The Art of the Hustle (Complete)

Chapter Thirty-Seven

As we drove through the Vegas strip, I was starting to see why Steve came here so much. My eyes darted around trying to take in as much as possible. The bright lights created an ambience like I was in a fantasyland. So far, the mystique of Las Vegas was living up to the hype.  

"We're here," Steve proudly announced, as we pulled up to the Tiger Room Gentlemen's Club.  

"You're going to love it here, Trevor, just you wait. The women here are the best," Steve exclaimed. "And they will do something strange for a little change, if you know what I mean."  

Inside the gentlemen's club, it was everything I imagined. Scantily clad women were hoisted in the air on giant swings, women in cages, women on stage, and of course, a room full of drunken perverted men. I wasn't sure how many of them were actually gentlemen, but I was there too, so I was not in a position to pass judgment. 

Steve said something to the hostess, and an exchange took place. He turned around and winked. Instantly, we were led to our private booth. Steve whispered something else into the hostess' ear and then she left. I generally liked to be in control of the situation, but I was not complaining. I was happy to just sit back and let Steve do his thing. This was his world and he was in his element. A few minutes later, a server returned with a tray of eight overflowing shot glasses. She unloaded them onto the table so we each had two apiece. We all took one and raised it in the air. 

"To the good life!" Steve yelled out over the loud music. We each put a glass to our lips and quickly tilted our heads back.  

"Come on guys, we got one more, let's do this."  

We all grabbed our second shots and followed Steve's instructions. By this time, we were all thoroughly wasted. 

"So where are the women, Steve?" Jeremy called out. 

Steve didn't say anything; he just gave me a sinister smile, like a mastermind who was watching his elaborate plan unfold. Just then, two beautiful exotic women came over. By my guess, they appeared to be of Russian descent. They brought a couple of their friends as well. Steve leaned across the table and asked me, "Will they do?" 

I quickly evaluated the women who were being presented to me, as if I was a powerful emperor. I gave a quick nod and a smile to display my approval. 

"Come on, dude, let's go, get up," Steve said. 

I wasn't really sure what was in store for me, but I had an idea. We both rose from the table and I followed Steve and the two Russian women. Just to the right of the bar was a small inconspicuous doorway labeled 'PRIVATE'. The two women led us through the doorway, down a dimly lit corridor where they finally presented us with our own private room. One of the girls gestured for us to go in. Steve looked at me like he was the happiest man on the planet and said, "After you, sir."  

I walked into the dark room and noticed a small elevated platform in the centre of the room with a pole that extended to the mirror-covered ceiling. There were a couple of large velvet sofas around the platform so I walked over and took a seat. The walls were black, but were covered in tiny lights, like the night sky. That's cool, I thought, I should get that for my place. 

Steve came over and sat down on the couch to my left. 

"You having a good time so far?" he asked me. 

"So far, so good." 

"Just wait, you haven't seen nothin' yet." 

Another attractive woman entered the room wearing a really short miniskirt and some kind of mesh top. Her bra glowed under the black lighting. She came over to us carrying a tray with a couple of drinks on it, but did not say a word. She set the tray down on a small table in between the two couches and then proceeded to disrobe. The two Russian women followed suit. The waitress wasted no time getting friendly with Steve. She straddled his lap and started kissing him. One of the Russian girls tried to do the same with me, but I was very careful not to cheat on my girlfriend, who had popped into my mind more than once that evening. 

"Will you excuse me?" I said quietly as I stood up to leave. I don't think Steve noticed - he was preoccupied with more important matters. I retraced my steps and found my way back to the club.  

I saw Dan sitting by himself at our table. "Hey, where's Jeremy?" I asked. 

"I think he went off with some chick. Where's Steve?" 

"He's in the back having the time of his life." 

"Why aren't you back there with him?" 

"It was too much for me, man. I had to get out of there. Why don't we take a walk, see if we can find Jeremy." 

"Alright." 

After a few laps around the club, we finally found Jeremy off in a dark corner, making out with some woman. We walked over to where Jeremy was sitting and I tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, Jeremy, I'm sorry to bother you, but can we talk to you for a second, man?" 

"Heeeyy! What's up?" he said, obviously intoxicated. He slowly wobbled up to his feet. 

"How you doin', buddy?" I asked. 

"I'm great, man," he slurred. 

"Are you having a good time?" 

"Yeah, why what's up?"   

"We're bored, do you want to grab some food?" 

"Yeah, okay, but we need to find Steve. Where is he?"

*** 

After a long night, I was looking forward to going home. The limo was on time, but we were all a little late. I told the others I had one more stop to make before I left. I walked up to the cashier window and laid down eight grand in chips, all five hundred dollar denominations. The floor manager came over to supervise the transaction while the young trainee cashed me out. The manger was making small talk with me - the kind of small talk cops make when they're trying to catch you in a lie. Eight thousand dollars was not a lot of money to a casino in Vegas, but still they would rather you not walk out with their money. 

"You catch the lucky ladies?" the floor manager asked. I didn't say anything, I just smiled and winked at him. A few minutes later, the teller counted out eighty one hundred dollar bills and placed them in front of me. 

"Do you have an envelope?" I asked. The teller said 'no', but handed me an elastic band. I immediately folded the stack of bills in half, wrapped the elastic band around it twice, and shoved it into my pocket. I did a small lap around the floor to make sure no one was following me, then made my exit. 

I finally left the casino and was surprised to see the sun coming out. I looked at my phone to check the time; it was a little after 7:00 a.m. With all the oxygen being pumped through the casino, I didn't feel exhausted at all.  

We piled into the limo and flopped on separate seats. The energy in the limo was a lot lower than it was on the drive in from the airport twelve hours ago, but we were all happy to relive the events of last night. We shared stories all the way back to the airport. I was up around eight grand so my trip was a success. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for some of the others.  

*** 

"Wake up boys," the pilot said. I slowly rose from my reclined chair and looked out the window. We had arrived home, safe and sound. We were in the hangar again. Parked beside the plane was another limo, which was there to take us home. I looked around at everyone else - they were all still sleeping. 

By the fourth limousine ride, the excitement of being in a limo had worn off. It became clear to me why Steve lived so lavishly. He was on a never-ending mission to one-up the last time. When the extravagant becomes ordinary, a person must have to do wilder and crazier things to reach that next level of excitement. For Steve, he had discovered a way to capture those same feelings he once had. By inviting us along, he could catch a glimpse of the same excitement of doing it all for the first time. It never occurred to me how difficult it would be to live a life like that. That might explain why money does not buy a person happiness. I never really understood that until now.