Luciano and I walked into the casino which seemed to be crowded by the richest of people, or people who wanted to look rich.
Dresses adorned with gold, expensive tuxedos, and thousand-dollar bottles of wine flowed in and out of the entrance. I was definitely underdressed.
I didn't miss how friendly everyone was with Luciano. They greeted, hugged, shared cheek kisses, while I stood and watched. He introduced me as his girlfriend to some, their faces morphing in surprise at the information.
The devil-may-care air in the casino was contagious. Each and every turn was met with people selling out money they probably didn't have in a bet, pushing all of their chips forward. Some people were ready to come to blows over cheating allegations.
Neither the violence nor the possible alcohol poisoning of the people around us bothered Luciano. He walked straight with his face facing forward, only talking to whoever talked to him. If I saw him like that as a stranger, I would not want to get in his way.
That seemed to be the thought of everyone around us as most of them whisked themselves out of the way when they saw him.
We didn't stop until we reached a large table in the middle of the room, if I could call it that.
Cards were splayed around the table, people sitting around it drunk or on their way to being drunk. Laughter flooded my ears.
"D'Angelo!" one of them yelled out as his eyes found Luciano.
Everyone else turned, putting Luciano in the spotlight as they all cheered at his presence.
"It's been a long time!"
"Show me another man who doesn't show up at his own casino in 3 months, I'll wait."
Another round of laughter went around the table at the joke.
My brows rose as I heard that Luciano was the owner of the casino.
"We couldn't miss your presence. We heard you were coming and we had to gather, for old time's sake. Sit, sit." The man who had called out to him first offered Luciano a seat beside him.
When he finally took note of my presence, he raised his brows. "Well, you didn't tell us you had company. We only reserved one spot."
"One will do. This is Jasmine, my girlfriend."
It was like the table fell into a time freeze. Everyone's eyes zoned in on me, taking me in with undecipherable expressions.
Luciano sat down and tugged at my hand. I raised a brow at him and he gestured at his lap.
"Sit."
I sat on one of his laps, freezing as he pulled me closer to himself and wrapped his arm around my waist.
"Loosen up, Jasmine. These people do not take kindly to weakness," he whispered in my ear, playing it off as a kiss on the ear.
I tried my hardest to release the tension from my body.
"Does this one speak?" My head whipped at the man beside us, the one who had offered Luciano a seat.
I didn't like being called "this one," but I didn't know if I could tell him that. It reminded me that I was just one out of many.
Maybe I needed that reminder. I wasn't his actual girlfriend anyway.
Once I stopped overthinking, I found everyone's eyes on me once again. They were all waiting for me to confirm if I spoke or not.
"I do speak, thanks for asking." I faked a smile in his direction.
"Jasmine, this is Romano. Never take what he says to heart," Luciano introduced, the pad of his thumb tracing imaginary lines on my waist.
"Come on, Luciano. You're making it sound like I should not be taken seriously. I'm an old, wise man," Romano laughed, taking a fat roll of cigarette in his mouth and revealing his yellowing teeth.
He looked to be in his early to late fifties, wrinkles making him look a little older. His hair had strands of white splayed in different places, making it look more pepper than salt but in a way that you could still see the salt.
I held back my laughter at how funny he looked, which resulted in a smile. Roman thought the smile was directed at him, so he smiled back.
"Ah, you're interesting, flirting with an old man like me," he laughed.
Luciano stopped tracing the lines on my back, and chips were brought for him to use.
Someone shuffled the cards and distributed it equally.
I had no idea what they were doing as I never bothered to play any card games in my twenty-two years of living, so I sat back and watched as they placed their chips and gambled.
After what seemed like a century and with everyone's faces betraying no emotion as the players looked at their cards, one of Romano's chips fell to the floor.
"Well, would you look at that," he laughed as he bent under the table to pick his chip up.
"I can't seem to find it," he said from under the table.
"Would you hurry up, old man?" One of the four women at the table sneered. She had on a simple all-black dress and a toothpick in her mouth.
Just when Romano was about to sit up, I felt his hand grab a hold of my leg and slide up to my knee.
I jerked in both shock and disgust, getting some attention from half the people at the table.
I turned to Luciano, a look of alarm on my face. He didn't notice what had just happened, but he raised a brow at me. "What's the matter?"
