A number of the situations have been inspired by some of the small band of authors whose work I immensely admire. I have attempted to occasionally incorporate a flavour of their imagination in this story, in tribute to them. Without their inspiration, this story would not have been told.
This is the final chapter....
CHAPTER 11: THE FINAL TABLE
Daniel woke up with a king sized headache. How long had he been sleeping? He checked the time. An hour and a half's sleep before the biggest day in his life. He already knew he was going to be a poker millionaire, reaching the Final Table had guaranteed him that. The question was, how much could he win? He was aware that the higher he placed the more the prize money, culminating in the ten million dollar first prize.
But that was not all at there was at stake. Not only would the winner take that gigantic first prize, but the sponsorship and spin off actions promised to double that at the very least. And then of course there was the prestige of being the World Champion, the history associated with it, the rubbing of shoulders with the true poker greats. If not as an equal, it would at least be as someone worthy of consideration for entry into the big league.
The thoughts race around his head as he lay on top of the covers, still wearing his clothes from the previous day. His achievement in reaching the Final Table had been the greatest of his life. The amount of money he had earned was life changing. The potential rewards for further success were mind boggling. Yet all of that had paled into insignificance when he had returned to his hotel room.
What he found had simply resulted in the most devastating feeling he had ever experience in his life. On walking through the door, he could immediately see that all of Grace's clothes were gone. The empty closet and vacant open drawers reinforced that point all too clearly. But that shock was nothing compared to what he found next. A videocassette on the bed, with a note simply saying, 'Play Me'.
And so he had. His heart had dropped when he saw himself and Katherine on the screen. Somehow their lovemaking session that first night at Samuel Smith's had been captured in vivid technicolour. His initial reaction had been to turn off the recording. But after doing so, he realised that he needed to understand exactly what was on the tape. So, reluctantly, he had played it again.
His original feeling of horror at being captured this way had been compounded by the thought that Grace had almost certainly seen this, and that was why she had moved out of their room. There could be no other explanation. He cursed himself for being so stupid, so weak. He knew he had been playing with fire during his sessions with Katherine and he was aware he had no one to blame but himself.
But even as the thoughts went through his head, the video had cut to a view of Grace in the dressing room, the same room that he and Katherine had just been recorded in. Daniel quickly realised she was with Samuel Smith, who was explaining to her how he was going to make her a star, painting a picture of success as he took her hand and laid it on the bulge in his trousers.
"What I'm looking for right now, is evidence of your desire. I need to know just how committed to your own success you are, Grace," he heard him say.
And as the next part of the video unfolded, it quickly became apparent that not only did Grace want it enough, but she put her heart and soul into pleasing this man. How could she have done such a thing with someone she had never met before? It was when Grace had gone along to her first rehearsal, it had to be. All the time he had been experiencing such guilt over his and Katherine's activities, Grace had been cheating on him. She had been attending what she termed as rehearsals every day.
Some rehearsal he had thought, the anger building in him. No wonder she seemed happy to keep him away from the Club.
But as he watched, even that had not been all. As the video had continued he had watched stone-faced as each dirty little scene unfolded. He saw Katherine enter Grace's dressing room and felt physically sick when he watched her seduction and exploitation. This was the independent red haired woman who had manipulated every part of his mind and had caused so much angst as he had struggled to come to terms with the guilt he had been feeling.
And now it seemed she was being controlled by Grace? How the hell had that happened? And as he had continued to watch, the video faded into a second session between the two women, this time in Katherine's hotel room, the same room in which she had fucked Daniel whilst she trapped him on the phone to Grace. And then, finally, he had to watch some bastard take Katherine from behind, whilst she begged him to fuck her.
He had lurched to the bathroom and been physically sick, retching into the toilet bowl as the images invaded his mind. What the he had he got himself into? What sort of sick City was this? What had happened to Grace? Where was she now? And was this really what Katherine was all about? The thoughts had reverberated around his mind and he had slumped to the bathroom floor, sitting there feeling sorry for himself until he had been sick again.
After some time he had summoned enough mental energy to climb to his feet and had returned to the bedroom. He had removed the videocassette and attacked the tape until his hands were red from his exertions. He had ripped it to shreds, impossible for him or anyone else to view again. And then he had lain on top of the still made bed for a long time, the same thought echoing around his mind. Why?
It was not until eight o'clock in the morning that he had fallen asleep, and now it was half past nine. He felt tired, but wide-awake. The scenes on the destroyed video were again playing through his mind, albeit a little faster, more fuzzy than the real thing that he had watched playing out before him.
Almost in slow motion, he stumbled up from the bed, making his weary way back to the bathroom. His body ached all over and his mind did, too. Everything took him twice as long to complete and he stood under the shower for a long, long time, allowing the cleansing water to cascade down his body. He managed to shave despite his shaking hands and when he finished he suddenly found that he felt better, fresher, and was able to gain a different perspective on what had happened.
He had probably known in his heart that his time with Grace was coming to an end, and he actually surprised himself in that he did not feel too bad about that, it was more the way it had happened. He was also aware that his brief relationship with Katherine was as a result of their individual sex drives, nothing else, there had never been any chance of the relationship developing. So he convinced himself that was fine, too.
And after seeing the video, he decided that these two women deserved everything they got. The very least he deserved from Grace was a chance to talk through the situation and end their relationship in a different way, and any way would have been far more preferable than this. He momentarily wondered how much of this was known to Lauren, but then decided it made no difference to him.
He decided that if Grace and Katherine were happy with what they had done and where it would lead them, then so be it. Now, it was all about him. He would think about number one and not about pleasing anyone else. He was now rich and even if he did not win the event, he was guaranteed some poker fame. And if he did win the darn thing, that meant poker immortality. He had to turn his feelings about what he had seen on that video to his advantage.
From this very moment, he decided he was going to be fully focused on the day ahead, the poker he had to play. That deserved, and would get, his full attention.
