5. On a roll
Shandy on his arm, they joined the crowds heading into the station. She looked amazing in her low-cut, sparkly, black dress. They had chosen his outfit to match: a black suit that, thanks to the mirror, had stretched to fit perfectly around his broad chest, and accentuated his strong arms.
Somehow she managed to manoeuvre the two of them down the escalators and onto the right platform.
It helped that Fred’s bulk created a space around them both, even once they got on the busy train.
While the other humans buffeted up against each other, it was as if Fred and Shandy had their own little bubble.
Shandy and Fred held the same pole as the train rattled along the tracks, her small hand just below his.
The heels she was wearing brought her face a little closer to his, and she stood close, looking up at him, chatting about everything and nothing.
Every bump of the train, her breasts would bounce into him, and he was glad she stood to the side of him where she wouldn’t notice how hard he was getting.
“Even if you don’t remember everything you learnt from the videos, I’m sure it will be okay,” she said, grinning up at him. “We can watch for a bit anyway.”
Stepping into the casino from the busy street was like stepping out of the stimulus frying pan into the overwhelm fire.
Fred’s head swam, but he felt the same joy in his chest that he had when he took to the dance floor on his first night on Earth.
They walked along a tunnel of carpeted steps and theatrically draped curtains until they stepped out into a huge hall.
The music was loud and he was surrounded by human joy, reflected off more gold surfaces than he had ever seen in his life.
Bare arms, bare legs, bared chests. Lights stood like strange trees above roulette tables that span nearly constantly, each one controlled by an impeccably dressed, perfectly polite croupier.
“There’s a lot to look at, isn’t there,” Shandy said, smirking up at Fred as he scanned the room. “I know where we should go first.”
She dragged him out of the high-ceilinged space, down a dark staircase, and into a beautifully decadent bar, with small tables placed around the edge of a stage.
“Time to start spending, big boy!” Shandy said, rubbing her hands with glee. “Let’s start with a classic. Two vodka martinis, shaken not stirred!”
They took their drinks to a table right next to the stage, and Shandy shuffled her chair over to be able to talk straight into Fred’s ear.
“This is a Burlesque Bar,” she explained, her breath on his ear, and her hand on his thigh.
“A what?”
“Wait and find out,” she said, turning to face the stage as the first bars of dramatic music flooded the room.
The first woman to stalk onto the stage was dressed like a ring master, wearing a top hat, and carrying a long whip. A short cape covered her shoulders and obscured her breasts, but each time it fluttered, Fred got a glimpse of the delights below.
Shandy squeezed his leg and whispered in his ear, “I can’t take my eyes off her breasts. I mean, what I can see of them.”
Her voicing his thoughts sent waves of lust through his body, whilst sending a dagger of doubt into his mind. In over 100 years of dating, he had never been with an elven girl who could even tolerate him looking at another woman, let alone discuss a woman’s beauty with him.
When the whip cracked, he felt a shudder ripple through Shandy’s body. When the dancer let her cape slide to the ground, both of their jaws dropped. When she threw her hat into the crowd, they both reached up to grab it, but Fred got there first.
“No fair!” Shandy gasped, grabbing at the hat.
“Jealous?” Fred laughed holding the hat up and out of her reach, until she bounced up and grabbed it from him.
“Huh! Mine! Who’s jealous now?” she crowed, sitting back down with the hat firmly in her lap.
They sipped their martinis and went back to watching the performance.
Fred’s gaze wandered from the beautiful woman on the stage to the beautiful woman by his side.
Each time he looked, Shandy was utterly engrossed by the other woman’s body, but each time something new and exciting happened, she squeezed his leg.
By the end of the performance, the dancer was down to tassels, an eye-watering under-bust corset, and barely-there panties. She came to the edge of the stage, right by Fred and Shandy’s table, as Shandy held out the top hat.
“Keep it, my dear, as a good luck charm!” she said, as Shandy put it on her head. “Something for you both to remember me by!”
She winked and strolled off stage, both Shandy and Fred watching the swing of her hips until she was out of sight.
“Bet you want her number!” Shandy giggled. “I do too! Maybe next time… Let’s go win you a fortune with this luck you never needed!”
Another jolt of confusion shot through Fred’s body as she took his hand and led him away from the stage, before looping her arm over his to let him take the lead. They wanted the same women, but did she want him too? Was she just a cock block? Or a wingman? Or was she flirting with him?
They headed back to the cathedral-like space where the roulette tables stood.
The room was noisy but with plenty of room for the sound to escape into.
