by Evelyn Glass
It was a horrible movie, full of sex, violence and drug use, but as she watched the heroine injected herself with something, an idea began to tickle her mind.
“Ringo, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. What do you want?”
“How long are we going to be here?”
“Until Beast coughs up the cash or Grizzly tells me to kill you.”
She didn’t like the sound of that, but pressed forward. “We have a problem.”
“You have a problem. I’m fine.”
“Okay, I have a problem. I don’t have my insulin.”
“Your what?”
“I’m diabetic. I don’t have my insulin with me.”
“So?”
“So, if I don’t take my insulin shots on schedule I will become hyperglycemic and will develop ketoacidosis. That’s where I will fall into a diabetic coma and die.”
Ringo looked at her with suspicion. “You look fine to me.”
“That’s because I’m not hyperglycemic yet. But I will be in the next two or three hours if I don’t get my insulin.”
He shrugged and turned his attention back to the television. “Nothing I can do about it. I’m not leaving you here alone and I’m not taking you out.”
She nodded as if she understood. “Okay. But will you know what to do if I pass out? How much do you think Conor will pay for a dead body?”
He continued to watch the television for a moment as two almost naked women fought, trying to rip each other to shreds in a junkyard of some kind. Scene over, he turned his attention back to Shayna. “How do I know you’re telling the truth?”
“When I pass out, you’ll know.”
He glared at her a moment the pulled out his phone.
***
“Same deal as before. Loan us the thirty million and you get twenty-five percent off the top, with interest, and I’ll sweeten the pot by throwing in the girl,” Grizzly said.
“I told you, I don’t have that kind of money! How do I know she’s still alive?”
“She’s alive and unhurt. She’ll stay that way so long as you cooperate. I don’t want to hurt her, Beast. But if we can’t deal, well, she is looking mighty fuckable in that green dress. If I’m going to be killed by the Russian mob, I might as well enjoy my last few days, don’t you think?”
“You fuck! I’ll hunt you down and kill you!”
“Vegas is a big city. Lots of places we can spend out last days together. You can’t search them all.”
Beast stood, quivering in rage, gripping his phone so tight his knuckles were white. This is what happens when you get close to someone! He bottled up the rage and fear and stuffed it down deep.
“You sound like a gambling man,” Beast said calmly. “I have another proposition for you. My twenty-two million for the girl. That’s all I’ve got. You win, you get the money free and clear. I win, I get the girl.”
“What’s the catch?”
“No catch. You play poker? You and me. You bring the Shayna; I bring the cash.”
Grizzly paused. He felt like he was a decent poker player, but Beast had just beaten the best in the nation. “No deal.”
“Fine. Kill her. She means nothing to me,” he said then hung up the phone, playing the biggest bluff of his life.
***
Grizzly stared at his phone. He didn’t expect Beast to just roll over, but he hadn’t expected that either. He was a ladies’ man and perhaps he didn’t care for this chick after all. He was still debating what to do when his phone rang.
“Goddamnit, what?” he growled.
“We have a problem,” Ringo said.
“What kind of problem?”
“This chick said she’s diabetic and doesn’t have her insulin.”
“So?”
“So, she said in two hours she is going to be…what the fuck did you call it?” he asked away from the phone. “Yeah, hyperglycemic, whatever the hell that means. She said when that happens she will die.”
“Goddamnit! What does she expect me to do about it?”
“Get her some insulin.”
“Fuck!” Grizzly railed, trying to think.
“Grizzly, what do you want me to do?” Ringo asked.
“Shut the hell up a minute! I’m thinking.” If Beast was playing this much hard ball now, a dead girl would be useless to him, and Beast was smart enough to want proof of her good health before he forked over that kind of money. “Fine! Text me what she needs and I’ll have someone run it over there.”
“Goddamnit!” he bellowed. They were out of options. They had performed all the sleight of hand they could to hide the loss, but now it was time to pay the piper. He sat, staring into space. He knew Beast and knew he’d never back down. “Fuck it,” he snarled as he selected Beast’s number and pressed dial.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
They agreed to meet at Big Twins, neutral territory. It had taken some time for Beast to collect the twenty-two million in cash, having to work his way all the way up to the regional manager before the bank would agree to pay out the funds in cash.
The Reapers arrived first, as agreed, and reserved a room in the back. When The Scarred arrived, Shayna in hand, the clubs patted each other down before they were allowed into the room.
“You got the cash?” Grizzly growled as he entered the room, another man entering with him holding Shayna by the arm with a knife in her back.
“You okay? Did they hurt you? Anyone touch you?” Beast asked.
“I’m okay. Nobody touched me.”
