Surrender To Me

He chuckles and leans in. I can smell his raw coffee and cigarette breath and it takes a lot for me not to wrinkle my nose. “If I had known you had dick sucking skills that good, I would have asked you out earlier.”

“I didn’t suck anyone to get my job back, you asshole.”

“Really? So, you coming down from the penthouse with the boss is a mass hallucination, then?”

He’s leaning so close to me I’m forced to take a step back to keep some space between us until I feel the table behind me digging into my back.

“Is there any reason you’re here? Or you’re just a big gossip?” Jesse says.

He turns his gaze away from me and towards Jesse. I feel a little relieved not to be under his leering gaze. “You’re changing tables,” he says to her, “Now that she’s here, Corina’s getting her table back. You’re going back to the blue room.”

“Why? Can’t she get another table?”

I feel heat creep up my cheeks. I hate how this looks. This is one of the best sections in the casino. It’s nothing like the VIP rooms, but the red room has blackjack and poker tables. Poker and blackjack players are big tippers. The blue room, however, is all roulette tables and players of those tables are a little stingy in comparison. Chucking her out of the red room was not what I wanted to happen.

“Isn’t there another table in here?” The minute I say it out loud, I realize how silly it sounds.

“No,” Brian says, “As you can see,” he turns around, “there is no vacant table.” Another pang of guilt strikes. This is all his fault. I’m sure Dante insisted I get my table back, knowing full well that Jesse is there.

“Fine,” Jesse says, “At least promise me you’ll give me more VIP gigs.”

“What will you do for me?” Jesse glares at him.

“I’m just kidding! Damn, you girls can be so uptight. I won’t forget you,” he lowers his voice. His next statement is laden with innuendo. “You’re hard to forget.”

Jesse gets off her chair and collects her tips. “You’re pushing your luck, Brian.”

Brian raises his hands in mock surrender. As they leave, I mouth, ‘sorry’ to Jesse. Thankfully, she doesn’t seem angry, which only makes me feel more guilty. I wait until they leave to take her place. A few moments later, the casino becomes busy and in turn, so do I. For a few hours, I push Jesse and Dante to the back of mind as I concentrate on my job. It’s not as busy as the weekend, but busy enough that when it’s time for my break, I’m more than happy to grab a cup of coffee. I’m on my way to the break room when I bump into Sal. “The boss wants to see you.” He sounds like the words are being pulled out of his mouth.

“Okay. Do you have any idea why?”

“He wants to see you.” Either he doesn’t want to say or he doesn’t know. From his rigid demeanor, I figure he wouldn’t tell me anyway, even if he knew. It’s not hard to tell that he resents my still being around. And alive. “Okay.”

“Now.”

I roll my eyes and make a u-turn towards the elevators. When Sal disappears, I make my way back to the break room and make my cup of coffee. If I wanted to make my coffee, I was going to make my coffee. Dante can wait. I sip it, savoring the delicious brew. After I’m satisfied, I make my way to his office.

His assistant, who’s on the phone when I walk in, stops talking to whoever she was talking to and says to me, “He’s expecting you.” Of course he is, I think as I enter the devil’s den.

“You’re late.” He’s eyes are on his laptop when he says so.

He barely looks in my direction.

“The tables were busy.”

“No, they weren’t. You were in the break room.”

Ah. The bracelet. Why do I always forget? “Were you tracking me minute to minute? Interesting. And here I was thinking you’d be too busy running a billion dollar criminal empire.”

He shuts down his laptop with force and shoots up from his chair. He stalks over to where I’m standing. Dante looks so angry. I’m sure he’s going to slap me, shake me, or do something violent. He does none of that. Instead, he slams a phone in my hand. I’m too shocked to do anything but

examine it in my hand, surprised. “Huh?”

“You said you wanted a phone. You got one.”

“I said I want my phone. Not a phone.”

“Why? Is there something in particular you’d want?”

“It’s still my phone.”

“Get used to that one.”

I take a deep breath. It is probably better this way. “I’m sure there’s a tracking app in here, too.”

“Good guess. Do you want something to eat?”

