Then you have to keep my mouth busy.” She grabbed her shirt and started pulling it up, but I pushed her hands back down.

Esra let out a little whimper and stuck her bottom lip out.

She was learning far too quickly what that pout did to me, my dick stirring just at the sight.

I still kept my hands on hers, leading her to my bed fully dressed.

She let me guide her to sit on my mattress and her hands were immediately on my belt.

Again, I pushed her eager fingers away.

I deserved a gold medal for self-restraint.

“I’ll keep your mouth busy in a bit,” I promised and sank down in front of her. “Give me five minutes.”

“I’m not going to be quiet if you eat me out,” she replied at full volume. “Impossible, sorry.”

“Will you please be quiet for just a second?”

She let out an annoyed groan but let me pull the baggy jeans off her hips and the boots off her feet.

Her perfectly curved, smooth legs tried to wrap around my shoulders, and I pushed them down with a chuckle.

I loved how much she unabashedly wanted me, but she was too tipsy for me to act on it.

Instead, I methodically unlatched the Velcro on her knee brace, wiggling it to the right first, so I could take it off without the scratchy bits irritating the scars.

“Oh, that’s nice,” she sighed and dropped back on the bed.

“Just you wait until I get to the ankles. ”

“That’s some next-level dirty talk, mister.”

I’d helped her with the braces a couple of times.

She wore the ankle braces for every show, but the knee brace only came out when she was dealing with some pain and needed the extra stability.

Mondays seemed to be bad, after the double shows on weekends, but the other day it had been enough for her to try and turn in the middle of walking up the stairs, twisting her knee in the process.

“How’s that?” I asked after freeing her ankles too. I crawled on to the mattress next to her, brushing my hand through her hair. Her eyes had already fallen shut but she smiled and leaned into my touch.

“You make me feel good,” she mumbled.

“Good.” I kept stroking her hair, listening to her little comfortable hums. “You make me feel… confused.”

She didn’t reply again, now peacefully asleep in my bed.

Probably for the better. I wasn’t sure I even wanted to know how she’d respond once I admitted that I was getting jealous of other men, that I was looking forward to every minute with her, that I felt protective of her in a way I had no right to be.

I contemplated taking a shower, or at least brushing my teeth, but I didn’t want Esra to wake up alone and half-naked in a bed she didn’t recognize. So I just shucked off my jeans and boots, pulled her up on the mattress and tucked her against me.

The next night, my door creaked open just after midnight and Esra tiptoed to my bed. She peppered little kisses along the underside of my jaw and slipped her cold feet between my legs .

At least I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t keep my distance.

I stayed in her room one night, but that dissolved quickly the next morning when I started picking up the most basic laundry around her room. I earned myself a pair of socks against the head before she kicked me out the door for playing housekeeper.

Austin had walked past me standing in the hallway with my arms full of women’s socks, had merely shaken his head and started typing on his phone. If someone in his group chat had bet on me developing a foot fetish, they’d owe me a goddamn drink.

After that, Esra slipped into my room exclusively at night.

I was too aware of the betting pool though.

If people were already watching us, I didn’t need them listening to us, too.

As fucking hot as it was, Esra wasn’t quiet when she climaxed, and I didn’t need Sanny to hear about us sleeping together because Austin had fifty bucks riding on it or something.

So I let her hands slip under my shirt and I wrapped mine around her back and I made her tell me about her daily meet and greets.

It was supposed to be a distraction. But it turned out that, now that we were posting more videos with Lucas, some park guests had started asking her uncomfortable questions and filming her reactions.

They usually revolved around the Kit/Annie/Ace triangle.

Talking it out seemed to help her unwind.

“I promise it will die down if you don’t acknowledge it,” I whispered against the top of her head after she detailed a group of teens that her meet and greet assistants had struggled to keep under control. They were eventually kicked out of the park for some of the lewd gestures they made.

“Yeah, easy for you to say. You just get women swooning over you.” Her hands balled into fists over my stomach.

“People get bored, trust me. When I first started posting online, I had people come to the meet and greet just to tell me their detailed fantasies about being kidnapped and tied up by Ace Ryder.”

In retrospect, maybe that had fucked me in the head, considering how much easier it had been for me to believe Esra wanted the fantasy, not the reality. I didn’t want this to leave a similar mark on her.

She tilted her head back, her nose sporting a dangerous rosy sheen. Fuck. Was she about to cry? What did I do? What did you do with a crying girl? Chocolate? There was an emergency stash of peanut butter cups in my nightstand as of three days ago, when I’d learned the definition of hangry.

“Don’t cry,” I pleaded and smoothed some hair back from her forehead.