The delicious aroma of food woke me from a deep sleep. I groaned as I rolled over in my bed, stretching out my arms and legs.
Lydia. She must be cooking. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and grabbed my cell phone to see what time it was. 2:37pm. Right on time. I refused to acknowledge the date. I wasn't ready to deal with that just yet. Or ever.
A few minutes later, I was finally out of the bed and walked to my bathroom to do my morning routine. When I wiped my face with a towel, I tried not to notice the dark circles under my eyes. I didn't sleep well. At all. I've been having this recurring nightmare ever since they died. Alcohol didn't make it better. Sleeping pills didn't make it better. Nothing made it better.
I left the bathroom and headed towards the kitchen. Lydia had her back to me while she was mixing sauce on the stove. From what I could hear, it sounded like she was humming. I took a seat at the breakfast bar. "Morning."
She jumped and nearly dropped the pan.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."
She smiled and let out a nervous laugh. "It's okay. You're actually right on time."
"For?"
"Lunch!"
It was very thoughtful of her to cook. And surprising. "You didn't have to do that."
She turned her back and fiddled with something on the stove. "It's no trouble. It's the least I could do."
As she put the noodles, sauce, and chicken on serving plates, I habitually started massaging my neck with my hand. Maybe I should see a chiropractor or something.
"You alright?" she asked.
I dropped my hand and shrugged off her question. "Didn't sleep well."
"Well, maybe this will help." She finished making me a plate and set it in front of me.
It smelled fucking delicious. I loved chicken Alfredo. I still couldn't believe that she made this for me. Besides my parents, no one's ever done something this nice for me before. It was refreshing. "Thank you," I said as I took a bite. "Wow, this is amazing."
The corners of her mouth lifted in a satisfied smile. I could tell this meant a lot to her. "I'm glad you like it."
After a few minutes, I wiped my mouth with my napkin and took a drink of my water. "Were you able to get some clothes today?"
She met my gaze before looking back to her plate. "Yes. Thank you again. I promise to pay you back."
I had no intention of taking money from her, but I had a feeling if I pushed the matter, she would return the items or not allow me to help her further. "Okay, sounds good."
She seemed surprised at my response, but also had a pleasant expression on her face. "I have a confession to make."
"What's that?" I asked absently, enjoying the food too much as I took a few more bites.
"I kind of...Googled you."
My eyes met hers for a moment before they dropped back down to my food. "And?"
"I'm sorry. I felt bad afterwards. I just don't know you and I guess I was trying to make sure you weren't some kind of serial killer."
I chuckled at that. "Lydia, if I was a serial killer, I don't think it would be online unless I've been arrested."
She frowned and her brows formed a deep V. "That's true, I guess."
"So, what did you learn about me?" God only knew what was on the internet.
"You're wicked smart. Graduated both high school early and MIT. You have a shit ton of money."
I wiped at my mouth again. "All true. But that doesn't really tell you who I am as a person, does it?"
She seemed to think about that for a second. "You donate to charities for kids," she added..
"So do some of the most despicable people in America," I said flatly. "Listen to me Lydia, I'm not mad at you for looking me up. You had every right because, yeah—you don't know me. But please, if you have any questions, ask me. I would rather give you the truth myself."
Lydia nodded. "Yeah, you're right."
"Since you know some things about me, may I ask you a few questions?" I knew there was a strong possibility she would close up on me, and that's the opposite of what I wanted. I wanted her to be comfortable. I wasn't kidding when I said I wanted to be her friend. At this time in my life, I could use a real one. Not one who appreciated my money—and if my instincts about her were right, she wasn't like that.
"Okay," she answered hesitantly.
I wanted to start nice and easy. Test the water. "Are you originally from New York?"
"No. I was born in Seattle. When I—uh, turned eighteen I moved to the city."
"For school?"
"No. I just needed a change."
She seemed to be holding something back, but I didn't press. Instead, I asked her something else I was curious about. "When's your birthday?"
Surprise was written all over her face. "July 22nd."
"Ah, right on the borderline between a Leo and a Cancer. Interesting mix." We might make good friends after all. As weird as it may be, horoscopes were always a fun hobby of mine. When my plate was finally clear, I leaned back on my stool and shook my head. "Okay, that was fantastic. Thanks again for lunch. Why don't we get ready and we can head down to give you your first gambling lesson."
