by Suzie Nelson
“Great minds think alike,” I laughed, “but I wasn’t thinking of sex; I have something far better in mind!”
“What on earth could be better than sex the way we do it?” Jenny asked and I could just picture the naughty smile on her face.
“Meet me at the restaurant at 5 pm and all shall be revealed,” I answered.
Jenny agreed to meet me earlier and I put down the phone, feeling very satisfied and more than just a little excited. I’d just sold my shares for more than four times their value and Jenny and I was about to pull another fast one on Peter Parkin on top of that.
I was going to let Jenny Blake have a free run at the Blackjack tables of the Golden Nugget right up to the stroke of midnight when my tenure as controlling shareholder would officially be coming to an end. She would have one last opportunity to win all of the money she needed for her mother’s operation and Peter Parkin could go fuck himself if he found out about it afterward. I still had the Golden Nugget’s tax information to shut him up with and, on top of everything else, card counting was not illegal so he could do absolutely nothing about it.
I decided to instruct the general manager to give the Pit Boss the night off so Jenny would not have to face the added pressure of some gorilla looking over her shoulder while she gambled. I dialed George Sanders’ number and waited for him to answer.
“Hi George, I just want to thank you once again for the very informative meeting we had earlier today.”
“I’m glad if it has been of some assistance,” George answered.
“It definitely has. I want you to give the Pit Boss the evening off as I have another person in mind for the job and I need to give him an opportunity to prove himself tonight.
“Sure thing,” George answered, “do you want me to speak to the new replacement before he starts tonight?”
“That won’t be necessary, I will have a talk with him myself,” I said. “Come to think of it, you can also take the night off,” I added and ended the call.
I left my penthouse suite and made my way downstairs. I wanted to have drink at the bar before making my way over to the restaurant to meet Jenny. As for the replacement I had in mind for the Pit Boss that evening? He simply did not exist.
“The Golden Nugget will function just fine without a Pit Boss and a general manager for one night,” I muttered to myself with a smile as I took a sip of my drink and gave the barman a generous tip.
JENNY
“So you’re telling me I can play Blackjack till midnight at the Golden Nugget casino tonight and there will be no Pit Boss around to disturb me? Just how do you know all of this, Mr. French mystery man? Or should I rather ask you how the hell you arranged it?” I asked incredulously.
“What does it matter, ma chérie? The fact is I’ve been staying at the Golden Nugget now for a couple of days and I am a man of many hidden talents,” Francois said and gave me his sweetest and most innocent smile.
My heart was beating fast and my body was shivering with excitement at the thought of having the opportunity to finish my quest that same evening without the need to travel elsewhere to find other hunting grounds. I didn’t really give a damn how Francois had managed to arrange the whole thing; all I wanted to know was whether he was really sure of what he was saying.
“I give you my full assurance, you will have until midnight and your only opposition will be the dealer on the other side of the table,” Francois said and I could tell from the earnest expression on his face that he was telling the truth.
“So little Cinderella can play until midnight and then her Blackjack table will turn into shit?” I asked and we both laughed at my joke.
“Something like that,” he replied and put down the menu. Neither of us was really that hungry and I could tell that Francois was almost just as excited as I was to get to the Blackjack tables right away so we got up without ordering anything and headed straight for the Golden Nugget.
I was already getting my normal tunnel vision of absolute focus on the task ahead and felt grateful that I had come prepared. I never left my hotel room without at least $5,000 to play Blackjack with and tonight was no different. I still couldn’t figure out exactly why Francois was so fascinated with my gambling and why he enjoyed it so much to see me play Blackjack; so much so that he had somehow gotten rid of the Pit Boss at the Golden Nugget for the evening…but I couldn't actually care less about the answer to that question as we walked briskly down the Strip. This was the chance of a lifetime and if I was ever going to play Blackjack to win big then this was the evening to do it.
I glanced at my watch and saw that it was not even 6 pm yet as we entered the front door of the Golden Nugget. I had six golden hours ahead of me.
Enough time to get all of the money I needed to save my mother’s life.
Enough time for one final decisive act of revenge against all of the gambling institutions that had ruined my childhood.
Enough time to win Francois and I a chance of being together. I was not going to waste a second of it.
Francois looked almost as excited as I was myself when he sat down at the bar in the very same spot where he was sitting that first night when he bought me the expensive bottle of champagne. I’m not really superstitious when it comes to seats and tables but, for some reason, it just seemed like it would be right for me to sit down in the exact same seat I was sitting in that first night, so that’s exactly what I did.
