Lay the Favorite by Beth Raymer

Author:Beth Raymer [Raymer, Beth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-58836-985-7
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2010-06-21T16:00:00+00:00

Just when it seemed that I would never care for another co-worker, Dink hired Grant Durrett. A twenty-six-year-old budding gambler, Grant snooped around ATMs for receipts with high balances, which he would scatter across the dashboard of his car in hopes of impressing dates and luring one-night stands back for more. Grant charmed me with his skewed vision of the world, undoubtedly shaped by his father, a thief who had served time in Leavenworth for drug trafficking. After not seeing his dad for ten years, Grant finally got a call from him. Freshly out of prison, he wanted Grant to come live with him in North Vegas and for the two of them to be “father and son” again. Grant, having always wanted a relationship with his father, was happy to comply and immediately dropped out of his Arizona junior college. Father and son played cards, drank beer and got to know each other. Within months of their reunion, Papa stole the ten thousand dollars Grant had stashed in his bedroom and used the money to gamble and pay off his bar tabs. Grant moved out and swore off his dad forever. Unfortunately, his mail was still delivered to the trailer and his dad, Grant Durrett Sr., pounced on the opportunity to steal junior’s identity, leaving his dear son another twenty grand in debt. When Grant realized his credit had been ruined, he returned to the Pair-A-Dice Trailer Park, white-knuckling a nine iron as though it were a battle-axe and expressing hopes that his father’s future included equal parts recidivism, denied parole, and ass-rape.

Grant had been on the periphery of Dink Inc. for some time. Years before he ripped off Dink, Tony had been Grant’s mentor. On their first day of working together, Tony instructed Grant on what teams to bet and handed him thousands of dollars. Grant, who had never seen that much money in his life, stuffed the cash in his front pocket and immediately got an erection. On the afternoon Tony stole Dink’s money, Grant was supposed to meet him for lunch. Tony was Grant’s hero, and he never saw him again.

Grant’s overplayed bravado, though at times hard to stomach, served him well in gambling. To make extra money, Grant began taking bets from players he met at sports books. At casinos along the Strip, he approached out-of-town players and offered them his services as a bookmaker. That way, when their Vegas vacation was over, they could return home to Newport Beach, Brentwood, Santa Barbara—places that had no sports books—and continue to gamble. All they had to do was call Grant. During my time in the business, Grant Durrett, Patron Saint of the Screwed Over, was the only person I met who physically threatened his customers when they failed to pay. He’d wait for them outside the casinos they frequented, follow them to their cars, then bang their heads against the hoods. If they didn’t have the cash, he stole their credit cards and went on shopping sprees at the Fashion Show Mall.

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