Vegas Ch. 08

"Looking for trouble?"

He glanced back and her stare was as intimidating as it was beautiful. Nevertheless, it seemed a strange thing for her to say and he took it as a sign of uncertainty or weakness.

"Call," he said, responding to the challenge, still unsure what hand to put her on.

As he spoke, the dark-haired woman dropped her black sunglasses from the top of her head and over her eyes. Suitably attired, they both awaited the flop.

It came down Seven-Five-Four. Daniel had a straight draw to go with his pair.

He checked, and it seemed that Katrina deliberately waited until she saw his eyes leave the board to look at her before making her announcement.

"All-in." Her voice was decisive.

Daniel searched her face but could not see her attractive, dark brown eyes through her shades. No clues there, he thought. Unless she had hit a set, he put her on Ace-King, Ace-Queen or a pocket pair. He knew that, if the latter, the probability was it was higher than his. But if so, why had she said that to him pre flop?

Despite her increasing chip stack since they had started, he calculated he was still three to one ahead of her on chips and so he called. Her shoulders appeared to slump, almost imperceptibly, as he turned over his pocket pair. Her manicured red fingernails flipped over Ace-Queen. He was in a race and held the crystal in his hand for luck.

The turn revealed the two of diamonds.

By this time Katrina had removed her sunglasses, casually dangling them above the table in her left hand, as she awaited her fate. It seemed to take a long time before the dealer revealed the river, tapping down on the green baize before turning over a black King.

Daniel gave a huge sigh and quickly stood up. He walked around the table to shake her hand but he had not even reached halfway before she had collected her bag from the floor, swung it over her yellow t-shirted shoulder and begun her journey towards her professional poker-playing husband standing at the rail. He watched them hug, her face a picture of frustration.

For a few seconds he felt her disappointment, but for no more than that brief period. He had improved his start of play chip position and the flustered nervousness he had brought with him to the table had now disappeared completely.

Things continued to go well until late afternoon, when the players were told to race off their green chips. The request flummoxed Daniel momentarily before he caught on that they were to exchange them for black $100 chips. The antes and blinds had increased so that the green chips were no longer required and it made sense for the players to use the bigger-denomination chips as the pots increased.

Because of his chip size, the other players threw their green chips to Daniel, requesting an exchange. That resulted in a problem for a while, as the already high number of green chips in his stack increased with each exchange, and with the requirement to continue playing as they were counting their chips he quickly found that his focus on the cards was affected. He made the decision that unless he had a monster he would continue to fold until his task was completed.

During the process, he was dealt King-Queen of hearts in the big blind. Everyone folded to the small blind, a small, bald, older man wearing a suit and sneakers, who made a sizeable raise. It was not the monster hand that Daniel had wanted, but he thought the guy was trying to steal and as he had roughly twice the size of his chip stack, he instinctively flat called.

The flop was Queen-Three-Two.

Very nice, thought Daniel, deciding to make a sizeable raise after the small blind checked. Except that the older man did not check. He again raised. Still trying to steal, wondered Daniel? Or alternatively perhaps he had a pocket pair? Every instinct told him to re-raise but distracted by the chip process, he simply flat called again.

The turn was a seven.

No help to either of us, thought Daniel, only for Suit and Sneakers to raise again. Daniel thought for a while, still stacking the green chips as he did. He knew his response should be to either re-raise or fold but felt he had got himself into a strange position. Weakly, he simply called.

The river brought a Jack.

There were no straight or flush possibilities and the small blind pushed all-in. Daniel shook his head in confusion. Perhaps he was up against a set, or possibly Ace-Queen? He checked his pocket cards again before sizing up his opponent, who responded with an inane grin. Daniel again shook his head to himself.

He had already donated around 20,000 chips into the pot and it would cost him another 15,000 to call. Half his stack, with nothing better than top pair.

He was lost, completely lost. He had no idea what this guy was holding and knew he had played the hand so very badly. More on instinct, or possibly desperation, he called and Suit and Sneakers turned over Jack-Three off suit. He had been playing a pair of threes throughout and the Jack on the river had given him two pair.

