Chapter 2

It was almost six in the morning when the door opened and Johnny stood framed in the hall light behind him. He came into the bedroom with the exaggerated care of a man who had had too much to drink. He tried to undress in the darkness, hopping clumsily from one foot to the other as he removed his trousers, until Laura spoke, her voice filled with shame and humiliation.

"Turn on the light, Darling, it's alright. I'm awake."

She had been awake since the exit of Mr. Rogers, and had cried until there were no more tears to come. She had just lain there helplessly and struggled with her confused thoughts trying to decide what to tell her husband. During those tortured hours she'd been unable to make any decision and now that Johnny faced her she knew there was no way to tell him what had actually happened.

"Laura, what are you doing awake? You have to work this morning, don't you?" His voice was fuzzy and slurred from liquor.

"I was just waiting up for you, Darling. I don't know, I just couldn't sleep." She held out her arms to him and he burrowed up against her like a small child.

When he spoke his voice was muffled by her shoulder and she strained to hear him.

"Oh Laura, honey, all of a sudden everything went bad. I couldn't win. I just couldn't win! I was so far ahead, and then I kept losing..."

He seemed so hurt and helpless that her own troubles seemed to disappear and she held him as tightly as she could and tried to soothe him.

"Johnny, Johnny, don't worry about anything. Come on, get into bed with me and we'll talk about it in the morning. You'll see, everything's going to be fine."

Her husband finished undressing and crawled in bed beside her. At first she thought he was relieved that she hadn't wanted to tank to him about the gambling losses, but all night long she could feel him tossing in his sleep. His breathing was very erratic and once she was startled to find a cold film of perspiration covering his forehead.

He awoke about ten and called to her in the kitchen while she was making coffee.

She came in with an extra cup for him and sat on the edge of the bed. As he slid up to rest against a pushed-up pillow, he took her hand.

"Laura, I have to talk to you." The words seemed choked with emotion and she could sense the seriousness and tension in his voice.

"Honey, I have to tell you about last night... I'm so ashamed of myself. I don't know what happened to me, whether it was the booze or just all the excitement."

He was trying to be calm but his hand was gripping her so tightly that it was painful. She started to say something to calm him but she could tell he had to get it out of his system, and that there was nothing she could say that could help.

"Alright, Johnny, I'm listening. And don't worry."

"Remember when you left... I was at the crap table. Well, everything I did seemed to be right. I kept winning and winning. I'd won almost three thousand dollars, and then the dice, everything, seemed to change..." He paused, as if he was trying to relive the whole night, to bring everything back into focus.

"I started to lose... on every toss I lost. I tried anything-- changing my bets, I moved to different tables. Nothing worked. Everybody kept patting me on the back, telling me my luck had to change, and Deke kept handing me more chips to play..."

His voice trailed off and he was silent for several seconds. He wasn't even looking at her, just staring off into the distance, and Laura could see the pain etched into his face.

"It kept going on and on. I couldn't win! I couldn't win!"

She began to get frightened. She'd seen him when he started to gamble and she knew there was no stopping him until his money ran out. It was his remark about Deke Vito that worried her.

"Johnny, what do you mean Deke kept giving you money. Whose money was it? Wasn't it yours, wasn't it the money you'd won earlier?"

"No!" he shouted bitterly. "I'd already lost that, I told you! It was his money. Deke's!"

"Oh no, Johnny. Why? How could you have borrowed money from him. You know we don't have any money to pay him back. How much was it? For God's sake, how much was it!"

The worry in her voice hit him and he grabbed her, burying his head against her breasts. He mumbled something but she couldn't hear him.

"what, Johnny? Johnny, I can't hear you. How much of Vito's money did you lose? Please, Johnny, talk to me..."

He raised his head and she could see the wetness lining his eyes.

"Over five thousand dollars. Over five goddamned thousand dollars!"

"Oh my God, Johnny! How could you? Where are we ever going to get that much money. We can't even buy groceries!"