She actually looked excited at the idea. "Okay!" She hopped off of the chair and went to her room.
I made quick work of putting the dishes in the sink and the leftover food in the fridge before going to my room to shower and get dressed. When I walked to my dresser, I took my watch off and set it next to a picture of my parents. Against my better judgement, I reached for the picture and held it in front of me. I would never forget the day I got the news...
"Yes, mother," I said into the phone as the cab driver left the airport. "I'll be on the first flight out tomorrow."
"Okay, sweetie. Your father and I will see you then. Be safe and I love you."
"I love you, too, Mom. Happy anniversary." I hung up the phone and quickly booked my plane ticket for the following morning. I got called back to work because of an emergency meeting regarding a merger with Microsoft that simply couldn't wait.
We got through an hour of the meeting when my assistant, Anne, came into the room unannounced. Her expression alone was a punch to my gut.
I rose from my seat immediately. "Excuse me, gentlemen."
Anne pulled me aside and delivered the tragic news. "Mr. Williams, I'm—I'm so sorry." The tears streaming down her face was a dead giveaway.
"Say it," I croaked. "I need to hear you say it."
She clasped my hand in hers. "Your parents' plane...it went down in the desert. I'm so sorry. They didn't make it."
I fell to my knees instantly that day—not caring if anyone saw me. I couldn't control the devastating truth that my parents were gone. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't fucking breathe.
I put off the merger with Microsoft for a while after that. That's when they gave me the Audi. It was an attempt to win me over. I didn't even want to drive the damn thing, but the only other car I had was the one my dad gave me when I graduated from college. After that day, I haven't been able to bring myself to drive it again, and I didn't want to buy a new car. I was just too overwhelmed.
Forcing those thoughts away, I put down the picture and went to take a shower.
When I walked out of my bedroom a little over an hour later, I noticed Lydia in the living room flipping through channels on the TV. She seemed to be adjusting well, which was pleasing. I was looking forward to spending the afternoon showing her the do's and don'ts of gambling. Not only was it going to be a distraction, but it should be fun. I haven't gambled a lot in the past two years.
"Hey," I said as I walked into the living room.
She turned the TV off a little too fast. She got up from the couch and turned towards me. That's when I noticed her new clothes. She was wearing a pair of dark denim jeans with a black sleeveless shirt that complemented her body well. Even though her hair was clearly wet from being recently washed, she had it up in a ponytail.
"I like the new clothes."
She looked down at herself, then back up at me. "Is this okay?"
To be honest, she looked beautiful. But that's not what was important right now. "The question is, do you feel comfortable in that outfit?"
"Yes," she answered right away and I saw the truth in her eyes.
"Then it's perfect," I said with a smile. I didn't care if she told me she would rather wear a garbage bag downstairs, the important thing was that she was comfortable with herself. I clapped my hands together. "Alright, let's get this party started."
As we made our way to the casino, I could tell she was getting more excited by the minute. She asked me a few questions about some of the types of gambling she's seen on TV. Blackjack, roulette, and slots.
I told her I would explain all the games when we got downstairs. As we approached the casino floor, there was the usual fragrance of cigarette smoke, alcohol, and, unfortunately, the sweat of the people who have been there for multiple days straight.
I led Lydia to the cashier's counter first. I smiled when I saw Juan was working. He was the one who always assisted me when I came here.
"Senor Williams, so nice to see you tonight. Como estas?
"Muy bien, Juan. Gracias. How is the family?"
"They are doing well, thank you for asking. Would you like your normal order tonight?"
I shook my head. "Let's just do ten tonight, Juan." I watched him get my chips in order, some of them hundreds, some of them fifties. When he handed them over, I took out three one-hundred-dollar chips and slid it to him.
"Thank you, Senor Williams. Enjoy your night and good luck."
With Lydia by my side, we walked to the Blackjack table. With an arched brow, she gestured to my chips and asked, "Do I even want to guess how much is in there?"
"Probably not," I chuckled. "Alright, this, milady, is Blackjack. The concept is pretty self-explanatory here. You place your bet and keep telling the dealer 'hit me'. He'll give you a card. You want to get as close to twenty-one as possible. If you go over, you bust and you lose your money."
She watched a few rounds, her eyes widening when people kept upping the bets...and losing. "This does not look like my game," she said as she turned towards me.
