Authors: Jeffrey Allen
Popped Off (8 page)
20
The Comanche River Resort and Casino looked like a castle. Only bigger. Four huge spires jutted into the sky, each one made up of neon lights that could be seen for miles. There were multiple entrances and a parking lot roughly the size of Delaware. Rows and rows of cars filled acres and acres of asphalt. It was like pulling into Disneyland for adults.
In Oklahoma.
Rather than try to find a parking spot, I headed for the valet line. They whisked our bags out of the car and escorted us into the castle.
The incessant ringing of slot machines assaulted my ears as soon as we stepped inside. My feet sunk into the plush red carpeting as we walked toward the check-in desk. There were people everywhere—in lines, in groups, in pairs. Comanche River didn’t seem to have trouble attracting visitors.
The polite clerk behind the check-in desk handed us our room keys and casino cards and pointed us in the direction of the elevator. Our room was on the tenth floor and was less tacky than I expected. The room was expansive, easily accommodating a four-poster king bed, and the furnishings were deep, dark wood. There was a sitting area near the window with a small love seat and a coffee table. The window looked out to the back of the property, a mix of huge oak trees and wild grasses that cascaded down to a small creek.
“This is not what I expected a casino hotel room to look like,” Julianne said, looking out the window.
“I know. I’m kind of impressed.”
She walked toward me, kissed me on the cheek, and said, “Me, too.”
She then went past me, grabbed her bag, threw it on the bed, and immediately began unpacking.
“Only took fourteen seconds,” I said, throwing my bag on the bed next to hers.
“Making fun of me increases my stress levels, Deuce,” she said as she methodically removed her clothes and inserted them into the hotel dresser. “Not good.”
Not once in her life had she ever left clothes in a suitcase or duffel bag. Didn’t matter where we were. She didn’t even take her shoes off before the bags were unpacked.
She moved over to my bag and unzipped it. “I don’t think you want me to blame you for our inability to conceive. No telling what I might make you do.”
She had a point.
“Are you going to shower?” I asked.
“Duh.”
Julianne Rule #2. Always shower the second you get to a hotel room.
No, I don’t know why. I just know that’s the rule.
“All right, well, how about I go find us some food and bring it back to the room?” I said. “Unless you’d like me to join you in the shower . . .”
“That would be lovely.” She put the last of my clothes into the drawer and threw her arms around my neck. “The food, not the shower. Let’s do the joint shower . . . later. And thank you for arranging this.”
“You’re welcome.”
She kissed me. “I hadn’t said thank you yet. I’m glad to be here with you.”
“Me too.”
“And we are so gonna make a baby.”
She kissed me, and her lips lingered on mine. I felt the familiar desire bubble up. I was thrilled to be spending a night in a hotel with her, alone, just the two of us.
She patted my chest with her hand. “You have thirty minutes. Go find food, and play one of your little gambling games if you must.” A slow smile spread across her face. “I’ll be waiting.”
I flew out the door.
21
In the half hour we’d been upstairs, the population in the casino seemingly doubled. It was wall-to-wall people.
The casino itself was like the largest convention hall you could imagine. The gaming tables were lined down the middle of the room, surrounded by all shapes and sizes of slot machines advertising different jackpots, bonus games, and trademarked themes. The exterior was ringed with money windows, bars, and restaurants. It was sensory overload at its finest.
I wound my way through the throngs of people and found a pizza place with a short line. I ordered a pizza, a salad, and a couple of iced teas. They told me it would be about thirty minutes, but since we were staying in the hotel, they’d be happy to deliver it to the room. I gave them the room number and headed back out to the casino floor.
In truth, I had no idea what I was doing. I had all sorts of ideas running through my head, but I didn’t have a clue as to how to go about investigating any of them. I suddenly felt stupid for having brought Julianne up here under false pretenses. It seemed juvenile and pointless.
Frustrated and chagrined, I decided to find a blackjack table to kill a few minutes before heading back up to the room. I didn’t want to take my frustration back with me. I might not have been totally honest about my reasons for wanting to come up here, but I could make sure we still had a good time, and I didn’t want to drag anything negative into the baby-making plans.
Negativity was most likely a sperm inhibitor.
A chair opened up at a five-dollar table at the end of a row, and I sat down, buying forty bucks’ worth of chips. Four senior citizens occupied the other chairs, a man and three women. They didn’t even acknowledge me, enamored with the colorful stacks in front of them.
The dealer nodded at me. Female, younger than me, with a long ponytail, dark skin, and a dimpled chin. Her name tag said
JASMINE
.
JASMINE
.
Jasmine dealt cards down the line, and I hit blackjack with a ten of diamonds and the ace of hearts on the draw. The seniors scowled at me as Jasmine doubled my chips on the bet line.
“Beginner’s luck,” I said, shrugging my shoulders.
The seniors grumbled among one another and replaced their bets.
This time I drew a seven and a six. I asked for another card and received an eight.
“What the hell?” said the woman to my immediate right.
“We been sittin’ here for an hour and haven’t seen no cards like that,” said the woman down on the end.
“Sorry, ladies,” I said, placing another bet. “It won’t last long.”
But it did. I won eleven consecutive hands. The old ladies couldn’t take it any longer and struggled out of their chairs and moved away, mumbling something about fixes and the dealer.
“Didn’t mean to run off your business,” I said to Jasmine.
She smiled and ran the cards through the shuffler. “That’s all right. They’re regulars, and they’re never happy.”
I’d already tripled my money, so I rolled her a ten-dollar chip. “Thanks for the cards so far.”
She removed the chip from the table. “Thank you, sir. Continue?”
“Absolutely. Until my luck disappears.”
She smiled. “We’ll hope it lasts.”