She could feel him trembling against her and shaking his head from side to side, but her mind kept reeling with the thought of all that money. How? Where were they going to get the money? She tried frantically to think of someone who would lend them that much. Johnny had no family and they couldn't go to hers because they had been against the marriage in the first place. Their daughter, a society debutante from one of the oldest families on Cape Cod, marrying an entertainer. A singer that no one had ever even heard of!

"Honey..." his voice interrupted her thoughts, "we were celebrating, me and Deke. He had a brand new contract for me. A big one! At the Fairmount Hotel in San Francisco! I was so happy, so goddamned happy. It was what we'd been waiting for, you and me. We'd made it. Big Time!... and I blew it, shot it all to hell..."

His voice trailed off and she sat up trying to understand what he'd said.

"Johnny, what do you mean, you blew it? That's it! It's wonderful, that's the way we can pay him back. If the new contract means more money we can..."

"Laura," he interrupted, "Laura, it's no good. I know Deke and he'll never let me have that much time to pay him back. When I left him he got kinda nasty and asked me if I was going to bring the money to him today."

He looked up at her, the hurt and confusion showing plainly in his eyes. "Laura, I didn't know what to say... I told him sure I'd give it to him today. I couldn't tell him anything else, he had Black Jack with him--Mr. Mornay's bodyguard."

Johnny Dutton held his head in his hands. There was no sound except the convulsive shaking of his shoulders. "Honey, he'll ruin us if I don't pay. He'll blackball me in every club on the West Coast."

"Johnny, I don't understand. Surely he knows you can't pay him back right away. Why did he give you the money?"

"I don't know... I don't know, he just kept handing me more chips. It was almost as if he wanted me to lose."

They sat quietly for several moments, the room darkened except for the brilliant shaft of sunlight that had broken through a half-opened window.

Laura's mind spun in a tortured turmoil. First it had been the old man the night before and now it was this. She didn't know what to do!

Johnny put his hand on her shoulder and turned her to him. "We've got to get out of here. It's our only chance. We'll go back East, New York or someplace... I'll just start over." His hand gripped her tighter. 'Hell, I can still sing; he can't take that away from me."

Their eyes met, as if they'd both remembered a story they'd heard in the same instant. Just after they'd arrived fox Johnny's engagement at the casino a story had been going around about a saxophone player who had crossed Deke Vito. He had been found several days later in a ditch outside of town with his lip cut horribly and all of his fingers broken. Naturally, there had been no witnesses and the musician had been too frightened to speak, but the old timers in the club had mentioned Deke Vito's name more than once, and some of them even had similar stories of incidents in the past.

Whether the story of the sax player or any of the others was actually true, it frightened the two of them. Laura tried to stop the tears that were building up in her, but it was no use and she broke into great heaving sobs as Johnny held her tightly in his arms.

"My God, Johnny... what are we going to do..." There was no answer. No answer until...

"Laura, baby, there's only one way out." He paused and she could hear the falseness in his emotion.

"Laura, if you talked to Vito, maybe if you went to see him you might be able to convince him..." As he stuttered out the words she knew by the way he spoke they were rehearsed. Johnny was a tremendous talent as a singer, but he was no actor and she could almost see the words forming themselves in the air before he uttered them. She waited, not because she didn't know what was coming, but only to see how he was going to phrase it. She wondered if he was going to be able to squeeze out an actual tear or if he'd have to fake it.

"Honey, you wouldn't have to do anything with him, I promise. If it ever came to that I'd kill myself." His voice came haltingly, steeped with emotion.

"Laura, you could just talk to him; he likes you--you know that. If you could just get him to wait for the money, to give me that contract--we could make it."

She watched him carefully. She saw the tears forming in his eyes. He really is crying, she thought. He must know that Deke Vito would never be satisfied with just a spoken plea from me. He'll want more, much more. Oh, Johnny, don't you know what you're doing to us?

Her husband seemed to sense that he hadn't succeeded with his guise of naive innocence. His voice changed and he tried a different approach. Laura, I know what you're thinking, about Vito I mean. We both know he'll want more from you. But, if you can just stall him until he gives me the contract to sign, until I get a copy of it, then it won't matter what he wants."