“Huh?” The change in conversation gives me whiplash.

“Lunch. I assume you haven’t had any.”

I don’t know how to say no. Or if I should. I am hungry after all, and I barely ate in the morning. “Sure.”

He grabs a menu that’s on the sitting area table and hands it to me. I scan through it. All the dishes look expensive and most are stuff I’ve never eaten. He fishes out his phone and calls the hotel kitchen.

“What do you want?” he says to me. I’m having a hard time making a choice. “Whatever you’re eating,” I reply.

He utters some French words to, however, is on the other end of the line and cuts the call. A few minutes later, two waiters coming wheeling in servings carts. They put the dishes on the boardroom table and leave but not before receiving hefty tips from Dante.

“Let’s eat,” he says, while walking over to the table.

My stomach can’t ignore the sumptuous dishes in front of me. It rumbles in response. I take my place on the table.

The dish is a steak, potatoes, and truffle sauce. It looks good and tastes even better. We eat in silence until halfway through the meal he says, “What’s your relationship with

Jesse?”

“Why do you want to know?”

He cuts into his steak and shrugs. “Just curious.”

“If you think she has anything to do with whatever you’re accusing me of, you’re way off.”

“I said nothing of the sort.”

“Leave her alone.” My cutlery clutters into the plate. I stare directly at him. “Please. She’s a good person.”

“Interesting.” He slides a piece of steak into his mouth. “You’re more defensive of her than you’re of yourself.”

I notice my hands are flat on the table and I’m leaning towards him. I lean back into my chair. He’s right, but that’s only because I feel like if anything happens to her, it will be my fault. There’s something going on with Jesse and if it has something to do with the casino, I might endanger her. She probably won’t tell me now because of my proximity to Dante, but there’s no way I’m going to betray her. “So what if I am?”

He smiles, as if he’s caught me in some trap.

“Interesting.”

“What about it is interesting.”

“Nothing.”

He’s obviously hiding something. I hope whatever Jesse is into is not anything that will go against Dante. “Please don’t do anything to her.”NôvelDrama.Org holds text © rights.

“Why is she your accomplice?”

“No. But she’s my friend and I don’t want your wrath to extend to her even if I didn’t spy or steal.”

“Speaking of which. We never discussed how you’re going to pay me back.”

“I thought you were fine with killing me after you’re done toying with me.”

“That option is still on the table.” He cuts into his steak casually, as if he isn’t currently ruining my life. He’s lying. If he wanted to kill me, he would have done it by now. He wants me alive. Why? I don’t know yet and I intend to find out.

“I love keeping my head on top of my shoulders. What do you have in mind?”

“You stole my money. How are you going to repay it?”

I should have known this would be the discussion. “I thought you got it all back when you raided my apartment.”

“Are we going to forget the other two hundred thousand you stole?”

An additional two hundred thousand? What the fuck are you into, Jesse? Whatever the case is, I hope she has a good reason.

“I don’t know how I can repay that much money?”

“You should have thought of that before you stole.”

“You could dock my pay.”

“That won’t be enough. I might kill you before you finish paying your debt.” He grins. I roll my eyes in response.

Should have seen that one coming. I could try working the VIP rooms and if I get enough tips, I could make it back in a month. But getting to them could be hard with him putting me on a tight leash and Brian no longer on getting me into the private tables. Even if I could, I doubt I could get high rollers as big and generous as Dante’s friends from the other night. My brain scrambles for a solution. It’s tough to come up with anything on your feet when the person threatening you is right there staring. Deep breaths. I tell myself. I take a few to calm myself down and his eyes go down to my chest. Well, there is one way I could pay him back. It would be unorthodox but not unheard of in this city of sin. Here, it’s downright normal. And the chemistry was there. We can’t deny it.

“What if.” My throat constricts. Saying it is more difficult than thinking about it. “What if we could come to an arrangement?”

He straightens in his seat. “What sort of arrangement?”

“I can offer services to pay off my debt.”

“What sort of services?”

The fucker wants me to spell it out. “Me. Whatever you want. Whenever you want.”