“Bonjour, les amies.” Hello, friends, she says, walking up to us. “Look at this party,” she says, turning around, and I finally get a look at things. Tables are set up everywhere—blackjack tables, roulette tables, craps tables, and some smaller tables for poker. I spot some of the guys and then see Mark coming toward us.
“I just lost ten grand playing blackjack,” he says, shaking his head and looking at Vivienne. She looks down.
“I’m going to get myself a drink and mingle,” she says and walks away, and we see that her whole back is bare.
“She looks like she’s on a mission,” Max says to Matthew. “I wonder who her next victim will be?” They both laugh, and I see Mark looking at her, just shaking his head.
“I think it’s my turn to work the tables,” he Mark says, walking away from us.
I look at my own watch, and I don’t have to think about it because Olivier comes in with Steve at his side. “You three are doing the craps table in thirty minutes,” he says, looking at us, and I see that he’s holding Steve’s hand.
“This turned out amazing,” Karrie says to him, and Allison goes to hug him.
“You, my friend, knocked it out of the park.” Then she looks at Steve. “You need to reward him accordingly.”
Steve just shakes his head. “So I’ve been told.”
“I’m going to get something to eat,” Denise says. “I’m starving.”
“Me too,” I say, and I follow her to the other room where a buffet is set up and people are sitting and eating. “Are you okay?” I ask her.
“What do you mean?” she asks me, grabbing a plate.
“Well, you know with my ex-wife and all that,” I tell her as she puts a piece of salmon on her plate and then she turns to me.
“Are you still in love with her?” she asks me, looking straight into my eyes.
“No.” I shake my head.
“Seeing her again, did you want to work things out with her?” she asks me, never once wavering from my eyes. I shake my head again. “Do you want to give her another chance if she comes back?”
“Hell no,” I say firmly.
“Then I’m fine,” she says, smiling. “She showed up and knew it would bother you, and from the way her man was looking at her, he was pissed.”
My eyes squint when she mentions Colton, and she rolls her eyes. “Don’t even start; you’re way hotter than he is.”
“Really?” I say, almost puffing out my chest. “You think so?”
“Oh, yeah,” she says, coming closer to me, “and tonight, when we get home, I’ll show you just how much.”
“I think we can go now,” I say, looking around, and she laughs. I grab my own food, and we go and sit down as we talk about tomorrow. When we finally finish eating, we leave our plates and make our way to the craps table, and for the next hour, I watch her work the room while I pretend to know what I’m doing. Luckily, a real craps dealer is there for when we mess up, and with the three of us, it happens quite a bit. After our shifts, we all walk away; they look for their wives, and I am looking for Denise. I find her sitting at the blackjack table with the other two girls. “Hey,” I say when I get to the table.
“I’m winning,” she says, and I see a couple of empty glasses in front of her as she smiles. “And everything I win will be donated to the hospital.”
“That’s a great idea,” I tell her, and she just nods her head. The only one not drinking is Allison, and she just laughs at her and Karrie when Karrie says she will double all her money that she wins.
“You guys do realize this isn’t real money, right?” Allison says when Max and Matthew get to the table. “It’s all fake money and whatever you win is donated back to the cause.”
“What?” Karrie asks, looking around. “So this isn’t real money?”
“Babe,” Matthew says, “we paid twenty thousand for those chips. Trust me, it’s real money, but you can’t win any of it back.”
“Really?” she asks, looking down at her stack. “But I said I would donate double.”
“No take backsy,” Denise says, laughing.
“I’ll be back,” I tell them and turn to walk to the bathroom, but I spot Colton sitting in a chair almost as if he’s waiting for me.
“Zack,” he says, getting up and coming over to me, and I stop mid-step. “I just wanted to talk to you.”
“Not interested,” I say, trying to walk around him, but he blocks my path.
“Listen,” he says, looking down. “I’m sorry, all right.”
“I had no idea that this was the Stingers fundraiser,” he says, and I just shake my head. “We came early to spend time in the city, and she said she wanted to see a couple of shows and then maybe swing by and see Jack.”