Laura looked at him. His voice was stronger and she was sure he was being honest with her.

"Don't you see, honey? We'll have the contract, and if he tries to break it in San Francisco I'll make such a stink about it, about him wanting you, that the publicity alone will take us where we want to go."

It seemed to make sense. Deke Vito wasn't that big, and if Johnny had a contract to headline at the biggest hotel in San Francisco and Vito tried to break it, her husband would easily be able to find another agent or manager to handle him.

She was fairly sure of herself. She thought she'd be able to hold Vito off long enough to get that signed contract. I ought to be able to, she thought, as much as that pig slobbers over me all the time. It might even be fun to turn him on and off like water faucet.

She took her husband's hand. "Don't worry, Darling, I'll get that contract for you." She leaned over and kissed him.

"I've got to get to work. I'll see you when I get home." It was Johnny's one night off at the cabaret.

She grabbed her coat and as she closed the door behind her she was already thinking of ways to ensnare the gambler who held the key to their future.

It was almost five in the afternoon before she saw Vito. She'd been going over and over different plans since she'd come to work and had finally decided to play it fairly straight, hoping that the man's desire for her was great enough to keep him satisfied with promises of the future.

It was the slowest time of the day in the casino; the night players hadn't come in yet and even most of the die-hards from the night before had gone back to their motels.

Vito had looked her way only once and she had been able to sense the curiosity in him, but there had been no chance to talk to him privately.

Now, as she stood in a far corner of the almost deserted cocktail lounge she saw him coming toward her.

He smiled in his inimitable way and called out to her. "Hi Baby, whattya doin' hidden way back here?"

"Hi Deke. It's so slow that I thought I'd take a short breather." She tried to keep her voice as steady as possible.

"I understand you and Johnny had quite a time last night."

"Yeah, quite a time. Johnny was a little unlucky--one of those nights." He stared at her. "Did he tell you about it?"

"Yes, he told me."

"Yeah, but did he tell you everything, baby?"

"Oh, you mean all the money he lost?"

"That too. Did he tell you about borrowing any money?"

He took the stool next to her and as always somehow managed to get his leg pressed too tightly against hers. But this time she didn't pull away from him. She just let his thigh rest where it was.

"He said he'd gotten quite a bit of money from you, Deke."

"It all depends how you look at it, kid. To me five grand ain't nothing to Johnny, who knows." He lit a cigarette and tried to make it look natural as he dropped his hand to her thigh.

"Yeah, to Johnny five G's might be a lot of money."

"It is an awful lot of money, Deke..."

"Has he got it for me today, baby?" he interrupted. But Deke Vito had been in the money racket long enough to know the singer had been bluffing the night before when he'd said he'd have it today, and when the kid's wife hadn't jerked her leg away from his hand like she always did, he had a pretty good idea how Johnny Dutton planned to pay it back.

Laura started to give him some story about her family sending the money in a few days but, looking at Vito, she knew he'd never fall for it.

"No, he doesn't." She dropped her hand to his, lowering her eyelashes. "Deke, isn't there some way you can give Johnny a little more time until the contract comes through!"

"The contract? So, your boy told you about that too, huh?"

He ran his hand beneath her short skirt, toying with the edge of her stocking. "Yeah, that sure is a sweet contract. Big Time for your boy. Yeah, real big time." He lightly traced his fingers down the inside of her thigh. Already, the nattily dressed gambler had her confused. She knew he was going too far and too fast, but she didn't know what to do.

"I told you, baby, I'd take good care of ol' Johnny if you were nice to me." He accentuated his words with a sudden pinch right at the edge of her panties.

"Ow! Deke, you're hurting me." She tried to move away a little. It really had hurt. But his hand closed over her thigh right against the rise of her pubic mound and held her still.

"Sorry, Laura, I'd never want to hurt you. You know that, baby. I'd like to make you feel real good all over. Real good!"

He looked at her shrewdly and decided that maybe he was going a little too fast. He was completely confident that she'd be his to play with before long, but he didn't want to scare her. He moved his hand farther down her leg and cupped her knee in his palm.

