He slowed his retreat. Thought about it for a couple seconds. “Nah. I should really get home.”
“Come on, it’s one drink. Maybe two, max. What’s it going to hurt? Just tell your wife you’re working late. I need a drinking buddy. Maybe we’ll get a little work done too so it won’t be a total lie.”
Keith really could use a drink. It’d been a hard day and he knew Annabel wouldn’t mind. It was his idea to get home to her and work on things, not hers. Fuck it. “Sure. Why not. We’re taking your car though.”
“You want to drive her?” Carter asked, sealing the deal. It was a no brainer and before Keith could tell him yes, he was already getting in the passenger seat.
They decided to go to the bar inside Talking Stick Casino. It was a high-end place and happened to be nearby. Keith complained it would be too crowded, but Carter insisted. They pulled up to valet and walked through the casino, jam packed with tables and floating cigarette smoke, to get to the lower level bar. Music and voices carried throughout the large open space and it was a struggle to hear each other without having to yell.
“I told you it’d be crowded,” said Keith. “Let’s go somewhere else.”
“Hell no. This is just what we need. A little change of pace. You my friend have to learn how to live a little.”
Keith watched Carter walk up to the bar counter where there were exactly two empty stools available; one in the center and another two spaces down. Two young women filled those spaces and Carter confidently walked up to them, flashed a smile and bought them a shot. Low and behold they happily moved one seat down leaving two spaces side by side.
“You’re pretty good at that for being recently single,” stated Keith as he walked over and took the stool on the right. “I don’t think I even remember how to talk to women.”
Keith used to have the confidence of a rock star when it came to women. Not so much now though. He still flirted and put on his pretty boy smile when he was trying to schmooze a soon to be client or a judge, but that wasn’t the same thing. It was all part of the job. He hadn’t outwardly hit on another woman since before Annabel, ten years ago.
“You remember, you’re just out of practice. It comes back pretty easy. Like riding a bike.” Carter turned, glanced around the bar and then pointed to two girls standing side by side near one of the high top tables. “There. Try it. Just tell them you’re a lawyer. They’ll eat that shit up.”
The girls were fours at best, it’s not like Carter was throwing him to the gauntlet and asking him to hit on a ten, but he still couldn’t do it. It didn’t feel right. “No, I think I’m okay. I sort of don’t mind being out of practice.”
“Suit yourself,” he told him as he waved down a bartender and ordered two shots of tequila and two bottles of Guinness, apparently his beer of choice.
“I guess our two drinks are going to get taken care of right away.”
“Huh? Oh right. Yeah. I meant two rounds. Don’t be such a pussy Nichols. I’m planning to get you out of that shell of yours.”
Carter flashed him a toothy grin and Keith conceited, picking up one of the shots and held it up in the air. “To figuring out this fucking case.”
Carter raised his shot as well. “And to not being a pussy.”
“That too.”
They both threw back the shot and the warm liquid burned through Keith’s throat. It’d been a long time since he’d had tequila. He used to be able to drink it from the bottle, but now one shot had him hacking up a storm and nearly losing his lunch on the counter. He took a sip of beer to rid his mouth of the fowl taste and Carter smacked him on the back a couple times.
“Attaboy. We’ll get you back in the swing of things in no time.”
The guys sat at the counter, chit chatting a little about the case, but quickly moved on to more personal topics and the hours ticked by. Keith found out Carter had a yacht he kept housed at Lake Tahoe and they made plans to go there one day soon while the weather was still warm. Maybe double date with Annabel and one of the many women he’d been spending his time with lately. Carter also finally opened up about his ex, admitting their breakup messed him up more than he thought it would. Keith couldn’t help but wonder, if this was Carter messed up, how was he on a normal day. The guy had an arrogant confidence that just seemed to draw people to him, females and males alike; the men in a strictly platonic way, but it still crossed Keith as odd. He was just one of those guys you wanted to be friends with and it didn’t hurt he was buying the whole counter shots each time they took one.
“Dude,” Keith laughed. “How much money are you planning to spend? Your tab’s got to be close to a thousand by now.”
“Don’t care. My ex is going to end up with half my money one day soon. What’s another thousand dollars gone. If you think about it, it’s really only like five hundred.” Keith laughed so hard he almost spit out his sip of beer at Carter’s joke. It was a funny way to think of things, but at the same time, very true.
They were long past their two rounds, but as time went on, rushing home became less important to Keith. For the first time in a long time he was having fun. He couldn’t remember the last time he went out and just shot the shit with one of his friends. They’d laughed so much his cheeks were starting to hurt. He sent Annabel a quick text to let her know he wouldn’t be home until late and then rested his phone on the counter in front of him.
“Texting the ball and chain?”
“Yep.”
“Is she going to be pissed?”
“Don’t care,” Keith mimicked Carter’s earlier response.
“Do you have a picture? I want to see this librarian of yours.”
“Not a librarian, book nerd. Get it right,” Keith laughed, but opened the photo app on his phone and scrolled through to find a good one before holding the phone up to Carter.
“Holy shit man. She’s fucking hot. How’d you land that?” he teased and Keith rolled his eyes. “Seriously. What the fuck are you doing out with me when you could be in bed with her?”