I didn't know what to say. I turned to Romano, who was calling for everyone to show their cards like he hadn't just done what he did.
I stupidly gave him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he had to hold himself up to sit up.
I knew that was a lie, but that was the excuse I made up in place for him. If he tried it one more time, I would not hesitate to call him out on it.
"Nothing," I finally replied to Luciano, turning away from him. God, I hated signing that contract. I hadn't even been paid a dollar yet.
I would talk to Luciano about it later.
One by one, everyone dropped the cards on the table, Luciano dropping his cards last.
When the cards were all on the table, Romano laughed again. "Close one, D'Angelo, but it's not everyday people win against me."
"I need to go get something to drink." Luciano stood up with me, urging me to sit back down and asking if I wanted anything to drink. I shook my head. He walked away, leaving me with the very unfamiliar people.
Nobody paid attention to me for more than a second, thankfully. They all went back to playing the card game without Luciano.
Romano turned to look in the direction that Luciano had walked off to, making sure Luciano was far out of sight before he leaned close to where I sat.
"You might think he can give you everything you've ever dreamed of, but haven't you ever thought you could have more?" His breath smelled of cigarettes and something stale, something herbal.
"I don't think I understand," I replied.
"Money. You want that, don't you? They all do. Everyone who's ever been with him was a gold-digger, and don't act like you aren't one of them. They have also gone behind his back once or more to spend some time with me. I'll pay you whatever you want." I looked at him and waited for him to say he was joking. Surely, nobody would sleep with him when they were with Luciano.
"He might give you his money, but not security. He won't protect you. He will use you like the pretty little ragdoll that you are and toss you into the pits of hell when he sees fit, and nobody will come for you."
"You're not convincing me, old man." I gave him a difficult smile, looking away.
My body jerked once again as I felt his callused palm on my thigh.
"Don't touch me!" I swatted his arm away from me, everyone now looking at us.
"Leave the babe alone, Romano. You're too old to stroke your ego by stealing what belongs to Luciano. He doesn't even care about you." The lady in the black dress shook her head at the old man.
"Oh, please. Go find somewhere else to release your anger over your unreciprocated feelings for him." My eyes clashed with hers at that revelation. She frowned, standing up and throwing her chips at Romano before storming off.
"Well, night's over. Well done, geezer." Everyone started to stand up and leave one by one.
I didn't want to be left alone with Romano, so I stood up and started to leave in search of Luciano. Of course, the old man was not backing down.
"Jasmine, child." He stopped in front of me to prevent me from walking away. "Think about what I said, okay? I'll give you some time. You can always give me a call."
He slipped his hand into his breast pocket and gave me a card, which I refused to take.
"Can you just let me leave? You're getting me mad," I said.
Don't be difficult. You'll come around soon enough. Don't make it hard for you to redeem yourself, young lady." His hand found its way to my thigh for the third time that night.
I pushed him off, almost causing him to fall off, and I walked away as fast as I could.
We were starting to draw attention as Romano hurled curse words at me, calling me a no-good whore.
I found Luciano walking towards me, but his eyes were not on me. He was looking straight at Romano, who was telling everyone who cared to listen that I had seduced him and taken his money.
"I didn't do—"
"That's enough." Luciano cut me off as he made a beeline for the old man.
As soon as Romano turned and found Luciano, he calmed down. That didn't stop him from going along with his storyline.
"The whore you brought here is unbelievable! Can you believe—"
"Alright, everyone!" Luciano's voice boomed and reverberated in the hall. "The night is young, which means there are other casinos around willing to take everyone in. I apologize, but the casino is closed for the night. If you're staying at the hotel upstairs, you'll be provided with compensation."
Everyone murmured, but nobody made an attempt at arguing. They all filed out of the casino, leaving all three of us.
"D'Angelo…" Romano started, but he stopped as soon as Luciano took off his blazer.
I walked towards them to see what Romano was staring at with wide eyes. I looked down and found a gun in a holster wrapped around Lucian's waist.
"What are you going to do with that, son?" Roman asked.
"I may have let you walk around with an inflated ego for a long time, but touching my woman when I'm right there is where I draw the line."
He undid the buttons of the shirt on his wrist, rolling it up until his tattooed forearms were on display.
Romano made a run for it.