“You know, I didn’t think it’d be this boring,” I muttered.

  We were sitting in front of a slot machine. After our little museum field trip, with restroom shenanigans on the side, Mom told us that something came up and she had to work. We left her at a café with her laptop while Deen and I went to the casino. It was mostly me dragging Deen along. She didn’t have a better suggestion of where to go so I got to decide.

  “Let’s use your powers at the slot machine,” I eagerly told Deen earlier. “I was thinking of playing cards and stuff, but I changed my mind. I suck at poker and it’ll also be very obvious if we get too lucky while other people are watching.”

  “I told you many times that my power isn’t luck,” she said. “And why do we have to go to a casino?”

  “Oh, don’t try to wiggle out of this one. Just think of this like a movie. There’s always a casino scene if it’s set in Vegas. We’re required to go there and win a few bucks.”

  “We’re just going to lose a few bucks. I don’t really see this working out.”

  It didn’t. For one, Deen wasn’t in any danger for her Guardian Angel to communicate with her. And two, her Guardian Angel showed her possible futures from the present. If winning a jackpot wasn’t a future at this point, then there was nothing to do. Deen explained these things to me many times but I just wanted to annoy her. More importantly, I was enjoying the casino vibes even if the slot machines themselves sucked.

  I pulled the lever. Pictures of fruits and symbols moved. Then they stopped with nothing lining up. “Lost another dollar.”

  “I’m not even sure if we can win this even if Gabe helps us,” Deen said. “You can’t win against the house, right? If the machines are rigged, then—”

  “Of course, they’re rigged,” I said. “They won’t give the jackpot. But we can win some consolation prizes or something. Line up these whatever fruits.”

  “Be honest with me. You don’t really know how to play the slot machine, do you?”

  “Dude, I just pull the lever. The stuff should line up. What’s there to know?”

  “Okay, what does this symbol do then?” She pointed at a symbol with the word ‘Scatter’ under it.

  I shrugged. “Scatter… it jumbles the symbols?”

  Deen shook her head. “Scatter triggers bonus or free rounds. Then there’s the multiplier here that multiplies a win. Also, you don’t need to line of matching symbols to win. A single cherry can give a small payout. A single gold bar a bit higher. Of course, three gold bars will be a very high amount of winnings.”

  “And there’s the seven, which is the highest,” I chimed in. “See, I know something about slot machines.”

  “Everyone knows about the sevens,” Deen said, rolling her eyes. “Don’t be so proud of it. But did you know that there are different colors of sevens?”

  She continued yapping about slot machines, like wild symbols that can substitute other symbols for a winning combination and stickies that can lock symbols in place. She even managed to hit a bonus symbol that opened a mini-game. I couldn’t believe I was thinking this, but she looked more beautiful as she lectured me about something she knew about. But that also meant…

  “You were lying that you don’t gamble,” I said. “Why else would you know this much about slot machines?”

  She sheepishly grinned. “Um, TV? There are slot machines in shows.” I raised a brow at her. She sighed. “Fine. There was a time when my mother gambled a lot. She had this arrangement with my father that…”

  I zoned out the rest of Deen’s story. My eyes darted around for a distraction. I saw a waitress carrying a tray of wine glasses. Those must be for the customers, right? I waved at her. She gave me a curious look but still headed our way.

  I patted Deen’s shoulder. “I think that’s enough of that… uh… past.”

  Deen nodded, fondly looking at me. “You’re right, Erind. I shouldn’t let my childhood ignored by my parents affect my future. You’re here for me, and I appreciate that.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Wait, what did I miss? It was like I skipped too far ahead in a movie I was watching. I didn’t bother asking her about it. “How about some drinks?”

  The waitress arrived, but she didn’t offer us wine. Instead, she asked Deen, “Excuse me, ma’am. Is she your sister, maybe niece or something?” She tilted her head towards me. “We have strict rules that only those twenty-one and up can enter the gaming area. Even watching isn’t allowed, sorry.”

  Deen stifled her laughter.

