Chapter 26
The party in Las Vegas continues on, as the Dusty Brooms are scheduled to stay here for two more weeks to record their second album.
Their station has been United Recordings studio, right next door to Stardust. However, they’re not staying at the Stardust hotel—no, their stay is booked at the famous Flamingo.
Dennis managed to find the cheapest rate for rooms there, despite it being a bit further down the Strip than their studio.
But saving money made RCA happy, and that was important in everyone’s eyes.
Besides, the Flamingo has a nature preserve with real live flamingos!
Ray thinks to himself. What’s cooler than that?
After their first day recording, Ray and the Brooms decide to check out the Flamingo casino.
Carol is at Ray’s side, followed by Gene, Santiago, Maurice, Nicky, and even Dennis.
Stefan is somewhere in the casino too, but it seems like he didn’t want to stick around with the group, like always.
Pat had decided to check out the local jazz band playing in the showroom instead of joining the rest in the casino area.
In her own words, she’d said, “I’m not keen to waste all of my money idling for hours on slot machines or losing at blackjack. You guys have at it, though.”
Ray would prefer to not lose all his money either, but, hell, this is Las Vegas!
Why come here if you aren’t gonna gamble a little?
To be honest, he’s never even stepped foot in a casino until this tour—his only exposure to them being in movies.
But he knows how to play blackjack and poker, and figuring out how a slot machine works should be easy. He can work with it.
“This looks fancy,” Carol says, pointing to one of the many flashy slot machines lined up in a row.
She’s technically not of legal age to gamble in Nevada, still being only nineteen, but no one has checked their IDs.
Ray supposes they may just be relaxed on enforcing it, which works for them. “I’ve never played one before.”
“Neither have I,” Ray says.
“Shouldn’t be too hard, right?” She digs for her coin pouch in her brown leather purse. “You just pop a quarter in, pull the lever, and hope it all lands three-in-a-row, yeah?”
“True, but different combinations give you more earnings,” Nicky says, standing in their circle.
“And also, the more quarters you put in before you pull the lever can increase the amount you win. On this machine it looks like, if you landed on all three triple-bars, one coin gives you ten dollars, two coins gives you twenty, and three coins gives you thirty.”
“Wow!” Carol gasps. “Three coins would only be seventy-five cents. You seriously could earn thirty bucks from only seventy-five cents?”
“The chances of winning that, however, are very low,” Dennis warns, holding up a pointer finger, stern face behind his sunglasses. “More often than not, when you pull, you’re not going to win anything.”
“You gotta be strategic about it then,” Santiago says, rubbing his chin. “Don’t go putting in a bunch of coins every single time. If you just won big, only go one coin at a time afterwards rather than wasting everything you just earned right away.”
“This guy gets it.” Nicky smirks.
“But what if you put only one coin in, and it ends up being another winner?” Gene offers. “Then you missed out on getting a bigger reward. You could’ve won more if you would’ve put more coins in.”
“It’s all about risk—do you wish to risk your money on that for a chance to win bigger?” Dennis puts a hand on his hip. “Everything is up to chance. It’s a gamble… that’s the game.”
“I think I might just hang around and watch you guys gamble, take some pics,” Maurice says with a shrug, adjusting the strap of the camera hanging around his neck. “I feel like I’ve already taken enough big risks in my life. I don’t need to be risking my money, too.”
“Now what exactly does that mean?” Ray raises an eyebrow.
“Oh, uh… it’s nothing! I’m just talking in general, I guess.” Maurice waves his hands in front of his face, his cheeks turning red. “How about we roam around and check everything out?”
Ray chuckles. “Sure. Does anyone want to get drinks before we settle down somewhere?”
“Me! I do,” Gene says, giving him a handsome smile.
“Alright.” Ray smiles back. “Anyone else?”
The rest of their party nods and agrees, and the group walks over to the bar to get themselves drinks.
A few of them light up cigarettes, combining their own smoke with the clouds looming around the casino, low ceiling boxing them all in.
Lights flash from the machines; over and over, a constant sound of coins dropping in the slots fills the space, along with dings, bells, and chimes bouncing off every wall.
Thankfully it’s a low enough noise that they can still talk over, but the continuous ding ding ding is something Ray doesn’t think he’ll ever get used to.
After grabbing their drinks, Carol finds a slot machine at the end of a row against the reddish-brown wall and sits down at it, purse in her lap, holding her drink in one hand and putting a coin in the slot with the other.
