Lovers and Gamblers Read Online Free PDF Page A

made.’
    ‘Yeah,’ agreed Linda sarcastically, ‘a real fun couple.’
    ‘What was the girl that won like?’ Al turned his attention back to Miss Miami Beach.
    She wrinkled up her nose. ‘Horrible. Nobody liked her. She wasn’t friendly at all.’
    ‘But a great looker.’
    ‘If you like that type. I never thought she would win. We were all hoping she wouldn’t.’
    ‘Naughty little girls. Were you mean to her?’
    ‘
She
was mean to us. She was a – well, she was a bitch.’
    ‘We’re going to eat spaghetti, with clams and meatballs. Then we’re going to come back to the hotel and I’m going to let you breathe garlic sauce all over my cock. You do know what a cock is, don’t you?’
    ‘Oh. Er – yes.’
    ‘Good girl. You and I are going to get along fine.’
    * * *
    Two hours later their table for four had swelled to ten.
    ‘Al shouldn’t drink,’ Linda complained. ‘Who are all these people?’
    ‘You know Al,’ replied Paul. ‘He likes to have people around.’
    ‘I wish you’d stop saying
you know Al
. Yes, I know him, and most of the time I find him a big fat pain.’
    ‘I wish the two of you would get along. It would make my life a lot easier.’
    ‘I can’t help it, he just behaves so badly, bossing people around, intimidating that little blonde – he’s done nothing but make obscene suggestions to her all night.’
    ‘She loves it.’
    ‘She doesn’t love it. She’s just too overawed to object. He makes fun of people – cruel fun.’
    ‘You take things too seriously.’
    ‘Maybe I do. Maybe it’s because I hardly ever see you, and when I do I want us to be alone together. I want to cook for you, and make love to you. I don’t want to watch you being a yes man to your brother.’
    ‘Your bitching is starting to get on my nerves.’
    ‘So
sorry
.’ She felt tears sting the back of her eyelids and she fought for control. If only she didn’t love Paul so goddamn much. If only she wasn’t so jealous of him. When he left her he had another life neatly waiting for him. A wife. Two kids. A home. And what did she have? A lousy apartment and a half-assed career. It wasn’t fair. She had so much to give to the right man. Was that man Paul? She was beginning to wonder.
    * * *
    ‘Take off your clothes,’ said Al. He was sitting fully clothed on the bed in his hotel suite.
    ‘Now?’ asked Miss Miami Beach hesitantly.
    ‘No – tomorrow,’ Al replied sarcastically. ‘Come on – strip off. Let’s see the form that made you number two.’
    ‘Can we turn the lights off?’
    ‘I don’t want the lights off.’
    ‘I’ve got a scar.’
    ‘What sort of scar?’
    ‘Appendix. It sort of embarrasses me.’
    ‘Bullshit. Clothes off or out.’
    Slowly she unzipped her dress and stepped out of it. She was wearing a flesh-coloured bra and lace briefs.
    ‘Will you sign one of your albums for me?’ she asked.
    ‘I’ll do better than that. Get that felt pen from the dresser and come over here.’
    She did as she was told.
    ‘Take your bra off,’ he instructed.
    She did so.
    Roughly he grabbed her left breast, and holding it steady, he scrawled Al. He repeated the process with King on the right one.
    She was breathing heavily, and her breasts signed with his name were featuring erect nipples.
    ‘Get dressed,’ Al sighed. ‘Go home. I’m tired.’
    ‘But…’ she began.
    Why did they always have to argue? Wasn’t it enough they had spent time with him, been seen with him?
    ‘Out!’ said Al sharply.
    Miss Miami Beach snatched up her clothes and, turning her back, she began to dress.
    Al waited impatiently. Why were the majority of females quick as a flash at getting
out
of their clothes, and yet it took them forever to put them on again?
    At last she was finished, and she turned towards Al. ‘Was it something I did?’ she asked meekly.
    Al shrugged. Conversation she wanted now!
    ‘Well,’ she sighed, ‘I guess I’ll always remember tonight. Maybe I’ll see you in