Bluffing the Devil(6)

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.