Ray watches her first before trying it himself—the reels turn and turn, round and around and… bar, cherries, bar. Not a winner.
“Oh, damn.” Carol pouts. “I was pretty close, though! Only one off. I’m gonna try again.”
“Sure, go ahead.” Ray nods.
She puts another coin in, watching the reels turn.
Ray looks around a little, noticing Gene plop down at the slot machine two spots over.
Behind them all, a waitress pushes a cart filled with a dozen cups of alcohol nearly spilling over, bottles lined up neatly on the bottom shelf.
I guess if you want a refill, you don’t need to go up to the bar.
That’s convenient. Gene clinks his first coin into his slot machine, and Ray pays attention.
Turning, turning, around and around, and…
cherries, cherries, bar. The machine dings an excited chime, and coins clink as they fall down into the tray below.
“Woah, groovy!” Gene exclaims. He grabs the winnings, counting them. “I just won a dollar-twenty-five. All I started with was a quarter.”
“That’s awesome!” Ray chuckles.
“I haven’t won anything yet.” Carol pouts, putting another coin in and pulling the lever.
Ray isn’t sure if he wants to give slots a go yet, but watching Carol and Gene play is fun enough by itself.
He finishes off his drink rather fast, already craving another.
Thankfully, another waitress passes by, and he exchanges his empty cup for a new one: Rum-and-Coke.
More often than not, his eyes land on Gene’s machine—and Gene himself.
Gazing at Gene’s masculine hands, pulling quarters out of his coin pouch, feeding them into the machine, over and over again, not to mention the sheer excitement on his face whenever he lands a win—Ray could stare at him all day.
“Oh hey, I won something this time!” Carol cheers.
Ray shakes his head, diverting his attention back to her. “That’s awesome, babe.”
Despite spending quite a lot of time with Carol lately, Ray’s head hasn’t been where it should be.
After that night in Phoenix, nothing has been the same.
The fact he and Gene crossed that line—being sexual with each other—awakened a fire that refuses to be snuffed out.
As embarrassing as it sounds, there were a few times he could’ve sworn that if he opened his mouth while having sex with Carol, Gene’s name would’ve come out instead.
Thankfully it never happened, but if he’s not careful, he worries that it could happen.
He needs to do a better job at forgetting about it, that’s what. Focus on something else. He’s surprised that spending time with Carol hasn’t been helping much.
Maybe he needs some time by himself.
The minutes go by, coins clink and clank, with Gene seeming to be winning more than Carol. “Is your machine rigged or something? Switch with me!” she demands from Gene.
“All the machines are the same, aren’t they?” Gene shrugs.
“Something seems different, though. I swear you’ve won twice the amount of times I have,” she retorts.
“Fine, fine. I’ll switch.”
And so, Carol and Gene stand up, switching spots. As Ray watches them both feed the machines again—coins clanking, pulling levers, reels spinning—nothing has changed. Carol is still losing and Gene is still winning.
“What the hell! As soon as I fucking go to this one, now it’s not working!” Carol slaps the machine. “Ow! That hurt…”
“Hey, be careful!” Ray warns. “Don’t break anything.”
“You’re more worried about the machine than me?” Carol frowns.
“No, wait, that’s not what I meant.” Ray rubs his forehead, messing up his bangs. “Of course I don’t want you to hurt yourself. I just mean I also don’t want anyone to get in trouble, y’know?”
Carol huffs. “Alright, alright.”
She tries her luck again, putting another coin in. Gene does the same, and Ray watches, still lost in his thoughts. They both go for a few more rounds when suddenly, Nicky shows up behind Gene.
“Hey, man. Having fun?” Nicky asks him.
“Yeah, these are pretty neat,” Gene replies, turning around on his stool to face the keyboardist. “What have you been doing?”
“I tried a different machine over there.” He waves his hand in the general direction of the rest of the casino. “It was alright, but I think I need a pick-me-up. I was wondering… you wanna head into the bathroom with me?”
“The bathroom?” Ray interrupts. His stomach curdles. “Why would you guys go in the bathroom together?”
It’s no trick of the eye, the way Gene’s face burns redder, as he jolts his gaze toward Ray. “I-it’s not what you think!”
“What the fuck, man?” Nicky also looks at Ray, face twisting in disgust. “Get your mind outta the gutter. I was just asking him if he wanted to do some coke with me.”