“Do you like that guy?” I asked. I was betting ten dollars at a time and I had just won again.
She crowded me. “Would it make any difference?”
I got the dice again and upped the ante. “It might,” I said and made three straight passes.
“I’m bringing you luck,” she said. “It’s my red head.”
My next throw was seven. I waited until they paid me and then passed the dice.
“Let’s go somewhere,” I said, my pockets tight with money. “Have you been here before?”
The man with the hooked nose had the dice now. He threw two sixes. They took his money.
“I know all the places,” she said and squeezed herself out of the crowd. I noticed a lot of men enjoyed that. I did not blame them.
I took a quick look at the man with the hooked nose, but he was busy. So I forced myself through the crowd and joined her.
She led me along the deck, through the crowds, up an iron ladder. I could not see her, but I could smell her perfume. I followed her with my nose.
The crowds suddenly disappeared and we were alone. I felt the rail against my back and she was pressing against me.
“The moment I saw you . . .” she said.
“That’s the way it is,” I said and took hold of her. She was big and soft. My fingers sank into her back.
“Just kiss me,” she said and she put her hands under my coat.
We stayed like that for a minute.
Then she jerked away. “Whew! Come up for air,” she said.
I hated her suddenly more than anyone ever hated anyone.
I took hold of her again, but she shoved me off. She was terribly strong. I did not think she could be so strong.
“Don’t rush me,” she said, giggling. “Just take it easy.”
I wanted to slam my fist in her face, but I stood away and said nothing.
I could see her fiddling with her hair. She turned round and looked at the moon that was coming up fast.
“I’d better get back,” she said.
“That’s all right with me.”
She made no move. “He’ll be wondering where I am.”
“I guess he will.”
It was a pushover.
She put her hands on her lips. “I believe you bruised me.”
I did not care a great deal. “Not you,” I said.
She laughed. “The moon looks all right now,” she said, turning back to me.
“Were you waiting for the moon?”
“Hm-hm.” Her hands reached out and I pulled her against me.
“I don’t neck with every guy I meet,” she said as if excusing herself.
“I should worry what you do so long as you do it now,” I said, still hating her, but overwhelmed by her.
She bit my mouth.
Someone laughed on the deck below. I knew that laugh. No one but Eve could laugh like that. I shoved the red head away.
“What’s the matter?” Her voice was a mumble.
I stood listening.
Eve laughed again. I looked over the rail but the crowd was too dense. I could not see her.
“Hey!” The red head sounded angry.
“To hell with you,” I said.
She swung at me, but I caught her wrist. It felt soft and flabby in my grip. She gave a kind of squeal.
I called her a name and left her.
Down on the deck I looked around for Eve. I saw her at last standing by the lighted doorway that led to the roulette room. By her side was a tall hard-faced man in a well fitting tuxedo.
I knew who he was.
As I moved towards them, they went into the roulette room. He had his hand on her elbow and she was looking happy.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
I DID not want Eve to see me. Anyway, not just yet. I was not able to stand in the doorway because people kept crowding in. The room, although large, was pretty tightly packed. From the door, I could not see the tables, although I could see the shaded arc lights that illuminated them.
I moved cautiously forward until I reached the first table. I was wedged then, and looking around, I saw Eve was not there. I guessed she would be at the far table and I tried to make my way there. The crowd was too thick and I had to wait.
The croupier was singing out,
“Faites vos jeux Messieurs.”
There was a concerted movement towards the table and I was carried along with it.
A moment later the croupier said,
“Les jeux sent faits.”
The pressure eased and I was able to back away from the table and drift down the room. Even then it was not easy. I picked up some black looks as I squeezed through the crowd, using my elbows and trying to be pleasant about it.
It was a full ten minutes before I reached the other table. Eve was standing behind Jack Hurst who had managed to get a seat.
The croupier was saying,
“Onze, noir, impair.”
After he had raked in the losing stakes, he pushed a small pile of chips across to Hurst.
