They touched glasses in a wordless acknowledgement of the occasion. Words were no longer needed. If there were any reservations, this was the point when they became obsolete. The voice of surreal romance spoke for them. The invisible line had been crossed, and on top of the solid foundation of friendship, a higher union formed.
The embrace increased with the suspended emotions that could now be fully exposed. His hands rested on the small of her back pulling her in even closer.
Her free hand gently explored the ridges across his shoulders and arms. Her eyes glazed over in a trance like state and Mike could sense that something deeper was still going on behind those eyes.
Perhaps she was sharing his thoughts in that the world was now theirs and theirs alone.
Mike placed the empty glass on the nightstand. Kelly did the same but stopped when she noticed the glass ice bucket. She picked up the bottle next to it and stared at the familiar clear and blue Cirroc label.
He saw her mind drifting to anther place. Instead of disturbing her, he remained quiet to allow her to think about what ever was on her mind. After a few minutes her words came out as if the inner thoughts needed to be said allowed.
“I like this label,” she said as she moved her hand across it thoughtfully. “I saw that you had a bottle of Nusta Pisco brandy.” She squeezed her eyes together tightly. “Don’t care for that label.”
She turned her back to Mike then sat the bottle back down. Her head turned to the side and her hand lifted quickly to wipe her face. She then lowered her head and placed it into her hands.
“Mike before this goes any further; I have a confession of my own. And I’m pretty sure that afterwards you many not want me to stay.”
Mike went to her. He tried to lift her chin with his finger. “Come on now Kelly, it can’t be that serious.”
She lifted her head but turned it to the side away from him avoiding eye contact. Although she turned away fast, he noticed that tears now filled her eyes. She kept her head to the side not allowing Mike to see her eyes then folded her arms before looking down again. She wept softly.
“That serious?” he said.
“It’s-it’s worse then you could ever imagine,” she confessed between sobs.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
When Adam woke up the next morning he did not move. He remained on his back staring at the complicated patterns on the Metropol’s ceiling. His mind swirled like the circular patterns embedded into the paint. Just as he was about to question reality he felt the stir of the warm body next him. Aki stretched and turned before snuggling up closer to his side. It really happened, the night was real.
Not wanting to wake her, he placed a light kiss on her forehead then eased from under her arm draped over him. According to the wall clock he still had a few hours before the final session of the poker tournament. He dressed quietly till he heard a voice emerge behind him.
“So you were going to run out on me without saying goodbye?” Aki said. Her sleepy voice contained a playful tone.
Adam turned to find her standing in the doorway using one of the sheets to cover her body. His heart went out to her as even in the early morning, she glowed with beauty. The front of the sheet lowered exposing one side of her chest. She seemingly had not noticed till she saw Adam’s eyes drift to the location.
Looking down she spotted the exposure then lifted the sheet higher. He instantly thought that he made two strikes already. He wanted to prove to her that he was different.
“Trust me Aki, I would never leave without saying goodbye. I was just trying not to wake you. I was about to get dressed and as a matter of a fact I was hoping that you would.” He cleared his throat nervously. “Escort me to the tournament.”
“Adam you don’t have to invite me.”
He went to her and placed his finger on her lips. She took both of her hands and wrapped them around his. She then placed several soft kisses on his fingers before inserting it inside of her mouth and allowing the sheet to fall onto the carpet.
“I want you to come with me,” he said panting from her kisses.
“Ok Adam, I would love to escort you to the tournament. Perhaps I’ll bring you luck, not that you need it.”
She ran into the restroom to get dressed. Adam smiled thinking about her words. She was right in one aspect. He never trusted the incalculable constraints of luck and always calculated the odds. Just play the odds perfectly and the game comes to you, there will never be a need to chase lady luck.
As the words given to him from his mentor danced in his head, he thought about the competition. The reigning champion, Martin Garcia, played an excellent and flawless game. Adam calculated his playing the entire time. But like everyone, Garcia had his weakness. Adam noticed that Garcia had a tell sign.
As any poker player knows, unconscious tell signs are game killers. They can tell your competition what is going on in your head. Adam picked up on tell signs better then anyone in the game but had none of his own. Years ago fellow players game him the nickname of the mannequin. His face remained expressionless from the time he sat down. However any twitch, fidgeting, or nervous chatter gave him key advantages over his opponents far more then they would ever like to know.
When it came to Garcia, Adam noticed a slight almost missed tell sign. Whenever Garcia felt that that he had an upper hand he would occasionally brush his goatee with his right hand. The only other thing that he noticed was that Garcia was not a patient player. With an already advantage of nearly twice as many chips as Garcia, Adam would use both flaws to defeat him.
Aki exited the bathroom and placed her arm around his. A short elevator ride and walk later, the emerged in the mist of poker mayhem. I can get use to this, Adam thought.
The first surprise came to Adam the moment he arrived at the tournament. Garcia sat in his seat uncharacteristically early. Adam felt sure that his opponent would make his normal last minute grand entrance.