“I’m out with you because you begged me to if I remember correctly,” he said, setting his phone back down on the counter. “To be honest, things have been a little rocky with Annabel and I lately. If I were at home and in bed, I’d probably be alone.”
“Ouch. Trouble in paradise?”
“Not necessarily. I think I’m just being sensitive. It’s been a few weeks. No big deal, right?”
“I don’t know,” Carter grimaced. “I’m not the best person to get relationship advise from. I mean, you’ve had a rough year. It could be nothing. Just a dry spell.”
“Yeah, that’s probably it. She’s just been acting really weird lately. She went on vacation, the trip to New York,” Keith clarified even though Carter already knew about the the trip from his thorough investigation, “and I swear to God she came back a different person.”
“How so?”
“I don’t know. She’s just distant. Lost in her own thoughts. She started smoking again, which she hasn’t done since college. She’s been sleeping on the very edge of the bed, as far away from me as possible. And the other day, I caught her on the phone with someone, she was whispering about something and when she saw me she just hung up. Acted like that was completely normal behavior. Put a smile on her face, kissed me and went to make dinner. It was fucking weird.”
“Yeah, it’s uh, definitely weird. Can I ask you a question without you getting pissed at me?”
Keith didn’t reply. Just stared back at Carter waiting for the question.
“This is just the business side of me talking, and I’m not saying this is what’s happening, but do you think she’s having an affair?”
“Dude. No. What the fuck?”
“I’m just saying. I’ve seen this before. I think you forget what I do for a living.”
“I know what you do, but I know my wife too. She’d never do that to me.” Annabel knew how much he loved her; she loved him too. They’d been through everything toget
her. There was no way she would cheat on him. She just wouldn’t. That’s not who they were. They were the couple everyone was jealous of. Keith and Annie. They’d become somewhat of a representation of what their friends wanted, but could never find. They belonged together. She wouldn’t ever ruin that.
“You’re right. I shouldn’t have said anything. I need another shot. You ready for another one?” Carter changed the subject and waved down the bartender.
“You buying for the whole counter again?”
“Nope, just you and me,” he managed to get in before burping long and loud. “What’s your poison this time?”
“I don’t care, just no more tequila.”
“Pussy,” he joked, grinning at him with a big-toothed smile.
Another shot down and the awkward conversation was quickly forgotten. Keith and Carter moved on from it as easily as long lost friends. Sometimes there are people you just click with, even if they’re your polar opposite, and that’s how it was for them. He felt comfortable around Carter. They could laugh and goof off one minute, and then call each other pussies the next. Well Carter was usually the one doing the name calling. Keith just told him to fuck off in response, but still, it worked for them. If someone would have told him he and Carter would end up being great friends that day he first saw him leaving the county jail, he would have said no way in hell, the guy had that asshole, know it all look about him, but it seemed like they were on their way to just that.
“You know what we should do?”
“What?” asked Keith.
“Go spend more of my money.”
“What are you proposing?”
“Well we are at a casino.”
Carter called over the bartender and asked for the bill. Keith offered to pitch in, but he didn’t accept. Said it was his way of winding down; getting shit-faced, blowing a bunch of cash and then waking up in the morning feeling like he had something to work toward. Yeah, like replenishing his bank account.
The guys headed out of the bar and up the stairs, stumbling and laughing along the way. Well Keith stumbled, Carter just laughed. They walked through the casino floor bumping shoulders and made no excuses. It reminded Keith of the good ole days, back when he just didn’t give a fuck.
“Hey ladies,” Carter called out to a group of girls in tiny black dresses as they walked toward them. “Which one of you plans on blowing me tonight?” he asked while grabbing the crotch of his jeans.
A couple of the girls laughed, rolling their eyes at him, and one of them out right flipped him off.
“Aw come on baby, you know you want to,” he continued, walking backwards and checking out their asses as they passed by.
Keith could barely contain his amusement. “Those are some great moves you got there. Do they ever work?”
“Who says they didn’t? My money’s on the girl with the vulgar finger.”
“You’re dreaming.”
“Care to make a wager on that?”
Keith considered saying no, the girls were there in skimpy outfits, obviously looking to get laid, but just for the fun of it, he accepted. “Sure. Fifty bucks?”
“You’re on Nichols. At least I know I’ll be fifty dollars up by the end of the night.”
“We’ll see.”
The first table they stopped by was Craps. Keith was never very good at Craps. Truth be told, he didn’t really know how to play. Would usually just put his chips down somewhere and hope for the best.
Carter pulled out his wallet and handed the dealer a stack of hundreds, exchanging the money for a variety of chips.
“Holy shit dude. You always carry that much cash?”
“Not usually. Today’s special though.”
“Why’s that?”
“I guess you’d say it’s my anniversary.”
If Keith had a file on Carter documenting his life events, maybe he would have known that. “Oh. Shit.”
“I’d always buy her these big, extravagant gifts. Figured I’d spend the money on myself this time.” Carter handed Keith half his stack of chips. “And you. Consider it a perk of being my date tonight.”