No one filled the seats down the line, word apparently getting out that I owned the table.
“So those ladies are regulars?” I asked.
Jasmine dealt me a ten and an eight. “Oh yes. Every weekend. From somewhere in Oklahoma. Tulsa, maybe.”
I waved a hand over the cards, declining another. Jasmine drew an eight and an eight and then a six.
Twelve in a row.
I set my winnings on the bet line.
“You work every Friday night?” I asked.
She threw me a nine and a six. “Yes, sir. And Saturday. Busiest nights of the week.”
I considered my fifteen for a second, weighing the odds and whether I should take a hit. I decided to motion for another card. She passed me a three, and I stayed. She busted out again.
Thirteen in a row.
I tried not to think about it.
“You worked here awhile?” I asked, repositioning the chips on the bet line.
“Almost two years.”
“You like it?”
She smiled. “It’s a job. I’m a grad student in Norman. Physics.”
“And you’re doing this?”
“Pays better than anything else you can find. Trust me.”
I nodded.
She dealt me a seven and a four. I signaled for another. She dealt me the ten of spades.
Fourteen wins.
“Though I don’t think it pays what you’re making tonight,” she said, gathering the cards and handing over my winnings.
I rolled another ten bucks back to her.
“Thank you, sir.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Continue?”
“I haven’t had this kinda luck since I met my wife. So yes.”
She smiled and nodded.
I played for another twenty minutes. I lost one hand. I had started on forty bucks and was now up over five hundred.
A small crowd had gathered behind me, watching the win streak and murmuring. No one sat down, not wanting to change the rhythm or my karma, I guess.
“You know a lot of the other folks that work here?” I asked as she dealt me a four and a nine.
“What do you mean?”
“Your coworkers. Do you get to know them, or do you know the customers better?”
Jasmine drew a nine and an eight for herself. I signaled for a card, and she dealt me a five. I held at eighteen.
“A few,” she said. “But I don’t stick around. Too busy with school.”
She drew a six for herself, and the dealer busted again.
The crowd behind me rippled.
I kept my winnings on the bet line. “You don’t by any chance know someone by the last name of Huber, do you?”
Jasmine thought for a moment, then shook her head. “Don’t think so. You have a friend that works here?”
“Oh, no,” I said. “Just . . . It’s a long story.”
Two men in suits had materialized to my left and were now watching us intently. Or rather, me.
Jasmine dealt me a five and four. She drew a nine and a ten. I waved for more cards.
Four. That gave me thirteen to her nineteen. I needed another card.
Six. Tied at nineteen. Should I chance it? Why not?
Two. I smiled at the twenty-one.
The crowd rippled again, and the two suits frowned.
Jasmine set my winnings in front of me. I glanced at my watch. The pizza had probably been delivered fifteen minutes ago. I needed to go.
I laid fifty dollars in chips in front of Jasmine and stood. “Thank you. I’m gonna quit before it all comes back to haunt me.”
Her easy smile was gone now, but she forced one onto her face. “Thank you, sir. Enjoy the rest of your visit.”
I gathered my chips and headed for a cage.
The two suits split, one staying at the table and one following me. I was almost to the change cage when he tapped me on the shoulder.
“May I have word with you, sir?” he asked.
“Sure,” I said, continuing to walk.
“Would you mind coming with me?”
“Uh, actually, yes. I would.”
I reached the cage and set my chips on the ledge. “I’d like to cash in, please.”
The gray-haired woman behind the counter started to reach for the chips, but the suit put his hand on them. “One moment, Doreen.”
Doreen immediately pulled back from the counter.
“Is there a problem?” I asked.
“Would you mind following me, sir?”
“We already covered that. Yes. I would.”
The suit had small eyes and a small mouth made smaller by his large triangular nose. The mouth twisted.
“And you should probably take your hands off my chips,” I said. “Because they’re mine.”
The suit lifted his wrist to his mouth and whispered something. He had either a small elf in there or a mic.
“Sir, I’m going to need to ask you to come with me,” he said, this time making it clear it wasn’t a question.
“Because I just rode a hot streak at one of your tables?”
“I just have a couple of questions for you.”
I was irritated. I wasn’t sure what I had done, other than win more than I’d ever won at a blackjack table. I’d tipped the dealer well. I wasn’t drunk. I was being hassled.
“Then you can ask them right here or cash in my chips,” I said. “Or I’m about to get very loud and obnoxious.”
“I’d advise against that.”
I looked at Doreen. “I’d like my money, please.”
She didn’t move.
I looked back at the suit. “What the hell is going on?”
“Just some routine questions, sir.”
“About?”
“It won’t take long.”
I collected my chips and stuffed them in my pockets. “It won’t take long, because it’s not going to happen.”
He lifted his arm and spoke into his wrist again.
I pushed past him and headed for the elevators. He stayed right on my heels, still talking to his wrist.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw two more suits approaching. I quickened my pace to the elevators. I got to the bank of lifts and punched the UP button.
“I’m a guest here in the hotel,” I said. “I’m going up to my room.”
“No, sir,” the first suit said. “You aren’t. We need you to come with us.”
“I’ve done nothing wrong,” I said, unsure of why I was feeling so defensive.
“I didn’t say you did, sir.”
One of the elevators dinged, and I stepped toward it.
The suit put his hand on my shoulder, and the two others stepped in closer. I pushed his hand off of my shoulder and squared off with him.
The other two were quick to take me to the floor, and I went down flat on my chest, my chips spraying into the air and landing all around me.
The elevator doors opened, and I managed to twist my head to look up. Julianne stepped out, her hair still damp from her shower.
She looked at the suits, then down at me.
She folded her arms across her body. “This isn’t helping my stress level.”
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