Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 83602 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83602 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
“I know you did.”
He continued to lean on me. At one point, he looked up, and his gray eyes were laced with red. “Where would I be tonight without you?”
“I’m glad I got to be the one with you tonight.”
“I’ve never cried in front of anyone before. Not once.”
“There’s a first time for everything.”
“There’s a bad joke in there somewhere. You know that, right?”
We both laughed. I imagined how good it must have felt for him to laugh. For me, laughter never felt better than when it followed a good cry.
“You make me feel things, Greta. You always have. When I’m around you, whether it’s good or bad…I feel everything. Sometimes, I don’t handle it too well, and I fight it by acting like an asshole. I don’t know what it is about you, but I feel like you see the real me. The second I saw you again for the first time at Greg’s when you were standing in that garden…it was like I couldn’t hide behind myself anymore.” He rubbed my cheek with his thumb. “I know it was hard for you to see me with Chelsea. I know you still care about me. I can feel it even when you’re pretending you’ve stopped.”
“This has been hard, but it was worth it to be able to see you again.”
“I don’t want to cry anymore tonight.”
“I don’t want you to cry anymore, either. But if you feel like you have to, don’t be afraid to. It’s good to let it out.”
He was staring at my lips. I was staring at his. The past few minutes had weakened me. I wanted to kiss him. I knew I couldn’t, but the need was so intense I had to get up from my seat.
I was feeling like I was going to burst—both physically and emotionally. We were sitting diagonally across from the roulette wheel. It was the only non-slot game I understood how to play. I needed to take my impulsivity out on something and had an idea.
When you’re gambling with your heart, taking a chance with money seems like nothing. I headed for the roulette table and threw a bunch of bills from my stash down on one number.
“Straight up,” I said.
The casino worker looked at me like I was crazy.
Elec had come up from behind me. “What are you doing?”
He hadn’t seen which bet was mine. My heart was beating faster with every turn of the wheel, and everything thereafter seemed to happen in slow motion.
Elec’s hands were on my shoulders as our eyes stayed glued to the wheel.
The wheel stopped.
The worker’s eyes bugged out of his head.
Someone handed me a drink that wasn’t mine.
More alcohol spilled on me.
People were clapping, cheering, whistling.
“22 is the winner!”
“That’s me. I won!”
Elec lifted me up into the air, spinning us both around.
When he put me down, he looked at me in shock. “You bet 22? You fucking bet it all on 22! Do you have any idea how much money you just won?”
I turned to the man behind the table.
“How much did I just win?”
“19-thousand dollars.”
“Holy shit, Greta.” Elec took my face in his hands, shook my cheeks and repeated, “Holy shit.” It seemed like he was going to give me a celebratory kiss, but he stopped short.
I’d just won a crapload of money but that didn’t seem to matter as much as getting to share this moment with him. Nothing beat the feeling of his hands cupping my face, of seeing his eyes smiling back at mine, of being able to turn his misery toward the number 22 into something positive. If this money could have bought more time with him, I would have given every red cent of it away.
Elec and I walked over to the cashier’s booth in a daze. While I went to collect the money, he stood back a ways talking to a few of the people who were at the table when I won.
I opted to take a check for the majority but asked for one thousand in cash. They’d also given me a complimentary room key for the casino hotel. That had caught me off guard, and I wasn’t sure if I should even mention it to Elec.
By the time I walked back over to him, he was standing alone with a huge smile on his face.
I handed him the ten crisp hundred-dollar bills. “I want you have this.”
His smile faded, and he tried to hand the cash back to me. “I’m not taking any money from you.”
“If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have even played 22. I chose it for you.”
“No way.” He shoved it in my face. “Take it.”
I wouldn’t budge. “That’s only a fraction of the winnings. I have a check for all the rest. I’m gonna put in the bank to help my Mom out. If you don’t take this cash, I’ll bet it all.”