Page 14 of Royal Pain

But I had to admit one night with her would rock my world.

I adjusted my cuffs as I walked through the lobby, appreciating how crowded we were for the upcoming weekend.

“Boss. We have an issue,” Travis said as he came up to me.

“It wouldn’t be a Thursday night without an issue. What this time?”

“One of our good clients is accusing one of the dealers of cheating.”

I hung my head. That I didn’t need. “Who is it?”

“You’ll hear as soon as you walk into the smaller casino.” Travis was already laughing. We’d both seen our share of disgruntled customers over the years. I might be cut from the same wealthy cloth as so many of them, but their arrogance and entitlement were bothersome.

“Then let’s go.” We both took long strides in that direction. There were times, especially when rules weren’t followed, that I grew more irritated than I likely should. I had a feeling I would soon be getting too old for this.

Travis was correct. All we needed to do was to walk into the room and I could hear a commotion. Sighing, I buttoned my tuxedo jacket and headed for the gruff voices.

“Sir. I think it’s best you come with me.” One of my other security professionals was actively trying to get the man to leave with him but the two men in the limited party were having nothing to do with it.

“Leave me alone, son. Get her out of here. She’s a cheat and a liar.” The main guy’s accusatory tone had drawn quite a crowd.

I weaved my way through the crowd, trying to determine the best way of handling this without escalating the situation.

All bets were off when he punched my security guard smack in the nose. It was easy to tell he’d broken it. I didn’t realize until I was within a couple of feet the members in question. While Zach Campanella had caused a few issues over the years, there’d been nothing this egregious.

I moved between the security guard and Zach as several guests gasped. They were likely splattered with my guard’s blood.

“Zach. Why don’t we go to my office to talk about this.” It wasn’t a question or a request but a command and I could tell by the look in his eyes he knew I meant business. “You’ve terrified Anita and I assure you she is extremely trustworthy.”

On this night, he chose to ignore my demand. “Fuck you, Gage. I’m the client here. You will do as I say.”

Then he did the unforgivable thing of daring to throw a punch. At me.

I might not be a fighter on a regular basis, unless you took into consideration the boxing I’d done when I was younger, but the fucker set me off big time. Without thinking of any consequences, I snapped one hand around the fist coming in my direction. Using the other, I punched him directly in the jaw. If bones cracked, it was his teeth giving way.

The crowd actually went wild, clapping in appreciation. My illustrious guests didn’t like having their evenings interrupted by anyone.

Especially a pompous asshole.

But as I suspected he’d do, Zach tried to throw another punch. I had my arm wrapped around his neck, half dragging him through the other casino players toward one of the exits. Travis was following closely. He was always amused to see how one of the brothers would handle a difficult situation.

Not that I was an expert, still acting on emotion a portion of the time. This would be considered one of them. But Zach needed to learn I couldn’t care less if he’d caught any of my employees stealing red-handed; there were certain protocols that were required. That was a portion of the membership paperwork they’d signed themselves.

That’s why having my arm around his throat felt like the right thing to do.

“Let go of me,” Zach hissed, struggling as I thought he’d do.

“Not until we have a little discussion.” I dragged him into the lobby and far enough away from the crowds of people where hopefully others wouldn’t overhear. Then again, what did I care? This was my resort.

When I pushed him away, he acted as if I’d choked the life out of him. Not a chance. “You bastard. She needs to be arrested.”

“Why don’t you tell me what she did?”

He was acting haughty, which I was used to. “She refused to let me play a hand.”

“And that’s cheating?”

“You don’t say no to the customer.”