Stepbrother Dearest(45)

“Straight up,” I said.

The casino worker looked at me like I was crazy.

Elec had come up from behind me. “What are you doing?”

He hadn’t seen which bet was mine. My heart was beating faster with every turn of the wheel, and everything thereafter seemed to happen in slow motion.

Elec’s hands were on my shoulders as our eyes stayed glued to the wheel.

The wheel stopped.

The worker’s eyes bugged out of his head.

Someone handed me a drink that wasn’t mine.

More alcohol spilled on me.

People were clapping, cheering, whistling.

“22 is the winner!”

“That’s me. I won!”

Elec lifted me up into the air, spinning us both around.

When he put me down, he looked at me in shock. “You bet 22? You f*cking bet it all on 22! Do you have any idea how much money you just won?”

I turned to the man behind the table.

“How much did I just win?”

“19-thousand dollars.”

“Holy shit, Greta.” Elec took my face in his hands, shook my cheeks and repeated, “Holy shit.” It seemed like he was going to give me a celebratory kiss, but he stopped short.

I’d just won a crapload of money but that didn’t seem to matter as much as getting to share this moment with him. Nothing beat the feeling of his hands cupping my face, of seeing his eyes smiling back at mine, of being able to turn his misery toward the number 22 into something positive. If this money could have bought more time with him, I would have given every red cent of it away.


Elec and I walked over to the cashier’s booth in a daze. While I went to collect the money, he stood back a ways talking to a few of the people who were at the table when I won.

I opted to take a check for the majority but asked for one thousand in cash. They’d also given me a complimentary room key for the casino hotel. That had caught me off guard, and I wasn’t sure if I should even mention it to Elec.

By the time I walked back over to him, he was standing alone with a huge smile on his face.

I handed him the ten crisp hundred-dollar bills. “I want you have this.”

His smile faded, and he tried to hand the cash back to me. “I’m not taking any money from you.”

“If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have even played 22. I chose it for you.”

“No way.” He shoved it in my face. “Take it.”

I wouldn’t budge. “That’s only a fraction of the winnings. I have a check for all the rest. I’m gonna put in the bank to help my Mom out. If you don’t take this cash, I’ll bet it all.”

“Don’t do that. There’s no way you’d get lucky a third time tonight.”

I crossed my arms. “I’m not taking it back. So, either you take it, or I’m gambling with it.”

He sighed. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll take the money, but we’re spending it together tonight. We’ll have the time of our lives with it.”

“Okay.” My mouth spread into a smile. “I can live with that.”

He glanced at the card I was holding. “What’s that?”

“Oh, uh…they also gave me a complimentary room key. I guess they want me to stick around a while and dump all of my winnings back into the casino. I’m not gonna use it. We’re heading back to Boston later, right?”

“Neither of us is really in condition to drive tonight.”

“You want to stay overnight? We can’t sleep in the same room.”

“I wasn’t suggesting that, Greta. I’ll get my own room.”

Of course. Now, I felt stupid for even assuming that was what he meant.

“Right. Okay. If you think that’s a good idea, we can stay.”

“The truth is, I’m not ready for this night to end. I don’t want to face reality again until I absolutely have to. My flight isn’t until tomorrow night. If we leave in the morning, we’ll have plenty of time.”

I rubbed his arm. “Okay.” I followed him out of the game room. “Where are we going first?”

“To buy you a new outfit. I get to pick it out. We’re going clubbing later. You can’t wear that.”

“Clubbing?”

“Yeah. They have a nightclub downstairs.”

“Should I be worried? Exactly what do you consider clubbing attire?”

He looked at my outfit. “Something that doesn’t make you look like an 85-year-old Greek woman in mourning.”

I straightened my dress. “What are you trying to say?”

“Make that an 85-year-old drunk Greek woman since you smell like a bucket of booze.”

“Thanks to you.”

“Let’s go spend some money.”





CHAPTER 16



“How about this one?” I lifted a canary yellow chiffon mini-dress off the rack.

“You’ll look like a banana.”

I chose another one. “This?”

Elec shook his head. “No.”

He picked up a burgundy satin and sequin number that draped over the tattoos on his arm as he showed it to me. “This is hot. This is it.”

At first, I thought it was too much but agreed to try it on.