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“Sorry you didn’t go deeper into the tournament,” Beau said. “But looks like you were having fun at the craps table again after.” Beau had only barely noticed Jon playing, but he was trying to be polite. He figured that was a safe topic. Jon had seemed happy at the craps table before whatever had made him leave so angrily.
Jon lowered his voice so Chad couldn’t hear. “Hey, so about that, I was wondering if you could do me a favor?”
“Sure, how can I help?” Beau was cautious. Jon’s tone wasn’t the happy one of a few nights ago.
“I’m having some problems with my bank… nothing a day or two won’t resolve. Just some security issues accessing my money. You know how it is these days, hackers and everything. They just need to verify a few things. Same thing here at the casino, but I just haven’t been a customer long enough. Do you think you could loan me a few hundred grand to get me through? I’ll pay you back as soon as the bank thing gets worked out. You know I’m good for the money.”
Beau knew Jon wasn’t at all good for the money if he was asking an acquaintance for it. What was going on? He sure as hell wasn’t going to loan money to someone he barely knew. “Sorry, man. I make it a practice never to loan money to anyone in the casino. I’ve been burned too many times, even by my closest friends.”
That wasn’t exactly true, because Beau’s closest friends never asked for money. Still, he was trying to be amicable about the whole thing, despite being annoyed by the request.
The pleasant demeanor Jon had been working to show changed slightly. “Hey, you just won a million, what’s the big deal? It’s really free money to you.” Jon was not going to go away easily. Beau knew this time, he had to make it clearer, and final.
“Jon, I’m sorry your bank can’t get you the money fast enough. If their customer service is that bad to someone like you, I can’t imagine why you’d keep them. And that makes it even weirder for me. Sort of makes me think that maybe you need the money more than you’re letting on, which is the main reason I’m not loaning you the money. I don’t have a lot of faith you’ll pay me back, unless, of course, you start to win. And I don’t loan money on the chance someone will win. The only loans I do are legit business loans. You seem like a nice enough guy, but I don’t think you qualify.”
Jon’s face turned beet red. If he was angry earlier, Beau had just made him irate. Nevertheless, Jon tried to save face. “No problem, Beau. I’ll get the money somewhere else. Good idea about changing banks. I’ll look into that.” Jon then darted away from the poker tables, leaving Beau alone.
Alessandra walked toward Beau and Chad with the paperwork. “What was that all about?”
Alessandra knew something was off. Beau’s face was both puzzled and annoyed. “That was a weird conversation,” Beau said.
“What was Jon talking to you about?” Sailor piped in. Alessandra shared the concern that was clear in her voice.
Beau ignored the question and looked at Alessandra. “Didn’t he say the other night that he sold a technology business for what I assume was a shit-ton of money, and that he was basically retired?”
“That’s what his wife Kim told me.”
“Well, he just asked me for a loan.”
At that news, Sailor looked at Alessandra, her eyes wide. “Jesus Christ, boss.”
“What exactly did he say? Are you sure that’s what he was asking for?” Alessandra hoped somehow Jon’s action may have been misinterpreted.
“I know what a loan ask looks like, Alessandra,” Beau scoffed and rolled his eyes. “More than that, I know what it looks like when a man is so desperate to get more gambling money, he asks someone he barely knows for some.”
“Is that what he said?” Alessandra asked.
“Not in those exact words. But he specifically asked to borrow a few hundred grand, giving me some bullshit excuse about there being a mix-up at the bank and with the casino, that he had the money but couldn’t get access to it because of a fraud flag on his account. What’s going on?”
Alessandra took a deep breath. “I’m not sure, exactly. But he wanted us to extend him more credit, also telling us about a bank problem. Without going into details why, I’ll just say that we were unable to do as he asked, and he became quite angry. I actually thought he was going to check out of the hotel entirely and go back to Magnum, but at this point I suspect he might need our free room if he’s going to stay through New Year’s Eve. We gave them comped tickets, but it’s two days away. I’m not sure what he’s going to do until then if he can’t gamble.”
“Maybe we should talk to Kim, see if she’ll tell us anything about their plans?” Sailor suggested.
“I just saw her having dinner—alone, mind you—over at Glassbottom. Let’s go see if she’ll talk to us.” Then Alessandra turned to Beau. “Congratulations on your poker win. You deserve it, especially since you were the one with the idea. I have to go take care of this issue. Otherwise, I’d love to celebrate with you,” she said meaningfully. She’d thought maybe she would be able to celebrate with Beau tonight, but it was already after nine o’clock and she had more business to do.
Beau’s face registered disappointment. She knew he had also been hoping for some time alone. “Okay then, I’m going to head to my room. Long day. Tomorrow I’m meeting my friend Aden for a beer to catch up. He’s in town for Magnum’s event but couldn’t make this tournament.” Focusing on Alessandra, he added, “And remember, you owe me dinner. I’m taking you off-property, too. Be ready at five p.m.”
“That’s a little early for dinner, isn’t it?” Alessandra asked, curious.
Beau’s secretive smile sent a heat wave to her thighs. “We have a lot to do, so we’ll need time. And I hope you’ll be in a good mood, too. Do you think you hit your profit target for the month?”
“I’m sure we did.” Alessandra was confident she was right. Now she was hardly thinking of the profit target; she was pondering the many ways she intended to show Beauden Brooks how appreciative she was for the aid.
After Beau left, Sailor immediately turned to Alessandra with surprise in her voice. “You told him about Wyatt selling The Benson?”
“Of course not! No way can he know that my whole career is riding on this month’s casino drop. If I did, he’d think whatever it is between us is fake!”
“And what exactly is ‘this’ between you two?”