Beast picked up a satchel and set it on the table. He opened it and showed the inside to Grizzle before he reached in. He took out a shoe, two decks of cards and container of poker chips before he slid the bag across the table. “It’s all there. Twenty-two million.”
Grizzly slid the bag to one of his men. “Count it.”
They waited while the man counted. “It’s all there,” a man with fancy cowboy boots said.
“If I win, I get the money and you get the girl, agreed?” Grizzly confirmed.
“And if I win, I get the girl and you get killed by the Russians.”
Grizzly wiped his face and sat down. “Let’s get on with it.”
Beast tossed the two packs of cards to Grizzly. “Factory sealed.”
Grizzly opened a pack and removed the jokers. “Seven Card Stud,” he said as he shuffled, then repeated the process with the other deck.
When Grizzly was finished, Beast took the two decks then shuffled them together several times before cutting them and placing them in front of Grizzly. “You want to cut?”
Grizzly cut the cards then Hightower picked them up and placed them in the shoe, along with a red cut card, as Beast counted out two stacks of five hundred in chips, keeping a pile for himself and sliding the other pile to Grizzly.
“You gentlemen ready?” Hightower asked.
“Just deal,” Grizzly sneered. I don’t have time for all this formal bullshit.
***
By the tenth hand, it was apparent to everyone that Grizzly was in way over his head. He’d yet to win a hand with Beast folding often and early, leaving Grizzly with minimal winnings, but on the two hands where he did bet, he bet large and won both times.
Grizzly was becoming frustrated and it showed. Every man in the room knew this was life or death for The Scarred and Shayna. The men had been disarmed save the one who held a knife to Shayna’s side.
“This is bullshit!” Grizzly roared as Beast folded again. “Are you going to play cards or fuck around?”
“What’s the matter, Grizzly? Not liking how it’s going?”
“Don’t fuck with me, Beast. I’ve got nothing to lose here and I’ll have Ringo gut her if I have to.”
“Then nobody will leave this room alive,” Beast warned.
“Doesn’t matter to me. I’m dead anyway if I don’t get that money. Remember that.”
“Perhaps another game, then?” Hightower offered. “One where the odds are a little more e
ven…say Hold ‘em?”
“What do you say, Grizzly. Want to try another game?”
Grizzly thought about it. Seven Card Stud was his game, but he was getting nowhere with Beast. “Fine.”
Grizzly’s luck was little changed, though he won a hand now and again. Beast was slowly wearing him down, reducing his pile of chips to about half of what he started with. When they were down to the last few hands, either way, that was when his men were to make their move.
Rip, Tally, Hightower and Dell where there to back him up. Every man for the Reapers was a volunteer, promising Beast to get Shayna to safety, no matter the cost. Tony wanted to come, having a score to settle with The Scarred, but he was suffering from a concussion and still couldn’t walk a straight line.
Shayna could feel the tension rising in the room with every hand. No matter what happened, she could tell this was going to end in bloodshed. In the motel room she’d loaded a syringe with enough insulin to knock down a real Grizzly, but had been holding it in reserve, waiting for an opportunity to use it. The problem with insulin was it needed time to work. It wasn’t like in the movies where a person could inject someone with something and have them instantly pass out. She’d asked for Rapid-Acting U500 insulin, but they’d brought her Short-Acting U100 instead. At least they’d gotten the needles right, an ultra-fine thirty-one gauge.
She needed at least thirty minutes for the insulin to take effect, plus it wasn’t like she could just stick Grizzly with the needle and have him not notice, no matter how fine the gauge. She caught Conor’s eyes and stared, trying to signal that she had a plan, but as he held her eyes he smiled at her reassuringly.
“It’s going to be okay,” he said softly.
She wanted to roll her eyes in frustration but was afraid to give anything away. She began to softly caress the inside of Grizzly’s thigh, drawing her fingers over the bulge of his crotch before returning her fingers to his thigh. The needle was so fine that it wouldn’t take much to desensitize the area enough for him to not feel the prick as she slid the needle into his leg.
Grizzly grinned as Shayna stroked his leg. He was used to having women drawn to him. Maybe she didn’t care for Beast any more than he cared for her, and was using him as much as he was using her. It would serve Beast right to pay twenty million for some bitch who would drop him as soon as she was tired of him.
Beast watched as a slow smile spread over Grizzly’s face. He didn’t know what he had to smile about. He’d just taken him for another ten bucks, reducing his pile of chips even more.
“I want one of my men to deal!” Grizzly demanded after losing yet again. He didn’t know how, but it was obvious that Hightower was stacking the deck.
Beast glanced at Hightower. “Be my guest,” he said. It was clear that Grizzly thought Hightower was cheating rather than he sucked at cards, but it was also clear that you can’t bottom deal a shoe so it didn’t matter who was dealing.
Grizzly, waved a finger at the shoe. “Boots, you deal.”