To begin with, they took a walk around the room, checking that Fred could accurately predict where the ball would stop.
The first couple of times he didn’t hold his future sight for quite long enough.
At one table there was a particularly stunning player, her enthusiasm for the game bubbling over like her breasts from her low-cut dress.
On Fred’s first attempt at using future sight on that wheel, all he could do was watch the future of those bouncing beauties, before getting to watch them again in real time.
“So distracting, right?” Shandy whispered in his ear.
“How about I jiggle my boobs in the direction of the wheel, so you can perv and play at the same time?” Was that amusement tinged with jealousy, or was Fred just imagining it?
“Even better, I could jiggle my boobs at the end of each spin, so you’d make yourself wait until the end! ”
Just the thought of this incentive made Fred’s heart soar and his cock twitch.
He tried it on the next spin, letting his eyes graze past the bouncy boobs on the other side of the table, onto the wheel where he held long enough to see the ball land, and then back to Shandy, who was bouncing up and down clapping.
Then he let his consciousness snap back to the present.
“Did you get it?” Shandy asked.
No. No he hadn’t got it. He had watched the ball land on a number, but forgotten to remember what that number was, because he was so eager to see how Shandy would reward him!
“Not quite. Let’s try on the next spin.”
He did the same again: a number sandwich with boob bread. And this time he remembered the number too!
“Did that time work?” Shandy asked, as she stopped jumping and clapping.
“Very nicely,” Fred grinned. “Keep up the bouncing!”
Shandy laughed and they moved away to find the table they would actually play at. As they took their place at the edge of the table, and put down a wadge of Fred’s cash, the croupier gave them a nod of welcome, before returning to the job at hand.
For the first few bets, as planned, Fred didn’t even bother using future sight.
He had to make sure he didn’t win too fast. Bob had explained that, once upon a time, he had made a fortune that way too.
But now his picture, in sepia tones, was in casinos around the world, with a warning not to allow him entry even.
With this in mind, Fred bet cautiously too, sticking to outside bets until he had won by chance a few times, but lost as many or more.
His first try with future sight, he only placed a dozen bet, but Shandy’s genuine joy at his win, doubled his excitement too.
Shandy jumped up to kiss him on the cheek.
“Go on, Fred! Do it again! Go on!”
This was part of the plan. She was to do anything she could to encourage him to keep playing.
He was to look like a man enthralled by his bubbly date.
It didn’t feel like manufactured excitement to Fred though, as adrenaline coursed through his veins and his heart pumped harder each time Shandy grabbed his arm, her eyes glowing with excitement.
Once Fred had doubled his money, he started to let himself win more impressive amounts, but made sure to lose occasionally too.
It tickled him, knowing that he knew when he would win, but Shandy didn’t.
He felt like he was leading her on, teasing her, keeping her eager and passionate.
When a win excited her so much that she was grabbing his arm, squeezing him, kissing him on the cheek, he would leave the next round to fate, and watch her crumple with disappointment.
I want her in my bed, not just on my arm! Fred thought, as he watched his winnings mount. Maybe tonight… maybe…”
As Fred pushed a tall pile of chips onto the board to place his final bet, Shandy grinned up at him.
Clinging to his arm with both hands and bouncing with excitement.
Around the table, the other players watched him too.
No one else was taking the kind of risk they believed he was in that moment, and the glances that were thrown their way ranged from grudging respect to mocking disgust.
They think I’m an idiot, Fred mused. If only they knew!
As the ball juddered to a stop on number thirteen, Shandy exploded with excitement. As Fred turned to face her, she jumped up and kissed him on the lips.
“Sorry!” she giggled. “I got a bit carried away! I can’t believe you won!”
She winked at him, but continued bouncing.
The evening ended with no hitches. They took their money and rode in a black cab back to The Rock Tavern.
Shandy sat one side of the back seat, while Fred took up most of the rest. He longed to pull her close and feel her snuggle into him, but instead, he looked out into the night, bright with cars and street lamps.
It all felt so alien, so strange, except his yearning for Shandy. That felt natural and right.
“Thank you for helping me keep my focus tonight.” Fred turned away from the window and grinned at Shandy.
“Let’s do it again next month,” Shandy said, placing her hand on his knee. “But at another casino, so they don’t get too suspicious. Hopefully the other casinos have burlesque acts too!”
For a moment, Fred’s heart leapt at the thought of more time with Shandy, but then the doubt flooded back in again.
Shandy had made it so obvious that she found other women attractive, but Fred found it a lot harder to work out how she felt about him.
Could he ever win her over, or would he be better off playing a different game altogether?