It did have a nice defense though. There were very few opportunities to really expose that weakness. Granted I had proved that he could be provoked, but he had the discipline to clamp down the weaknesses and bury them. He just hadn’t been quick enough. But now that he suspected I knew something, it was only going to be harder to expose it later on. It was unfortunate that I had to sacrifice that kind of advantage so soon. Though now he was sure to be thinking about what I had collected. And that should hopefully lead more accessible avenues later on.
“You’re right of course, Marcus. I have heard that half of the skill is the hardest to master and without its mastery the skill is of course quite useless. Now, if you’ll kindly excuse me, I see someone that I must speak with.” And without another word Patrick stood up and left the table, beer in hand. With the calm I had come to expect from him, he casually walked to a small group of people about twenty feet away and instantly embedded himself into their conversation.
“Did you have to provoke him Marcus?”
“Bella, do you think I intentionally tried to provoke him?”
“Absolutely.” With an insincere scowl on her face she said, “I enjoy spending time with him. Besides I need to get a better read on him.”
“I would think he would need to get a better read on you.” I replied.
Flashing a coy smile she answered, “Of course he doesn’t understand how I tick and it just drives him crazy.” The smile widened as she added, “But I never intentionally tried to aggravate him like you just did. He won’t forget that.”
Looking into her wondrous grey eyes I agreed, “And neither will I. Don’t forget he was slinging insults my way as well.”
Bella stared back at me with a mischievous smile and nodded. “Marcus you continue to impress me. I knew there was a reason I liked you.”
“Let me guess. It’s my charming smile?”
Laughing she shook her head as she corrected me. “It’s your confidence, the way you carry yourself. I know you didn’t see it but Patrick has a much more charming smile than you. But you carry yourself with a great deal more surety and, unfortunately for you, Patrick saw that as well.”
“Here are your drinks.” The waitress interrupted.
Looking over my shoulder I smiled as she handed me my glass. I immediately handed it over to Bella before accepting the second glass as well.
I quickly neutralized the intoxicants before taking a sip of Simon’s handiwork. It was even better than before. That or was I simply riding a high from successfully beating one of the best players in this tournament at his own game?
Chapter 5
I must have spent a good hour and a half talking with Bella in the lounge. Along with Patrick Wallace’s intrusion there were a few others. Nothing really important, just players coming by to introduce themselves. Normally I would have just excused myself when one of those players broke our conversation. I had never wasted my prep time like this. But this conversation just felt right, natural, so I let it continue. And by the time my mental count of players reached one hundred, my confusion must have shown clearly on my face. Bella seemed to notice something was amiss so she asked, “Is something troubling you, Marcus?”
Flashing her my best smile I kept trying to take in the entire room as I answered. “By my count the man who just entered makes one hundred. Shouldn’t we be getting ready to start the tournament?”
With a slight chuckle, that she tried to hide, Bella replied, “I’m so sorry Marcus; it’s just that I forgot that you mentioned this was your first tournament.”
“What does that have to with anything?”
“We may have all the players but we are still missing the most important person.”
She was baiting me to ask the question, so in an effort to save time I bit the inside of my lip and did so. “And just who is this most important person?”
Her face underwent quite the transformation when a new bout of laughter died without warming. Her words where little more than a whisper but I managed to hear her question. “You do know whose tournament this is don’t you?”
Pulling a serious expression over my face I looked down at her and answered. “Yes, I am well aware that Bertrand Dempsey is the one who hosts this yearly get together.”
Sheepishly she looked up into my eyes and inquired, “So if you know, why are you asking who we’re missing?”
“Dempsey wouldn’t come to this.” I answered before I had a chance to think about it. I was so sure of myself, then I looked at Bella and saw that her eyes were full of shock. And in that moment I knew all of the arguments I had given to Matt were built on a false assumption. And even though I knew it was useless, I still tried to convince myself otherwise by running through my list of reasons.
“The man has more important things to worry about.” Bella just shook her head.
“He wouldn’t want to be caught anywhere near an event like this, he needs the deniability.” But she once again shook her head. And just like that I realized that I didn’t actually have another reason. I had thought that those two would have been good enough.
As the shock died from her eyes, I saw the mirth build up instead as she explained why I had been so wrong. “Marcus keep in mind just how much money Dempsey makes off of this tournament. Half of every collected fee goes straight into one of his personal accounts. Now think about what you scrapped up for your entrance fee and multiply that by a hundred.” She leveled her eyes and gave me a “what were you thinking?” look as she asked, “Do you really think he has other places to be?”
As a low whistle escaped from my lips I performed the simple math. “For twenty five million dollars in my pocket I think I’d be here too.”
With a resigned smile she agreed, “So would most people. Now look around you. Do you see all of this?”
When I nodded she went on, “Look at the décor and then the food and drinks that have no end in sight.” She explained with a shrug of her shoulders. “Now I’m not going to say he loses a lot of his money but someone has to pay for all of this, and who do you think he trusts to spend that much of his money?”