3 Sin City Hunter (4 page)

The man beside me laughed
a boisterous laugh again
and said, “Well, well, well. L
ucky
l
ady you are! Roll again, baby.”

Baby! Ugh.
Nobody calls me baby
, not even Mick
. I really didn’t like the vibe I was getting from the man. I rolled again. And again. And again. I had control of the dice for almost 45 minutes. People were happy, they were loud, and they were making money. I was kicking myself for not betting on more numbers and having higher odds.

I knew my luck was going to run out soon, and I had a quick flashback to my childhood. Aunt Charlotte and I used to sit and roll dice. We would will the dice with our minds to
come up with the
numbers we wa
nted. It happened so often,
it kind of freaked us out at times. I remember telling her once, “Watch me roll double sixes,” and the sixes came up. I looked at her and said, “I can do it again,” and I rolled the double sixes. We laughed and I said, “I can do it one more time, Aunt Charlotte.” She said I might be pushing the dice gods with three, but I assured her I could do it one more time. I rolled the dice and double sixes came up. We were awed and
a little frightened
for a moment
, but then we burst into laughter. I loved rolling dice with Aunt Charlotte.

The memory made me smile. I had chips with odds at different points on the table, but I wanted to make the bigger bet and call my number. I placed $100 in chips onto the table and told the stickman, “Prop bet double sixes, please.”

Several people at the table
said
“
ooh
,
”
and a few laughed and shook their heads. Before I picked up the dice, I announced, “I’m going to roll double sixes. Anybody want to join me?”

The cowboy
studied
me
for a moment
, and with a big grin
,
he pushed his cowboy hat back from his handsome face and called to the stickman, “I’m with her!” as he tossed a $10 chip onto the table.

I picked up the dice and looked around the full table. A couple of women had their fingers crossed. Everyone was smiling and hoping for another winning number to come up. I gave another impish grin to everyone, and for
few
second
s,
I concentrated on the dice and on double sixes - just like I used to when I was ten years old.

I tossed the dice. The cowboy let out an ear-piercing yell and the crowd went
wild. Double sixes! I
won $3,000 and the cowboy won $300.

The man beside me reached over
,
grabbed me from behind by my shoulders
,
and pulled me in his direction to give me a hug and say, “Congratulations,
lucky l
ady. That was some miracle.”

I pulled away from him and collected my winnings. I knew I could do it again. I could feel it.
With a big smile, I announced to everyone around the table
, “I’m going to do it again. Anybody want to come with me?” I put another $100 chip on the table for the stickman to put on double sixes.

Everybody laughed. I knew many of them wanted to try, but the odds of roll
ing double sixes twice was
too high, and just about everyone held back. The cowboy put another $10 chip on the table for the bet, and so did a husband and wife who were playing together.
As
I reached for the dice, the m
an beside me announced, “Lucky l
ady she is. I’ll take that bet
.
”
He
put a $500 chip on the table.

I picked up the dice
and
concentrated hard
,
willing the double sixes to come up
. I
tossed them
down the table
. It didn’t feel like slow motion this time. They were down the table, off the rubber, and sitting still on double sixes. The group
roared with excitement
, and the cowboy went bonkers. The man beside me picked
me up off the floor in a
big bear hug and whirled around in a circle with me in his arms. I hated being
manhandled
and pushed against him so he would put me down, but it was hard to be too mad while I was grinning from ear to ear.

“Lucky l
ady, you are the lady for me!” he crowed as he settled me back on my feet. “That was fantastic! I just won $15,000 thanks to you.”

True, he had
won $15,000, and I had picked up another $3,000. Another memory flashed into my mind.
“
It was
“
time to quit while the quittin’ was good
,
”
Aunt Charlotte would say. After everyone settled down a bit, I
shook my head and
said, “I’m afraid
I don’t have any more
, and this run is over.”

I
removed
all of my bets
with the exception of one
lone $10 chip on the pass line. I waited to see if anyone wan
ted to reduce their bets
. Only the cowboy and the husband and wife followed my lead. The n
ext roll was a seven
. It ended my run, but
what a run it was. I had nearly $6500 in winnings. I asked
the dealer to color me up, which
would give me the highes
t denomination of chips, so
I would have fewer to carry away with me.

The man beside me was still smiling and was writing his number on a napkin. “What’s your nam
e, sugar?” he asked
. “Here’s my number. You call me if you’re going to play again while you’re here. I want to be at the table when you are.” He picked up my hand to shove the napkin into it followed by a $500 chip. “This is for you,” he said. “You were my
l
ucky l
ady tonight.” His eyes
lit up, and he said, “As a matter of fact, come on, I’ll take you out for a drink.” He grabbed me by my arm.

I was aghast at his arrogance, but I tried to be nice and pulled my arm away. “No thank you,” I told him. “I have other plans.”

“Baby, you’re coming with me,” he said. “We’ll have a good time. Let me buy you a drink.” He grabbed my arm again and held it tighter.

