Fantasy Friday

by Annalise Wells

  I pick up my glass and sip on the cold juice. I can feel the vodka cutting through the citrus flavor of the fresh orange. My tongue searches for an ice cube, but they have all gone.

  I see from the corner of my eye. The guy leans over the bar and waves at Akoni. “Bartender,” the guy calls.

  I open my mouth completely by accident. “Akoni. His name is Akoni.”

  I sit and stare at the top of my glass. I slowly spin around in my stool and look at him. Shit, those gray eyes, I feel my foot moving on the stool… another involuntary movement.

  “Would you like another drink?” he asks.

  “Sure, same but with lots of ice,” I say, very nervously.

  Akoni walks back to the end of the bar. “Whiskey on the rocks and whatever the lady is having,” he says.

  “Vodka and orange wid lots of ice,” Akoni says.

  I see the guy smile. He turns to me. “Alex,” he says, oozing confidence.

  “Sorry?” I ask huskily.

  “My name is Alex, and you are?”

  I cough and splutter. “Brooke, my name is Brooke.”

  “So, what do you think of the club?” Alex asks. God… he smells so good.

  “It’s okay, I’ve seen a lot worse.”

  “I suppose you’ve heard of the plans for this place?” Alex asks. Akoni returns with the drinks. I quickly shove an ice cube in my mouth.

  “I have heard you are building some sort of bigger club.” The ice cube bangs against my teeth.

  “Yes, my cousin and her boyfriend are transforming the whole thing, they already have two clubs in New York,” Alex explains.

  “They know what they are doing, obviously.”

  “It appears so, they have a real insight into what people want.”

  “You make it sound like their clubs are not typical clubs?” I ask

  I watch as Alex scratches his head and rubs his chin. “Have you just started to say something you will regret?”

  “Keep it to yourself, but their two clubs are secret clubs,” he says

  “What do you mean secret clubs?” I ask

  “The first was men only. They have lesbian shows and high-class hookers,” he explains.

  “Ah, that sort of secret club.”

  “Yeah, and the second which has not long been open caters for couples,” he says

  “You mean, men and women on stage performing together?” I ask

  Alex shrugs his shoulders. “Yeah, that was what my cousin explained to me,” he says

  Without realizing I answered, and as soon as I had said it, I knew it was the wrong answer.

  “How fucking hot is that, watching live sex shows.”

  “Lust can be a real bitch, it leads a man to your promised land.”

  Alex

  “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. You lose one, you lose them all.”

  It was another day. Another awkward day in paradise where I had to dig myself out of the pile of shit I had gotten myself into. There was no way I could return the money I had lost, not unless I could win it back.

  Last night in the club, Brooke had taken my breath away, again. From the very first time I saw her by the pool, she was leagues above any other girl or woman that was in the hotel. She knew it, and she knew that I knew it.

  We had chatted for a while in the club, and I could see she was trying every little trick she knew to stave off my charms, this just made me crazier for her, and I think this was why my card games were off. They were really fucking off. I had worked in Vegas, and I could play poker with the best of them. Here on the island, it should be easy pickings, but there was something I just couldn’t work out.

  I don’t think Brooke brought me bad luck, I just think the thoughts of her stopped me looking at what I should be looking at. I wonder if she came with me… I might have better luck.

  It was worth the gamble, just another five-grand from the construction budget, if I was lucky. I could replace the cash I had already lost. I knew that Beau and Shona would intervene soon, but if I could get some back, I could stash it in my room and just explain my way out of it.

  I walk from my room into the warm morning sun. My shades are pulled firmly over my eyes. My shirt is open and blows in the mild breeze that is blowing over the coolness of the pool.

  I stand by the restaurant door sipping on a cup of steaming hot coffee. A little caffeine kick before a game always gets me into the zone. I cast my eyes on the early morning sunbathers looking for Brooke. I finally see her over in the pool. I walk closer and see she is floating on a rubber ring, her arms floating at the side of her as her head tilts back, and her long, dark hair falling into the water.