“Messieurs, faites vos jeux.”“
Eve leaned forward and whispered in Hurst’s ear. Her eyes were bright and she looked almost beautiful. He shook his head impatiently, but did not look around. He staked on black and
Impair.
While other players were staking, I eyed him with interest. He was big, broad shouldered and powerful looking. His eyes were deep set and his nose straight. He had no top lip. His mouth looked like a hard line drawn with a ruler and pencil.
His tuxedo fitted him well and his linen was flawless. I guessed he would be about forty.
So this was the guy Eve had fallen for. I did not blame her. Whatever else he was, he was a man. I found it hard to admit, but Jack Hurst looked all right.
I glanced at Eve. She had her hand possessively on his shoulder and she never took her eyes off him for one second. Every move he made she watched excitedly. I hardly recognized her. She was animated and I had never seen her look so happy.
All the same, I was sick with jealousy. If Hurst had been a little rat of a man, it would not have been so bad. But he wasn’t. I could not help comparing him with myself. The comparison wasn’t so good. He was better looking, more interesting and more powerful. He looked like a man who would get his own way in everything he did.
The wheel spun and Eve leaned forward. Hurst just sat with his eyes on the wheel, cold and disinterested.
The croupier said,
“Rien ne va plus.”
The ball gradually slipped down the ledge and finally lodged in one of the compartments of the bowl.
The croupier paid out. He shoved more chips at Hurst and smiled at him. Hurst didn’t catch his eye.
I began a slow move around the table. It was difficult and Hurst won more chips before I got behind Eve. I had to elbow a fat old woman out of the way before I got right behind her. I could smell the perfume in her hair. I wanted to touch her, but I didn’t.
She said in a whisper to Hurst, “Double your stakes.”
“Shut up,” he said.
He put down six chips on the line between 16 and 13. I reached over and put three one hundred dollar chips down on the red.
Eve turned. We looked at each other.
“Hello,” I said.
Her face became wooden and she turned away.
All right, you slut, I thought. If that’s the way you want to play it.
The croupier said,
“Les jeux sont faits,”
and tossed the ivory ball into the wheel.
It came up red.
The croupier took Hurst’s chips before he shoved mine over to me.
“I’ll leave it there,” I said, “O.K?”
The croupier nodded.
Hurst had lost about fifty dollars. He put more chips on the table. It came up red again.
“Leave it there,” I said.
Hurst lost his chips.
He glanced over his shoulder at me and a slight smile came into his eyes. I grinned right back at him. I could afford to.
He did elaborate things with his chips this time laying them out on the first and third dozen.
The red came up and they took Hurst’s chips again. I guessed he had lost about two hundred dollars. I had about eight hundred dollars on the red now. The croupier looked at me inquiringly. I nodded.
As Hurst was about to stake again, Eve said, “It’s no good tonight. Let’s go.” She looked worried.
“Shut up,” Hurst said.
That seemed to be the only thing he could say to her.
Again the red came up and again Hurst lost his chips.
I put two hundred dollar chips on
Passe
and left the pile of chips on red.
People crowded close behind me. I had quite a piece of money on the table now.
Hurst didn’t stake.
The wheel spun. The ivory ball hovered over red 36, then dropped lazily into black 13.
The croupier raked in all my chips and shook his head at me. I tried to grin, but it didn’t quite come off.
I’d seen fifteen hundred dollars slide through my fingers and that hurt. I let it ride.
Hurst began to stake again. This time he won. It looked like he couldn’t win when I was playing. I waited a couple of rounds then I staked two hundred on the black.
The red came up.
All right, I thought, then I’ll play red. I was crazy not to play the red.
I was four hundred dollars down.
As I reached forward to place my stake, I touched Eve’s hip. It was like touching a live wire. She moved quickly away and that told me she knew who was touching her. I didn’t care. It was enough just to stand by her and watch the man she loved losing his money.
I put down five hundred dollars on the red.
Hurst staked too.
The red came up and Hurst lost.
