Bluffing the Devil

chapter 6



After running a brush through my hair and throwing on the jeans and t-shirt. I washed my face, grabbed my gamer pack, which consisted of my hoodie, room key, mp3 player, casino card, and debit card. No need in taking other things that would just take up space. Bare minimum in tow, I headed out.

As soon as I stepped through the doors of the building, the salty air slapped me across the face and immediately invaded my senses. My eyes tingled and my breath became shallow for the briefest moment. What the hell was that?

I decided that I would stop by my favorite sandwich shop and grab a bite to eat, going with my original idea of chilling on the Boardwalk until game time. Perfect.

The Boardwalk was nearly deserted of any people. Perhaps the chill in the early Spring air was causing people to be less likely to want to hang out at the water's edge, but not me. The water always called to me, even from when I was a young child. Any water would do: a tiny swimming pool, mud puddle, river, lake, ocean, fountain, you name it! Just the smell of the water, the sound of the of it lapping lazily against the banks of a river, or crashing on the shore of the beach. The feeling that came with being so close to something God created, just made me feel at peace. It always had.

I nibbled my sandwich silently, still not finding my appetite. I was going through spells of starving to death, or having absolutely no interest in food what-so-ever. Tonight was the latter. Instead of forcing myself, I wrapped my sandwich back up, put it in the pocket of my hoodie and lay back on the sand. I found myself lost in thought and staring at the stars and patterns in the sky. Before I even knew what I was doing, and without planning to do so, my mind was right back on Devin. My mind seemed to not be able to get enough of him lately.

I closed my eyes and allowed my mind to drift away. What would a few moments with my Dream Man really do to my night? There was plenty of time to make it to my game, and I had nothing else going on. Why not?

~

The silence surrounded me. I almost panicked. Was it that easy now? Just close my eyes, think of him and I could see him? No way could it be that easy!

"Back so soon, darling? To what do I owe the pleasure?" the sultry voice I had come to know and appreciate so much purred directly behind me.

I spun around and immediately was face-to-chest with Devin. Though being there with him so suddenly was shocking, the sight of his bare chest was quite appealing, and my mind wandered. I managed to allow my eyes to take a slow journey up his chest and enjoy the tanned and toned expedition for much longer than I should have pausing only long enough to oogle his shoulder and neck. I wanted to bite him suddenly, not even sure where that came from!

By the time I made it to his face, the smirk he had in place made me nervous for a moment.

"Hello, sweet. Enjoy your sojourn across my anatomy?"

"Uh, hi. I don't.. I mean, I guess. Yes, of course, your anatomy is top notch, but I wasn't trying to gawk at you. Sorry. I was just on the beach and thought of you, closed my eyes, and I was here. Weird!" Yeah, I tend to get uncomfortable in close quarter type situations and Devin being near me was throwing me into a fit of a weirdness like I'd never had before.

A look of concern skittered across his gorgeous features. His eyebrows creased slightly, his eyes changed a bit, and he looked down at the ground.

"Not that I wouldn't want to be here with you, it was just strange. I didn't want to think about you. I mean, I do want to think about you, of course, but you're busy I'm sure and I'm busy," I rattled off my completely erratic and pointless apology, for God knows how long before he just grinned and shook his head at me.

"It's that easy, huh?" his voice stroked my too-fast heartbeat and settled me instantly.

"Well, I don't know what you mean by easy, but it’s not like it matters. You're a dream. I must be exhausted and dozed off," then, suddenly remember that I have a life outside of my daydreams, I started to panic again. "Oh no! I have to wake up! I have a poker game soon. I worked really hard to get into this tournament and if I'm late, I will forfeit my seat and the alternate gets to play in my place instead. I don't want that! This is my goal, my dream. I have to play and… "

"Whoa, slow down, love," he hummed gently and placed his fingertip lightly on my lips and I panted and felt like hyperventilating. "There is no need to panic. You will not be late for your game," he leaned in and gently kissed my lips. I felt conflicted in that second. I should have felt odd for some strange man to randomly kiss me and comfort me at the same time, but it was like Devin had been kissing me forever. The heat of him touching my face and his lips touching mine combined was enough to rush a fever through my entire body just that quickly. "Good luck to you, my sweet. I will see you soon."

And I was gone again.

No swirling vortex or strange feeling this time, just completely awake and lying on the beach with the very next breath I took. It felt suddenly as if not a moment had passed.

