Winning Moves (Stepping Up 3)

The girl was young, not more than twenty-one, and she blushed, her cheeks flushing a bright red. “I’m so sorry. I really thought you were him. You just look so much like him and I heard he was in Vegas for a show.”

Her embarrassment sent a rush of guilt through Jason. His fame was a blessing, even if it didn’t feel like it at times. He knew that. It let him do things for his family. It would let him help Kat’s. He just couldn’t get used to living under a microscope. He enjoyed creating stars, not being one himself.

Jason grabbed the he napkin and signed it, then snatched the hundred dollar chip the dealer had given him to cash out and tossed it on her tray. “Please make sure anyone you told I was here believes you were mistaken. At least, until I’m not here anymore.”

“It is you,” she whispered. “It is.”

“Yes. It is.”

She smiled brightly. “My lips are sealed. You are not you. Thank you so much.” She rushed away.

Jason and Hank quickly headed for a dimly lit bar area with leather armchairs and round glowing blue tables. Hank flagged a waitress and ordered drinks while Jason quickly typed a message to Kat. Bad phone reception in casino. No other woman. No one sick or dying. Try to sleep. I know you won’t but try.

She immediately replied, What is going on?

At least he knew she got the message. He typed, I’ll explain later, and then knew Kat wouldn’t take that answer, and quickly added, retirement jitters, now go to bed. Trust me, Kat. Everything is going to be fine.

“Must be hell to be famous,” Hank said. “I mean, it has to be tough to have all them girls pawing all over you, and movie stars hanging on your arms.”

Jason tensed, more than a little surprised by the accusation in Hank’s words when he’d sensed nothing of this before now. They did say that alcohol made people say what was on their minds, and there was no missing the undertone. Nor did Jason doubt the fragility of it coming from a protective father with too much tequila and a really bad day under his belt.

Jason returned his phone to his belt without answering Kat’s next message and focused on her father, looking Hank straight in the eye. “The life I want is with Kat.”

“Now that you got the starlets out of your system?”

“Kat and I were split up,” he said. “I tried to move on. It didn’t work.”

“It took you too long to figure that out.”

That wasn’t true, but that was a conversation for Jason and Kat. “Things between Kat and I have always been complicated.”

“Then it won’t work out now any more than in the past. You should walk away before you tear her apart right when I’m about to destroy her mother.”

Destroy? Whoa. That was a strong word and Jason was officially concerned that there was more going on here than he’d first imagined. Jason leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Talk to me, Hank. What happened? What the hell is going on?”

A muscle in Hank’s jaw clenched. “You hear about the Smith-Wright investment company?”

“Yeah,” Jason said, seeing where this was headed. “It’s been all over the news. All of the key executives were arrested for fraud.”

“That’s the one,” he said. “They had our retirement portfolio for ten years, though Sheila never knew. I take care of our finances and I always have. Those guys gave me reports, showed I’d doubled our money and kept me investing. According to them I’d turned two hundred thousand dollars into five hundred thousand dollars over that decade. Sheila and I were set for retirement.” He scrubbed his hand over his lightly stubbled jaw and when the waitress appeared by his side he paid her and downed his shot before handing Jason his.

“Don’t make me drink alone, son,” Hank said when Jason went to set the glass on the table. “Not tonight.”

Jason didn’t enjoy being drunk or out of control, not even a little bit. And even if he did, like it or not, he was famous, and he had to guard his public behavior. He also needed Hank to keep talking.

Jason braced himself for the bite of the liquor and poured the shot into his mouth. “That’s it for me until I eat,” he announced when the burn let him speak again. “I’m done.”

“It’s gone now,” Hank said, and he wasn’t talking about the tequila. “All of the money is gone. Every dime Sheila and I had saved. Every dime Kat insisted we take when I didn’t want to take it. I figured I was just investing it for her. I’d give it back with a little extra in return.”

“And you thought coming here was the way to get the money back?” Jason asked, trying to ignore the angry churn of his stomach and hating the slight buzz in his head.