The dealer was a short statured Asian man who was probably in his thirties.
Was he really our next contact?
Six pulled out four one-hundred-dollar bills and handed them to the dealer. He stared at them for a brief second, glanced at Six, then made the change call. He slid over a large pile of chips, and Six gave me half.
We played for a while. I lost about a hundred dollars, while Six was up about five hundred. The couple left, and we sat there with the older man. I didn’t know how much longer we were going to be, but my stack was dwindling.
Counting cards was not my strong suit.
“Hot night tonight,” the gentleman said, tipping his glass to us.
I stared down at the cards in front of me—a king and five—trying to decide to hit or not. Tapping the table, I cringed as the dealer turned over the next card, blowing out a sigh when a four appeared.
“It is,” Six said.
I glanced over at him, surprised he responded. When I looked back down at my cards I hissed a “yes!” when the dealer busted at twenty-four and I finally won a hand.
“You’ve got an awful pretty kitty with you tonight,” the man said.
That stopped me, and I understood. “Oh, come on!” I cried out, pissed that, once again, I was being referred to as an animal. Luckily my outburst happened when I hit and bust, making perfect sense.
“Cards aren’t being too kind to you tonight, are they, kitty?”
I turned my head and glared at him.
“You’ve got a feisty one,” he said with a smirk.
“You have no idea,” Six said.
“Where you two from?”
“Virginia.”
“And her?”
Six’s lip twitched. “I took her from her boring life in Ohio.”
I wanted to object, but he was right—my life was boring.
The man nodded. “My drink’s gone dry. Think I’ll head over to the sports bar for a refill and place a penny or two on some ponies.”
“Good luck.”
He nodded at us. “Night.”
Six and I were left alone at the table, the dealer waiting on our new bets. Reluctantly, I pushed a ten out, while Six pushed an entire stack out—almost four hundred dollars.
That was a lot, and when the cards came out, my eyes grew wide. There was no way he would hit on twenty, which would be a nice payout.
I only had six, and hit three times before busting at twenty-two. When Six knocked on the table I turned to him in wide-eyed horror.
What was he doing? The odds of him getting a one were astronomical.
Three.
He tapped again and I was shocked when the dealer continued.
Eight.
Again.
The dealer ignored him and went on to his own hand.
“Dealer wins.”
“Too bad,” Six said as he stood.
Everything in me wanted to go off on him, but I couldn’t cause a scene. Instead, I stared at him as I took his hand and waved goodbye to the dealer.
“What was that about?” I asked as we merged in to the flow of human traffic.
Holy shit, Six was right. A herd of cattle walking together.
He didn’t respond but kept me close, even going so far as to wrap his arm around my shoulders. There was an opening in the crowd, and we rushed through. After weaving through a few slot banks, we ended up at the sports bar and went in.
There were a tiny handful of people, maybe four including the bartender, inside. One of them was the man who’d been sitting at the blackjack table with us.
“Nice night for a race,” Six said as he sat, pulling me onto his lap.
“You’re looking good.” The man’s eyes never left the screen.
Six ran his hand up and down my thigh. “Retirement has aged you.”
“Nah, just age catching up to me. I’m trying to live the good life in my golden years.”
Six chuckled. I hated to admit how the deep, resonating sound made me tingly. Flashes of alternative scenarios jumped around my brain of a regular life, of making him laugh.
Of being with him longer than my death sentence.
What the actual fuck?
“Your boy was down at the Golden Nugget, but that was nearly a week ago.”
“Nothing since?”
The man shook his head.
“Did he finish his work here?”
The man nodded. “Two days ago. That was the last I could find of him.”
“Any idea on where the meeting was?”
“Say, do you two like tacos?” he asked. Segue much? “There is this fantastic taco truck that drives around. I sometimes see it just outside of town headin’ to this industrial complex.”
“We may have to go for a drive, then.”
“Watch out, though, there are some rats that hang out in those things.”
Six nodded and stood. “Good luck.”
“You, too. Take care.”
Six stood and wrapped his arm around my waist, guiding me back out to the madhouse of the casino floor. Diving between gaps of people, we wove through throngs of mindless walkers the entire way back out to the front to pick the car up from valet.