  She faces up to the sun, and I wonder if her blue eyes are closed or if she is watching me through her shades. The ring slowly drifts toward the side of the pool. I crouch with my coffee. My eyes look at her full lips and the curves of her ample breasts; water glistens in her cleavage. I lick my lips as I look down to the junction of her thighs. Her bikini bottom is damp and hugs her pussy tight. I see the shape of her lips underneath as the sunlight casts its perfect glow over her body.

  Water splashes over my face. I look down at Brooke’s face. “I am here if you want to speak to me, not down there,” she says, laughing loudly.

  “Sorry, I thought you were sleeping,” I reply. I love my sarcasm.

  I pull off my shades, and wipe the water drops from the glass on my shirt. I slip them back over my eyes and pick up my cup.

  “What are you doing this morning?” I ask.

  “Not much, I was just going to work on my tan,” Brooke replies. “Why you asking?”

  “I have been invited to play in a poker game, and I was wondering if you would like to join me?” Her eyes are perfect in the sunshine.

  Just don’t give the game away that you’re trying to claw back your losses.

  “What time are you supposed to be playing?” Brooke asks, as she paddles the ring away from the side of the pool.

  “Eleven,” I say loudly.

  “What time is it now?” I see her head tilting her head back over the rubber ring.

  I look at my water-splashed watch. I wipe it on my pants. “Nearly ten,” I reply.

  “How long will it take us to get there?”

  “About ten or fifteen minutes, it’s not that far away,” I explain.

  “Sure, I will meet you at reception at ten thirty.” Brooke slips her slender body from the rubber ring.

  She swims to the side of the pool. I offer my hand to lift her out. Brooke huffs and puts both of her hands on the edge of the pool. She lifts her body and stands at the side, her wet body shining from the sun.

  I watch as water runs down her body and drips from the bottom of her bikini. Brooke grabs her towel and wraps it around herself.

  She walks toward the rooms and shouts over her shoulder. “Ten thirty.”

  I walk back toward my room. Conor is walking down the hallway toward the main reception. “Hey, Conor. I have to go out for a couple of hours,” I say.

  “Okay, I have some stuff to do here, I have to run through bar stocks and see what the most popular drinks are,” Conor replies.

  “Speak to Akoni, he is the main bartender here, if he doesn’t know it, no one will,” I say, truthfully.

  “Right you are, Akoni,” Conor mutters as he walks away.

  I get to the room and look left and right before I enter. The last thing I want is for either of the guys to see how little money is left. I enter the room and lock the door behind me. I turn on the light and close the curtains. I pull the drawers from the side of the bed and remove the plastic wallet that I have wedged against the wood.

  I pour the cash on the bed and count it out. Five-grand stacks, and I have eight laying on the bed. Only forty-grand is left. I really have to do something, or I am in deep shit. Just one last shot and then I will confess to Shona.

  I leave two stacks on the bed and shove the final thirty grand back into the wallet. I shove it ba
ck against the wood of the drawers and push them back against the wall. I have to get back into the zone. I have been there before. That Las Vegas zone. You have to bet big to win big.

  I step into the shower. The water cascades over my body, and I think of Brooke floating in the pool. I would love to let my imagination run wild, but I have to focus on the game. This is no laughing matter now, and the last thing I want to tell Shona is the mess I am in. With her money… Beau’s money. Fuck.

  I rest my hands on the glass of the shower. I bow my head and watch the water as it drips from the ends of my dark hair. I feel the water pounding against the bunched muscles of my shoulders. Streams form and run down the skin of my body. I see my body; the water runs as if it’s acting like the rapids of a river.

  No matter how cool the water is, or how much flows over my body, it’s not enough to wash away the mess I am in. Not just here with Shona. Vegas, fuck, the guys in Vegas. There is no way they are not looking for me. I owe them too much.