"You know, baby, that's one hell of a contract I got for Johnny. If he handles it right it'll make him real big overnight."

"Oh Deke, that's wonderful. I don't know how I'll ever be able..." she stopped. She didn't want to say that.

"I think I know, baby. And I also know a way you can get that contract for your boy. Why don't you just meet me up in Mr. Mornay's suite at eight when you get off. Then we'll talk over a few ways you can make things a little easier for Johnny Dutton."

He ran his hand quickly back up between her legs to touch the soft silk crotch band of her panties before he got up and walked jauntily away.

Laura sat there for several minutes more trying to erase the stain of Deke Vito from her mind, then she was called away to deliver some drinks to some blackjack players.

For the next couple of hours she was too busy to have any time to think of what novas awaiting her in the casino owner's suite on the top floor. It wasn't until the girl who relieved her tapped her on the shoulder and told her she was off that she had a chance to contemplate some course of action.

She knew Deke Vito wasn't the type to waste any time but she couldn't bear the thought of going completely through with what he had in mind.

She was still trying to think of some way to stall him when she felt a huge hand on her shoulder.

It was Black Jack. No one knew his last name, or even if he had one. The giant Negro was Mr. Mornay's bodyguard and the biggest man Laura had ever seen.

He was at least seven feet tall, always dressed in shining black mohair suits with a white tie, and he never seemed to say a word. It was rumored that he couldn't even speak because no one had ever heard him. He just nodded deferentially to Vito's or Mornay's commands and lumbered off to obey.

Laura had been in the lobby once when a drunk and irate customer had taken a swing at the casino owner. Black Jack had appeared out of seemingly nowhere, grabbed the man's fist in mid-air and crushed it with his own hand until the man screamed and fainted. Then the huge black man had picked him up like a toy and carried him outside to stuff him upside down in the sports car the valet had brought around.

She turned to look up at him and then followed as he silently led her to the elevator.

He pushed a button on a side wall separated from the buttons that indicated the various floors of the casino and the elevator was completely quiet as it rose to the penthouse.

There was only one set of great double doors and the Negro waited patiently for Deke Vito to answer the buzzer. It didn't take him long.

"Hello, baby. I'm glad you decided to come up," the gambler said as he motioned her into the spacious living room.

"How about a little drink, kid, before we get down to business?"

Without waiting for her to answer, he motioned to Black Jack who immediately went to a concealed bar that opened with the flick of a small switch.

In seconds that seemed like a silent eternity, the man returned with two tall drinks and handed one to Vito before he bowed and offered the other to Laura.

My God, she thought, it's like a James Bond movie. The raucous noises of the casino below had disappeared with the closing door and the penthouse seemed to be suspended high above the earth. The curtains across the glassed front wall of the living room were wide open and all that could be seen were the tops of the snow-capped mountains that glowed eerily in the twilight.

There was no sound in the room except the clinking of ice cubes and the soft music of a hidden sound system.

Black Jack had retired to the opened bar where he stood at semi- attention.

"Laura baby, don't be nervous," Vito said as he patted her salaciously on the knee. "Drink your drink and relax, we're just going to have a nice little chat."

Vito stood up and removed the deep purple dinner jacket he was wearing. He looked down from his jewel-studded shirtfront.

"I'm goin' to go freshen up, baby. I'll be right back."

She felt a little better with him out of the room and drank thirstily from the tall frosted glass--and she had no objections when Black Jack appeared to make her another. The drink had calmed her a little and she settled back into the velvet softness of the curved couch. She felt considerably more confident and didn't notice the care the huge man took in making her drink. She didn't see the exactness with which he poured the clear liquid from a special bottle in the far corner of the bar.

Black Jack handed it to Deke Vito who had just come back into the room and the sleek looking gambler brought it over to her with a smile.

As he settled onto the couch next to her she was almost sickened by the heavy, sweet smell of the cologne he'd just sprayed himself with.

My God, he must have taken a bath with it. He smells like a French whorehouse. The last thought sobered her momentarily. Whorehouse... I've got to be careful. But the rich warmth that was gradually spreading through her washed away her tension and she felt very sure of herself.

