by Max Hudson
At the very end of the room, leaning up against the railing keeping people several arm’s lengths away from the glass was a familiar silhouette.
I approached slowly, the colors traveling up and over me and I stepped forward. I stood beside him on the railing. Before I looked at him, I looked out the window. Outside was Las Vegas but distorted and full of light and color. I let out a small laugh. The window didn’t make the town look too different.
“I used to hate this room,” Bertrand broke the silence.
I glanced at him but he was still looking ahead, into the glass. “Why?”
“It’s the quietest place in the casino. I used to do schoolwork up here. I guess I associated the two. Now I appreciate it for what it is: a place to think.”
“What are you thinking about?”
“I’m thinking about you.”
I blinked and swallowed hard.
“And I’m thinking that I’ve failed my game. And that I never should have played it in the first place.”
“What game?” I asked, not quite demanding, but pleading.
“It was a private one, one I had with myself. And I think I’ve lost.”
“I don’t understand you,” I said suddenly.
“Do you want to?” He finally turned to me and looked me in the eye. Reds and blues, and yellows, and yes, greens filtered over his face like a moving painting.
“I have to know something, Bertrand, before I answer that.”
“Anything.”
“Did you trick Felix out of his inheritance?”
“Yes.”
It was like I was falling. “You got him drunk?”
“He was always drunk. Every night. I didn’t get him that way, he invited me for a drink and I proposed my deal. He couldn’t resist a deal, sober or not.”
“You still took advantage of that.”
“And I won’t apologize for what I did.”
I had no idea how to take all of this. I was still hoping that it was Felix, that he was the one in the wrong. I was willing to throw away the fantasy that brought me here for Bertrand.
“Why did you take the casino from him?”
“Would you believe me if I told you?”
That made me pause. Felix told me it was because Bertrand wanted power, whatever Bertrand told me might sound good, but how could I know which one was right? There was no way to know unless you were there. It all came down, in the end, to who I trusted more.
In an instant, I realized exactly who that was.
“Bertrand,” I said finally, looking up at him. “I propose a deal.”
Before he looked serious, melancholy, but at that his eyebrows shot up in surprise. “What are your terms?”
“Tomorrow, everything I get I will give to you. But in return, everything you get you will give to me.”
“When do you want to do this exchange?”
“Tomorrow at this time and in this exact same place.”
“It’s a deal.” He reached out his hand and I shook it.
So many ideas were racing through my head. I had never felt like I was taking charge in all of this. I was just following these two men around hoping everything would work out. That wasn’t the excitement I wanted. That just proved what my ex thought about me: that I wasn’t interesting. It was time I became the protagonist in my own life.
“What do you hope to get from me Gavin?” Bertrand asked, his voice softer than I had ever heard.
I smiled even though my legs were shaking and my heart was pounding, excitement truly kicking into overdrive. “The truth.”
Chapter Fourteen
I wasn’t much of a cook, but at lunch time the next day I was scurrying around my kitchen trying to make everything perfect. I had the whole day off; it was why I picked for the deal to go down tonight. So far, I had spent the day cleaning up my apartment and making food. All of it was part of my plan.
At noon exactly, I heard a gentle knock at my door. I rushed to pull the baked ziti out of the oven, set it on my stove top, and then ran to the door.
The day before, when I was trying to figure out who I trusted the most, there was no doubt in my mind.
“Your apartment smells amazing Gavin,” Claudia said as she drifted past me.
I had never seen her in casual attire. I don’t think I had ever seen her in anything other than a dress and heels, even when we went outfit shopping for the gala. But here she was wearing a short pink skirt and a peplum white top with low cut brown boots. Her hair was even up in a ponytail.
“Thanks for coming over on such short notice.”
“You caught me at a good time, I’m taking my yearly vacation. I was in L.A. yesterday and flew back as soon as I got your text.” By the tone of her voice I couldn’t tell if she was being serious.
I elected to laugh and hoped she was joking.
She sat down at my kitchen table that could sit two at the most and blocked the way from the kitchen to the living room leaving only a narrow hallway between the two rooms. I had stubbed my toe on the kitchen table more times than I could count.
“Now what is so urgent?”
I brought over a potholder and then set the baked ziti on top of it.
“And what’s with the feast?”
“I don’t know if you will like me after I say why I asked you over, so I am trying to soften the blow with food.”
I brought us both plates and utensils and sat down across from her. “The ziti has to sit before we can cut into it which leaves perfect time for my question.”
“Don’t leave me in suspense.”
“Why did Bertrand trick Felix out of his inheritance?”
The playful look on Claudia’s face soured and she looked almost devastated.
“Wait. Wait.” I shook my hands. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. You can eat some food and leave or throw it in my face if you want.”
“Can you tell me why you want to know?” She asked, the frown on her face just killing me.
“I got different stories from Bertrand and Felix. I just want to know who I should believe.”
“And you’ll believe me?”
“You’re my best friend,” I said. “I made all this food for you. I had to figure out what the broil button on the oven meant, for you.”
That brought a small smile to her lips.