  It will take more than a lucky streak to pay them back, it will take a miracle. I would have to get at least halfway through the world series of poker to pay them back. Two hundred and seventy-five grand and that’s not including the interest they would be piling on the top.

  “How the fuck can I fix that?”

  Maybe… if I can fix this mess with Shona, perhaps she can help. I hate to beg, but this time I need help. I need real help. Christ, I need rehab that is what I need.

  I think I was kidding myself; running away to Jamaica was not going to solve all my problems. It won’t, they will come back and bite me in the ass. If I don’t do something drastic soon, it will be more than just a bit of interest slapped on top of the debt. It will be a couple of broken bones or more, just there as a reminder that the guys have not forgotten about me.

  I really have to get my act together. How stupid am I going to look to Brooke if I turn up with broken ribs, or worse?

  I fasten my watch around my wrist and look at the time. Ten fifteen. I sit on the edge of the bed and pull on my shoes. I stand and fold the ten-grand, separating it into two, and then I put five-grand into separate pockets. I leave the room and double check it’s locked. That would be the last thing I needed, to find out I had been robbed. That would be the final nail in my proverbial coffin.

  “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. You lose one, you lose them all.”

  Brooke

  “Lady Luck, who would have thought she would arrive from a mistake.”

  I sit in the reception and imagine what the whole place will look like once all the modifications have finished. It is a pleasant place now, but if it’s true what Alex told me about his cousin's other clubs, this will be nothing like it is now… even by the time I leave, it may all change.

  I see Alex walking down the hallway to the reception. I was expecting him to be dressed slightly more upmarket for a card game. He saunters down the tiled steps in his knee length shorts and sky-blue shirt that is open one or two buttons too low.

  “Are you ready?” he asks.

  “I was born ready,” I reply, placing the magazine back on the table.

  We walk into the parking lot, and Alex leads me to an open-top Jeep. It looks perfect for the weather, but I think it’s definitely going to knock the crap out of my hair. I climb in the passenger seat and look in the glove compartment; I see an old bandanna. I tie it over my head and make sure my hair cannot fly all over the place.

  Shades are pushed firmly over my eyes, and Alex starts the engine. I feel the vibrations shooting through the bottom of my ass as he drives down the bumpy track. It’s not the most comfortable ride I have ever had, but those vibrations make it all seem worth it. I smile at Alex and I wonder if he knows how much I am enjoying the bumpy part of of road.

  “Where do we have to go to?” I ask, holding the bandana firmly against my head.

  Alex turns his face to me, but his eyes are fixed on the road. “There is a casino here, they have regular daily games,” he says.

  “You play a lot?” I yell.

  “Sometimes a little too often,” Alex replies. He looks hot with the wind in his hair.

  “You are not an addict?”

  Alex turns his head to me. “God no, I am nowhere near an addict.”

  Sounds like a lie to me…

  I look out over the ocean as we follow the coastal road toward the nearest town. The sea shimmers varying shades of orange and blue as the waves ripple toward the horizon.

  “Who is going to run this place when it is finished?” I ask.

  “I got the impression it was going to be me, but we will have to wait and see, you never know what might happen,” Alex says.

  We finally enter the outskirts of town, the rusty corrugated rooves of the shacks burn in the midday sun. I see kids running around playing soccer, barefoot. They wear vests that are four or five sizes too large and look like small dresses on them.

  Dogs chase each other, and the odd couple fight, all for the love of a good woman, and the winner gets the spoils, apparently. Well, that’s according to the yelling we hear emanating from the two, very grumpy men. It’s quite like a lot of men on vacation, that appears to be their attitude, or at least it is after a few beers and cocktails. If they can’t fight it, they want to fuck it.

  Alex slows the Jeep at the front of the casino. Not large by any standards, the white bricks push the glare of the sun back away from the building. Even with my shades, I find I have to squint as I walk in through the door Alex is holding open for me.

