All in for You

by David Horne

  “And you lost all your money?”

  “No. Not that.” Toby shook his head.

  “Then what happened? Stay away from the machines. They’ll rip you off.”

  “I won the jackpot.” Toby didn’t let the man finish the lecture.

  That seemed to wake Pete up. “What?”

  “I won the jackpot,” Toby repeated his words.

  “You won the jackpot?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I can’t believe that.”

  The writer reached into his pocket and pulled his wallet out. Slowly he opened his wallet and pulled out the check that was made out to his name. “I did.”

  Pete walked over. There was now purpose in his step. The card player was awake now. He looked at the slip of paper, a small frown on his face. “You won.”

  “Yeah.” Toby frowned back.

  “Shit.”

  “What?”

  “Well, I figure only one of us is gonna win big on this trip. And it looks like it’s you.”

  “I don’t think that’s the case. You can still win big.” Toby shrugged.

  “I’m still going to try, but it feels like a bad sign.”

  “You don’t honestly believe in omens, do you?”

  “Depends on how this tournament plays out.” Pete shrugged. “I’ll figure out if it’s a sign after this is all over and we’re back on the plane heading home.”

  “Shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

  “I never sleep much the night before the finals.”

  “Well, I hope it goes well for you.”

  “I’m going to get you closer to the action this time so you can see how it plays out. I’m listing you as my assistant.” The card player ran his fingers through his hair as he spoke, once again making Toby’s breath catch in his throat.

  “Are you allowed to have an assistant?”

  “They’ll keep you far enough away that you can’t help me cheat, but yeah, some of the guys have assistants.”

  “Oh, well, I think I would like being able to ask them some questions.”

  “If you get a chance to, sure.” Pete nodded. “Don’t expect them to give away any strategy though. These guys are always tightly guarded with that kind of stuff.”

  “I don’t expect that.” Toby shook his head. “I haven’t asked you about that kind of thing at all, have I?”

  “No, you haven’t.” Pete shook his head.

  Just then the alarm in the bedroom went off. Toby nearly jumped out of his skin. He had been completely focused on the card player in the room with him that the unwelcome sound surprised him.

  The card player laughed slightly. “Did that startle you?”

  “Maybe a little.” Toby smiled and pinched his fingers together in front of him.

  “Just a little?”

  “Maybe more than a little.”

  The pair shared a laugh as they started to get ready for the day. Toby noticed that the sky was still dark outside when he peeked through the blackout curtains. “You always up this early?”

  “On a big game day, yeah. I like to go for a walk. Then have some coffee and a little breakfast and spend time thinking about what I’m going to do.”

  “Do you spend that much time planning?”

  “I play out scenarios in my head. It’s kind of distracting.”

  “Maybe you should get more sleep instead.”

  “I take a short nap before the games start.” The card player shrugged.

  “That sounds like some kind of ritual about it.”

  “It kind of is.” The man shrugged. “I guess it just calms my mind by the time the big game comes around. It’s always kind of stressful when it gets to the point that the cameras come out.”

  “Are there going to be cameras today?”

  “A lot of them. This part of the event is televised.”

  “I had never seen the earlier parts on television, well except in a documentary or two I watched on the subject.”

  “They’re not good ratings material.”

  “I guess not.” Toby shrugged. “I did do some research though.”

  “I figured that you had done some research on the subject.” Pete sighed heavily.

  “What’s wrong now?”

  “Nothing.” Pete shook his head. “It’s great that you won.”

  “You don’t seem that happy about it.”

  “There are some implications that you may not think about.”

  “What’s that?” Toby’s frown deepened. He hadn’t thought of anything bad that could come of this win.

  “Well, mostly that this kind of money can be a big windfall, that’s for sure. But don’t think it’s going to happen if you keep spending time at the machines. People who win big early are more likely to become addicted to the game.”

  “Are you worried about that happening to me?”

  “Just a little.”

  Toby nodded, biting his lip. “I can see that. I don’t plan on hitting the slots anytime soon, but I am going to have some money to do some fun stuff while we’re in town.”

  “Sure, probably.”

  “I just need to cash the check. I’ll try to get into one of my banks as soon as it opens.”

  “What bank do you use?” Pete’s frown slowly raised into a grin. “Most banks have branches somewhere on the strip. We can probably find it.”

  Chapter Eight

  Pete’s mind was a thousand miles from where it should be as he walked away from the table. He had just made the biggest win of his life, taking first in the tournament and that meant he was going to be comfortable for quite a while now. A million dollars. That was huge.

  It was a few years of living comfortably and getting set up for some smaller wins. He knew that he wasn’t going to win every tournament like that, but this one. This one had gone well. Well enough to be a definite outlier from his normal performance. But it was an outlier on the good side of the spectrum so that was a good thing.

  He didn’t expect this to be a regular occurrence. Nobody could win a hundred percent of the time.

