CASINO SHUFFLE (42 page)

Max shook Antonio’s hand.
 
“Thanks, Tony.”

Antonio stared at him.
 
“Of course there is a chance that I
am
an ex-Navy Seal and my involvement is classified.”

Max said, “Thanks Antonio.”
 
He looked at Trixie.
 
“I heard he carries a knife.”

Antonio said, “Trixie, would you join me in the hallway for a moment?
 
I wonder if any of the nurses might have a camera phone we could use to snap a photo of you with
Shannon
.”

“Do you think they might?”
 
Trixie turned to
Shannon
.
 
“Would you?”

Shannon
nodded.
 
“Anything for the birthday girl.”

Antonio arched an eyebrow at Max.
 
Max wiggled his eyebrows in response.
 
Shannon
executed a formidable eyebrow arch in agreement.
 

Trixie used her forefingers to push her eyebrows upwards.
 
“What are we all doing?”

Antonio patted her on the shoulder and opened the door.
 
“Let’s go find a camera phone we can borrow.”

“Okay.
 
Where do you carry your knife?”

As the door closed
Shannon
patted the space next to her on the bed.
 
“Come here.”

Max sat down took her hand.
 
“I’m sorry about my chocolate.”

“It was the nuts that almost killed me.”

“I’m sorry about my nuts.”

She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.
 
“This weekend was nothing like I had planned, but it still turned out pretty amazing.
 
Thank you.”

“Just doing my job, Miss Moon.”

“So, Trixie is your daughter.”

“The biggest jackpot I ever won.”

“I thought she was your ex-wife.”

Max laughed.
 
“Oh no…guess I didn’t explain that very well.”

“She’s beautiful, seems like a great kid.”
 
She sighed and smiled, staring at him mysteriously.
 
Finally she said, “
Brandon
came to visit me in the hospital.”

“He visited me too, at the door to my suite.”

“I heard about that.
 
I’m sorry.
 
Told ya he was a little crazy.”

“Antonio saved the day.”

“He has a way of doing that.
 
Listen,
Brandon
and I had a long talk.
 
He has done some really shitty things to me – but then again, I’m not exactly innocent, am I?”

“You make a pretty convincing princess in the movies.”

“But I’m just an actress, Max.
 
Sometimes I don’t even know if what I’m doing is real or acting.”

“I have a confession to make.
 
I’m not a real butler.”

She leaned back, her eyes roaming over him.
 
“You look like one to me.”

“Antonio says that tuxedos are usually worn for a moment of truth.
 
I guess this is mine.”

“So we were both playing a part.”
 
She reached up and straightened his bowtie.
 
“Brandon and I are going to try and work things out.
 
He apologized for everything.
 
And even though it sounds crazy…when he goes nuts and does stupid things, like waving the gun around outside your door?
 
I kinda like it.
 
It’s cinematic…heroic even.”
 
Her hands trailed from his bowtie to his chest.
 
“We’re going back to
Hollywood
where everything is fake anyways.
 
Maybe we’ll find a way to pretend our lives make sense.”
 
Her smiled at him.
 
“But real life with you, Max, was pretty wonderful.”
 
Shannon
suddenly took his face in her hands and kissed him passionately, her fingers running through his hair, around his ears, down his back.
 
She pulled away, her nose touching his nose, her eyes flashing.

Max took a moment to recovery.
 
“What was that?”

“That was your moment of truth, cowboy.”

Chapter Thirty-Six

Max was the chip leader and the last player limping along on their table had folded and was guzzling a rum and Coke, crunching ice angrily.
 
Sadiya winked at Max.

Cash called out from the sidelines, “Beat her ass, Max!”

Craig Sheffield hushed him loudly.
 
“Do the words
live television
mean anything to you?”

Max’s hand was junk.
 
The flop was Ace, Jack, Five.
 
Sadiya looked happy.
 
She was probably holding two-of-a-kind or had trip Aces.
 
He doubted if she had the trip, she wasn’t making sexual comments which means her hand wasn’t locked in yet.

The dealer flipped a ten of diamonds on the turn.

Sadiya licked her lips and pushed in chips.
 
“Twenty.”

The dealer called out, “Twenty thousand to the pot.”

Max didn’t study his cards.
 