It went on like that for fifteen minutes. I did not stake every time. Twice I was going to take the pile of chips off the table, but something stopped me.
The red came up eleven times. I could hear all the people letting their breath out.
“Leave it on the red,” I said. There were fifty two hundred dollar chips there.
The croupier said, “No bet.” He didn’t start the wheel.
Then, right off, an argument started. A little man with a scar across his face started shouting that they had to take the bet and spin the wheel.
The croupier just sat there and shook his head.
Hurst said suddenly, “Spin that goddam wheel.” There was a crack like a whip in his voice.
The croupier whispered something to a tall, thin bird who had pushed his way up to the table.
Hurst said, “Tell him to spin the wheel, Tony.”
The tall thin bird looked at my pile of chips and his lips pursed. He looked at Hurst and then at me. Then he said to the croupier, “Well, what the hell are you waiting for?”
The croupier lifted his shoulders. “
Messieurs, faites vos jeux.”
Everyone crowded forward. It was an exciting moment. I put my hand down and found Eve’s. She did not look at me, but she let me hold it. I got more of a bang out of that than I did watching the wheel spin.
The ball seemed to be taking a long time to make up its mind. It dropped into the red and seemed about to settle, then at the last moment, almost as if an unseen hand had given it a flip, it rolled into the black.
There was a long drawn-out sigh from the crowd.
“Why didn’t you stop, you weak fool?” Eve said, snatching her hand away.
Hurst looked over his shoulder, stared at her and then at me. Everyone was looking at me. I just stood there, feeling weak at the knees. By just one throw too many I had gypped myself out of ten thousand dollars.
“Okay?” The thin bird asked, sneering at me.
I pulled myself together. “Yeah,” I said and without looking at Eve, I forced my way across the crowded room to the bar.
There was scarcely anyone in the long low room. The crowd had begun to gamble and they would not start drinking again until later on in the evening. It was still early. The clock above the bar said ten five.
I ordered a double Scotch and when I had drunk it I told the bartender to leave the bottle. It was going to be a hell of an evening after all.
I stayed there for half an hour and I drank steadily. Then I saw Eve come in. She was alone. I was pretty high by now and as I was about to leave the bar and go over to her she went into the Ladies’ Room. A few minutes later she came out with the red head. They passed close to me without seeing me.
The red head was saying, “He’s terrific, isn’t he? He looks like a sailor and I adore his thin lips.”
Eve giggled. “He doesn’t go for red heads,” she said, her face animated.
“I’d dye for him,” the red head said and her high-pitched laugh grated on my nerves.
I watched them cross the room and go back into the roulette room. I pulled out a handful of change and shoved it at the bartender and went after them. I could not see Eve nor Hurst. The red head wasn’t there either. I went into the dice room and the card room. There was no sign of them. I went up on deck.
The wind was still cold, but there were a number of couples up there.
I walked around, but I could not see them, so I went up on the top deck.
The red head was there. -
“Hello,” she said.
I joined her at the rail. “Haven’t you found your friend?”
“He’s gone. I came up here to see the moon again.”
I looked at her. Perhaps she was not so bad after all. I remembered how my fingers had sunk into her back.
I moved closer. “How are you getting back?”
“By boat . . . do you think I’d swim?” She laughed and I laughed too. I was plastered so anything could be funny right now; even losing ten thousand dollars.
I manoeuvered her against the rails. She did not seem to mind.
“I’m sorry I tried to hit you,” she said.
“I liked it,” I said and pulled her towards me.
She came willingly enough. This time I hurt her mouth.
“Is that all you can do?” she asked, pushing me away.
“I can drive a car and play the gramophone. My education has been intensive.”
“You mean extensive don’t you?”
“What the hell does it matter? Who was the dark girl you were talking to?”
“Eve Marlow? Oh, she’s a tart.”
“So what? . . . so are you.”
She giggled. “Only to my friends.”
“How did you come to know her?”
“How did I come to know who?”
“Eve Marlow.”