The man with the elaborate footwear sauntered up to the shoe and began to slide the cards out. He wasn’t nearly as proficient at dealing as Hightower, but he got the job done.
***
“Full House, Fives over Deuces,” Beast said, flipping his Hole Cards.
“Fuck!” Grizzly barked, flipping his cards to display a Flush. Beast was slowly grinding him down. He’d win a hand and claw a little back, only to lose it and a little more the next time. He was down to his last hundred and if his luck didn’t change soon, he was going to have to go to plan B, stealing the money.
Beast saw Shayna was staring at him intently, and had been for most of the game. She kept looking at Grizzly’s hole cards, and was obviously trying frantically to communicate something to him, but he had no idea what.
Grizzly smiled, noticing the confused expression on Beast’s face. “That’s right, Beast. She’s stroking my cock under the table. I may end up fucking her after all, because she wants it. Tell him.”
“I am,” she said slowly, but gave her head the tiniest of shakes.
Beast stared at her, not sure he’d seen her shake her head, trying to work out what the hell was going on.
“What are you going to do when she decides to stay with me? I think we both know who the real man is in this room. Are you going to let the Russians kill her, too? Maybe you really don’t care if she lives or dies, especially after I stretch her out with my cock.”
Beast let the comments roll off him, refusing to let Grizzly get inside his head. He was more sure than ever Shayna was up to something and he just had to let it play out.
“I guess we’ll find out by the end of the game which of us has the bigger dick, huh?” He glanced at Boots. “Deal.”
Shayna slipped the syringe from her purse, carefully removing the protective cap using only her left hand, her right still caressing Grizzly’s leg. She gave him a firm squeeze on the cock, then quickly switched the needle to her right hand before moving it back to his leg. Being careful to not stick him before she was ready, she caressed him again, then reached with her left hand, pulling his face to hers, sliding the needle in as she kissed him fully on the mouth. She depressed the plunger, dumping the insulin into the fatty tissue of his leg, then grabbed his cock again to cover any sting he may have felt.
“You fucking whore,” Beast snarled, as she pulled back from the kiss, hoping to give her an opening to tell him something, anything, about what she was doing.
She knew what Conor was doing, but she couldn’t figure out how tell him that she’d injected Grizzly with enough insulin to induce severe hypoglycemia, and that when his blood sugar dropped low enough he was going to pass out and go into seizures. She spent several long moment thinking, but gave up. It was too complicated to explain without giving it away.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly.
Beast didn’t know what was going down, but whatever it was, it was about to happen. He gave a single cough, the single to his men to get ready for his move.
Grizzly chuckled nastily. “I think my luck is about to change.”
Shayna gave his cock another squeeze. “I think so, too,” she purred, selling it with everything she had.
***
Shayna watched Grizzly intently. Twenty minutes after her injection, he was sweating profusely and his hands were starting to shake. His betting had become erratic and he’d sit for long moments, staring at his cards. He was going into diabetic shock, and it wouldn’t be long now. She caught Conor’s eyes and held them before giving her head a tiny nod.
Beast watched as Grizzly sat and stared at the table, obviously in some kind of trouble. He didn’t know what Shayna had done, but she’d seriously fucked him up. Sweat was pouring off him, he was going pale, and his speech was becoming slow and slurred. Although he hadn’t consumed anything, Beast would say Grizzly was drunk.
“Grizzly, you don’t look so good, man. You okay?” Boots asked.
“I…I don’t feel right,” Grizzly said slowly.
“What do you want to do, Boss?” Ringo asked.
“I…” Grizzly began but trailed away before he began to spasm and jerk, knocking his chair over and falling to the floor.
The Scarred rushed to the aid of their downed comrade, and that was the opening the Reapers were waiting for. Beast lunged across the table, grabbing Ringo by the head and slamming into the table as hard as he could.
Shayna scampered into a corner as the men fought, but with Grizzly convulsing on the floor and Ringo knocked unconscious in the first instant of the fight, The Scarred were outnumbered five to three and their resistance lasted only seconds.
As the last of The Scarred were subdued, Shayna rushed to Grizzly’s side and dropped to the floor. Beast was there only a moment behind, trying to pick her up.
“We have to get you out of here!” he said firmly, pulling at her arm.
“No! Stop!” she cried, yanking her arm free. “I have to help him!”
“Leave him!” Beast ordered, taking her arm again and dragging her to her feet.
“No!” she screamed, jerking her arm away as the door to the room burst open and several people rushed in to see what the commotion was.
She dropped back to the floor beside Grizzly, opened her clutch, and removed the glucagon kit. She opened the kit and stabbed the needle into the vial and injected the liquid before shaking the vial several times then drawing the contents into the syringe.