"Alrighty then." I gently pulled her by the arm over to the next game I wanted to show her, which was not one of my personal favorites. "This is called Craps. There's a few details about how the game works but, the basics are you pick a number from 1 to 12, you call it, then you throw the dice against that back wall and see if they come up. If they do, you win. See there," I pointed to the woman who placed a bet, "she called a hard eight. That means she has to get two fours to win. If she called an easy eight, than any combination equaling that number would be a winner."
After she watched a couple rolls, I could tell she was definitely not into this game. I explained the different types of slot machines to her and how they were basically money guzzlers. Then I led her to the roulette table.
"This is my favorite. The odds in this game are 35 to 1. You can choose more than one number or you can choose just a color. Black or red. The minimum here is five dollars. So if you bet ten dollars on black fifteen, and it comes in, you win three-hundred-fifty-dollars plus your ten dollar chip back."
As I watched Lydia's eyes light up with interest, a waitress came up and asked us if we would like some drinks. "I'll have a Crown and Coke. Lydia?"
When she hesitated, I leaned down and whispered in her ear. "The drinks are free down here since we're playing. Feel free to order whatever you like."
She bit down on her bottom lip innocently, before turning to the waitress. "May I have a screwdriver, please?"
The waitress wrote the drink order down before flashing a smile at me—well, after seeing the amount of chips I had. Ugh, fucking people.
Thankfully she sauntered off to get our order without saying anything more. I looked back to Lydia and could tell she wanted to play. I knew she wasn't going to ask me for money, so I offered her a fifty-dollar chip. "Here, try it."
She hesitated before taking it from me. "What should I put it on?"
"That's up to you." I wanted everything to be her choice. Ever since I met her, I had this feeling that hasn't had much control over her life. If that was one thing I could do for her, I was more than willing.
"What would I win if I put it on black?" she asked.
"If you put fifty dollars on black, and black comes in, you would win fifty dollars plus you would get your chip back so you would walk away with one-hundred-dollars."
She put the chip on black and waited with anticipation as the wheel continued to spin. When it landed on red seven, her shoulders fell. "I lost!" She turned towards me with a frown. "Why are you smiling? I just lost your money."
"Nature of the game." The waitress came back and handed us our drinks. I handed Lydia's to her before offering her some more chips. "Here, take these. Keep trying and I'll be right over at the Texas Hold'em table." I wanted to let her do her own thing. I didn't want to be standing over her.
She took the chips even though she seemed reluctant. "Okay, are you sure?"
"Absolutely. You got this," I said before heading over to my usual table.
After playing a few games, I was up twenty grand. It had been so long since I played, I was getting into it and lost track of time. All of a sudden, I heard Lydia calling me. When I turned around, she was running towards me. Afraid something was wrong, I folded my hand, collected my chips, and got up from the table.
My worry only intensified when she started to run towards me. When I caught up with her, she threw herself into my arms. She kept saying something but I couldn't make it out what it was. I released her and she stepped back with a giant smile. "Are you okay?"
"I won!" she said with a giant smile on her face. "I lost a couple times. Then I had only one chip left. A one-hundred-dollar one. I was worried about losing all your money, but then I just had this...feeling. I took a chance and put it on red twenty-three. It came in!"
I couldn't help but smile back at her victory. "That's amazing! How much did you win?"
She shrugged and started pulling chips out of her pockets. "I think almost thirty-five-hundred-dollars! Can you believe that? Nothing like this has ever happened to me. I mean, I can pay you back and have money for myself." She let out a long breath. "Thank you, Sean. You have no idea how much this means to me."
Seeing her this happy was worth it. I was always raised to help people, and helping her was a privilege. "You're welcome, Lydia."
"Well, well. If it isn't Sean Williams."
A chill ran down my spin when I heard that familiar voice. I turned around to face the asshole I hoped to never see again. "James. What an unpleasant surprise."
He looked at me with a disgusted sneer. "You ruined my fucking life."
"You did that to yourself when you tried to steal information about my software. If you have anything to say, call my lawyer."
I turned away from him, refusing to deal with his bullshit. Lydia had a concerned expression on her face and I lightly ushered her toward the lobby.
We made it three steps before I heard James said something that made me freeze where I stood.
"Say hey to your folks for me."
Lydia was saying something to me but I couldn't hear her. I couldn't hear anything. One second, I was standing next to her. The next, my fist was connecting with James' face.