Mysterious

Chapter 11

"Okay, okay....where are we going next?" Phil asked Bruno as they surveyed the casino a few hours after their latest concert.

"Umm...let's go to...to...I don't know. I just know I want to lose all my money tonight." he told his friend.

"That, Mr. Mars, sounds like a plan." he responded in a melodic voice. They started singing about losing money to a casino.

Arissa and her friends watched them as Ryan and Diego followed them. They all became friends fairly quickly. It was weird how they clicked. The girls had commented on how they all got along. It was kind of perfect.

"Come with me Arissa. You're my good luck tonight..." Bruno said grabbing her waist dragging her towards a Blackjack table.

"But I want to play too." she told him. He handed her a handful of red chips.

"Don't win more than me."

"I can't tell you I won't. But what are the red ones?" she asked him.

"Those are the thousand ones."

"What? Are you serious?" she asked him.

"Yeah, big spender. Make me some money." he licked his lips and then kissed her.

"She's actually pretty good...." Ryan said sitting down at the empty table watching the flop.

After a few hands Arissa's chips outnumbered Bruno's, Phil's and Ari's. Ryan and she were close, but Diego was beating all of them.

"Arissa...what are you doing? Are you counting the cards?" Ari asked watching her think about her move. The dealer glanced up at them as he mentioned the phrase count cards.

"Please, I don't even know how many cards are on the table."

"Damn...I don't have any more money..." Bruno said hitting his hand on table in frustration. He glanced over at Arissa seeing her stack of red and blue chips.

"You are....lucky." he said standing so close to her that she could smell his sweat. She wanted to leave right then and there.

"I'm done. This is stupid." she said pushing some of her chips over the Ryan but putting a few in her pocket.

"What?" Phil yelled at her.

"Yeah. I proved my point. I can beat all of you. Now I want to go have sex with Bruno. Is there a problem with that?" she said turning around kissing him flirtatiously.

"I have no problem with that." he laughed. The dealer looked up, just then realizing who she was dealing for. "Oh...."

"Oh my god...." Ryan said as he ran away with her. He danced with her. He whispered something in her ear. She did the same dance as they all watched Bruno and Arissa fade into the crowd.

"This is great..." Phil responded.

**

Bruno put his hand in her pocket and took out her red chip.

"What are you doing?" she asked him.

"Testing your luck...."

She stared at him inquisitively. He looked around pointing at the craps table.

"I roll a three and a four and we get married." he said kissing her ear. "And don't say no, no, no , no. Say yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah."

"But where's your pocket full of cash?" she asked him.

"All I need is you, sweetheart." he caught himself before saying baby. He still wasn't sure why this bothered her, but he knew he couldn't hurt her again.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissed him and said, "Yes. But only if you get a 3 and a 4." He put down all the red chips on the table. All eyes were on him. She squeezed his left hand as he used his right to roll the dice.

"Wait....blow on these, Arissa." he told her.

"Aww, that's cute..." a spectator said.

"She's going to marry me if I roll right..." he told the girl.

"She's going to marry you, Bruno?" asked another.

Arissa nodded her head and then blew on the dice.

"Lucky bitch." the first one whispered under her breath.

"Yeah, I know..." Arissa responded to the bystander.

Bruno let go of the dice making a nervous face. Arissa felt her palms get sweaty. She held her breath watching the dice hit the edge of the table rolling back toward them.

"Natural winner..." the man in the middle yelled out. Everyone saw the 7...rolled as a 3 and a 4.

Bruno picked Arissa up and spun her around. "Let's go!"

"Put me down!" she whined as everyone watched them. "Everyone is looking at you.

"You'll be put down when I'm good and ready Mrs. Hernandez." Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Okay. I think my heart just stopped. Did he just call me that?

"Put me down, Peter Gene Hernandez! I swear on this casino...I'll scream louder...."

He flipped her up to see her red face. He didn't want her to scream louder. Shit. I can't get too crazy. Someone will see me and start talking about this. He looked at her dead in the eyes not sure what he was going to do. It was the first time in his life he wasn't sure what to do. Her green eyes went right through him. Her red blushed cheeks drove him crazy and her mango scent was magnified 1000 times. He needed to be with her. She started right back at him.

"What?" she asked breaking the silence.

"I love you, Arissa." Bruno responded moving a piece of her hair out of her eye. He didn't kiss her or make any moves. He just watched her. She wrapped her arms around him, took his hat off, put it on her head running her hair through his curly hair and pulled back.

"I love you too, Bruno." She leaned in kissing him gently.

"Let's go upstairs, baaaaabbbby...." he took her hand leading her towards the elevator. Her feet stopped moving with his as he started to walk toward the elevator.

"Arissa?" he turned around to see tears. Her make-up was running down her perfect cheeks.