“I don’t think you will lie to me,” I said at last.
“I won’t.” She looked up and down at the food and then back at me. “What did that couple say about me Gavin? The ones from the party.”
“Oh, I mean, I don’t,” I stumbled over each word.
“Please. I know they aren’t your words.”
I hated each word out of my mouth, “They said you were your father’s bastard child and that you were crazy.”
She smiled sadly. “That sounds right.”
“You aren’t crazy.”
“I’m not. But I used to see things which made some people think so.”
“See things? Like schizophrenia?”
“A mild case, but one I have to take pills to manage. But when I was growing up, we couldn’t afford the medication.”
“Wait…”
“Why not since my dad is so rich? I am what they said, an illegitimate child. I was the reason Bertrand’s mom divorced him. I appeared only a few years ago. I tracked him down from the vague details my mom remembered.”
“Wow.” I let out a low whistle. “Your family is complicated.”
“It gets better, or worse, depending on your view. My father decided to recognize me to avoid a major scandal. But at this point I had gotten good at managing my symptoms and didn’t want to reveal how “broken” I was to my new benefactor. But I wasn’t as good at hiding it as I thought.”
The way she said broken made my fists involuntarily curl.
“I got a reputation for wandering around the casino talking to myself and seeing things. Bertrand was the one to finally book me an appointment, promising he would
n’t disown me even if my father did. I owe him for letting me feel safe enough to get help.”
Bertrand did that for her?
“I immediately liked Bertrand for that. I became his shadow. I was only seventeen at the time and I had an older brother for the first time in my life.”
“And Felix?”
She paused. “At first he was indifferent to me. And I didn’t have any bad will toward him either. Years passed and I thought he was at least getting friendly. Then it came time for my father to gift the deed to Felix. And Felix let it slip to Bertrand, while he was drunk–he was always drunk–that after my father was gone, he was going to commit me to a mental hospital. Apparently, my father didn’t intend to give me anything, just told my brothers to do with me what they wanted.” She laughed bitterly. “Bertrand was going to keep supporting me, even planning a job for me. But Felix wanted to cut me off and send me away. It was either homelessness or be committed.”
The missing piece finally fell into place. I could see how two brothers who were planning on running a business together could be torn apart through greed. It wasn’t Bertrand’s, however. I felt so fucking relieved. It meant that the man of my dreams was garbage but I didn’t care. Those dreams didn’t matter to me anymore, I had a new love of my life to chase.
“So, Bertrand tricked him.”
She nodded. “I know it was an underhanded way of getting the business, but after what he was threatening to do to me, Bertrand didn’t want him anywhere near us or much less share a business with him. At first, I tried to tell him to drop it, I was afraid he'd be the one to get hurt. But I didn’t learn he went through with it until afterwards because they were celebrating New Year’s states away with some college friends.”
“Wait. The night this deal went down was New Years, this New Years?”
She looked up at me with a confused expression on her face. “Yes.”
“Claudia,” I said barely processing anything around me. “I was more involved in all of this than I thought.”
“What?”
“I saw Felix at midnight on New Year’s. Don’t tell your brother but that’s why I’m here.”
“You’re here because Felix asked you to come?”
“Well.” I wish I could have helped my blush. “It was a little more complicated than that.”
“I knew you were something special,” she said, putting her hands on her cheeks. “I won’t tell Bertrand but wow. I just thought Bertrand had a weird crush on you.”
“Weird? Crush?”
“But he must have seen you that night. Maybe he thought you were a spy for Felix.”
I must have proved that theory wrong. Maybe that was why he challenged me that first time, to see how I would react. It was the same deal he gave Felix after all. But it turned out I was pretty clueless about everything. I wonder how long it took him to figure that out about me? Definitely before the gala or maybe at the gala.
“You didn’t know he thought I was a spy?” I asked. “When I first got here, I thought you two were in on something.”
She pouted. “That’s not true. Bertrand never tells me anything fun.”
“I need to do something about this,” I said, my voice trailing off and my racing thoughts following it.
“Are you going to tell him all of this?”
“No.” I looked back at her. “No way I’m losing that bet.”
“Then what are you going to do?”
I smiled. “I’m going to give him what I’ve been given today.”
“What about the ziti?”
I glanced down at it. “That we eat. And then I have to get to the casino.”
“I’ll drive you,” Claudia offered.
“This is why you are my favorite,” I said.
As we pulled our plates with the just okay food I prepared, another thought came to me. “Claudia, can you help me with something else?”
“Name it.”
Chapter Fifteen
I knew people were looking at me as I stepped in the casino that evening. I wasn’t paying them a lick of attention. Claudia hovered behind me, but at the stairs she tapped me on the shoulder.
“You look good.”
I did a turn for her. “Thanks to you.”
“It was the least I could do for you.”
“What are you talking about?” I said. “I haven’t done anything.”
“You’re dumb if you think that.”
“Rude. But okay, I’ll take it.”
“Now.” She pushed me toward the grand staircase. “Go get him.”