"What in the world? I must truly be losing my mind. Maybe after this weekend I should look into putting myself into a mental facility for a check up. There has to be something knocked loose up there," I cajoled as I thumped myself on the head.

"You're just learning that now? We've known that for a while now," Carly teased as she and Victoria trudged through the sand toward me.

"What are you doing out here on the beach all alone? What if someone kidnapped you? We've been looking for you forever!" Victoria's worry-induced panic was sweet.

"I am still here. I went to the hotel and took a shower and a nap, then came out to have a sandwich and relax before the game," I raised my hand with the paper remnant of my dinner still balled up in my hand.

"Yeah, but you we saw you from the boardwalk lying on the sand in the middle of the night. It was weird, and you had me worried sick," Victoria began mothering me immediately. Checking for bruises, cuts, and whatever else her crazy mind could detect that would indicate something less than normal was going on. "And who lays down in the sand after taking a shower? You're all sandy and weird now," she added as she began dusting me off.

Carly just rolled her eyes at the display that Victoria and I must have been making and slapped Vic's hands from my face.

"What is going on with you? You're being several shades of suspicious. I know you. Something is going on. Don't bullshit me," she left no room for excuses.

"Nothing is 'going on', Vic," I stated as I bent down to scoop up my hoodie from the sand. "I am just going through something weird with my dreams and resting. It’s not unusual for me to go through that. You and I both know that. Relax, ok?"

Seeming as if my response was a nuisance to her, she merely huffed and did her typical Victoria "I'm-not-buying-this" routine: rolled her eyes (again), crossed her arms in front of her, cocked her hip, raised an eyebrow, and said, "Wow. That just explains it all. I feel so comforted knowing "nothing" is the answer to my burning question. Truly, you're a gem of gems to ease my worry. Thanks so much." The sarcasm-spittle that flew from her words could put someone's eye out and if she rolled her eyes any harder, one of them might just pop out of her head. Anything was possible, right?

"Vic," I placed my hands on her crossed arms and nudged them to relax. "I don't know what is up with me. I really am having weird dreams, and I’m sleeping more than I have in years. I don't know what's bringing it on, but it's peaceful for me. Just feel happy that I am resting and not stressing out over things, ok?" I know my eyes were huge and full of hope, pleading with her to let it go and just be my best friend who wanted to nothing more than to love and accept me for my weirdness. "If I get into something I can't handle, get scared, or freaked, you're the first chick I'll call. Deal?"

"Ok, fine. But if someone hurts you or something is going on and you're not telling me…" She trailed off. Her threat, that should have seemed idle, hung in the balance giving everything within hearing distance a fair chance at leaving in peace.

"What could happen? I'm here to play some cards! You guys want to head to the casino with me? It's almost time!" I asked, grabbing their hands and tugging them toward the game, and away from anything negative or questionable.

"Sure, but I want the record to reflect that I know, that you know, that I know something!" Victoria added as we made our way closer to our destination.

In a fit of giggles, I simply agreed with her odd statement. "So noted," I nodded toward Carly and she nodded at Vic in a full circle of agreement.

When we reached the casino, I suddenly realized something else was off about the night. "Where is Rhea? Did you guys lose her again?" I asked nearly giggling. Rhea was always the one that was late to everything, if she showed up at all. It was as if her social schedule was far too busy to pencil us in, though she was always there for the major things. When I graduated college, she was the first person I saw as I left the stage. After Jamison's accident, she was the one that took me to the hospital. During my first live poker game, she was next to me, cheering and pointing out others flaws. We made a great support team for each other.

Rhea is a sniper and her training put her kind of in a lone-wolf sort of mentality sometimes. She liked to go out first and scope a place thoroughly before any of us could go there. She would check for guns, drugs, shady characters, exit strategies, and God only knows what else. Her inherent knack for being able to sniff out danger was helpful to us in more occasions than not, so usually none of us had anything negative to say about it. We just missed our girlfriend when she was out trying to play tough-guy.

"She was with us when we had dinner then said she wanted to take a walk, so Vic and I went to check out the shops. We were heading toward the hotel when we saw you sunbathing at night. We haven't seen her in at least an hour or two," Carly started to sound concerned.

"Yeah, well, you know her. She probably just went to do some security sweep of the casino for tonight, or to run background checks on the entire city.

