Page 34 of The Gambler
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.
Chapter 20
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 seatat 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 his 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 pretty 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.