The Gambler (15 page)

This was a bad-
fucking idea; but what could he do? She and her new partner in crime were acting like kids in a candy store. He never saw gramps so damn animated in his life. It was a shock to realize that she was good for the old man as well.

He never gave much thought to gramps’ daily life. The old man was still running his business, still had his connections and a million friends. But now
, watching how alive he was with flower, he realized that he might’ve been a bit remiss in his care of the old man.

He’d just always seen his grandfather as bigger than life, not someone who needed anyone. Now he felt like because of his shutting himself away from life, he’d maybe done the other man a disservice. He knew if it wasn’t for the new addition in his life his mind wouldn’t be running to such thoughts.

In three days she’d opened his eyes and his heart, she’d given him the will to live again, not just exist. He had no fear of losing her, not as he once had; no one will ever take from him again, of that he was sure. He would protect her with everything in him for as long as he lived. There was no need to hide himself away any longer.

They got dressed in between her stealing kisses and playing with her butterflies. She’d gone so long without asking for a kiss he’d thought she’d forgotten.

The doc had come by to check the bandages on her shoulder and make sure she hadn’t opened her stitches or anything like that.

Andros still wasn’t sure, even after the other man reassured him that she was perfectly safe to fly. But she was so excited about going
, that in the end he gave into her.

They flew in same as the night before, only this time their destination was another casino. He wasn’t sure how things were on the ground, he had no fear of retaliation since no one knew of his involvement
, and his men that had stayed behind hadn’t heard any rumblings.

But he knew there would be
an underlying danger in The City with the shakeup of a boss being eliminated. Every gumbah and their mother will be swarming like sharks, fighting for whatever scraps were left after the major heads had taken their cut. The place would probably be unsettled for a while to come.

He wasn’t worried about anyone thinking that either he or gramps wanted a piece of the pi
e; their interest lay elsewhere, and those who were in the know, knew that. Plus it wasn’t unusual for him to visit The City twice in one week, rare, but not unusual.

They made a sight as they headed into the casino from the limo that had brought them from the airport. The old man had one of her arms and he held the other
, while his shadows and the rest of the security detail that he’d brought along brought up the rear.

She had three men on her and there were two on gramps, he wasn’t taking any chances with either of them, never again. Not now that he knew how much each of them meant to him.

He took her to the machines first, where she looked around like she was in a daze, that look alone made it worth the risk. He said nothing as she walked up and down the aisles looking at the different machines.

He just followed behind and let her enjoy herself. She stopped short and watched some little old lady
, as she was about to take a stool in front of a quarter machine; at least he thought that that’s what it said. He wouldn’t know; he’d never been on this floor before.

He started to call her back as she moved closer to the woman, but she walked with a purpose, so he kept his mouth shut and hoped the grandmotherly type didn’t say or do anything to cause him to dump her ass in the Atlantic.

Jenna said something to her
, but with her penchant for one and two word sentences the lady didn’t seem to get it. She broke out the new phone he’d given her and he took his phone out because he knew what was coming next.

He read her message and walked over to the lady who was looking at Jenna like she had a few screws loose. Then Jenna moved away and he heard her yell ‘NO’ at the top of her lungs and tried to push some guy off a stool two seats down from the lady. Andros walked over to them and the guy didn’t need much convincing to move the hell on.

Next he turned to the old lady. “She wants you to sit here. I’ll put the money in no problem.” The machine was five dollars, considerably more than the woman had been about to play.

She didn’t seem too sure but she changed stools, all the while giving Jenna an odd look. He guessed that was normal
, seeing as how she was now surrounded by nine men who looked like they’d walked off the set of a sixties gangster flick, and an exceptionally beautiful if somewhat pushy young woman.

The first few tries garnered nothing and the lady turned to him in apology. “I’m sorry young man
, I don’t know much about these things. My husband just had surgery and we need the money. I’ll pay you back what you lost…” She fished around the suitcase she no doubt called a purse, but his hand on her shoulder stopped her.

“No worries just play.” He put another token in the machine and she pulled the lever. All the while Jenna had her head cocked to the side as if listening for something. He can’t say that he was surprised when all the bells and whistles started going off. He just looked at his flower and the smile on her face was all the answer he needed.

When the woman started thanking him to death he figured it was time to go. “Find out who she is.”

“On it boss.”

After that Jenna played on every machine she felt like. She didn’t win shit but he didn’t care. The way she threw her head back and laughed whenever the wheels would spin, or she’d hit for a small win, was payment enough.

She soon grew tired of playing and took his arm to lead him away.

“Come on Jenna, I was just starting to get hot.” Gramps complained when he told him it was time to go.

She took out her phone and sent Andros another text. He laughed his ass off when he showed it to him. ‘It’s a dud.’ He didn’t even want to know how she knew that shit
, but he wasn’t willing to bet against her.

He thought for sure it was going to be a short night since it seemed she was done with the machines. But she seemed to have something else in mind. He followed her up the stairs and to a room he knew well. He had a bad moment when he remembered the last time he was here
, just a few short nights ago. “You wanna go in there baby, you sure?” She nodded and walked ahead of him.

“Andros…” The men sitting around the table called out to him as he entered the room. Some of the old timers greeted gramps, whom they hadn’t seen in these parts for a long long time.

Some of the faces from that night were there and he saw recognition dawn on their faces when they saw her, but no one said a word. That was good, because he wasn’t in the mood to field any questions.

He took a seat
at the table and the guys brought one over for Jenna to sit at his side. Gramps also took his place as security took up strategic positions around the room.