Maybe she even got lucky and met some hunky cop and decided to have her way with him?" My joke fell flatly on my two friends who knew very well that Rhea never messed around with anyone, much less a cop. She felt it was her duty to protect me and wouldn't chance something happening to me if she could help it. "I didn't want you guys to be bored," I continued. "I just like for all of my girls to be in one place, at one time. You know how it goes. Plus, if one of us is missing, how are we supposed to see all four directions at once?"

My nerdy, map question might have been missing on others, but my girls "got" me and immediately joined me in a chuckle.

"It would be nearly impossible to pick which direction we should skip at any given time, though I am partial to South," Carly added.

"And those West coast boys just do it for me," Vic added.

"Yep, see? I personally like South and East coast boys, so the North will just have to suffer until our beloved returns with a fresh set of man-candy scoping eyes!" I added and chuckled at our random bout of weirdness. There was never a shortage of those moments with us!

As soon as our bestie-huddle felt like it was in a good place, I took a step toward the casino and reached for the door. A shadow swooped in front of me as a strange hand reached out and slowly opened the door. The cool blast of air from inside snapped me out of my temporary grouchiness. Just as I was about to curse the stranger for rushing in front of me, I looked up and saw onyx eyes I had come to know so well.

"Good evening to you, my darling," Rey said with a deep bow as if I were royalty.

I rolled my eyes dramatically and heaved a breath. "What do you want? Why are you here?"

"For the same reason you are, sweet. We have a game in just thirty short minutes or have you arrived here for other reasons?" he asked with a glimmer of playfulness in his eye.

"You know why I'm here. I meant, why are you here holding the door open for your opponent as if you are some knight in shining armor? I don't need you holding doors for me. I am capable, thank you very much."

His hand flew to his chest as he said, "Your sharp words tonight are rough on my heart, puddin. Earlier you wound me and now this? I merely was coming to the same place you were and thought to be a gentleman and assist you with the door. I am sure you don't need such things, but it is my honor to do it for you. As for you being my opponent, I would gladly bow out of this game if you would agree to go out for drinks with me. We would have far less stress tonight, save ourselves so much money, and could find out more about each other. Isn't that a splendid idea?"

Sharp intakes of breath and giggles behind me reminded me that we were not alone. I glanced back at my friends to notice Victoria was completely not herself. She was smiling and blushing at Rey. Carly also had a cat-ate-the-canary look going on. Of course, damned chicks! Can't depend on them to be a hard ass when your nemesis is there luring and taunting you!

"Oh my, how rude of me, I apologize. I am Rey, a friend of Alexia and you are…?" Rey asked as he took the hands of my girlfriends and gently kissed them. Of course, he would be all sugary sweet to them and want them to think he's not the creepy, predatory nuisance that we was.

"Carly, nice to meet ya," she offered and took a step away from him quickly and back behind me a bit.

"Oh, Vic. Victoria. I'm Victoria," she stuttered and tripped over her own name as if it were new to her.

"Great now that everyone knows everyone else. Can we please get inside?" I asked, exasperated by the entire ordeal. It was almost like Rey waited for the perfect time to throw me off by appearing, wooing, being all nice to people. He might be able to fool everyone else, but he wasn't going to fool me! No one else could see his nature, but I could see plain as day behind his mask.

"Certainly, peach. Let's head over to the registration table to retrieve our badges and things, shall we?" he said as he pulled the door open again and waited for us to filter through.

"I picked mine up this morning when I arrived," I said as I breezed past him. "I am going to head on over to the tables, and wait for start time. Thanks though. Good luck." I grabbed a friend in each hand and dragged them with me away from the vile creature they both seemed so interested in at the moment.

"Good luck to you as well, cookie!" he shouted across the packed casino entrance. How embarrassing! I felt like I was a walking bag of sugar. Every name he called me made me feel nauseous.

I stopped when I reached the roped off section of the casino floor where the game would take place. Spectators had a designated area to sit and watch, so I had reserved seats for the girls just in case they wanted to stick around.

"Hello? Earth to chickies!" I snapped my fingers in front of Victoria's face, and she slowly looked over at me.

"What? What happened? Hi! Oh yay its almost time for your game to start. Are you nervous? I would be nervous. What can we do? Are you guys hungry? I'm starving! What should we do while you play? Do you want us to wait, or meet up with you later? Are you okay?" Vic's rapid fire questioning was not unusual but made my head spin. As the only girl in a house full of boys, earlier life, and in her chosen profession, she tended to speak quickly and get out everything she had to say at once.

