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Harlow
Harlow texted her mother to let her know that she was going to be hanging out with the new girl who started tonight and that she didn’t know when she’d be home. Her mother waited up most nights, and Harlow hated making her do that. Her mom would say, “It doesn’t matter how old you are, you’re still my kid and I worry about you.” It wasn’t always that way. When She was first married to Craig, her mother didn’t seem to worry as much about her. No, all of her worries started after Craig attacked her and left her scarred for life. Then, her mother seemed to worry even more about her, and she hated making her mother do that.
“I texted my mom,” she told Ryker. “She doesn’t seem too happy about me not coming home on time. That woman stays up to wait for me most nights,” she said.
“Until two in the morning?” Ryker asked.
“Yeah—I hate that she does it,” Harlow admitted.
“I think it’s sweet,” Ryker said. “I don’t have anyone who waits up for me or worries about me anymore. My mom used to do that, but now, she’s gone.”
“I’m sorry,” Harlow said.
“She’s been gone for a while now. I guess hearing the way your mom waits up for you just made me miss her.” Ryker pulled into the parking lot to the casino and parked his truck. “Fingers crossed that Ace will see us—or that he’s even here.”
“Wait—you didn’t check to make sure that he was going to be here tonight?” she asked. “We just drove an hour out to his casino, and he might not even be here?”
“I might have jumped the gun a bit,” Ryker said. “Ace is usually at this casino, and if he’s out of the office, I’m betting his security team will be able to get ahold of him.”
“I hope so,” she breathed, “for your sake, Ryker.” She shook her head at him and opened her door to jump down out of his truck. Sure, she sounded like she was threatening him, and maybe she was. He was possibly wasting her time and that was something she didn’t have much of.
They took the elevator from the parking garage up to the main level of the casino, where they were stopped by security. “Can I help you, Sir?” the guard asked. “The casino is one floor up; these are the private offices.”
“Right, just what I was looking for,” Ryker said.
“You don’t belong here,” the guard said.
“I’m looking for Ace,” Ryker explained.
“Do you have an appointment?” the guard asked.
“No, but he’ll want to see me. I’m a friend from his club.” Ryker crossed his arms over his chest as if daring the guard to deny him again.
“What’s your name?” the guard asked.
“Just tell him that Ryker is here to see him.” The guard looked Harlow over and she wasn’t sure if she should introduce herself too, or if she wouldn’t be in on their little meeting. The guard wanting Ryker’s name was a good sign that Ace was in the casino tonight.
“I’m Harlow,” she quickly added.
“Give me just a minute,” the guard said. “I’ll be right back.” He disappeared into a back office and Harlow looked around. The casino was quite impressive. She had never been to one before and a part of her wanted to ask Ryker if they could go up to the main floor when their meeting was over so that she could play the slot machines. Her grandmother used to love to play “the slots” as she liked to say. Of course, that would involve spending money that she didn’t have, and a bit of luck that she also seemed to be lacking in.
“This is a nice place,” she whispered as if not wanting the guard to hear her.
“Yeah—Ace does nice work. I heard that when he bought this place, it was run down and needed a lot of work. He redid the whole place. I’ve never been upstairs, but I’d like to try it sometime.”
“You’d like to try gambling sometime?” she questioned. “I think that’s the strangest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
He shrugged and smiled at her. “You know, come in with a little bit of cash to blow and play the slots or a few hands of blackjack. I’ve never done anything like that.”
“Me either,” she said. “I was just thinking it would be fun to play the slots. My grandmother used to talk about them all the time. Of course, I think that woman had a horseshoe up her ass. She never seemed to lose. Every time she’d come home from the casino when I was a kid, she’d tell me all about how much money she won and how much fun she’d have. The woman honestly made gambling sound glamorous.” Harlow giggled at the memory and Ryker smiled.
“Did you live with your grandmother?” he asked.
“My grandma lived with my mom and me. It was nice having her around all the time. My mom was a single mom too and honestly, she worked two jobs just to put a roof over our head and food on the table. If it wasn’t for my grandmother, I would have had a very lonely childhood.”
Ryker stood there, in the hallway, staring her down and she wasn’t sure if she had said something wrong. “You really are beautiful, Harlow,” he said, reaching to brush the hair off of the left side of her face. She took a step back from him and shook her head.
“Please don’t,” she whispered.