“Can I offer to sell you some chips, madam?” the dealer asked and I nodded my head. The games were about to begin. I bought $5,000 worth of casino chips and watched as the dealer dealt me my first card. It was a 10 of clubs and I doubled my original bet of $500. There was no time to start off slowly tonight and there was also no need for it. Francois was 100% correct about the Pit Boss as I saw no one standing around to put any damper on the way I was about to gamble.
“The gentleman over at the bar has bought you this bottle of champagne, madam,” a waiter suddenly spoke up next to me and I smiled at Francois as I looked at the bottle of Moët &Chandon French Champagne. My French lover certainly had a sense for dramatic repetition and I just loved the way he was supporting me in my final quest. The waiter poured me a glass of champagne and I winked at Francois as I took a sip of it.
“Hit me,” I said to the dealer and he dealt me a jack of diamonds to go with my 10 of clubs. I watched as the dealer went bust and raked in my first winnings of the evening.
As I sat there watching the cards making their way across the table I had flashbacks of the first time I’d played at the Golden Nugget casino. I remembered how excited I felt as I played my first couple of hands and how Francois’s presence at the bar had intrigued me as I gambled. As he sat there watching me now I felt an almost greater sense of wonder.
He was still an enigma to me and I couldn’t put him in any of the boxes in my mind normally reserved for the people in my life. He was attractive and suave, but that was far from the only thing about him that intrigued me. He was extremely intelligent and seemed to always be one step ahead of everything and everyone, but I wouldn’t describe him as an intellectual. Even though he was a total charmer he wasn’t really one of those shallow men who relied solely on the charm to get everything he wanted.
“Will you take another card, madam?” the dealer asked and I realized that I was getting caught up in my thoughts about Francois instead of focusing on the game.
“Hit me,” I said and intensified my focus on the cards in front of me.
In a way, it was not such a bad thing to have Francois there to take my mind off the seriousness of the task at hand, as I might just have become very nervous if I had to sit there thinking about my mother all the time while I was playing. However, I had to concentrate and didn’t want his presence to keep me from maintaining an accurate count of all the cards as they were dealt across the green felt of the Blackjack table.
The game was progressing along familiar lines as I kept track in my mind o
f all of the cards as they were dealt. It was way too early in the game to start making significant moves as there were still way too many picture cards and 10’s in the deck which had not been dealt yet. Placing large bets, under these circumstances, would amount to nothing more than mere blind gambling and that was a sure way to lose money. Because it was early in the game I couldn’t predict the cards accurately yet and I lost a couple of hands, but my winnings were growing steadily as the game progressed and the odds kept improving in my favor. Soon I was up by about $10,000 and I could already see the dealer getting nervous. He glanced around once or twice; no doubt wondering where the Pit Boss was hiding.
“Not tonight buddy…there’s no one around to save your ass tonight,” I thought to myself and gave the dealer my sweetest smile as I won another hand and another $2,000.
This was one of the sweetest experiences of my life and I enjoyed every moment of playing under these relatively stress-free circumstances. If the casinos were really honest about offering all Blackjack players a fair game then this should have been the way for me to play every single time I sat down at the table. The fact that they hired those goddamned Pit Bosses just goes to show how dishonest these gambling houses really were; they couldn’t give a shit about fair play and were only interested in taking people’s hard earned cash off their hands.
I glanced at my watch and saw that it was almost 11 pm. Everything else that Francois had said about the evening was correct so I assumed that he was also correct when he said I would only be allowed to gamble freely until midnight. I looked over at where Francois was sitting at the bar and was surprised to see that he had a laptop open in front of him. He seemed to be checking something on the laptop from time to time and I wondered what the hell he could be up to.
I looked back at the table and quickly did a rough count of my winnings. I was up by $42,000 and it was time to start making major moves in the game. Most of the cards had been dealt now and it would not be long until the dealer used one of the shuffling machines to shuffle the deck, with the result that I would have to start counting all of the cards again from scratch.
I estimated that there were about five hands left before the dealer would reshuffle the deck, so I watched anxiously as he dealt me my first card in the next hand. It was a seven and I immediately asked for another card. He dealt me a 5 and I now stood on 12. All of the 10’s and almost all of the picture cards had been dealt, but there were still two kings in the deck that could make me go bust. I decided to double up on my bet anyway. This was a calculated risk and I knew that the odds were good for me to win, despite the fact that the two kings were still in the deck. My bet already stood on $5,000 so I added another $5,000 to make it $10,000.
I watched as the dealer carefully took the top card from the deck and dealt it to me.
It was the bloody king of hearts!
I watched in horror as the dealer raked in my $10,000 and my heart suddenly sank as I glanced at my watch. It was past 11 pm and I only had one hour left to play before the opportunity would be gone forever. I was now down to $32,000 and could easily lose the chance of getting together the money for my mother’s operation.