  “At least they have air-conditioning,” I say, relieved.

  “That’s how they get to keep people in here; cold air, and did you notice, no windows?” Alex says with a laugh. He seems nervous.

  I hadn’t noticed, but he was right. It was an old Vegas trick, not just to keep gamblers in the dark, but also so they didn’t know what time of day it was.

  Alex walks up to the counter and pulls a large pile of cash from his pocket. I was thinking he was going to be betting a few hundred. A few thousand took me totally by surprise. Addict warning number two.

  Alex walks to a half empty table at the back of the casino. There are a few guys already there, waiting for the game to start. Alex pulls his chips from his tray and stacks them up neatly in front of him. I watch as he takes a chip and does that trick where they roll it through their fingers. It looks impressive, but I know… addict warning number three. There is no way you can handle a chip like that if you don’t hold them very often.

  Alex looks at me and he can see I am slightly bored as we wait for the other players to arrive. He calls me over and passes me a small handful of chips.

  “Go and have a go on the roulette table or something,” he says. I smile as if he’s given me flowers and chocolates.

  I walk over to the roulette table. It looks complicated to me, so I ask the guy spinning the wheel what the rules are.

  “You just put your bet on a single number or on a combination of numbers, then you can have odd even and black or red,” he says.

  “So, it’s not really complicated?”

  “It is hard to win unless you are very lucky,” he says.

  “What are these chips good for?” I ask, still learning.

  He looks at the chips. “They are large for one bet, do you want me to change them?”

  “Change four of them,” I reply.

  The guy changes the chips for smaller ones. I watch a few times to make sure I understand what I am doing.

  Black, black, black, red, red, black, red, red. That was the first eight goes. I was not sure if it was me, but I was sure the next eight runs followed the same pattern but in reverse. Three red, two black, one red and two black.

  I watch the third set. Three blacks and then two reds. It does, I can see a pattern. I place four chips on black and one on a random number. The guy spins the wheel and the ball clips and clops until it finally rests.

  “Black,” the guy says.

  I lost th
e random number, but he pushed eight chips in my direction.

  “I have doubled my money?” I ask.

  “Yes Ma’am an even payout,” he says.

  I put four chips on red and pick another random number. The ball spins and lands on red. I jump up and down and clap my hands. This is like taking candy from a baby.

  I keep doing the same thing, I just don’t want to make it obvious I am following a pattern. I look up and can see that Alex has started his game. I wish I could tell him about this, maybe he could put a big bet on. He looks over at me, and I wave back with a huge smile. He nods his head while he wears his poker face.

  I count my chips. I have nearly trebled the four hundred I changed, and I still have the hundred-chip left.

  “Place your bets,” the guy says.

  I want to bet bigger, but I’m scared. I put five on black and put a chip on my birthday number. As the wheel spins, I look for the hundred-dollar chip. I look on the floor. Crap, I’ve lost the chip.

  I hear the ball stop banging as I look through the chips in front of me.

  “Fourteen red,” the guy says

  I’ve won again. Red. I lift my gaze as the guy pushes a huge stack of chips toward me. I look to the side of me, I think someone has won big. Why are they all staring at me?

  “Have I done something?” I ask the guy, he’s smiling as he’s pushing the chips.

  He laughs. “Yes, Ma’am. It was fourteen red,” he says.

  “What are the winnings for that?” I ask.

  “Thirty-five to one,” he replies.

  “So, a hundred dollars gives me three thousand five hundred?”

  “Yes Ma’am, that’s right. But that chip wasn’t one hundred, it was one thousand,” he says.

  I feel my stomach trying to make its way back up through my throat. It’s just hit me what I’ve done. Alex had given me four, hundred chips and a one thousand one, as well. Without noticing I threw the thousand onto my birthday number.

  I want to puke. I feel all the blood rush from my face. “I need a rest for a while,” I say to the dealer.