“Aw honey. You shouldn’t have.”
“Shut the fuck up. Just place your bet.”
Keith took two of the chips and did what he normally would, found a random spot on the table and set them down.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never really play—”
“Shut up dude,” Carter whisper yelled. “You can’t say that here. It’s bad luck. No one likes a male virgin.”
“Oh. Sorry. Where Master Yoda should I put the chips then?”
Carter pulled his chips back and set them in a box near the edge of the table labeled Pass Line. “Here. You should always bet here first or right in front of the line. Never in the middle of the table. At least not on your first bet. I’ll give you the basics. When you place your bet here, if the shooter rolls a seven or eleven you win. If he rolls a two, three or twelve you lose. Any other number rolled then becomes the point number and as long as he rolls that number again, before a seven is rolled, you win. Got it?”
“Sort of.”
“Whatever. Just keep the money there.”
“Fine by me. It’s your money.”
The shooter, a short bald man rolled a six. Carter doubled up, increasing the stakes. The next roll was a nine, and then a five. On the third roll he chucked them hard, the dice bounced off the back wall and rolled back to the center of the table; a four and a two.
“Fuck yeah!” Carter exclaimed, giving Keith a swift pat on the back.
“I don’t get it.”
“We won. He just rolled a six again before a seven.”
“Nice. Should I bet more?”
“Do what you want. I’m keeping the money if you make anything though.”
“Deal.”
Keith copied Carter’s bets identically every time. Sometimes they’d lose, but most the time they’d win, and the stack of chips in front of them slowly but surly started increasing. The more they’d win, the gutsier Carter would get. Playing two and three hundred dollar bets a pop. This round he went in for a thousand, Keith copied, and even though it wasn’t his money he could still feel the pressure, the rush at the chance of losing. He was now the shooter, the whole table looked his way to roll correctly, crossed their fingers and went silent as the dice left his hand. When the dots appeared as a six and three, the table went wild, Keith and Carter included. They jumped into each other’s arms hugging like a couple gay kids coming out of the closet for the first time.
“I fucking love you,” Carter hollered. “Damn that was good. Best anniversary ever!”
“Did you expect anything less?”
“Got another one in you?”
“I don’t know. How much are you betting?”
“I’m all in.”
“What?” Keith asked, almost spitting out the sip of beer he’d just taken. “That’s over five grand. Don’t be crazy.”
“Are you going to copy me this time?” Carter asked, ignoring the crazy comment.
Keith looked down at his stack of chips, exponentially larger than what he’d started with. “Sure, why not.” He pushed his entire stack forward to meet Carter’s. Blowing on the dice he gave them a good shake.
“Here, let me help,” said a female voice behind him. She reached out for Keith’s hand and opened his grip, gently blowing on the dice. He didn’t look away from her as he tossed them, a cocky gesture that kept his mind off the fact that they were about to blow over ten thousand dollars. The table erupted in cheers and when he turned back he saw both dice, siting center table showcasing a five and a four.
“Shit.” Covering his face, he let his palms wipe away the shock.
“I’m Jenna by the way,” the girl spoke up amongst the cheers, holding out a hand to shake.
Keith turned back to her and noticed for the first time who she was. “Hey! Vulgar Finger!”
“Ex
cuse me?”
“Nothing, nothing. Thanks for that by the way.”
“No problem. How much did you end up making?”
Keith looked to Carter for the answer. He finally figured out the game, but the payouts were still a little fuzzy.
“With that bet and the others we’re sitting at about fifteen grand.”
Keith could barely stand after hearing the number. It’s not like fifteen thousand dollars was an astronomical amount, but making it in one night sure felt like it.
“I say we stop while we’re ahead.”
“Sounds good to me. It’s your money.”
“Nope. It’s yours.”
“No, you said—” Carter cut him off.
“I know what I said. I was just fucking with you. I was planning on spending that money one way or another tonight. Better you keep it than me. Once I take it I lose fifty percent and that’s just depressing. You might as well take it all.”
Keith didn’t feel right taking his money, but had a compromise in mind. “How about I keep it and put it in an account. Then, once the divorce is final, we use it to celebrate again.”
“Sounds like a plan to me. Or we celebrate tonight,” he looked over toward Jenna still standing at his side. “Where’s your friends babe?”
It turned out her friends were heading to the dance club. Keith wasn’t much of a dancer, but Carter practically forced his hand, claiming that one of them needed to get laid that night. He sure hoped it was him, but not by any of the girls at the club. If Jenna had her way she would have taken him up to a room right away. Keith had to fend off her advances, but it made him glow with satisfaction that Carter was going to lose their bet. He wouldn’t make him pay up, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to rub it in his face a bit, just for the satisfaction of winning. When they got to the elevator Keith helped her in by placing a palm low on her back. Carter didn’t miss the innuendo and shook his head smiling in a forfeiting type of way.
The elevator door opened revealing the club and Carter immediately b-lined for the nearest bar, eager to take more shots. Keith didn’t think he had another shot in him, but Carter wasn’t taking no for an answer. Jenna’s friends joined them at the bar and he picked up the cost of their shots as well, making instant friends just like that.
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