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I was stunned. We were talking about betting? Gambling? What the hell?

Did I know what the over was? The under? What was the payout on a two-bet parlay if the odds were three to one? What were the odds on a six-team parlay?

He didn’t stop, just went on and on, and I answered just as fast as he questioned. Then he finally asked me the most basic thing of all: how did a house stay in business?

“Basically, the people who lose pay the people who win, and the house collects the juice,” I told him.

“You gamble, huh?” He was grinning at me by then.

“When I have the money,” I answered and shrugged. “Which is fuckin’ never now.”

He had scrutinized me and then offered me a job. They needed a new runner, since the last one had to be retired for skimming. I didn’t ask him to define “retiring.” I didn’t care. I had his spot. It was my only interest. Gabriel knew what I could do based on my brain; it was all I needed to know.

“I WON’T leave you,” I assured my boss, the man who had saved me from ruin and probably jail time, as I stood beside him at the window. My options had been limited when I turned twenty-one, and there had been no other avenues open to me but nefarious ones. But there was crime, which I did, and then there was stealing and hurting people. That was a road I had never taken, a corner I had not turned, all because Gabriel Pike had talked to me and given me a chance. “Tell Adrian, okay?”

He nodded slowly. “You don’t give a shit about Adrian.”

“No,” I agreed.

“If you stay, it’s done. You get that. There’s no out once you say you’re in unless Adrian says.”

“I know that,” I assured him. “I’m not some punk kid, Gabe. I know the fuckin’ score.”

The hand that was suddenly on my shoulder, squeezing tenderly, calmed my racing heart.

“What can I do?”

“I really need you to lay low, just stay away from me, from us, and—”

“We can’t make money if we don’t keep up business as usual.”

“Adrian has it covered; I just need you to disappear for at least a week, all right? Really, I don’t wanna see your face.”

“I can help.”

“And you will; you’re gonna be doing a whole lot more. Adrian wants you at a new level, but for now, until we get things figured out, until we know who Kady reached out to… I want you gone.”

I was going to argue, but he surprised the hell out of me when he grabbed me. Never, ever, had he hugged me—especially not me, the gay boy—in front of the others.

“You stay safe. Call me if you get in a bind, but otherwise, I want you invisible.”

I nodded into his shoulder.

When he pulled back, I passed him the envelope with the thirty grand in it, and when he leaned close, he slipped one that he pulled from the breast pocket of his suit jacket into my jacket pocket. He had obviously come prepared.

“I don’t need money, Gabe.”

“I want you to have it. Adrian said make sure you have money, so there, just take it. There’s five grand to tide you over in case we close up shop for a month.”

I did not have the expenses they had, but I didn’t argue. Any cash put me that much closer to my restaurant. “A month would be crazy.”

He didn’t argue the point. “Do you have a piece?”

I shook my head.

“Have Conrad get you one.”

“Okay.”