Even though I could still take a trip to San Jose and gamble there it would mean that my mother would have to wait another couple of weeks and who knows if she would survive that long?! I would also lose the chance of staying with Francois if I had to leave, so the pressure on the next couple of hands was going to be massive.
“I will bet $10,000 again,” I announced and pushed forward my chips. I was down to about $32,000 and my first job was to recoup all losses of the previous hand.
The dealer dealt me a 9 and I doubled up my bet to make it $20,000. I was dealt another 9 and I was now standing on 18. The dealer himself had 16 so he had to take another card and I knew the odds were in my favor, although it was still possible for the dealer to beat me.
I watched with bated breath as the croupier prepared to deal himself another card. He flipped the next card over and put it down on his other cards.
It was a 7 and the dealer went bust as his total was now 23!
I felt my heart beating in my chest as I raked in my winnings and looked at the chips in front of me. That last hand had won me another $20,000 and I was now sitting with $52,000 worth of casino chips in front of me; half of what I needed to make up the last $100,000 of the total cost of $500,000 for my mother’s operation.
There were only one or two more hands left before the dealer would reshuffle the cards and when I looked at my watch I saw that there were only 15 minutes to go before midnight.
“Time for little Cinderella to make her move before the clock strikes midnight,” I whispered to myself and pushed $25,000 worth of my chips forward for the next hand.
The dealer dealt me a 4 and an 8 to take me to 12, whereafter he dealt himself a pair of 7’s and a 4 to take his own total to 18. The second goddamned king was still in the deck so I knew that it could bust me out and take my total to 22 if I was unlucky enough to get it, but there was no time left and I was out of options. I pushed another $25,000 forward to double my bet to $50,000. There was an almost audible gasp that went up from around the table, where a number of other guests of the Golden Nugget were now standing close by to see what was going to happen. I glanced over to where Francois was sitting and he gave me an encouraging nod. It was ten minutes before midnight when the dealer put his hand on the last card he was about to deal me.
“Please God, for my mother and for justice,” I prayed as the dealer picked up the final card. I had that sense of time slowing down which I so often experienced during moments of great anxiety. I watched as the dealer’s hand slowly traveled through time and space before he put the card down in front of me.
“Please God, anything but a king,” I whispered before finally taking a look at my last card.
A loud cheer erupted before I even had the opportunity to look down. Everyone around the table reacted as if they’d just witnessed a wide receiver scoring the winning touchdown in a Super Bowl final. When I looked at my final card I saw that it was a 9.
I had scored a perfect 21 and it was all finally over!
Francois looked at me and I could see that he was ecstatic, but also in a rush. I remembered what he’d said and quickly raked in my chips to exchange it for cash before the clock struck midnight.
“Will you play another hand, madam?” the dealer asked as I got up to leave with my $102,000 in winnings.
“No thanks,” I replied, “that last hand has just taken me all the way over the rainbow!”
I made it out the front door just as my wristwatch announced that it was 12 midnight. I was surprised to see how three men in black closed the doors behind me as I walked out of the Golden Nugget. They were preventing any more customers from entering. When I looked back I also saw some of the lights going out and people started leaving the casino. It was very unusual for the casino to be closing so early and I realized that Francois had been absolutely spot on about the fact that I only had until midnight to play Blackjack.
I looked around frantically to see where Francois had disappeared to and for a moment my heart sank as the thought crossed my mind that he might have disappeared from my life forever. Perhaps he’d only gotten rid of the Pit Boss for me as a way of easing his own conscience and was now on his way back to his loving family or whatever it was he’d been hiding from me.
Just as I was about to lose all hope I heard the familiar sound of an Italian sports car and then saw my gorgeous French lover drive up in his blood red Ferrari Testarossa.
“Need a lift, madame?” he asked and I jumped right over the door on the passenger side.
“As long as we can stop along the way to pick up my bags you can drive me anywhere you want!” I shouted excitedly.
“I’m so proud of you,” Francois said and gave me a long intimate kiss before pulling away with screeching tires.
I finally knew that everything was
going to be all right.
“I love you, Francois,” I said and he looked at me with his beautiful blue eyes.
“And I love you, ma chérie,” he said with the most beautiful smile, “now let’s get out of Las Vegas and see what else the world has to offer.”
FRANCOIS
I have to admit that I was getting very nervous as I watched Jenny playing the last couple of hands of Blackjack, especially when she seemed to have some kind of setback and lost a large amount of money right towards the end of the evening.
I was also anxiously watching my bank account from my laptop to see if Peter Parkin’s $500 million was going to be paid into my account. It could easily have been some kind of setup and I have to admit that I had sweaty palms as I sat there waiting. I didn’t really care about the money so much; I just wanted to finish the whole casino business right there and then.
