Chapter 3
HE HAD A LOW voice, not what I expected, and it carried a soft accent that I couldn’t place. “You brought me luck,” he told me. Maybe I was hyper-sensitive but the warmth of his breath on the side of my neck made me want to hug him. He said, “Let me buy you a drink.”
We drifted together to the bar and perched on stools. I wanted the fire of a bourbon, but I knew that I couldn’t take the risk. Risk is what casino games are all about. Assessing risk and managing risk, and I was very inexperienced.
I asked him for a Mexican beer. He ordered a Mohito from the quiet barkeeper.
“I’m Joel.” The shooter’s smile radiated as he raised his glass to me.
“Good throws, Joel, it’s nice to meet you,” I wasn’t grounded enough for conversation but I was trying anyway. “It looks like you’ve been practicing.”
“I’m trying to get an arm. I don’t think craps is going to be my thing, though.” His voice was comforting. Clean. I felt that I could get relaxed with him. Any other time but now.
As we talked, a heavy-set man in a shiny suit with a lot of gold strode up to the bar.
“Miss?” he spoke smoothly to me with a warm, businesslike confidence, His expression was open, but I watched him warily.
“Miss, I’m Hemming Garland. I’d like to give you some vouchers for drinks,” he looked at the drinks in front of us, “Oh, sorry I wasn’t in time to get these.” I looked at Joel. “Still, next round is on the house, okay, and the one after.”
The man drew some paper slips from his pocket and slid them across the bar top with a bright smile. “The house would like to offer you a suite for the night, if you would like it. Valid for thirty days so, if you have plans for tonight, you can always come back another evening.” Hemming slid a plastic card to her with the Copper River Lounge logo on.
He smiled again, put his hands on our backs like a preacher, or an uncle. “You have a great evening now.”
Joel and I snickered to each other as he left.
“Hemming?” Joel said.
“Handsome man,” I said, still watching the back of Hemming’s suit.
“Mm,” Joel sounded enthusiastic. I considered him in a new light.
Brushing the thoughts aside I said, “Still, comps. Yay. I wouldn’t expect it here.”
“Ooh,” said Joel, “You got all the terminology, don’t you,” as I sipped my beer from the chilled glass.
I said, “What a shame he wasn’t here in time to buy these drinks.”
“Really,” said Joel with a grin. “Because he wouldn’t want us to get drunk now would he?”
I asked him, “How come he comped me and not you?”
“I think he’s seen me here before. Knows I’ll probably be back.”
“Is that the idea, to make you come back?”
Joel said, “It’s to make you think you’re doing the right thing and you should do it more.”
I said, “Like, I can always come back another evening?”
“Yeah,” we both laughed, “You have to admit, he has a way of making this dump sound like the Ritz Plaza.”
I said, “I wonder what a suite here looks like.”
We were both quiet for a moment. I was wondering very much what a suite might look like. What it might look like with me in it. And Joel, maybe. In the shower, perhaps. Other places perhaps on a rug – I wondered if they would have rugs.
From the look in his eye, I wanted to believe that Joel was wondering something similar. Still, why would he? He was a good-looking guy and he didn’t seem fucked up at all.
Joel was maybe a year or two older than me. He looked at me over his glass and I was reminded of the guy who’d watched me from this same bar as I came in.
When he said, “Want to get into some more trouble?” I nearly jumped at him. This was definitely my night for holding my emotions in check. Not moving too soon. He went on, “I think I’m good for a few more rolls.” His eyes sparkled. I was a little crushed. But my mind wouldn’t stop picturing him. Rolling.
I tightened my lips. Either way, either kind of rolling would work for me. I wanted it very much but tonight was not the night.
I gathered up my purse as I told him, “Sorry. I have to do something and it’s going to take me at least an hour or two.” I thought about how much I had made. And about how very much more I needed.
I didn’t think I could do it all in one night, but the progress I had made – from fifteen bucks to almost a hundred times that in less than an hour. I couldn’t afford to stop now. Not while I had momentum.
“Could be I’ll wait,” he said, “I can play some more, maybe hang around.” He beamed brightly. His puppy-dog eyes had a dazed look of wonder, spurred at least in part from his run of luck. I tried to guess how much he carried away from the table. A couple of thou at least.
Thinking about that made me realize that he had come after me while his luck was still running. Was he really that dumb, or might he be very smart? He didn’t look all that smart right then, but that wasn’t surprising. As Daddy would say, he was ‘in the glow.’
I told him, “I really don’t know how long I’ll be.”
“That’s okay,” the disappointment in his voice made my heart thump and I tingled right down to my pelvis. He said, “I understand. Let me give you my cellphone number, okay? Then… well, you know. It’s up to you.”
It was hard to leave his smiling face. I felt him watched me cross the floor. Or maybe I imagined it.