As I sat there waiting for Matt’s reply, a sudden chill ran up my spine. Was he simply gearing up for another verbal assault? But that would be out of character for him. Then I remembered I’d turned the volume way down. So I cranked it back up and caught the tail end of his response. “—cut and run.”
With what I’d already gleaned, it wasn’t difficult to fill in the missing context. I pulled the sunglasses from my face and held them up. Instantly, the hunk of plastic contorted and formed into a metal pen. I twirled it through my fingers as I stared into the wall. “Listen Matt, you’re worrying too much.”
“No, I’m not! You aren’t as talented as you think you are.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Marcus, your skills only take you partway up the hill. You only win the battles because you use your gift to alter the occasional card. While you can skirt the issue with the local tables by the skin of your teeth. In a real casino with cameras on the cards, you’d be arrested so fast your head would spin. Though if you don’t use your gift, you’d be bounced from the table as soon as the dealer collected your last chip. You can’t keep relying on luck to avoid the trouble you’re due.”
“I’m better than you realize.”
“No, you’re not.”
Clenching the pen in my fist, my lips pulled into a perfect line as I counted to ten. When I finished, I kicked off my shoes and socks and paced across the industrial carpet. While it wasn’t soothing, there was something oddly distracting from the uniform, stiff strands of carpet tickling my feet. “Would it make you feel any better if I told you that Dempsey doesn’t use cameras on his tables either?”
The rough scoff answered his question as succinctly as possible. As my sigh died, I bumped my fist against the television stand. “From the facts I’ve been able to dig up, when he first started this thing, yes, his tables were equipped with cameras. However, five years ago, he stopped using those at the request of the participants.”
“Are you telling me the crime lord bent his knee to anyone beneath him?”
“Why not, when your banks say they’ll stop coming if he didn’t rescind the use of the cameras?”
“How did you find any of this out?”
When I reached the door, I rolled to my toes and spun around. “A combination of the guy who’s invite I used and his friends. They were more than happy to divulge plenty of information, though most of it wasn’t particularly helpful.”
“Just because he stopped doesn’t mean he can’t or won’t bring them back.”
“Matt, you just have to trust me. I’ll be fine. Besides, I’ll fit the part of a spoiled rich kid.” As my words hung in the air, I bit my lower lip, mentally hoping his curiosity would latch onto that crumb.
“Yeah? And just how are you going to manage that?”
The resignation behind this question told me that while he was still reluctant to change the topic, he knew I would never back down and withdraw from the tournament. He didn’t like it, but he accepted it was my decision. A decision I would probably pay for later.
“You’d be surprised just how far you can go with one million dollars, despite needing to keep half for my fee.”
“You looted a million dollars on your trek down to New Orleans?”
Hopefully, his interest in that feat would be enough to hold his attention, especially since I’d only been on the road for a couple of weeks. As the words rebounded about my brain, I dissected the tones Matt used. While I could tell he was impressed with what I’d done, the disapproval of my choice lingered. He was still hung up on Dempsey’s involvement. While I wanted to scream at him to forget the mob boss, I knew pushing him on this wouldn’t go well for me.
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