By h
is first hand she seemed to lose interest and fished her toy out of her purse. He thought he’d play a few hands before she got bored and then head out. By the fifth hand he was about ready to call it a night, the game wasn’t holding much interest for him. “Jenna play.”

Shit, did she want to go back to the machines? “Okay baby we’ll go play.”

“No play.” She pointed to his cards. He looked around the table to see if anyone would object, not that he gave a fuck, but he wanted to see whose face he might have to break for being stupid. No one said anything when he changed places with her.

Contrary to what he thought, they were only too happy with this turn of events. To a man they thought Andros was a fool to let the imbecile play his hand in such a high-stakes game. His lost, they prepared to fleece the p
retty air headed girl for all Andros was worth.

She took her time studying her hand and the table. He didn’t look over her shoulder to see what she was doing, as far as he was concerned as long as she was having fun that’s all he cared about.

The game seemed to take longer because of this, and some of the players were getting antsy. One glower from Andros was enough to have them settling down again. “Call.”

Andros looked at the asshole next to him as he added fifty grand to the pot. He threw a hundred -thousand dollar chip down to cover her.

She was concentrating really hard on her hand and not really paying attention to the other occupants of the room
, as the cards were dealt for another three rounds with calls and folds. When it was down to the last three players, five having folded and the pot a little under half a mil, she still didn’t seem too interested.

He knew she had no concept of money and he could stand to lose that and more so he wasn’t too worried.

Gramps had folded a long time ago and was just watching like everyone else to see the end result. Andros was getting himself ready to leave as he was sure she must be tired after the long night, what with her shoulder wound.

When one of the others folded and it was just down to her and the last guy he hoped she wasn’t too disappointed when she lost.

Damn! He cursed silently when the asshole showed a straight flush and grinned around his cigar. Andros was giving some serious thought to making him swallow the shit, the fuck.

He heard the ‘oh shit’ from Garrett just seconds before she placed her hand on the table for all to see. He started laughing before he pulled her to him and kissed her long and hard. A royal fucking flush. No way this was her first game.

He took out his phone as his guys collected her winnings and the rest of the room fell silent. Some of them were thinking Andros had pulled a fast one, others were thinking it was the luck of the draw.

Still some were trying to figure out how the hell she’d done it, she hadn’t been counting cards, they would’ve known. They played the game enough they had an eye for those things. Plus she hardly ever looked at the fucking table half the damn time.

Andros texted her a message. ‘Have you done this before baby?’

‘Yes.’ She had a big goofy grin on her face.

‘Where?’

‘Vegas, Monte Carlo.’ She was practically vibrating in her seat
, but he was starting to get a bad feeling in his gut now.

Was this yet another way in which they’d used her? He didn’t want to dampen her spirits
, so he let none of his inner turmoil show, but he was pretty sure he was sitting next to a card shark. Well fuck, what now?

He tested his theory on the flight home. Everyone was in a high state of excitement, not least of all Jenna. He had to practically drag her away from the felt, as she seemed to get some kind of charge out of playing.

The other occupants were only too happy to see her go, seeing as how she’d wiped them out to the tune of seven hundred and fifty grand or thereabouts.

His one nagging thought was, if she’d made that much in the short time they’d been there, how much had she made Bonata over the years? And they’d paid her with fucking chocolate; which is exactly what she’d asked for after they’d cashed in her chips.

He wondered why he’d never heard of her playing here in The City, he would’ve known about her if she had, he was sure. No one that good could go unnoticed for that long. There had to be a reason they’d taken her to Vegas and Monte Carlo, away from Bonata’s backyard so to speak.

He had mixed feelings about her success, he was happy that she was happy, but he hated the fact that this was yet one more way in which they’d used and exploited her. He shuddered to think what else he’d uncover in the weeks and months ahead, as they settled into a life together.

There was one area at least, and quite possibly for a man like Andros, the most important one in this situation; where he was sure she hadn’t been handled. Her kisses were still innocent and her reaction was such, that he knew no one had ever touched her.

He wasn’t sure what he would’ve done if that were the case, if they’d used her in that way as well. The thought had him at the brink of exploding. Still he kept his cool as he, gramps, and even the men, tried to best her at cards.

By the time they landed in the wee hours of the morning the rest of them were wiped out, she on the other hand seemed like she’d just caught her second wind, and he knew that meant he’d be up for at least another few hours. No biggie, he was actually high off of her exuberance.

He said goodnight to the others as he took his two charges inside with him. He had no need to check the security detail around the premises because he knew they were in place, plus when he put the house on lockdown no one and nothing was getting in there.

He carried her up the stairs after they said goodnight to gramps. She prattled on and on about what she’d seen tonight, nothing at all about her playing and winning close to a million dollars in less than five hours.

“Angel, butter
fly sleep.”

“No baby I don’t think they sleep.” He walked over to the cage where they were hanging on the sides not moving, but he knew they weren’t sleeping; they can’t, they don’t have eyelids. He tried explaining it to her but she’d made up her mind already and apparently
had moved on.

He was busy shedding his own clothes and walking in and out of the closet to hang shit up
, because he was a neat freak.

He was pondering if he should grab a pair of pajamas as he walked out of the closet for the last time in his silk boxers, when she poleaxed his ass. She was standing near the window where the predawn light was doing its best to break through. She had her dress up and over her head as she struggled to take it off.

Her body, clad only in black lace, the underwear and bra she’d picked out for herself, made his mouth water. And when she dropped the dress, stepped out of it and shook her hair out, he thought he moaned. He had no control over his feet or his heart as he moved over to her. His silent mantra of ‘please let this be alright’ blocked out every other thought in his head.