He can't do anything I don't want him to. I may let him touch me a little with his greasy hands, but only enough to get what I want from him. Johnny's contract! The words kept tumbling through her mind to remind her she had to maintain a friendliness toward him in spite of her revulsion.

"Johnny's contract." The words startled her. "Baby, let's talk about Johnny's contract... and the money he owes me."

She looked at the gambler's olive-skinned face through the pearling gray cigar smoke. She was a little surprised to see that everything looked a little hazy to her.

"Baby, that contract's worth an awful lot of money to you and the kid; but the five grand he owes me ain't nothin' to sneeze at."

Her lips seemed a little numb and it was getting difficult to focus her eyes clearly. She tried to concentrate on his words but her mind kept wanting to wander away.

She fastened her eyes on one of the sapphire shirt studs on the pleated front before her and waited til her eyes cleared and she was able to see it distinctly. Then his words became a little easier to understand.

"Yeah, Laura baby, that's a lotta dough. More'n your boy Johnny's got. So if I ain't going to get it from him, where's it gonna come from?"

She looked up at him, the fright showing clearly in her smoky eyes. "Johnn... I mean Deke, I... I don't..."

"Take it easy, Laura baby, I know you ain't got it. But I got a little proposition for you."

"A proposition?"

"What am I." He leaned forward. "What does everybody call Deke Vito?"

Oh wow, she thought, the many ways I could answer that! What did he want her to say.

"I don't know. A gambler, I guess," she replied, shrugging her shoulders.

"That's right, Laura baby, the last of the high rollers." He chuckled softly. "And I'm gonna show you just how much of a high roller I am."

"I don't understand what you mean," Laura questioned, sensing a foreboding tone in his laugh. "W--What are we going to do?"

"Black Jack, make the little lady another drink." He stood and took her hand, pulling her to her feet. "Come with me and I'll show you."

She followed, a little frightened, and he took her into the next room. It was a large and beautifully decorated room. One wall was glass like the living room, but in a semi-circle around a huge bed were several odd-shaped forms with velvet covers over them. The bed was tremendous and completely round and above it were suspended several TV sets, a stereo system, and a row of telephones.

The bodyguard came in with her drink and after handing it to her, began to pull the velvet covers from what turned out to be crap and blackjack tables and a giant ivory-inlaid roulette wheel.

"This is Mr. Mornay's private little casino for his very close friends." He seemed to put extra emphasis on the "very" and Laura had a sudden obscene vision of lovely girls sitting nude at the tables while Mr. Mornay directed the play at their expense.

"I-It's a lovely place," she sad hesitantly, "but what does this have to do with me?"

"Simple, Laura baby. I said we were going to gamble. Take your pick. Blackjack, dice or roulette?"

"I-I don't understand. What are we going to gamble for?"

"Money, baby. The money Johnny Dutton owes me." He looked at her through his heavy-lidded eyes. "For the money and for his new contract!"

He chuckled again. "You win, and they're yours... I erase his debt and you get his contract. I couldn't get any fairer than that, could I?"

She stood there in amazement at his words and his offer. The whole idea was fantastic! She could erase all their problems with just one bet! But, the sudden shock hit her, what does he want in return!

"B-But what do I have to gamble with? What am I betting with? What do you get if I lose?" She had trouble getting the words out. The drinks had her feeling strange and slightly dizzy and yet somehow, through the haze, she knew what his horrible price was going to be.

The gambler walked over to her and cupped her chin in his hand. He looked down hypnotically at her, the light reflecting from the black pinpricks of his eyes.

"You, Laura baby, you. You're betting with the only thing you have... that soft little pussy down between your legs."

She tried to back away from him, the shock of his blunt answer frightening her, but he held her tightly. She almost fainted in that heavy cloud of sweet cologne, feeling a sudden tremor of sensation run through her as he slid a manicured fingernail down the side of her neck.

His touch seemed to send a vibration of high voltage electricity dancing through her body. God! What was happening to her?