"We've been here for a few minutes. I'm not nervous, I'm anxious to get started. You can sit over there," I gestured toward their seats, "I just had a sandwich, remember? Ummm, you asked too many questions, I forgot the rest."

"I asked if you were okay. That was the most important one," she said suddenly seeming much more like herself.

"Yes, I am great. Are you okay?" I asked suspiciously. "You seem a bit anxious. What's up with you?"

"Nothing is up with me, I'm just excited for your big night. This is a huge game and you’ll know if you’re on to the next step, and I know you want this really bad so it's just cool! Aren't you excited, too, Carly? This is just so cool!"

"Yeah, cool," Carly said with mock enthusiasm. "I know this is your thing and I’m all about it, but you’re right, Vic is being weird. Maybe I should take her to get a snack or something?"

"That sounds like a really good idea. I can get to my seat and calm my mind with some tunes. We should get started in the next 15 minutes or less, I'm sure."

"Great. I’ll also give Rhea a shout while I’ll be able to hear. It's sorta loud in here," Carly gently took Victoria's elbow, and started to lead her toward the entrance. She turned and said "Good luck, kiddo! You can do this! Make 'em sorry they ever looked you in the eye!" She winked, and headed out with Victoria in tow.

I watched them walk away for a second and grinned slightly. Those girls hated poker, but were always right by my side to support me in every way they could. They’re my "Coven of Crazy" as I call them. The coolest, weirdest, nerdiest chicks I knew. One moment we would be discussing sci-fi movies, the next heading to some strange new obstacle course, thrill ride, or adventure. No matter what, though, we were always in it together.

Yeah, Carly was "the new girl" in our group, but something about her always kept me paying attention. I liked knowing she was going to be close. She was a great companion and constant confidant. I usually told her the dark-secrets that I didn't think I could tell anyone else first. I really wished I could tell her about Devin and everything going on in my dreams, but there was never a moment that we were alone and I didn't want the other girls to think I was a complete whack-job. I knew she wouldn't judge me. I took a mental note to talk to her about it later.

I wasn't sure if I could make anyone "sorry" for anything like Carly said I should, but my confidence was at an all-time high and if she had faith in me, I must be able to do it!

I turned walked toward the tables as I pulled my badge from my back pocket to show the guard at the rope leading toward the players-only section.

The guard took my badge, looked at me, back at the badge, back at me again. Almost as if he was trying to memorize my face or make sure I was who I said I was. It was another strange part of the day. He said something into his little wrist microphone, and waved me through after handing my stuff back to me.

"Good luck, miss," he managed when I was about five feet away.

"Yeah, thanks."

My father always told me that if I was going to do something, I should do it right the first time so that I don't have to start all the way over and waste my time. This game was the prime example of that training. Why come in, play lame and not know what I'm doing when I could study, practice, train, learn, and think ahead of time. Knowing facial expressions, understanding betting and human behavior all aided my abilities much more than I thought.

I had been training for this one game for months. I spent hours, days, and weeks playing online poker. I had read all I could on the subject, played live games, watched other live games, watched videos on the internet of past events, and really just lived and breathed the game for the past few months. Everyone close to me had started to call me "obsessed", but it’s not an obsession, it’s a dream. If you want something bad enough, you go after it with all you have and don't let anyone or anything get in your way, right? Well, I want this victory.

I want to do something out of the ordinary for a woman. I want to try something that challenges my mind, and is not only about the luck of the draw or about how well someone does their desk job. I want to live on the edge a bit. Cards are like that. You never know what you will get dealt. One hand you can have suited connectors and the next hand, you can have absolutely nothing. What you do with those cards, regardless of what you are dealt, shows your true skill.

I found my table and sat in my assigned seat. I put my hands on the felt and rubbed it softly. It was almost like introducing myself to the table, then I rubbed my hands on the rail, sat back in my chair, and zoned out.

I closed my eyes and pictured the water. I tuned every casino machine and person sound out of my mind and focused on how the waves sound when they crash on the shore. How the air tastes thick and salty closest to the beach, how my skin feels slightly sticky and damp when I am sitting on the beach, how the water and sand smell, and how much peace and stillness I feel when I’m there. I laid my head back and simply took in all that was my happy place.