The second surprise came from Garcia’s appearance. An odd smile rested across his face. The normally stoned faced all business expression was missing. Adam tried to ignore it but it just didn’t feel right, at all.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Other then tell signs, Adam never spent much time concerning himself with the other players. His strategy had always been to focus on the cards. He did know that Garcia was someone he may needed to give some special attention to but not Tony Swinton.
Whatever the case, Adam knew all he had to do was play his game. Calculate the plays, take advantage of the odds and utilize his perfect memory. With that in mind he knew and was confident that even Garcia knew that he could not be beat. With Adams widely known advantage of being virtually unreadable this game would be no different then the rest. He returned Garcia’s odd smile.
The Russian announcement of the start of the tournament caused a loud round of applause. As the contest began, Adam played the first hand cautiously but Tony was aggressive. As the match continued Adam watched Garcia’s every move. He would wait for him to make an error then play accordingly. It would come, they always made errors.
The cards dispersed from a shoot to the dealer’s left clockwise, starting with Adam then to Garcia and last to Tony Swinton. Two cards for the players were face down then light bets are made. The dealer then flipped three cards face up, know as the flop. Garcia placed another light bet. After that the dealer turned up another card to accompany the previous three. Adam felt that his hand was just average but played along anyway. By the end of the hand the total amount of money was substantial but not enough to do any major damage to Garcia or Adam. Garcia folded this hand turning the pot or winnings over to Adam whose hand beat out Tony’s. This wiped out Tony who tried to bluff with a bad had but failed to scare away Adam.
When Adam glanced at Garcia the site confused him. Garcia sat in place not only smiling but unfazed by the loss of the hand. But the real shocker was the tell sign.
Although no cards had been dealt, Garcia stroked his goa
tee. This action not only unnerved Adam but slightly worried him. Why a tell sign before the cards are even dealt? It did not add up.
Although the action was quick Adam caught it. A second guess was not necessary; he trusted his memory of events more then anything in life. It indeed happened, as for why the actions was done was of some concern. As the cards continued to be dealt, Adam made his calculations like a human computer. Hand after hand fell his way with Garcia no less then thirty minutes from losing it all.
“Mr. Barrie,” Garcia smiled. “Once all of this is over.” Garcia tossed his hand about as if this, as in the most coveted tournament in Europe, was much to do about nothing. “Win or lose, you will have to come to my suite for a post game celebration. We should share a drink; you’re by far the best player I have ever had the pleasure of competing against.”
“Oh, well, sure thank you. That would be very nice,” Adam said. His words eased out nervously spoken but his mind remained sharp. This small ploy, in Adam’s head anyway, was a painfully obvious attempt to distract him. He heard the rumors about Garcia just like everyone else and it was no way in hell that he would visit Garcia’s suite after beating him. Adam quickly began calculating how may hands he needed to take the rest of Garcia’s chips then finish the game.
“Fine, fine,” Garcia said. “Just swing by my room after the tournament...I’m in the presidential suite.”
Adam thought that he had never met a person in his entire like more full of themselves then Garcia. The words Presidential Suite were hung out there like a name dropping salesman. Garcia attempted to pre-empt the ego shot of a tournament loss. The words contained an, I don’t even need the money, arrogance to them.
Garcia’s sudden nervous chatter would hurt him the next time they met. It became just another item to file in Adam’s solid memory. They would certainly end up competing again so he would just add the too talkative aspect to the other tell signs.
As for this game, luck ran in abundance and just in time. He could not wait to finish and remove himself from the range of Garcia’s persistent voice. To Adam’s delight, Garcia’s constant chatter was interrupted by an extended coughing attack. After Garcia requested a glass of water, the dealer stopped the game for a short break.
They waited for the waitress but Garcia began speaking again. He smiled apologetically as he spoke directly to Adam. “I’m so sorry it must have been the chips that I had a few hours ago. I am sure some water will clear this up. Anyway while we are on break let me give you a key to my suite so you can let yourself in for the post party. What do you say huh?”
“I don’t think that will be necessary,” Adam said.
“Oh come on now, we’re all friends here right? You can bring as many people as you wish. As a matter of a fact everyone here is invited!” Garcia raised his voice dramatically as he extended the invitation to everyone in ear shot. The entire crowd applauded enthusiastically.
Garcia pulled out the room key and tossed it across the table to Adam. The card key landed face up displaying the raised numbering in Vivaldi font, 3364. The number glistened in the lights, but not for Adam. For him the numbers floated like a grey cloud in Adam’s memory. For the first time, he questioned the accuracy of recollection.
Erratic emotions surfaced at first then froze inside of him. His eyes attached to the numerals as his senses went into shock. His photographic memory flashed a sequence of pictures across his inner eye. Her smile, her voice, and the elevator all tore across his mind in flashes of troubled memoirs. Aki’s voice echoed inside his head, “How about coming to my place tonight?”
Then images of the elevator and the key appeared. The gold card key that Aki held in her slim manicured hand. The numbers on her key card flashed again inside his head. Three- three-six-four, it didn’t make sense. Mental snapshots of the two gold cards were placed side by side.