I gave her two thumbs up before I began my climb. I probably should have just taken the elevator, but ever since I got here, I had soaked up the love of dramatics. Besides, I needed the long walk to practice what I was going to say.
When I finally made it to the top, in the room filled with dancing colors, I once again saw Bertrand leaning on the balcony watching Vegas through the glass.
I walked over but didn’t approach him yet. “Bertrand.”
He didn’t turn around. “You came.”
“I never go back on a deal. I thought you knew that about me by now.”
He turned and I saw his surprise light up his eyes.
The suit I was wearing was black but with hundreds of small sparkles sewn into the fabric. The way the color played off my outfit was part disco ball, part magic. Claudia had added a little glitter and eyeliner to my eye, just enough to make it pop. I trusted her judgement. I had asked her to help me find something to wear, expecting her to help me pick out an outfit from what I already owned. Instead, she drove me somewhere and got me fitted into a suit in no time. If anyone owed anyone, I owed her.
“Gavin.” It was like he was drawn to me; he started walking toward me until he was only a foot away. “What is this about?” He reached forward like he wanted to touch me but he must have realized what he was doing and quickly lowered his arm and schooled his expression.
“Do you want to exchange?” I asked.
“You first.”
“Today I learned why you stole this place from your brother. Claudia told me what you were willing to do for her safety. And I should have just asked you before going through with all this, but you have to admit it sounds bad saying you stole this place when you hear it aloud.”
A small smile graced his face. “It does sound bad.”
“And Felix made it seem like you kicked him out so you could have all the casino money for yourself.”
At the mention of his brother he glanced down. “I don’t regret what I did. It was underhanded. I know it wasn’t right.” He looked up at me, determination on his face. “I will never apologize for what I did. It would be disingenuous because I don’t feel sorry.”
“I don’t need your apology; I wasn’t even there. I’ve felt like I’ve been wrapped up in all of this for no good reason. But after some more thought I realized there was a reason. Bertrand, I wanted to make sure you were the man I thought you were. The one that I’m falling for.”
“Gavin.” He raised a hand to my cheek and let his finger trail off and back to his side. My skin ached where he briefly touched. I wanted to beg him to press his fingertips into my jaw. But I restrained myself. I had more to say.
“Bertrand, I like your deals, I like the way you have a thousand different smiles, I like that you are constantly making me think. Sometimes it feels like you are leading me on a chase and it thrills me. I love our lunches. I want to dance with you again. And I want to thank you for showing that Felix bastard what’s up and protecting your little sister from him. I think you are a noble man.” I was nearly out of breath, but I hadn’t gotten what I wanted to say off of my chest yet. “And I care about you. I want to see where this, where we, go from here.”
“I want the same,” he admitted quietly. “I’ve felt that way for a while now. But I didn’t think you would be receptive.”
“What? You think I get lunch with my boss voluntarily? I go because I like talking with you.
”
He couldn’t suppress a chuckle. “I suppose you are right about that.”
“Now, I’ve given you all I’ve got. I’ll admit I got most of it from self-reflection. Let’s see what you have.”
He started laughing. Slowly at first, just a light giggle, but then he started laughing harder even doubling over. I had never seen him laugh so much, however, something about it sounded familiar. I couldn’t figure out what it was.
“What?” I asked trying to get him to speak.
He tried to speak through his laughter and failed several times before he finally regained some grace and looked at me with a large smile. “Gavin, I haven’t been given anything all day.”
“What?” I nearly yelled. “That’s not fair,” I said crossing my arms.
“One of my regulars gave me a hat with a taxidermy fox on it. But it wasn’t a gift, she just wanted me to hold it. And I did so without complaint, I am nothing but a gentleman host.”
I wouldn’t have wanted that anyway. “You really got nothing?”
“Nothing I can hand you or say to you.”
“In that case, I have something else for you.”
“You do?” He looked genuinely surprised.
“It’s right here.” I looked into his muddy green eyes; they were better than jewels. I stepped forward and put my hands on his cheeks, cradling his head in my hands. I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his. Immediately I felt some kind of energy surge through me as he pressed deeper. I moved to wrap my arms around him. His hands found my hair and he began running his fingers through it. I slipped my tongue past his lips and tasted him. I breathed deep and smelled his cologne, something that reminded me of fresh linen that someone poured the contents of a bunch of spice jars on top of with fervor.
Our lips broke apart but we still held each other closely. “Where did you get that from?” He asked huskily.
“Oh. I didn’t get it from anywhere. I was just giving you something so you’d have something to give back to me.”
He flashed the smile that showed off how sharp his teeth. “Then let me give to you as I received.”
He kissed like it was a contest and he was winning. Contest was the wrong word; I meant a race. He pressed into me, his legs tangling with mine as he pressed kiss after kiss into my lips. He moved on to my collarbone poking out from the collar of my button up that I purposely didn’t button all the way. He kissed his way up to my neck, taking very special care when he reached my jaw. While he seemed to be mapping out my face with his lips, his fingers were pressing into my back. It was like his fingers knew exactly where to press to make me gasp. Every time he kissed me, I felt that electricity I’d been feeling every time the deal ended up this way.