I let the breeze drift lazily over me and tickle the fine hairs on my arms. I dug my feet into the sand. I took a deep breath and smelled bergamot and Darjeeling tea instead of the salty air I was expecting. My next inhale sent the scent of sandalwood, ginger, lavender, and amber straight to me. How odd for those things to be on my beach. It was different, but divine and I snuggled into the sand a bit deeper hoping to catch another whiff of the powerfully masculine scent. The aroma was so familiar and inviting, but warning flashes went shooting through my mind. Something wasn't right with my perfect place.

"If I didn't know better, I would say you are almost there, my pet," the vermin said as close to my ear as humanly possible without devouring that side of my face. I felt lucky to not have a line of slobber on my cheek and neck.

"Geesh, seriously?" I stood faster than I knew was possible, and side-stepped my would-be tongue-bather. "Don't you have any personal boundaries and home training, Rey? You don't just come into someone's happy bubble and interrupt them. Don't you have a game to get ready for?"

"Of course, speaking to you is what I like most to do before a game, dolce. If you were not aware of this, perhaps I am being too withheld in my affections," his brutish charm was a total failure on me, but I'm sure women everywhere swooned and lost their complete sense when he acted in the same manner.

"Seriously? Keep your affections over there. I'm allergic," I spat and took another step away from him.

His chuckle scratched across the back of my neck. Like when you see a Viper about to strike. You see them coil and just know it’s coming. In morbid fascination, you want to see what will happen, since it’s someone else, but at the same time you don't want to stick around and be "that guy" that didn't do something to stop the attack.

I knew Rey was trouble. I didn’t know how or why, but I could feel it every time. My gut had always been right. Even when I didn't know why or how I knew something, I always knew. I knew the first time I upset my father, before a "surprise" test, and before the accident that took Jamison from me. From that day on is when I truly started to listen to my gut, and refused to take "no" for an answer when my body spoke to me.

"I wonder if your friend Victoria has an aversion to me as well? She seemed quite taken with me. Perhaps I can go find her to keep me entertained while you’re so very busy?" His mock-threat was not lost on me. I knew he was baiting me and had something up his sleeve, but I wasn't sure what it was so I wasn't willing to feed my friend to the wolves, so to speak.

"Leave my friends alone. They are too good for you. Though, I probably should just let you talk to them and see how long you keep your intestines intact. Fun experiment!" I mocked and looked around nervously to make sure my friends were nowhere near his disgusting line of sight.

His gaze chafed its way down my body and back up to my face. "Have I ever told you how incredible your eyes are? I don't believe I've ever seen that color on a human before. It was an interesting mix of heaven, and the ocean. What does one call that shade?"

"It's called 'Dagger'. If you keep staring at me like that, it will happily slice you open," I said without a hint of smile to my face or voice. "Your eye color is interesting, too. What do you call that shade of black? Despair?"

"I call it 'Shadow'. That's where all the most deadly and beautiful things hide. Wouldn't you agree?" his voice edged me.

For once, he didn't shake me or make me question my abilities. I must be getting better at this whole bluffing thing. I knew I sounded much tougher than I felt inside. Rey had been the only opponent I had met, that threw me off of my game at all. As soon as I saw him at most of my previous games, I almost instantly withdrew to play a different game. One day, I just "put my big girl panties on" as Victoria always told me to, paid my entrance fee on the game I saw Rey registered for, and gave it my all. The game was only six players but it was intense and long. I managed to beat Rey however, so it was worth it. That was the first time he had ever spoken to me, and since had become my biggest nemesis in the game, and my most avid fan simultaneously. He was always saying sweet things to me, offering game advice, and being the complete opposite of most other poker players.

Usually poker players tended to stay to their circle and not associate with their opponents. They came, they played, they left. Just like that. But Rey, he would play, get knocked out, and watch me the rest of the night. I'm sure it was just to size up my skill to make sure he could always beat me, but it was still an annoying habit of his.

"No, I think I prefer the beautiful things in my life to be rainbow colored and well lit so nothing is hidden or secret," I looked down at my hands to make sure they appeared as steady as I felt inside.

"Ah, then you miss out, my sweet. Truly," he said as he stepped around my chair and began to head to his own table. "The game will begin soon. I truly do wish you only the best of luck. Hope to see you at the final table."

"Good luck to you as well. It will be a pleasure to beat you," I stated flatly without looking back up.