"I can't... I... I don't even know how to gamble..." she managed to stammer, fighting the strange sensation in her that seemed to be gnawing deep down in her belly.

Her words trailed away as she tried to think of some other way, some excuse to get out of this. She felt so strange, so hot, and everything seemed so far away--as if it were happening to someone else.

"Baby, you know how I've always wanted you...

"Yes, but, Deke, I just can't. I just can't do it with anyone else but Johnny," she said pleadingly, not wanting to anger him before she had gotten what she wanted.

"Listen to me, baby. There isn't any other way. It's so simple like this and you get just as good a chance at winning as I have. You can't ask any better than a fifty-fifty split on five grand." He still held her, looking straight down into her eyes as she cowered before him, the immensity of what he was saying sinking slowly into her alcohol confused brain. "And..." he continued, not releasing his grip on her shoulders, "even if you lose, we might still knock a little off that five grand."

Laura swayed in the strength of his hands holding her. She knew it was she and Johnny's only chance to ever get even again and the whole of their future lay in her decision. She tried to think, to clear the confusion from her mind but she couldn't. The pressure was too great and she could only stand there with a glazed expression in her eyes, not moving or showing any emotion whatsoever.

"Well, come on, baby. You do love Johnny, don'cha?" He chided her at her weakest point. "You wouldn't be the cause of him losin' his big chance, now would you?"

Laura closed her eyes momentarily as she felt the big man's hands slip down from her shoulders and fondle her full, protruding breasts with a familiarity that repulsed her. She winced, her lips contorting slightly from the combination of the drink and another man's hands touching her as only Johnny, her husband, should be allowed to do. God, she had been shamed and humiliated enough last night by that horrible landlord of theirs and she didn't think she would be able to go through it again, no matter what. But... at the same time... she knew she had absolutely no choice and her delaying tactics were only to postpone the final moment as long as possible.

"Look, baby, we'll make it easy. One turn of the roulette wheel and you get to choose the color. If the little ball lands in your color, you win. If it lands in mine, then ole Deke gets to play a little 'hide the weeney' with you."

She suddenly jerked back from him, her eyes narrowing. "You don't have to be so crude about it. It's horrible enough as it is."

"That's my girl," he smiled slyly, sensing by the tone of her voice that she had already resigned herself to accept his proposition. "After all, you got a fifty-fifty chance and that's better than you've got downstairs when you're throwing money into it."

Laura's mind whirled. In spite of her dislike for the fat, insipid little man, these were the best odds they would ever have. Certainly better than Johnny had had last night when he had been playing against the house. And... she could put them even again in just a matter of minutes. But... Oh God, if she lost! Her eyes flickered involuntarily over the short, fat man's body in front of her and she shivered in revulsion at the thought of his touching her naked, defenseless flesh. But... NO... NO... she couldn't think about that now. It was her and Johnny's whole life she would be betting against just a few short minutes with this pig of a man. She couldn't let Johnny down now... when it really mattered. She just couldn't! And besides, she might even win! The chances were good and the right was on her side and that should count for something!

"Just one spin of the wheel, Laura, and it's all yours. The contract, the five thousand, and you and Johnny home free." He goaded her on, aware of the emotional battle that was raging in her mind.

"A-And if you win," she ventured falteringly. "you s-said you would forget some of the debt."

"You drive a hard bargain, kid." He grinned and stroked her chin. "Yeah, we'll forget the whole thing. You'd be worth five grand in the rack any day. So that means all we're spinning for is whether or not you're gonna put out to old Deke here. That's pretty fair."

Laura's hopes rose slightly when she heard this and as Black Jack pressed another drink in her hand and she took a long, hard swallow, a feeling of almost invincible confidence suddenly arose within her. She knew she was going to win! She just had to! After all, she was doing it for Johnny and his love and that made it so right! So right that it just couldn't go wrong!

She looked up at him, squarely in the eyes for the first time that evening and then brushed her long silken hair out of her eyes. It all seemed so easy now--perhaps reckless, but easy. In a matter of minutes all her and Johnny's problems would be over and she could fly home to him and tell him all about it.