  I glared at Deen, transmitting a threat to kill her with my eyes. I encountered the same problem when we entered this casino. Having anticipated this possible problem, I brought a few IDs with me. Plural. I had worked hard to get these after my previous IDs were turned to ash in my condo. It took some time to convince the security that those weren’t fake IDs and I was twenty-three years old. They questioned me so much that even I started to doubt my real age.

  “I’m twenty-three,” I told the waitress, showing her an ID. She profusely apologized and gave us drinks.

  “I can already see the headlines here,” Deen said after sipping the wine. “Leska scion brings an underage girl to the casino. That’ll stir up quite a controversy.”

  “Scion?” I whistled. “You’re a fricking scion now, huh? And what’s up with that ‘brings underage girl’ line? Sounds like you brought me here for sexual stuff.”

  Deen raised her glass to me. “Want to do it in the restroom?”

  “Do what?” I innocently asked.

  “Make a sandcastle or construct a building,” she sarcastically replied. Then she giggled and leaned forward. In a lower voice, she said, “You know what I’m talking about. Let’s continue what we did at the museum’s restroom.”

  “That is already done,” I said, tapping her nose. “No more continuation.”

  This was bad. She was getting emboldened by each of our shenanigans. In a way, I was training her to overcome her weaknesses to my detriment. Literally just digging my own grave. Maybe I should bury myself underground to escape the sexual predatory clutches of Deen.

  “We were cut short earlier,” Deen said. “We could’ve done so much more, but we had to leave the restroom because your mom was waiting for us.”

  “What are you talking about? You’re the one who wanted to stop it.”

  “And now, I want to continue.” She downed the rest of the contents of her glass in one go. “What say you, Erind Hartwell? Want to get freaky in a casino restroom?”

  “I never thought I’d hear something so scandalous out of your mouth.” I drank my wine too even though I didn’t like it. “Sure, whatever. Let’s go.”

  The casino had several floors. The lower floors were the gaming area. Higher up were restaurants, function rooms, wellness centers, and those kinds of rooms. We headed to the area with unoccupied function rooms and looked for the restroom. There were no people here, no chance of getting caught. I wasn’t trying to embarrass Deen this time. The battle would be just between the two of us.

  Who would come out on top and who’d be the bottom? That was a question with different meanings applicable to us.

  We entered the ladies’ restroom we found at the end of an empty hallway.

  “The restrooms here are so posh,” I said, knocking on the golden-tiled sink. The mirrors had ornate fittings and a chandelier dangled from the ceiling. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they have fur-lined toilet seats. Or not. That’d be unsanitary.” I checked my reflection in the mirror to see if the stain on my shirt was noticeable.

  “Sets the mood for what we’re about to do, doesn’t it?” Deen stood behind me and placed her hands on my shoulders.

  “You’re acting like a creep. Which you are.”

  Deen squeezed my shoulders and then ran her hands down to massage my arms. “Where do we, um… Do we like go inside a stall or just do it here?”

  “I’m kind of regretting my decision…”

  “I’m not.” Deen bunched up my hair and draped them forward, exposing my neck. “I changed my mind about going to the casino. Looks like I’ve hit the jackpot.” Her voice wavered towards the end of her sentence.

  I smirked at her in the mirror. “That’s your line? Are you proud of it?”

  “Shut up,” she muttered as she buried her face on my neck. She showered my skin with nibbles and kisses. Her hands went inside my shirt, her fingers exploring my abdomen.

  “Mom pays for me to go to law school,” I said as Deen’s hands found my unimpressive breasts. “And here I am doing this in a casino’s bathroom. Where did I go wrong in my life?”

  “What’s wrong with this?” Deen turned me around to face her. She held my hips and raised me, setting me on the sink. The tiles felt cold under my butt. She wrapped my legs around her. “You’re making out with the hottest woman on the planet and you—”

  “Woah, calm down there, Amber Deen Leska. Do you have statistical sources to back up your claim?”

  She grinned. “Choose. Go back to law school or eat me?”

  “Eat you in the Adumbrae sense or the—?”

  “The sexual sense.”

  “I want to eat you.”