Sin City Auction (Nevada Bad Boys 4)

“Oh, after the fight, I’m going to meet with a few of Carlos’ guys that are starting to do pretty well—when they’re not fighting you, of course. Carlos just shovels fresh meat and he said they might be interested in having me represent them for some fights.” Tommy reached for his coffee again.

“We tried that a couple of times and it never worked out.” I turned my head towards him. “Can these guys actually win fights?”

“Maybe.” He shrugged. “If they suck, I’ll just convince them to fight you.”

Tommy was always trying to come up with a new scheme. He understood that my career was ticking away. I was one bad fight away from ending up on the shelf. That day got even closer the more times I got punched in the skull. I lost count of my concussions years ago. Hell, some years I didn’t even remember at all. Whatever functional brain I had at one point in my life had been bounced against my skull so much I was lucky I still remembered how to breathe. I had seen what old fighters looked like. It wasn’t pretty. I would probably look worse than Muhammad Ali in his final years if I made it to sixty.

“Tommy, come on! We need to celebrate!” I staggered up to the table where Tommy was working and refilled his glass of whiskey.

“Give me a few minutes, Ruck. I’m talking to these guys.” Tommy motioned with his hand and tried to get me to leave him alone.

“I ain’t fighting Ruckus.” The guy on Tommy’s left shook his head. “If you’re trying to sign me up for that shit, I’m out.”

“Yeah, me either. My cousin can’t even fight anymore after he got

his ass kicked by this son of a bitch.” The guy to the right looked scared as he stared at me.

“That bitch is my mother, too.” Tommy sighed. “Guys, this is my brother. I’m not signing you up to fight him. In fact, if you agree to let me represent you, you’ll never have to fight him because you’ll be on the same team.”

“Oh snap.” The guy on the left smiled.

“Ruck, here.” Tommy pulled the roll of money he had gotten from my fight out of his pocket and handed me a couple of c-notes. “Go play some cards or something.”

“Fine…” I grabbed my bottle and took the money he was offering.

The fight had been fairly easy and while I had a few bruises that would hurt when I woke up, I wasn’t feeling anything with the whiskey coursing through my veins. I walked towards the card tables and looked for a seat. It was a busy night and most of them were taken. I wasn’t a fan of the Ussery hotel, nor did I like their overcrowded casino, but it was where Carlos liked to meet. I took another drink and walked past the card tables, taking a seat at one of the slot machines. I hoped a seat would open up soon because it would take a while to lose two-hundred dollars and by the time I was done with that, Tommy would be done with his meeting.

“Are you playing this machine?” An older lady with white hair walked up, clutching a ticket that people got when they cashed out a slot machine.

“Huh?” I looked up at her and then turned towards the machine. “Yeah, I’m playing it.”

I tapped a couple of buttons and then looked back towards the card table. The older lady that talked to me seemed to be glaring intently as she scoped out other slot machines. Seating was pretty limited, and it was the only open slot machine next to the poker tables. I decided to put some money in it and at least lose a couple of bucks so I could justify sitting in front of the blinking lights. I fed it one of my c-notes and watched as the game loaded. I never really liked slot machines. They were a waste of money and the house rarely lost. The one I was sitting at said it was a five dollar slot, but of course the only way to win something was to spend that five dollars four times on one spin.

All right, this spin is probably worth one of those punches I took. Hopefully it’ll be worth it.

I slammed my finger into the button and watched as it spun. It lit up like the Fourth of July with music playing and the words Big Money flashed on the screen. I chuckled when their version of big money turned out to be fifteen dollars, which was less than it cost to spin the machine in the first place. I let the machine slowly count my win and looked at the poker tables. A seat appeared to open. I turned back towards the machine and hit the button to eject my money in the form of a ticket, but then I saw someone quickly take the open spot I had my eye on.

“Fucking hell…” I cursed out loud and took a drink of my whiskey.

I angrily hit the button to make the machine count faster and then hit the spin button again. It ate my entire twenty dollars without even giving me a consolation prize. I spun for the third time and watched as the machine gave me my entry fee back, plus an additional five dollars. The machine made it seem like I had won big money, but I was still down twenty bucks from where I started. I saw Tommy walking over to the card tables and I stood to wave him over. There were still no seats at any of the tables, and if Tommy was ready to go, then I didn’t need to play anyway. I hit the button on the machine to maximize my bet, which would take most of my money in a single spin, and sent what I had earned into an electrical abyss with one tap of my finger.

“Hey, there you are. Are you ready to go? They both agreed to join the team!” Tommy grinned and took my bottle of whiskey.

“Oh, now you’re ready to celebrate?” I chuckled and then heard what sounded like sirens behind me.

I turned back towards the machine slowly. Every light on it was flashing so fast that it made my eyes hurt. The screen was going crazy and had an arrow pointing up. My eyes followed the arrow and I saw the red light at the top of the machine blinking with the word Jackpot. People around me stopped playing and walked over. Even some of the guys at the card tables put down their hands and turned their attention towards the machine. I blinked a couple of times and stared at the number that was highlighted—two million dollars.

“Holy shit!” Tommy pumped his fist in the air and then screamed. “Holy shit, Ruck! You just hit the mother fucking jackpot!”

“Are you serious?” My brain still hadn’t quite registered what I was seeing, but it was quickly catching up.

“We’re fucking rich!” Tommy screamed again.

“Tommy…” I stared at the machine as I finally started to understand what I was seeing. “I don’t think I’m gonna fight for a while.”

2

Madison