“I’ll have the Porn Star Martini, please,” I say decisively.
The bartender doesn’t even bat an eyelid as he goes off to fetch our orders.
“Brave choice,” says Jay with a smirk. “You fixing to get drunk, Watson?”
“Hmm, not until after I win my eight-hundred…or lose my one-fifty. Either scenario will call for alcohol, I’m guessing.”
He touches my elbow for a second. “You won’t lose your one-fifty, I promise.”
“And you have no idea how bad I could be at this.”
Our drinks arrive, and I delight in how there’s an actual passion fruit floating in the yellow liquid. Whenever I see there’s champagne in a cocktail, I just have to have it. My brain tells me it’ll be classy.
I suck it up through a straw (not so classy) and find that Jay was right — it is loosening me up. The place isn’t too packed, since it’s only a Wednesday night, but there are a reasonable number of people around. My attention is drawn to a balding guy who’s swearing like a madman at a slot machine.
“He does realise the machine can’t swear back, right?” I whisper to Jay jokingly.
“Gambling crazies. There’s always one.”
Jay orders another drink and brings it with him as he leads me through the casino. I look around, taking it all in. When I spy the roulette table, I hurry on ahead, eager to see what it’s like. A middle-aged man in a suit makes a bet, and the wheel spins. When he wins, he gets a satisfied look on his face as his businessmen friends congratulate him. I can certainly see how this stuff could become addictive.
When we get to the blackjack table, there’s a guy in his twenties and a woman in maybe her early forties playing. The woman has platinum-blonde hair and is wearing a lot of gold jewellery, a look of faded grandeur about her. The guy is decent-looking, with dark hair and nice eyes. Jay takes a seat, setting his glass down on the edge of the table. The dealer is a tall, bored-looking woman with short black hair and almost as many tattoos as Jay. You can’t see them all, though, since she’s wearing the casino uniform. She also has two silver hoops through her nose and one in the centre of her bottom lip.
She reminds me of one of my lady heroes, Lisbeth Salander, from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. If only I were half as cool as Lisbeth, I’d be twice as cool as I actually am.
When the dealer sees Jay, her eyes light up and she gives him a measured smile. Hmm, do they know each other?
“Never said you were coming tonight,” she says in a deep, husky voice.
“I’m showing my new friend Matilda here the ropes,” he replies, and I take the seat beside him.
She turns to me, her eyes scanning me up and down before giving me a friendly nod. “Ah, so this is Matilda. She’s exactly like you described her.”
I shoot Jay a questioning glance. He’s been telling people about me already? And more to the vain point, how, pray tell, did he describe me?
“This is my friend Jessie,” he says by way of introduction.
“Hello.” I dip my head and joke, “So, together you’re ‘Jessie J.’”
There’s a moment of silence as Jessie raises an eyebrow and suppresses a smirk while Jay gives my shoulder a pat.
“You know, like the singer?” I go on.
“I told you she has a great offbeat sense of humour,” says Jay to Jessie.
“Yeah, I get that.” Jessie smiles at me before turning back to him. “So are you going to place a bet, or did you just come to stare at my gorgeous mug all night?”
“A bit of both,” Jay responds before placing some chips down in a little circle on the table in front of him. Jessie raises an eyebrow at his chips and then picks up a deck of cards, shuffling them. She takes a plain blue card and hands it to the blonde woman, giving her what I’m thinking is a flirtatious smile. Oh. Oh. For a second there I’d wondered if she and Jay were an item. Now I’m seeing that’s probably not the case.
Jessie starts dealing the cards out. I watch with interest as Jay studies his: a seven of diamonds and a four of clubs.
I crane my neck and ask, “Is that good?”
“She really is a novice,” Jessie murmurs from her spot at the head of the table.
“A blackjack virgin,” says Jay with a mischievous grin. “I’m breaking her in slowly.”
The young guy chuckles quietly while the blonde woman flattens her lips in distaste.
“Nice visual,” I put in sarcastically.
Jay’s smile only grows bigger as his eyes lock on mine. “I like to think so.”
The blonde indicates that she’d like another card (which I learned in my reading last night is called a “hit”), but the guy simply waves to show he’s sticking with what he’s got. Jay gets another card, too.