Daniel was aghast, speechless, and could only sit there, staring at the board and staring at the Jack-Three. It was the last hand before the dinner break and Daniel was startled out of his reverie by a player at the opposite end of the table who let out a loud whistle.

"Jack-Three? You played that hand with Jack-Three? You are shitting me!" he exclaiming in a shrill voice.

The small blind just sheepishly grinned as they stood up and made their way from the table into the break.

*

Grace could not understand why Daniel had rung her, but she was pretty pissed off at the fact that he had hung up on her. She told this to Joshua, and explained exactly what she would like to do to Daniel and his slut, as they lay in his bed at the club, recovering from another exhausting lovemaking session.

He told her that he understood how she felt but that she must not get herself worked up over the situation. Get even, not mad, he repeated and suggested a way in which he thought she could do exactly that. Grace heard him out, speechless. She assumed from the way he was speaking that Lisa must have told him about the two of them, which must mean that Joshua thought she was bi. But even so.......

"I can't believe you are suggesting such a thing," she told him.

Smiling, Joshua responded, "My dear girl, we are all adults. We all use our bodies for pleasure. Just look at you. First there was Lisa, and then there was my father. Then me, and then Old Sam...."

Grace's eyes flew wide open at this last name.

"Oh yes, baby. We know exactly what Old Sam's initiation ceremony is!"

He did not tell her that cameras were also concealed in the tattoo parlour and every initiation had also been recorded for future use, if necessary.

"And that is fine, Grace my love. We all need sexual release."

He paused, running his fingers along her stomach and then down to her sex, eliciting a soft moan as the back of his fingertips brushed her still aroused clitoris.

"But just think, what better means of exacting your revenge than by seducing this girlfriend of his, taking her from him through the same means as she is trying to take him from you. The ultimate triumph, baby, don't you think?"

His fingers had now worked themselves inside Grace and she felt her body responding to this stallion of a man, moaning into his neck.

"We have it all arranged, just like I've explained," he went on, his knowing fingers working deeper against her now thrusting hips. "And this afternoon, you can take the first steps."

Grace moaned again, biting his shoulder as her arousal built. "All right, Joshua," she gasped, "I'll do it one condition."

"I don't like conditions," he said, a slight coldness entering his voice.

"You'll like this one," Grace responded, easing herself away from his fingers and beginning to straddle his thighs. "I want you to fuck me again."

*

It was late afternoon when Grace turned up at the promotional event. Katherine had already been there for around three hours and the constant activity had taken the redhead's mind of her morning's session with Daniel. As usual, the sex had been fantastic, and the look on Daniel's face when he realised she had telephoned Grace had been priceless.

But although she had displayed no emotion, when he told her he was ending their relationship, her blood had run cold. She had been of a mind to actual say something to Grace when she had called her room, but she had more sense than that. Such a move could have impacted on her new job and she needed the money she would earn over the next week.

The way it had happened had been unusual. When the well dressed young man had spotted her leaving the club after her late night session with Daniel, she thought he might have seen their activities. But in fact it seemed it was just that he had spotted a pretty girl and as he introduced himself as being the son of the owner, he explained that he had wanted to take a chance on her being available. Work wise that is.

And the money was very good, surprisingly so. Normally she would not have been able to obtain half the rate he had offered, but it seemed they were in a jam and quickly needed some attractive young women to help promote the club. And when he had told her they would provide a cheap room at the Rio over the next week, everything had fallen into place for her.

If Daniel had just had a little more gumption, they could have had a wonderful time over the next few days. But no, he had wanted to be faithful to Grace, as if it was not already too late after fucking Katherine several times.

She had accepted the decision with her usual style, but inside she was feeling pretty frustrated and wondered if she might get one more opportunity to seduce him this week. After all, the poker was being held at the Rio, and she had a room there. She decided she would give that some serious thought when she got back to the hotel after today's shopping centre promotion.

