Bluffing the Devil(25)

"Your little buddies can't protect you. You pushed my hand," she said as she stood and a new dealer was placed at our table.

"I don't know what was going on with you and fake, sexy bitch, but it looked like you were going to rip her face off," one of the players said.

"We have a little bit of history. I'd like to gut her with a rusted knife though," I said sounding more and more distant with each word.

"Yeah, I could see that. Are you okay?" the player's concern was so sweet.

"Yes, I’m fine sweetie. Thank you," I said and patted his hand. "Thanks for having her escorted out."

"I didn't want to get entrails all over my stack," he joked.

"Right? I hate it when they stick together. It's like "Ew, keep your blood off my hard-earned chips, lady," and they never listen, do they?" Our laughter was soothing to me.

"Well, this one time someone listened and she's gone now," he added.

"A point that is very well taken now, let's do this!" My attempt at sounding excited and ready seemed to go over well and the dealer began our game.

I looked up to the spectator area and saw Rhea and Victoria looking like they wanted to scream. I would have to update them later. I took a mental note.

I played more aggressive than normal and knocked out two more players, leaving me to be heads up with the guy who joked about entrails with me. The next break was announced and I rocketed out of my seat to meet Victoria and Rhea to tell them what was going on and what she had said to me.

"That was her? Holy shit, she's hot!"

"No shit, Rhea. She has to use her looks to help her get what she wants and pull people to her," Victoria added. "She's good looking, I'll give you that, but that nasty face she makes when talking shit, just makes a person want to throat-punch her and steal her shoes."

"You sound like Carly for a second," I giggled. "Has anyone heard from her? Are you guys going to go check on them?"

"We will go right now so we can be back to watch the final table," Rhea announced and squeezed my hand. "You are doing so great. I saw that guy try to donk-out and slow play you with nothing. Love that you had the nuts. Idiot!"

My eyes widened a bit. "Did you just pull a poker-rich sentence out on me, Rhea? I'm so impressed right now," I said with a giggle. "Poor baby, you have to hear me talk about poker way too much if that sentence flowed so easily from you. Sorry!"

"I'm not sorry. It's exciting to watch you play. I love it. I couldn't do it, but you are great and it's thrilling to watch you size people up and crush them. Sexy!"

"Yeah, I guess," I said, still working my way around the giggle she induced before.

"Okay babe. We are going to head that way, check on things, then come right back. Love you!" Victoria pulled me in for a huge hug. "You're kicking ass. I'm always proud of you, just so you know," she whispered into my ear, making me smile. I knew she was proud, but to hear it was awesome.

"Dude, what the hell? It's my turn for a hug," Rhea stepped in, shoving Victoria over. "Geez, greedy bitch!"

"Where's my hug?" Rey said, typical snake in the grass. That guy could sneak up on you without a sound, always. If I didn’t know him, I would think he was some sort of ninja or at least a kid hiding his actions from his mother. That somehow seems more apropos.

"I don't know, I think we all rubbed it off on Rhea though."

He took my words and scooped Rhea up in a big hug. "Yep, seems about right. She was covered in the stuff. So glad I was able to take some away. A girl could smother under all of that love," he said with a smile. "Are you girls going somewhere?"

"We are just going back to the suite to check on Carly and Devin. He might need some food by now, and we want to see how she's feeling. You know Alexia, always worrying about everyone else. We don't want her to lose focus, so we volunteered to go."

"That is so nice of you girls. Do you need an assistant?" he offered.

"You’re playing and we’re big girls, we can handle anything," Rhea said with a fake-war face going on.

"I didn't mean me, sweetie. I have people that would join you if need be," he said, as he raised his hand, Rhea looked behind him and saw three ridiculously huge, sexy, tattoo covered guys raise from their seats.

Rey put his hand down and they all sat.

