Rico’s Chance at Love
Chapter 1
“So I take it you aren’t gonna go back to the motel, huh?”
“No, Rico. You got me in enough trouble with Sky. I’m surprised she even lets me go play poker anymore.”
I laughed at him and made a whipping sound. I’d been to their wedding a few weeks back, and my friend Linc was happier than I’d ever seen him. Love and marriage seemed to be going great for him. Had to be, considering what he’d given up for that life.
Me, if I had a choice, I didn’t know which one I would choose. I didn’t think that I would be as quick to give up a night of strange whenever I wanted it. But damn if Linc wasn’t happy.
“Well, if you’re not coming back I won’t be getting you in trouble anymore. All that’s out in the open and she forgave you. You can’t still be mad at me.”
Linc told me that he wasn’t. I did still feel bad about it, though. I knew that it had almost messed up what they had, but now they were stronger than ever. In the end it was all just a test, one that they had passed. Why hadn’t I found a woman like Sky?
“Good. Have you had much luck finding my replacement?”
I frowned and told him that I hadn’t. “No, I got a second job a couple of days ago. I start tomorrow night.”
“Doing what?”
I laughed at the irony of it all. I knew Linc would appreciate it. “I’m going to be working at Scuttle’s.” It was the bar where he used to pick up the tourist chicks, and I was hoping that it would give me the same kind of luck that it had given him. I needed that kind of luck in my life, and being the front desk clerk at a seedy motel hadn’t been giving it to me. I was ready to move on, and I had an idea of how I was going to do it. I was going to take a play out of Linc’s book.
“That’s going to be one wild job for a guy like you. I bet you’re going to like it there.”
I had a feeling I would, too.
“Are you ladies going to gab all night, or are we going to play some poker?”
Making a face at James, I knew that he had to have a good hand. He was never eager to make the game any faster. He had a wife at home that he couldn’t stand, so he would usually drag things out as long as possible so he didn’t have to be around her.
I folded, knowing that I wasn’t going to win. I had nothing in my hand, and the way he was looking at me was a joke. He had the worst poker face ever, and before long everyone had folded. James bitched a little bit, but quickly gave up and went to get a beer. When I turned his hand around, I could see why he was mad. If only he hadn’t given things away, he could have made some money with that one.
Turning back to Linc, I asked him what I should look for when I started at Scuttle’s. As the bartender, I would have my choice of hot tourist pussy.
“Man, are you really going to try my way?”
“Hell yeah, your way works. It would be even better if you would come as my wingman, set them up for me.”
He shook his head. I could see the fear churning in his mind. “No, Sky would kill me.”
I laughed at him. Sky was tiny. Well, she was tiny with a huge set of tits, but she wasn’t going to be able to hurt a fly.
“What’s she going to do to you, cut you off?”
He chuckled and claimed that he could hardly keep up with her. “I would actually like a break every now and then, but Sky’s a total nympho. Sometimes I think she has a higher sex drive than I do.”
That was hard to believe considering that I’d seen him take two or three different women into the motel on a good night. The man had stamina, and it made me think of quiet little Sky a little differently. I must have been thinking about her a little too hard, because he suddenly bitch-slapped me like I’d done something wrong.
“What the hell?!?”
“Don’t even think about her like that, Rico. I’ll kill you my damn self.”
“Shit, man, ever since you got married, you’re no damn fun.”
There was a round of amens that showed I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed how much he was wrapped around the woman’s finger. But our ribbing didn’t bother him. I guessed if I had an old lady as hot as Sky, with a libido higher than mine, I might not give a shit either. In a way, I was jealous of his happiness, not that I or anyone else there would ever say it out loud.
“That may be, Rico, but I’m having a hell of a lot more fun now that I’m married.”
The glint in his dark eyes made me look away. Maybe I needed a distraction, and a bunch of hot cooze seemed like just the cure for what ailed me. It had helped Linc get over Lisa, after all.
***
The poker game ran late, and I was late for work the next day. The motel was busy, and I was checking people in and out all day. When my shift ended I set one of the keys aside, one of the few rooms that were still vacant, and then I made my way to the bar. I was dragging ass, but I’d done bar work before, so making a few drinks didn’t seem all that daunting. And even though I could use some extra cash now that I wasn’t getting any from Linc, I wasn’t here for tips and a check, not really. I was here for the endless stream of hot ass that went through here.
It was the right move. I knew that right off the bat. There were so many pretty girls, and I wanted a piece of all them. I’d gotten some tips and tricks from Linc, and I was ready to try them out and see if they worked for me as well as they had for him.
The bar was hopping, and almost everyone in there seemed to be a tourist from somewhere else. It was perfect, and soon I was honing in on a couple of girls. I didn’t know which one I was going to have for the night, but I knew that it was going to be one of them. The whole point of this job was to get girls back to the motel. While Linc could play the businessman in town for a couple of days, I worked there, so I just had to be a player and go with pure confidence.
“So what are you doing at closing time?”
The young blonde kind of giggled, and I knew that it wasn’t the drinks doing it to her. It was only the second one she’d had in a couple of hours, and I’d watered them down as instructed by the owner. That was something that had always pissed me off when I’d come here as a customer: how weak their drinks were and how much money I’d have to spend trying to get drunk. Now, though, I had other things on my mind.
“I don’t know. I’m only here for one more night.”
“Is that so?”
She had all the classic signs of the perfect catch, and I decided that Marla was the one that I was going to take with me. She was hotter than a two-dollar pistol, and her body was curved in all the right places.
“Yeah, I have to get back to school and work. The break was too short.”
I nodded my head like I gave a damn and asked her if she wanted something to remember Denver by.
The giggle she gave in response was my green light. She was young, but I’d seen what a young woman could do for an old man like Linc. I was ready to be lost in some young blood that would let me leave in the morning. Even better, maybe she would leave before morning. I didn’t want to get caught in the room, after all.
Oh well. I would figure it all out later. Right now, all I was interested in was getting Marla back to the motel and seeing what this new life was all about.