The promotion had been quite a success, too. The club had hired a Chevrolet Corvette and Katherine had been posing beside and around it all afternoon. Joshua had said they would attempt to send a couple of other models to help her, but as yet no-one had turned up. Clearly, she thought, they were struggling to recruit suitable young women although for the life of her she could not understand why. She reckoned that there must be hundreds available for hire.

But that suited her fine. She actually enjoyed all the attention she was getting on her own and after a while, was hoping that no other models would join her and take away the limelight. And the task of handing out leaflets and talking to tourists was not exactly onerous. She was busy, yes, but in her element. The sports car had Samuel Smith's name emblazoned across both sides and the organisers at the site told her how pleased they were with her efforts.

She felt a little overdressed in the tight white blouse and pleated mini skirt but if that was in keeping with the club's image, then so be it. She would have gone for tight hot pants and a figure hugging top if the choice had been hers, but they knew what they were doing. And after a while, she actually found the outfit quite sexy, although not in an obvious way. The skirt rode up if she twirled around and the classical blouse was sufficiently low cut to show enough cleavage.

The club had even assigned a driver to transport Katherine around during events, a rugged, good looking Hispanic guy with a thin moustache and slicked back hair. In keeping with their image, Mario wore a crisp, black suit and had courteously explained that it was his role to escort her from promotion to promotion, ensuring that she arrived on time and had everything she needed.

She realised that the purpose was to ensure that each even went smoothly, rather than it being a perk made available to her. Nevertheless she enjoyed the feeling of importance engendered by his attentions and just loved the limousine that was their method of transport.

Her only uneasiness had been as they were about to start their journey from the Rio, when he had revealed a hidden compartment in the back of the long white vehicle and had offered her a little white powder to snort. She had shaken her head, but that did not go down well.

"It's expected," he had said. "Mr Smith wants his models fully relaxed before each event. I cannot take you there unless you accept the offering. And believe me, Katherine, you do not want me to report back that you refused his hospitality!"

So Katherine had imbibed, for the very first time in her life. She had no option, she told herself. And anyway, what harm could it do?

In the event, she found it had given her a buzz that had lasted throughout her afternoon's work. And the glass of wine that was waiting for her in the back of the car was pretty neat too. Mario had insisted that she drain the wine during the journey and strangely had examined the glass when they arrived as if to make sure it had all been consumed.

"All part of the service," he had grinned, when she stepped out of the car.

The only problem she had experienced since then was that she was beginning to feel extremely aroused. It could not be down to the single glass of wine, she knew. She was probably turned on by her session with Daniel, she thought, and the excitement of the afternoon's event. And if that was the effect created by the powder she had sniffed, then she would take more anytime. Her only problem was that she badly needed to fuck again and there was no immediate possibility.

It was late in the afternoon when the photographer arrived. The Club had booked an advertising feature in both Las Vegas papers. The idea was to take a couple of photographs of potential customers around the car but the well-worn middle-aged photographer thought that Katherine was too good an opportunity to miss and wanted to include her in the promotional shots.

"Stand up against the door of the car," he barked. "Give me a sexy look."

And as he flashed away, the attention brought a small crowd around them. Good for business, she knew.

"Okay, now lean across the bonnet. Rest your boobs across the hood. That's right," he persuasively instructed.

Katherine had to lean over quite a way and knew that if she was not flashing the silk of her bottom covered panties at the photographer, then she certainly was providing quite a display for the gathering crowd. Her bottom was raised and although she felt exposed, she also realised that the arousal that had been haunting her all afternoon was increased by the pose she had adopted. Not only were her breasts pressed flat against the bonnet, but she could also feel her aroused nipples pressing through her blouse and against the metal.

Grace stood to the side, dressed in exactly the same attire as Katherine, observing events. Images of the recording she had watched with Joshua came back into her mind and whilst much of that disgusted her, she realised that part of it was a turn on, too. And watching the woman, even younger than she was, manipulating the camera with her variety of sultry poses, she found herself strangely aroused.