  He had been teasing Toby about signs before, but maybe this was one. The man was probably going to be somewhere else by the time all of this was over, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that he was going to see Toby. He couldn’t think about the winnings. They didn’t seem to matter. It had never really been about the money, more about the numbers, but now there was something else. He wasn’t replaying his victory in his head. He was playing the numbers and odds to make things right with Toby.

  He wasn’t sure why he thought of it that way, making it right. There wasn’t much to make right. He sighed heavily and made his way to the place where the assistants had been waiting, pausing only to answer a question when he couldn’t avoid the cameras.

  Toby was still there.

  “Hey.” Toby grinned at him.

  “Hey.”

  “Told you it wasn’t a bad sign.” The writer was laughing.

  “Guess not.” Pete couldn’t figure out what to say to the man. So, his words were terse and he knew that he sounded cold and uninterested. It was what he always did when he didn’t know what to do in the situation and he couldn’t figure out how to stop it. Not that he was sure he wanted to stop his natural defenses. They had kept him safe so far. “Get a good view of the action?”

  “Better than I thought I would.”

  “Get some questions answered?” Pete reminded himself to smile at the man.

  “Yeah, I did.”

  “Want to go have some fun in the city?”

  “From what I hear you earned a celebration or two.” Toby grinned. “I figured they would want you for more stuff though.”

  “I probably have an interview or two to do, but hopefully that won’t take me too long.”

  “It looks like someone wants to talk to you now.” Toby pointed behind the card player.

  Pete turned around and saw another reporter. He sighed and walked over to answer a few questions once again
. What he had thought would be short ended up taking long hours. Long hours of looking happy and pretending like there was nothing on his mind other than this big win. Everyone was asking what he was going to do with the money. He was evasive and gave boring answers, talking about making sure that he had enough to retire on when he chose to do it and paying off his car.

  They wanted more from him though. They wanted stories about vacations or other fancy plans that he was planning on using the money for. But Pete wasn’t going to do anything like that. He might take a small trip, but he wasn’t going to share that information with other people. He didn’t want to be followed because he knew that his fanbase was about to increase. It always came with a win. People noticed and came to watch him more. They did more research. And the winner normally ended up with a blue checkmark on social media.

  He wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about all of that. Maybe it just wasn’t something he had to do. He didn’t use social media anyway. What he did use was just for personal friends and family, and didn’t use his real name. He liked his privacy. He always had liked his privacy.

  And he wasn’t going to be required to think about it either. No one would make him get the accounts and no one would force him to advertise and sell himself.

  He kept sighing through the interviews until they were over and he was allowed to go, a promise of a check waiting on him the next day.

  Toby was still grinning when he came back. The man had just been celebrating. That much was obvious.

  “Hey.” Pete kept his voice to his normal calm tone as he walked up.

  “Hey, we were just talking and stuff.”

  “Talking?”

  “The other assistants. They all said I was a good luck charm for you.” Toby shook his head as he laughed lightly. “I think that’s a little crazy.”

  Pete left out a deep throaty laugh. “They think that, huh?”

  “Guess they do.”

  “Gamblers are superstitious folk.” Pete shrugged.

  “Superstitions are funny things.”

  Pete’s hands were shaking slightly. He still couldn’t believe how well he had done. It didn’t seem quite real, but he tried to play it cool anyway. He didn’t want to scare Toby off. “Maybe you are. I’ve never taken first place before. And this is the first time you’re here.”

  “I think it was just skill.”

  “Gamblers and actors are notoriously superstitious. It’s just something that you’re going to have to get used to.”

  “I have to get used to it?”

  “Well, yeah. I guess so.” Pete shrugged.

  “Am I?” Toby seemed taken aback.

  It was at that moment that Pete noticed what he had said. But that didn’t bother him. What bothered him was how easily he had said it. He had put the offer out there. And now he had to make a decision. He could play it cool, act like it didn’t mean anything. Or he could act like it meant the world. He decided to go for the latter. “Figure you may need to shadow me some more for research, that’s all.”

  “Maybe. I don’t know.” Toby must have been playing it cool himself. Pete couldn’t read the man right then. He was far too distracted by the things that he had already said to the writer. And he was worried about how it would all turn out, how the man who stood there would take the words that kept slipping out of his mouth without any thought.

  The professional gambler’s palms itched and his arms twitched uncomfortably. “So, what now? You ready to get some sleep?”

  “No, I’m not tired yet.”

  “Well, we’ve still got a couple of days in town.”

  “Why did you plan the trip for this long?”

  “I like to wind down before I travel back. I usually win some money and it’s fun to just see what’s going on in the world.”

  “Sure, that makes sense.”

  “You can fly back early if you want to.” Pete didn’t want that to happen. He wanted to have a good time with the man. He wanted to spend more time with him. He didn’t know why his heart started beating faster when he made that offer, but it did. “I mean if you don’t want to play tourist a little bit.”

  “I already said that I wanted to see more of the city.” Toby nodded. “That’s what I want to do.”

  “The tournament kind of ended early this time. So that means that we can make some more time for it.” Pete offered a smile.

  “Did it end early?”

