The kids who weren't drinking or gambling were amusing themselves by hooking up, as though standing by the railing meant that no one could see them sticking their tongues down each other's throats or would notice all the wandering hands disappearing beneath skimpy outfits.
It all looked so real, so legit, so damn convincing, that I would have almost believed this was a bona fide catering job - except for the fact Kincaid had personally come into the Pork Pit to hire me. Men like him didn't do things like that - that's what underlings were for. The casino boss was definitely up to something; I just didn't know what it was yet.
"Gin! There you are!"
Speak of the devil. Kincaid pushed through a door that led into the riverboat's interior and headed in my direction. From my past explorations here, I knew the inside of the boat was hollow and ringed with a series of balconies, so folks on the upper decks could see the stage here on the third floor and watch the elaborate shows put on there. Kincaid offered a full, Vegas-style experience, right down to the leggy showgirls Finn always lusted after whenever he watched a performance here.
Kincaid walked toward me, followed by a giant with pecan-brown hair, matching eyes, and olive skin. Both men wore light, summer-weight suits, and each had a large pin in the middle of his silk tie. Kincaid's pin was made of silverstone, while the giant's was gold, but both were shaped like a dollar sign superimposed over an outline of the riverboat - Kincaid's rune for his casino and the buckets of money it netted him. A little garish and too in-your-face for my tastes, but it didn't surprise me that the casino boss liked to flaunt his wealth. He'd earned it, clawing his way up through the underworld.
More giants circulated through the crowd, all wearing suits and the same gold tiepin. They closely monitored the students and games. Despite the fact that he'd opened up his riverboat to the college crowd, Kincaid wasn't letting any of the kids cheat or swipe chips from their fellow gamblers. How noble of him.
Kincaid stopped in front of Sophia and me, his blue eyes flicking over our boots, jeans, and long-sleeved T-shirts. Once again, I got the sense he was highly amused about something whenever he looked at me, although I had no idea what that could possibly be. There wasn't anything amusing about me - or the knives I'd brought along.
"This is Antonio Mendez, my second-in-command," Kincaid said, gesturing to the giant beside him. "If you need anything tonight, just let him know."
Antonio nodded his head at Sophia, then turned to stare at me, sizing me up. Despite the neutral expression, I could sense the coiled strength in his seven-foot body. Finn had actually been able to find out more about Kincaid's men than about Kincaid himself, so I knew Antonio could be ruthless when need be. The giant wasn't someone you wanted to f**k with.
Then again, neither was I.
I returned Antonio's searching stare with a cold, hard one of my own. After a moment, the giant nodded his head again, indicating I'd passed his little mental pissing contest. As if I cared. I didn't have anything to prove to the giant or anyone else, but I'd have been happy to show him exactly who he was messing with if he got an inch out of line or threatened either Sophia or myself in the slightest way.
Antonio turned his attention to the Goth dwarf, and his eyes widened at her black lipstick and the purple streaks she'd put in her hair. "Here. Let me help you with those," he said, reaching for the stack of boxes in her arms.
Sophia let out a low, threatening growl. With her ruined, raspy voice, she sounded like a mythological Fenrir wolf about to sink its teeth into a hunk of fresh meat. Antonio froze. Sophia let out another growl, and the giant dropped his hands to his sides and stepped away from her. Smart man.
Kincaid stayed silent throughout their exchange, then made a sweeping motion with his hand. "This way."
He led us over to the far side of the deck, the one facing out toward the Aneirin River. A large cooking station had been set up there, complete with pots, pans, utensils, a couple of burners, coolers filled with ice, and everything else we would need. Kincaid had been thorough, if nothing else. His accommodating nature only made me that much more suspicious about what he really wanted - and how many people I might have to kill to make it through the night.
"I thought we would set you up out here so you can see all of the action," he said. "Keep you right in the thick of things."
His voice was as bland as could be, but something in his words bothered me. It almost sounded like he was expecting trouble tonight, but I couldn't imagine what problems the drunken frat boys and girls could possibly create that his giants couldn't handle.
"Like I said, let Antonio know if you need anything."
Kincaid gave me a thin smile, then moved off into the crowd. Antonio nodded at us and walked away too, although he didn't go far, planting himself against the rail about twenty feet from the cooking station. Keeping an eye on us.
"This gets stranger by the minute," I said to Sophia.
The dwarf grunted her agreement, put down her boxes, and started unpacking them. I did the same. Whatever Kincaid was up to, there was nothing to do now but see it through to the end.
The next hour involved reheating the dishes Sophia and I had made earlier in the day, creating some last-minute ones on-site, and then serving everything up to the hungry kids.
I recognized more than a few folks and said hello to those I knew, since I was also a student at Ashland Community College. I was always taking a course or two at the college, like the literature class I'd signed up for this summer. Sophia and I had just finished feeding the first wave of students when I spotted two very familiar faces in the crowd - Eva Grayson and Violet Fox.
Eva was Owen's nineteen-year-old sister, and Violet was her best friend. The two girls were pretty much inseparable, despite how different they were. Eva looked a lot like Owen, with her blue-black hair, while Violet was all frizzy blond hair and glasses. Like everyone else, they were dressed in shorts, T-shirts, and flip-flops. In fact, Eva's T-shirt bore the name of the sorority that was hosting the fund-raiser, making me wonder if she'd been involved in the planning.
I wasn't particularly surprised to see them at a college function, but the troubling thing was that the two girls were talking to none other than Kincaid himself. The casino boss said something, causing both Eva and Violet to laugh. Eva, especially, seemed interested in what he had to say, tossing her hair over her shoulder and smiling at him - something her big brother would definitely not approve of.
Owen had a protective streak a mile wide when it came to Eva, just like I did when it came to my younger sister Bria. Owen would definitely not want Eva cozying up to a casino mobster, but that was exactly what she was doing - and Kincaid seemed to be enjoying every second of her attention.