Instantly, thoughts of Lisa came flooding back into her mind and she recalled the sexiness that the blonde star exuded. This redheaded young woman had a similar quality, she thought. She was hot, there was no doubt about that! Grace shifted from one leg to the other, thinking that seducing the slut might actually bring with it some unexpected pleasure, in addition to providing payback to her and Daniel.

She could see Katherine's nipples through the blouse and, looking down at her own breasts, saw that her own hard points were responding in the same way. A ripple of anticipation radiated down her body and between her legs as she gently eased her way through the onlookers and across to the car.

The crowd had given a cheer when Katherine pulled herself from the bonnet and stood up. She turned to face them, seeing all their eyes on her, and did a mock curtsey. They cheered again. The feeling was quite exhilarating. She felt like a supermodel, some kind of princess. It was then she saw her. Grace. She was dressed in a similar fashion to herself. What the hell was going on?

*

Daniel's zombie like state was such that although he had made his way outside at the break in play, he had no clear recollection as to how he had got there. He remembered getting up from the table in a daze, and that was all. As he stood there, he was only vaguely aware of the other players who were standing around, most of them taking the opportunity for a nicotine break.

He leant against a wall, his chest tightening as a result of the frustration he was feeling. Rather than eat, he tried to use the time to get his mind back into gear. But as much as he tried, he found difficulty in shaking off the way he had played that last hand. And being distracted by counting the green chips was no excuse. He had let himself down and damaged his chances of progressing much further.

As it approached the time to restart he made his way to the restrooms and as he came back into the corridor, he felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Norman Chad.

"How are you doing?" he squawked in that deadpan way of his.

Daniel's face answered for him and Norm put a hand on his arm, gently squeezing.

"Listen," the television pundit said, "I saw the hand. That's poker!"

They both laughed at the cliché, breaking the tension for a moment, until Daniel crinkled his face and cursed.

"Shit. I've thrown away a great position, Norman. I can't believe I did that. The guy played the hand so badly, and yet I found a way to play it worse."

Norman shook his head.

"What you mean is that you are not in as good a position as you were. You haven't thrown anything away yet, but you will do if you go back in and play as if you are feeling sorry for yourself. Forget that hand, or better still, use it. Use it to help you refocus and get back onto your normal game. That's what the great players do."

"I'm not a great player," responded Daniel, though Norman's words were already beginning to lift his spirits.

"No, you're not, kid. But from what I've seen so far, you're a solid one. If you want to find out how good you are, get your mind right and get back on your game as soon as you resume."

Daniel took his hand into both of his, and then shook it warmly.

"That's great advice, Norman, and that's just what I'm going to do."

He returned to the table, determined to grind it out, and gave himself the goal of returning his chip stack to its previous lofty position by the time play ended that evening. He may need to take the odd chance to do so, he thought. But if he could successfully mix more aggression into his natural, solid play then he could bring himself right back into this. No more soft calling and giving others the chance to catch, he hammered into himself.

*

As Grace walked, or rather swayed, over to the car her eyes never left Katherine, who stood transfixed, staring back at Samuel's new singing sensation. God, she looked so hot, Grace thought again, unaware that the same thoughts were filtering across Katherine's mind once her shock had started to abate. The fact that it was Grace, combined with the way she looked, sent Katherine's arousal levels skywards.

"Katherine, isn't it?" Grace murmured.

She leant forward and kissed the attractive red haired girl on the cheek. For a moment, Katherine could only nod, her mouth slightly open.

"Hi, I'm Grace. I'm not a model, but Samuel was stuck and asked if I could help out with a little promotional work today. I hope you're okay with that?"

Katherine nodded again, taking in Grace's sultry perfume as she leaned close and placed a delicate hand on the shoulder of the redhead's white blouse. There was no doubt that Katherine's arousal was heightened by the singer's presence, probably enhanced by the danger that accompanied the situation, she realised.