John rubbed the back of his neck. Things weren’t going so well. He wasn’t in bad shape, he was still up, but he had lost most of what he had won. He felt her hand on his back.
“Hi Honey!” she sweetly sang.
He didn’t turn from the table. The shooter had just made point, he didn’t want to be distracted.
“Why don’t you take a little break? Come up stairs with me and I’ll make you feel so good,” she purred.
“Not now, damn it! Can’t you see I’m busy?”
“It’ll just take a little while. The game can wait an hour.”
“Damn it, Judy. We didn’t come here to…Look, not right now, I…”
“Snake eyes!” growled the player next to him.
“Fuck!” exclaimed John as the stickman raked in his money. He turned, glaring at his beautiful wife. “Beat it Judy. I was doing just fine until you showed up!”
“John!”
“Beat it I said! You’re bad luck!”
Crestfallen, Judy stepped back, tears welling up in her eyes. She turned to flee, but immediately ran into a big man who instinctively put his hands around her back. Startled, Judy looked up.
“That’s no way to treat a beautiful lady,” said the stranger.
Then she recognized him. He was the manager who had checked them into the hotel.
“May I buy you a drink?” asked Nick.
“I, I…”
“Don’t cry sweetheart, your mascara will run.”
Judy glanced down and choked back the tears. Eyes still misting, she stared up at Nick. Handsome in a rugged sort of way, he was impeccably dressed. She liked the feel of his big hands resting on the swell of her hips. It felt…comforting.
She glanced back at John to gauge his reaction. He was oblivious to her and the fact that just two feet away, another man had his hands on his wife. She wrinkled her nose, then suppressing her anger turned back to look up at Nick with a weak smile.
“Judy, isn’t it? I’m Nick Clametti.”
“Pleased to meet you,” she said earnestly making no attempt to pull away. He had a look in his eyes; she’d seen it before in countless men, a look of barely concealed desire. ‘Well at least someone thinks I’m pretty,’ she thought.
“How about a drink?” he asked.
She thought for a second or two, smiled broadly and replied, “Yes, I’d like that very much.”
Nick signaled for a cocktail waitress. “What will you have?”
“Pina Colada?”
“Anything you want.” Nick turned to the scantily clad cocktail waitress. “Missy, bring the lady a Pina Colada.”
Missy flashed Nick a big smile and batted her eyes. If she was lucky, she thought, maybe he’d want to tie her up and ravish her with his big cock tonight.
“Thank you,” said Judy, aware that his hands were still on her hips. “You’re very kind.”
“We want all of our guests to have a good time. Especially our most beautiful ones.”
Judy blushed at the compliment.
“It’s a little crowed here near the tables,” he said matter of factly. “Let’s go over by the bar.”
With the palm of his hand on the small of her back, he guided her through the crowd towards the bar. By the time they reached the relatively sparsely populated area, she noticed that the tips of his fingers had slid down just inside her dress. Missy incepted them with Judy’s drink.
“Thank you,” Judy said sincerely as she took the offered drink.
“You’re welcome,” replied Missy insincerely. Missy looked up at Nick, seeking his approval.
He ignored her. Not that she wasn’t attractive, all of his cocktail waitresses were attractive, it was just that he could have her anytime. His cell phone rang. Answering it he nodded to Missy that she was dismissed.
“Boss, the kid is still winning at table twelve,” intoned Bruce from the security room.
“See anything?”
“No. Hands are always above the table. He doesn’t look up when the cards are dealt, so he doesn’t appear to be getting signals from an accomplice. I can’t tell from here if he’s got a receiver in his ear. Must be simply counting cards.”
“Fuck,” muttered Nick into the phone. He hated card counters, the guys with a knack for remembering what cards had been played, and therefore what cards remained in the deck and therefore what the odds were that he would draw the cards he needed to win. “Run his mug against the data base. Maybe he’s been identified before.”
“Gotcha Chief!”
Whenever a card counter was identified at a casino, his picture was posted on the internet so that other casinos could identify him quickly. If there were a match, they would throw his ass out with a warning not to ever come back. Usually that was the last they’d see of them, but sometimes they just didn’t get it the first time, and when that happened things got messy.