The Strip Ch. 03

The blonde cashier gave him a sympathetic look as he handed in his empty chip rack. "Better luck next time, kid," she said.

Luck had nothing to do with this. Charlie knew he wasn't too bright, but he knew a set up for a set up. In the parking lot, he pulled out his phone and called the number Big Eddie had given him.

"Charlie!" the gangster said enthusiastically. "So you decided to make me riches?"

"You set me up!" he accused.

"Tsk, tsk. Now what kind of thing is that to say to your new best friend? What are you talking about?"

Suddenly unsure, Charlie ventured, "You... you don't know?"

"Know what?"

"I lost it all." Saying it gave it weight. Admitting that he'd lost fifty grand aloud felt like a crippling blow. He sat down on the curb and began to shake.

"All of it? All of the money?"

"I'll pay you back. I swear. I'll... I'll work another job. I'll—"

He stopped because Big Eddie was laughing on the other end. "Charlie, Charlie, Charlie... you know, it was never my money?"

Confused and hysterical, Charlie asked, "What? Then whose?"

"I spoke to those loan sharks of yours. Told them you'd pay them back with interest. It was your chance to get on their good side, Charlie. But now! Now, Charlie, that's a lot of bread you owe them."

Charlie's blood ran cold through his veins. He'd thought he might be able to appeal to Big Eddie's better nature. How stupid, the gangster didn't have one. And as for the loan sharks -- they had a reputation for dealing with bad credit loans fatally. And this was strike two for Charlie. Not to mention Rosie. What was she going to say? She'd worked hard to help him start to clear the financial hole they'd been in.

She was going to kill him - if the loan sharks didn't get to him first. He was a dead man.

"Charlie, you there?" Big asked for the second time.

"Yeah, I'm here. You just killed me, man."

"I didn't make you walk into that card room. I didn't force you to play for broke." Charlie held the phone away and vomited into the street. "Want me to give you the loan shark's number?" Big was saying when he brought the phone back to his ear. "They'll be looking for you before the night's out."

"Fuck you." He punched the end button and slipped the phone back into his pocket. He still had his earlier winnings off of Big Eddie. Five thousand in rolled hundreds. It was a start, but he had to act quickly. He could grab only the essentials from his apartment and still catch the midnight bus out of Vegas. Five thousand was enough to disappear, right?

It had to be, or he wouldn't live to see the sunrise.