Before I Die

“Do I say it?” she asks me.

“Say what?” I play stupid.

“I have twenty-one.”

The dealer turns over his other card, showing he has nineteen.

“You win,” I tell her, and she squeals in delight again.

The dealer counts her winnings, which is one and half times her bet, and slides the chips over to her.

“Thank you!” Nevaeh says with a giggle. “How much are these worth?”

“A hundred… each.”

“What?” Her head swings over to look at me. “You let me bet five hundred dollars? What if I had lost?”

She glances at my smaller stack of chips. “You lost five hundred dollars?”

I laugh at how adorable she is. The dress she’s wearing is worth five times that. “I’ll live,” I deadpan.

The dealer takes our cards and then deals again.

We go through this several times, and each time Nevaeh wins. We play until I run out of chips and she has all of them. I was afraid she would catch on, but she’s too excited to question anything.

“That was a lot of fun,” she says after the last game. “What now?”

“Now you grab your chips and cash out.”

Her eyes bulge at the tall stack in front of her. Once she learned a chip was worth a hundred, she refused to bet more than a chip or two every game. So in the end, she’s only won a few grand.

“I can’t take these,” she says with a shake of her head, as I take the chips and walk with her over to the window to cash out.

“You won.”

“But I didn’t really pay for the chips,” she points out. “It was just for fun.”

In the past, I’ve brought women to the casino on dates before bringing them back to my place to fuck them. They never have a problem taking my money. Most of them even ask for it. The second they learn what my last name is, they expect it. But not Nevaeh. She’s honest to a fault.

Ignoring her rationalization, I take the money from the cashier and hand it to her. “It’s yours. You won it.” And for some reason, knowing she has some cash makes me feel better.

“Fine.” She sighs. “But I don’t have any pockets. Can you hold it for me?”

“Sure.” I fold the bills and put them in my pocket. “You ready to get out of here?”

“Okay.”

Threading her fingers through mine, I guide her back upstairs. When we step outside, the warm breeze whips her hair around her face, and she smiles. “I love the smell of the beach.” She looks so happy and carefree, the complete contrast to how she’s looked the last week. Not that I could blame her. Her brother was killed and she was kidnapped.

An idea forms. “C’mon.” I tug her hand, forgetting the valet.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

The sun has gone down, leaving us in the dark, but the sidewalk that takes us from the hotel to the boardwalk is dimly lit. I can’t see Nevaeh well, but I can feel her hand tremble. It’s warm outside, but with the breeze coming in from the ocean, it’s still chilly. Unbuttoning my suit jacket, I shrug out of it and stop so I can place it on her shoulders.

“Thank you,” she says with a smile.

We continue our walk, until we reach the end. One of the great things about the hotel is that it backs up to the boardwalk and ocean. I watch Nevaeh as she glances around, wide-eyed, taking it all in. There are several restaurants lining the edges. Rides, for both adults and kids, all sorts of games, and there’s even a huge Ferris wheel. I haven’t been here in years. Since…

“I’ve heard about this place, but I’ve never been here,” Nevaeh says.

“You hungry?” I ask, focusing my attention on her, while trying to push the past aside.

“Yes!” she groans.

We spend the next couple hours on the boardwalk, eating and playing several games. Nevaeh says she’s not dressed to go on the rides, but before we leave, I convince her to at least ride the Ferris wheel.

“In the romance books I read, the guy always kisses the girl at the top of the Ferris wheel,” she says with a laugh. “But it’s usually the one that’s open.”

We’re sitting next to each other in the temperature-controlled gondola. The walls are glass, giving us an aerial view, and I paid the guy extra not to put us with anyone else. Nevaeh is sitting next to me, and we’re holding hands. I’ve given up on questioning what I’m doing at this point, and just simply enjoying her company.

Nevaeh turns to look at me, and when her lips curve into a beautiful smile, I have no choice but to lean in and kiss her. Her body sinks into mine, and her arms wrap around my neck. The kiss starts out slow and gentle, until Nevaeh takes over, her tongue delving into my mouth. She climbs onto my lap, and we continue to kiss, our tongues now moving frantically against each other.