  “Just a little bit. A lot of people got knocked out early and the finals were decided a day early. That meant the tournaments are over now. They should have been done around noon tomorrow.”

  “So, this is early.”

  “Not that early, but a little bit. Sometimes it works that way though.”

  “Especially when you kick everyone’s ass right away.” Toby laughed. “I heard them talking. Everyone else was running out of money quickly and you kept getting amazing hands. They were trying to figure out if it was just a good day or if you were cheating.”

  “They may think I cheated.” It was Pete’s turn to chew on his lip. “That would be what I would think if I was on the outside of this.”

  “Do you think something’s going to come of that?”

  “No. I know they won’t be able to prove I cheated because I didn’t cheat.” Pete shook his head. “I just won fair and square and my opponents made mistakes that I took advantage of.”

  “I know that.” Toby laughed. “You don’t need to justify your win to me.”

  “Maybe I’m just practicing just in case accusations come my way later.”

  “Well, I can be here to practice on if you need me too.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate it. I don’t think people are going to start accusing me of cheating. The guys in charge are always so careful to prevent anything like that, and that means I know I’m good.”

  “All right. Well, what do you want to do to celebrate?”

  “We still have some time; do you want to hit the strip?”

  “Sure. Want to go change first?”

  “Won’t take me long.” Pete nodded in agreement to the offer. “I just want to do a quick rinse off and put on clean jeans and t-shirt. Maybe a cap or something to avoid the crowds.”

  “Yeah, I’ll head up with you then. I could use a quick rinse.”

  Pete was glad that everything seemed normal now. After the kiss, everything had kind of gone strange. It had felt awkward and weird when Toby had interacted with him after the kiss. The man had even gone to get some air and won some money of his own. It wasn’t the same as what he had won, but to Toby, it seemed to mean something even if he wasn’t sure exactly how Toby had seen the gambler’s win, what it meant for him. Maybe Toby had seen a sign. Maybe it was a sign. Maybe all of this was a sign. Maybe this was the universe sending them a message and demanding that they listen to it. He didn’t know for sure. All he knew was that when Toby smiled his heart stopped and when it started back up it was thumping hard.

  And that was what was happening now. Toby was smiling. The man was happy. He had some money in his pocket from his winnings at the slot machine. Maybe that was why Pete had rushed to win these games as quickly as he could. So, he could spend more time with Toby. He had been playing riskier than he usually did. Maybe he had been hoping to get out of the game sooner by losing but ended up winning in the long run.

  And maybe that meant something. Maybe there was more than one win in here for him. But he couldn’t make himself ask that question; he couldn’t make himself do the things that he knew he needed to do. He couldn’t find the words to ask Toby the kinds of questions that played in his mind.

  Instead, they got ready to go out. The showers were done in silence, both of them eagerly anticipating what the night might bring them. Pete made plans of the sights that he wanted to show the man who had come with him on this trip. Pete was ready first, waiting on Toby while he planned. Only one of them could shower at a time so this was bound to happen. One of them would be left waiting. And Toby had kin
dly let him get under the steaming water first.

  That gave Pete time to think, ponder what he was going to do with his time now. What was he going to do with Toby? Was there anything that he could do about it?

  He still hadn’t decided when the man walked out of the shower dressed and ready to go.

  The card player smiled. “Ready?”

  “Ready and willing.” Toby’s smile was infectious and made Pete’s widen.

  “All right. I’ve got some amazing stuff I want to show you. They put on some amazing shows around here.”

  “What kind of show?”

  “Free, you don’t have to worry about that.” Pete laughed. “The front of a lot of casinos have shows that go off every few minutes.”

  “I’ve read about that.”

  “I’m going to take you to see them.”

  Toby grinned. He looked happier than he had been since Pete had met the man. “That sounds like a great night.”

  “Yeah.” Pete grinned right back at the writer. “It sure does.”

  They both laughed and made their way out of the hotel room.

  Chapter Nine

  Toby carefully climbed into the gondola, staring around the inside of the building. The ceiling was painted to look like a beautiful blue sky. The floors looked like the streets of Venice and there were manmade canals right there in the center of the hallway. “Wow.”

  “Yeah, I’ve never actually done this before. I’ve walked along the route, but I’ve never ridden in the gondola.”

  “I hope you enjoy it too.” Toby was still grinning. He hadn’t stopped. This was a date, a real date. And he was happier than he had been in a very long time.

  “I plan on enjoying it. I probably should play tourist more these days, but I never make the time to do it.”

  “I have to thank you for taking the time to show me around then.”

  “You already thanked me.”

  “I should thank you again.”

  Things were becoming easy again. The conversation was becoming comfortable and secure. They were starting to get to know each other better, learn the things about each other that they needed to know. Pete felt the smile on his face. It was starting to feel more natural as they chatting, taking in the beautiful sights that accompanied Las Vegas. Everything here was built to impress upon all the senses and Toby was feeling it. “You don’t have to do that. I’m having fun. I should have been enjoying myself more.”