The Political Heist

3. Unfaithful.

(adjective
not faithful, in particular:
engaging in sexual relations with a person other than one's regular partner in contravention of a previous promise or understanding.)

"Shit," Alex swore under his breath. His face losing more and more color as the seconds passed by.

At the same time, Derek said under his, "well, hot damn." His grin grew even wider as he subtly rubbed his hands together. He walked further into the casino.

The two men continued to stare at each other under the colorful lights for what seemed like an eternity. It started to look like they were in an old western movie. The croupier called out Alex's numbers and he didn't even notice as someone next to him claimed his winnings. Being an elderly East Asian man who knew very little English, the croupier ignored it. Besides Alex was too focused on his stare down with Derek to care. He didn't even blink until his left eye twitched involuntarily and began to tear up because of how dry it became. His entire demeanor was trying to feign courage but deep down, he was anxious as hell. He was not ready to face Derek. Not at all.

Derek on the other hand, was as cool as a cucumber. To him, Alex's false sense of bravado was evident and refreshingly humorous considering the afternoon he'd just had. He grinned like a Cheshire Cat and gave him a wink before walking away to the slot machines. He found immense pleasure in Alex's discomfort.

Alex was someone he liked remembering. Tonight will be a good night, he thought to himself.

Alex's uncomfortableness was becoming palpable. The hairs on the back of his neck stood at attention every time he saw Derek move to a different game. He was so anxious about how Derek was moving that at it threw his own game off and he lost $300 in one bet. He couldn't even keep up with the stories being told at the table.

Listening in on them was part of casino culture. People gamble for different reasons. Some for urgent cash, some for replacement cash and some for fun. The stories could be entertaining at times, but the majority of them were warning signs for newbies.

At that moment, an Asian looking lady was recanting her reason for gambling. For some reason, casinos were always full of Asians, especially Chinese and Japanese tourists. She was in her mid thirties and had a strong accent, probably Vietnamese. She was very beautiful and was in the process of trying to get her citizenship. She wanted to participate in the next round of tests and needed to make her payment which was due soon but she haphazardly spent her money during a drunken night with her boyfriend. If she didn't take it soon, she would possibly be in a lot of trouble since immigration laws are always evolving and she was an illegal inhabitant. She had been for the past three years.

That was about all that Alex was able to retain from her story. Occasionally muttering a 'really? That's crazy!' here and there for compassion's sake. Truly, he wasn't that interested. She sat next to him and chatted his ear off as she spoke but, she was now speaking to a vegetable. His attention strayed the closer Derek came to his table and he didn't get to hear about how her boyfriend had been trying to pimp her, saying it would make enough money for him and her. Agitated because she kept losing and no one was paying attention to her anymore, she eventually stood up and walked over to another game, leaving Alex alone and better able to focus on Derek's movements without noise. He then rolled his eyes and sighed with relief because he could now pay attention.

Derek on the other hand, was duly aware of the pair of eyes that had been following him but he kept calm. He actually felt flattered by what was going on because the fact that Michael was eyeing him like a hawk meant that he still felt threatened by his presence. And it meant that he knew Derek could do what he did all those years ago all over again.