Adam faced Garcia, his mind tried to make some logic out of the matching room key numbers. As he pondered the numbers, the waitress passed by Adam to deliver Garcia’s bottled water. As he sipped the liquid his eyes remained on Adam and his face maintained the same odd grin.
“The tournament will restart in five minutes gentlemen,” the announcer said.
The organizer of the tournament leaned over to whisper to Garcia. “Will you desire anything else Sir?” he said. Adam’s other less known skill was the ability to read lips. He watched the whispered words roll from the organizer’s mouth. Garcia shook his head no. “No thank you, I have all I need now.” Adam read each word that formed across Garcia’s lips. Yet something about the way that Garcia appeared disturbed him as his eyes remained locked on Adam.
Adam heard the tapping sound of stilettos approaching from behind him. Just as the waitress emerged from his immediate left, another person passed him to get to Garcia. This, however, wasn’t another waitress.
The clicking heels walked right past Adam. He watched the familiar body frame make her way over to Garcia. Even from behind he knew the person. To Adam’s extreme dismay, everything now all added up like a desolate afterthought.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Nothing could have prepared Adam for the events that were about to take place. Even if he were told before hand exactly was about to happen, it would have done little to soften the crippling blow.
Aki leaned over and placed a kiss on Garcia’s cheek then spoke softly into his ear. Adam’s body stiffened as he read her moist lips from across the table. The very same lips were placed against his the night before.
As Garcia listened to Aki’s whisper, his eyes and grin would not leave Adam. Garcia lifted his hand and stroked his goatee several times while smiling at Adam. Aki removed the spare room key from her cleavage and passed it to Garcia. Adam continued to read her words.
“Hey baby, here is the room key you gave me. I did it exactly like you told me to. Did you want me to come by and see you tonight?” she said.
“Well I will be having a little party tonight so come on by, who knows you might find a few new customers,” he smiled.
“Ok baby. Do you have something for me?”
“Oh yes, how could I forget, you did well.”
Their voices were too low to hear but Adam read every word that came from their lips. Garcia pulled out a money clip and counted out several one hundred dollar bills then passed them to Aki.
Aki stuck out her lips with a pouty look. “So that’s it, you don’t want me now after the good job I did for you?” she said.
She continued to speak low into Garcia’s ear. Garcia kept his eyes on Adam.
“No, you’re still my favorite but not tonight my dear,” he said.
Aki placed the bills into her ample cleavage. She then stuck her tongue into Garcia’s ear. “Let me know if you change your mind. You know there is never a charge for you baby,” she said. Aki then walked right past Adam as if he did not exist. Just another John.
Garcia placed the spare key inside his jacket then picked up the other key he had thrown on the table.
“On second thought, I’ll just keep both keys. We can just walk to the suite together for the post party. But if we end up losing track of one anther and you get there before me just wait there, I’ll be right along. I’m sure you remember the room number right?” After this comment Garcia smiled with a wide self satisfying sneer. Garcia mouthed the next words; I also know that you read lips my friend.
Garcia then addressed the men close to the table, “I’m so sorry for the delay gentlemen, that was my um, friend.” He made it a point to look at Adam when he said the word friend. “She was just returning my room key since I let her borrow it to en-ter-tain, from time to time.” Entertained was said one syllable at a time for maximum effect.
The results of this calculated act proved to be nothing short of catastrophic for Adam. The next sessions of hands became an unending nightmare. His concentration fell off and was lost in a fog of confused disbelief. His calculations missed their mark, his memory fell into a short term nightmar
e and his facial expressions displayed tell signs that even the novice player could have picked up. In less then two hours Adam had not only let Garcia regain a chip lead but lost the entire tournament. The contest became the biggest turn around loss in poker tournament history.
Before the rush of congratulatory hand shakes and photo ops, Garcia made his way over to Adam. He placed a consoling hand on Adam’s shoulder and leaned over to whisper in his ear. “Don’t bother yourself by coming to the after party my friend. No one wants to hang around with a loser.” With that he rose and walked into the countless congratulations, photos with fans who literally patted Garcia on the back.
Adam remained seated. He heard the crowd behind him erupt like a dark volcano but it wasn’t for him. They poured out their adoration for the winner. Second place was last place and no one remembers the runner up. Garcia’s voice boomed across the room, “Party for everyone on the VIP floor!”
The sound of champagne bottles popped loudly. The crowd noise faded into the casino lobby then moved into the distance. The room emptied till only forlorn silence remained.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Intimacy, at all levels dwindled fast between Kelly and Mike. The concern for Kelly’s distress took precedence over his immediate desires. Her eyes remained averted and focused on the floor or any random point in the air. He sat on the edge of the bed then patted his hand on the empty space next to him.
A long hesitation came before she made a halfhearted walk over to sit next to Mike. She bounced her hand on her knee nervously. Her lowered head took in deep breaths followed by slow exhalations, more silence, but no words.
Both hands then slapped against the bed. She took in a deep breath then swept the hair out of her face. Here goes nothing, she thought. The possibility of destroying everything before it had a chance to begin was something she would just have to accept.