A scene was about to be made as I said in a much louder voice, “No! I don’t want to go with you.” I tried harder to pull my arm away from him.

“Listen, when I say you’re coming with me, you’re coming with me
,” he shouted
.
“
Do
you know who I am?”
It was obvious
his anger was sparked.

A pit boss came
over and addressed
him
firmly, “Carl, the lady said no. I think that’s the end of the conversation.”

The man gl
ared
at the pit boss
then
turned back to
me. He seemed to regain his composure and said, “Yes, of course.” He nodded to me and with civility said, “Thank you again for the luck at the table.” He collected his chips and walked away.

I turned to the table for my winnings. I tossed the $500 chip from the man onto the table and said, “For the dealers.” I didn’t want the man’s money and used it to tip the table workers. I
stuffed
his telephone number into an empty drink glass.

As I turned to leave the table, I saw Dudley leaning against the wall and looking my way. He had a slight smile on his face as though he had been entertained
by the scene. When he saw I
made eye contact with him, he slightly tipped his bowler and nodded my way. I
nodded back but left the
area quickly and made my way to the cage where the cashier cashed my chips and my slot machine voucher to the tune of $8,675.

Wow!
I couldn’t help but squeal a little as the money was counted out to me.
Th
e
extra money would give me and Mom loads more options as we planned the wedding
this week
. I stashed it in a zippered compartment in my purse and slipped
the strap over my head
. Too many people knew I had the money on me at the moment, and my purse would be safer closer to my body rather than hanging loose where it could be grabbed. I made my way back to the elevators and pushed number 13. Unlucky 13. Hah! It was proving to be very lucky for me.

It wasn’t terribly late, but it had been a long day, and I was tired. Back in my room, I changed into pajamas and climbed into the comfortable bed.
Thinking back over the day made me smile
. I would get over the videos with Dell; they were already somewhat funny to me. And winning the money had been amazing. It was the first time I had ever played craps in a casino, and I couldn’t wait to let Aunt Charlotte know what had happened. It made me smile just thinking about it. But what was up with that man? Who in the world was Carl? Was he someone famous? Only a self-absorbed person who thought they were more important than they really were would ask
,
“
D
o you know who I am?
” I certainly hoped I wouldn’t run into him again.

Saturday was another unseasonably warm day. The high would be in the low 70’s rather than the 50’s
,
as would normally be expected for this time of year.

I dressed casually in dark blue skinny jeans belted with the thin
, hot pink, crocodile belt
I had purchased in Florida last year. I buttoned up a simple
,
white blouse with a Peter Pan color and tucked it in. I
topped the blouse with a
pink blazer
with
gathered
3/4 length s
leeves.
Finally,
I slipped
into
pink flats with bow accents on top. It was a cute look, pink was a good color for me, and
the outfit
felt fun and flirty.

I was now sitting in the food court in front of Starbuck’s and enjoying a late morning mocha frappuccino. Mom and Dad would be here later this afternoon, and we would be going out to dinner. I was trying to decide what I should do in the meantime. I didn’t really want to go back to the gaming tables and decided a manicure would be nice.

I was watching people walk by the food court and saw Dudley coming toward the area. Today he was dressed in a dark blue suit with a slightly unkempt look. His tie
might
have been the same one as yesterday, and he was wearing the same small bowler. If his clothes didn’t seem so tired, I might think he was part of hotel security, but the security personnel were obvious to spot and
they
were sharply dressed. No one was dressed like Dud
ley, and I couldn’t help but
wonder what his story was.

He nodded to me as he passed by my table and walked to the counter to order a plain black coffee. Who does that at Starbuck’s? He could have grabbed a much less expensive cup of coffe
e at the nearby McDonald’s
.

I finished my frappuccino and
made
t
he short walk to the spa. B
efore entering, my phone rang. I pulled it out of my
purse
and
smiled when I saw
the call was from
Mick. To my right was a door exiting the building to the pool area. I stepped outside to answer the call.

“Mick, hi!” I chirped. I was
pleased
to hear from him.

“Hi, Sweetheart,” he said with happiness in his vo
ice. “I guess you made it,
and you’re settled in. Are your mom and dad there yet?”

“I made it just fine
,
” I told him, “and I love it here. I played craps last night, and I won!” I didn’t tell him how much. I wanted to surprise him when I saw him. “Mom and Dad will be here later this afternoon.”

“Well,” he said, “I
wanted to call to be sure
everything was goo
d with you
,
and to
let
you
know
I’m
on schedule here, so I should have no problem coming out next Friday.”

“Good,” I told him. “I can’t wait for you to get here. I miss you so much already.”

“I miss you, too, Susan,” he
said with a soft voice. I
loved how he didn’t
hide his emotions anymore and was always trying
to be sure
I knew how he felt. “I’ll call you again in a couple of days. I’m taking Alex skiing for the weekend. We had a lot of snow come through yesterday, so it’ll be a good weekend for it.”