Zoe And The Beast

Chapter 9 | Gambling My Heart Away | Part 2

A groggy puff of smoke blew across the room, animalic and dense. Coughing, I felt terror rise up my back. Half the people in the room were older men, some over the age of forty. Many of them were shouting and yelling, chugging down alcohol, smoking cigars carelessly, and hitting on the dealers.

The others were eyeing me.

With dark, beady eyes, they flit their crooked teeth in satisfaction as they looked over me, observing every inch of my body, as if I was their meaty prey, and they were my starved predators.

Horrified, I turned my eyes to the floor, trying to numb out the people around me.

Just think of Vince. Just think of Vince. Just think of Vince. He's a hot guy. He's a tall guy. He probably works out at the gym. He'll keep you safe. Hopefully. Just think of Vince. Just think of Vince. Just. Think. Of. Vince.

As if listening to my prayers, Vince's body language changed as he took note of my fear, transforming from casual to territorial, compelling people to turn away.

That's right. I'm with him. Get your sickening, misogynistic eyes off of me.

Thank goodness Vince reacted properly. If Vince wasn't holding me with such a protective arm, I would have run out of here faster than a flamingo in an Olympic race.

My fingers crawled up Vince's warm body to clutch his shirt as I curled in closer towards him, and away from the spectators. The top of my head barely met his chin, making it easier for me to coil in and hide.

"You scared?" Vince murmured, into my hair.

"Umm," I whispered back, continuing to avoid any eye contact with the other people. "Yes?"

A chuckle reverberated through his chest. "Don't worry, Zoe. I'm right here." Nudging me towards the end of the corner, he nodded at the dealer. "We can start off quietly with a little blackjack."

"Okay." I was honestly still petrified and stiff to the core, especially now that I wasn't leaning against Vince. I was suddenly regretting getting into the car with him - what could happen? What will happen?

Setting me onto a chair, he moved over to one of his own. "I have a deal to make. The number of times we win a game, is the number of times I get to kiss you. Anywhere, anytime."

I peered at him. Kisses? He would get to kiss me?

I would get to kiss him?

As much as I sounded like Jared, oh, baby, yes.

Sensing my form of approval, Vince nodded his head at the dealer, once again. "Let's get started then, shall we? Who are we up against?"

A middle-aged man came and sat down across from us, his putrid eyes solely on me. "I'll go up against you. But I have another deal to make. If I win, I get a chance to kiss your little blondie."

I backed up, thoroughly startled. "Wait, what?" My eyes shot to Vince's, to observe at his reaction.

His face was set, determined as if this was a challenge. "Deal."

"Wait, what?" I dropped my jaw at Vince. Trying to keep my volume as low as it could possibly get, I spoke sharply. "He's going to kiss me? I will not let him kiss me! I'm not some sort of object!"

Vince turned towards me, a smirk on his face. "You think I'm going to let him kiss you? Give me some credit, Zoe. I'm going to be stealing all the kisses, and once I say I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it. I'll be the one to kiss you."

His voice was so soothing, so tranquil, so serene, I couldn't help but believe him.

Besides, he said he'd kiss me. Of course, I'd calm down with that.

"Okay, okay," I muttered, mostly to reassure myself. "It's okay."

Warming up a little, I glanced at the dealer as she explained the game. The goal of the game was to get all the numbers on the cards given by the dealer to add up to be as close as possibly to twenty-one, without letting the numbers add up to be greater than twenty-one. Jacks counted as tens, Queens counted as elevens, Kings counted as twelves, and Aces counted as ones. Each team would go turn by turn, and if a team wanted to take another card from the dealer, they would say "hit". If a team didn't want to take a card from the dealer, they would say "stand." Whichever team had cards that summed up to be closer to twenty-one would win. If a team's cards added up to be exactly twenty-one, that team would automatically win.

Once she finished, she passed out a few cards and turned towards me. "Hit?"

I glanced carefully at our cards, and turned to look at Vince. He nodded. Our cards added up to thirteen, so getting another card would probably increase our chances of getting close to twenty-one. "Hit."

She turned to the other player. "Hit?"

"Yup." Nonchalant, the opposite player kept his indecent eyes on me. I leaned in closer to Vince, fear penetrating me. Vince better win.

Another batch of cards were swatted out, the dealer's eyes on Vince. "Hit?"

He held a smirk on his face and stared at me, while speaking to the dealer. Something was up Vince's sleeve. "Hit."

Why was he smirking?

I turned to look back down at our cards, counting the numbers. We had twenty-two.

We automatically lost.

The dealer turned towards us again, after the other player hit. "Hit or stand?"

"Stand."

Before she could even ask Vince, he shook his head and pulled in our cards together, before laying them all out again. They all added up to twenty. The player on the other side slammed his fist against the table angrily.

What the heck?

"But we just had twenty-two," I muttered. "How did we get twenty?"

Vince brood his beautiful gaze at me. "Whatever the case may be, I think we have a kiss over here."

Still in disbelief, I felt warmth run up to my face. I slipped my eyes away from him and stared onto the wall. Vince was going to kiss me.

Author's Note

A short part of a chapter, but a chapter nonetheless. What did you think?

Please comment and vote if you think this deserves it!