"Wow, cool trick. You should teach me that sometime. I'd love to have a horde of sexy boy toys at my beck and call," Victoria said with a look of pure joy on her face. She was lost in a daydream for a moment, when I snapped my fingers in front of her to wake her.

"Uh, daydream about half naked, God-like creatures later. You have a mission," I reminded her.

"Yes, of course. Yes," she said as she grabbed Rhea's elbow and dragged her out of the casino. "We will be back in a jiffy," she shouted over her shoulder as they cleared the doorway.

"So, ready to go back in and win this thing?" I asked Rey.

"It’s like shooting fish in a barrel, babe. Let's do it!"

Chapter 17



The heads up portion after the break felt like it lasted all of my life. The time could not have gone slower unless it stopped all together.

The next break started an hour later and by that point, I was ready to shoot myself in the face to stop the need to return to the floor. The break was set to be thirty minutes so Rey and I decided to grab a snack and head down to the beach for some much needed fresh air. Rhea and Victoria were nowhere to be found, so I assumed they were chatting up Devin and Carly back at the suite. No news is good news, right?

"Even I wanted to be out of there this time, geez. Did it feel like the walls were pressing your soul, too?" Rey asked as soon as the door opened to the outside.

"Yes!! I was suffocating!"

The warm air wrapped around us and I took a deep breath, releasing all the stress of the night. I could feel it simply lift off of my shoulders. Amazing what a little fresh air will do for your spirit.

We stopped by a little shop to grab a bite to eat. Rey offered me a salad and I rolled my eyes at him, reminded him that I am not a rabbit, and reached for a chicken sandwich.

"A girl that likes her meat is always welcome to have dinner with me," he said with a snicker.

"If I don’t eat enough protein, I get all wimpy and it’s just not a good look for me," I said as we headed to the beach. I munched on the cup of grapes I had bought at the shop. Maybe food and beach together could shake the odd feeling I kept having.

We arrived at my favorite spot on the beach. I kicked off the shoes that were threatening to make my feet defect from my body and sat down.

I looked over at the peer to see if any boats were in dock. I wanted to go on a boat ride before leaving to go home the next day. I was about to look down at my midnight snack when something under the peer caught my eye; a woman standing in the water.

It looked as if she had lost something and was looking for it. I put my food down and told Rey that I would be right back.

"What? Where are you going, woman?" he said, sounding annoyed. He was enjoying the break too much to have to walk again.

"That girl, she looks like she needs help," I answered as I kept on walking, my eyes were narrowed to try to get a better look at her. "I am going to just go see if she's okay, that's all. I'll be right back."

As I got closer, I realized that wasn't just any girl, it was Carly. And she wasn't looking for something, she was… drowning someone.

I immediately burst into a run. I didn't know what was going on, but something was terribly off and she needed me.

The water swirled and lashed around her arms as she held him under. He fought and clawed at her arms until she pulled him up with a bored look washed across her brow. Her fist was full of his hair and she shook him like a ragdoll as if he were weightless.

"You had something more to say? I thought you were all finished talking?" she snarled with a menacing chuckle.

"You… you're…" he choked out. "Does she know?"

"No, but she will find out soon enough," as she looked up and locked eyes with me. "I don't need you as a distraction," she said as she shoved his face under the rushing water again and held him until he stopped fighting.

"That's what I thought," she mumbled, as she released his lifeless body and trudged up the shore just as I got there.

"What the f*ck, Carly? What are you doing?"

I sloshed through the tide to pull Devin up to safety. Gasping for air and reaching for me; he had been left to die. This time it was by someone I loved and thought I knew.

Rey arrived just as I was pulling Devin to shore, as Carly stood staring menacingly at us.

"Um, I'm no expert and truly a bad person inside, but that's definitely not how you treat your friends," he said, as I lunged at Carly. Raw fury lashed from me as I landed a punch straight to her face then swept her legs from under her. I wanted to pounce on her and beat the life out of her, but I had to make sure Devin was going to be okay.