He wanted her to think he was calculating what card he’d get on the river.
 
He looked at the card shoe to the dealer’s left.
 
He looked over Sadiya’s shoulder at Trixie, who was standing just beyond the velvet rope, still wearing her
Brandon
concert t-shirt.

She waved at him and then blew him a kiss.

He tipped his white ten-gallon hat, and made the biggest decision of his life.
 

“I’m all in,” he said.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

The evening had been well-ordered, with no unusual requests or instances that had required his direct attention.
 
Antonio’s BlackBerry had been receiving emails, all containing straightforward information regarding arriving and departing guests.
 
There had been a few calls from individuals on his staff seeking minor guidance on ordinary matters.
 
He had caught up on the operational information he’d missed from that morning’s meeting and reviewed the weekend’s attendance records.
  
All invoices and inventories that required his signature had been dutifully confirmed and signed and sent to their various administrative assistants for filing.
 
He had enjoyed a light dinner, indulged in a shoe shine on the casino concourse from the masterful polisher known as Lucky, during which Antonio caught up on the latest gossip, all of it involving him.
 
He tipped generously.

He was sitting at his writing desk, a cooling cup of tea on his blotter, as he studied the upcoming week’s VIP arrival report.

Mark Ford entered the office and sat down opposite him.
 
“I’m bored.”

“As am I, and thoroughly enjoying the experience.”

“Some guy downstairs at a blackjack table unzipped his fly and took a piss.
 
The dealer’s shoes got wet.
 
She turned around and barfed on the Pit Boss.
 
The lady sitting next to the guy stands up and slaps him.
 
He throws his drink in her face.
 
Her boyfriend smacks off the guys sunglasses and spits on his shirt.
 
By the time I got there it looked like a Jerry Springer rerun.”

“Did you find an opportunity to use your new baton?”

“That’s just for special occasions.”

“Your description of the battle on the casino floor certainly doesn’t sound boring.”

“It’s no shark attack.”

“That is true.”

“Nobody was waving a gun around, either.”

“Normally the absence of those two things is considered good.”

Mark shrugged.
 
“Guess you’ve spoiled me.”
 
He looked around the office.
 
“I see the tea, where are those little butter cookies?”

Antonio took a tin from his desk drawer.

Mark munched.
 
“I heard Max won the million bucks.”

“That rumor is very much true.”

“I also heard he bluffed the winning hand.
 
You teach him that?”

“He is my protégé, after all.”

“I wouldn’t want to play poker with you.
 
The only expression you ever make is that eyebrow thing.”

“Indeed?”
 
Antonio sipped his tea and then patted his lips dry with his handkerchief.
 
“Do you ever gamble, Mark?”

“Not anymore, I’ve converted to bachelorism.”
 
He wiped his sleeve across his mouth.
 
“Any word from Liz?”

“I’ve written a detailed report of everything that occurred this weekend, if she gives me the opportunity to present it.”

“Not too detailed I hope.”

“I left out whatever seemed extraneous.”

“Like the part where I pushed Ang Wang into the shark tank…”

“I was under the impression that was accidental.”

Mark ate another cookie.

Antonio said, “If the meeting goes badly, then I have also typed out my resignation.”

“You won’t need it.”

Antonio’s phone buzzed.
 
“Hello Max.
 
Yes, I’ll meet you at your suite.”
 
He stood and buttoned his tuxedo jacket.
 
“Care to bid farewell to Max and Trixie?”

Mark put a handful of cookies into his jacket pocket.
 
“I got nothing else to do.”

A bellhop was loading Trixie’s suitcase onto a brass cart, along with Max’s laptop and a wardrobe bag.
 
Trixie immediately ran up to Mark.

“Where have you been?”
 
She asked.
 
“You have crumbs on your tie.”

“You want a cookie?”
 
Mark said, “Guess what?
 
We had a guy pee on a blackjack dealer.”

Trixie took a bite of her butter cookie.
 
“Eww!
 
Tell me all about it!”

Antonio spoke to Max.
 
“Congratulations on the tournament.
 
I hope the cufflinks served you well?”

“Antonio, I don’t know how to thank you for everything this weekend.
 
It was…”

“Memorable,” said Antonio.
 
“You may keep the tuxedo and the hat, if you wish.”