Thursday, September 27, 2007

Chapter 6

Tricia woke disoriented. In a panic she looked beside her on the bed. With a sigh of relief she found she was alone. It had been a dream. Her racing heart began to slow down. It had been such a vivid dream though and one she had not had for several years.

Looking over at the clock she saw it was a bit after seven in the morning. She lay back, hoping to go back to sleep. Half hoping the dream would continue. That made her feel a twinge of guilt.

She lay there thinking about it. The dream had been of Jaime of course, of the few days they’d had together. Tricia lay there thinking about it and realized it was the first time in a long while that she really had. She felt guilty and yet pleased that it still had the same effect on her.

The thoughts of the way he’d treated her, of his caresses, his kisses all had the same effect they had then. She was aware she was becoming more and more aroused. With a somewhat guilty sigh she gave into it. Her hand caressed her body, becoming Jaime’s hand in her imagination. It was not too long before she lay on her back breathing hard after a shuddering and very satisfying climax.

The bedside phone rang shrilly then and Tricia nearly screamed in her surprise. Then she felt the old guilt return. She knew it had to be Matt and wondered if he somehow knew what she’d been thinking. She picked up the phone telling herself not to be silly.

“Hello?” Tricia said in what she hoped was a voice that would give nothing away.

“Oh crap!” she heard Matt say. “I’m sorry. I really am. I just remembered I was not supposed to call so early. You sound awake though. Is everything ok?”

Tricia smiled and shook her head. He really sounded to her like he was telling the truth and knowing how much of a creature of habit Matt could be he probably had just forgotten. This was just what he viewed as a good time to check on her, and she had no illusions that was what he was doing, so he had called without thinking. At least he had remembered and apologized and even sounded like he meant it.

“I am awake,” She said. “I got to bed right around midnight last night, a bit earlier than the night before.”

“I got your message but never got to call back,” Matt said. “So you won a tournament? That sounds fantastic. You said even the small ones paid over $10,000 to the winner. Is that right?”

Tricia laughed. “Well yes and no.”

“What does that mean?”

“I told you that the lowest buy in tournaments among the circuit events paid that much but the first one of those is today. What I won was a satellite tournament that paid the winner, yours truly, a seat in today’s circuit event. In essence I got into today’s even for a tenth the price it would have cost if I just bought in.”

“Oh!” Matt said. “I was thinking we were going to get a new hot tub.”

Tricia giggled. She had indeed told him if she won over $10,000 she would buy them a hot tub. She didn’t figure she’d ever have to pay up.

“Sorry dear. No new hot tub yet.”

She heard Matt chuckle and smiled. This seemed to be going much better than she had thought. It was going so well she could not help wondering why he seemed so ok with her being there along and wondered if he had found some way to spy on her. She would not have put it past him really.

“Still you must be pretty happy to have won that,” Matt said. “If you won that I don’t see why you can’t win another one.”

“I’d agree but that one had ten people in it,” Tricia told him, “The one today will have over 800 people in it from the sound of it. The good news is that first place should pay over $20,000 and that if I can just get in the top 80 or so I will at least win the buy in back which since I won the buy in would be pure profit.”

“Hell, that sounds good!” Matt said. “Are you nervous?”

Tricia thought about that. One thought led to another and she started feeling guilty about the contact, nebulous though it was, that she had had with Jaime. Briefly she thought about telling him about it but quickly rejected that idea.

“I think I’m getting there,” Tricia said. “It starts at noon and by then I’m sure I’ll be nervous.’

“Well you’ll do great Tricia,” Matt said, surprising the hell out of Tricia who felt her jaw drop open at the unexpected support. “I’ve got to run now. I’ve got an appointment in a bit. Call me with your results. How late will it go?”

Tricia shrugged, still mostly thinking that Matt was acting very much unlike how he had been for he past year and she was wondering why. Then she told herself not to sink to his level and suspect an ulterior motive in everything. “I’m not sure but I heard somebody talking and generally if they are not ready for the final table by midnight then they stop and pick up again at noon the next day.”

“Oh wow, then you may not know how you did until very late.”

“Hopefully,” Tricia said, giggling. “I don’t know that I’d count on that though. There are a lot of good players here.’

“Well I tell you what. Leave a message on my cell phone when you know how you did. I’ll leave it off when I go to bed so you can call without waking me up.”

“I’ll do that Matt,” Tricia said. “Have you been to see Matty?”

“Not yet,” Matt said sounding rushed now. “I will try hard to get by today. I called yesterday and talked to him and your parents. They all sound like they are having a ball so don’t worry. They said you’d called. I really have to run.”

“Ok Matt. Have a good day. I love you.”

“Love you too,” Matt said. “Bye.”

After he hung up Tricia lay back thinking wonderingly about the whole conversation. She’d expected Matt to be his usual suspicious self. Here he was calling only once a day, not answering his cell phone or returning her calls and then actually complimenting her. The only normal thing about the entire conversation had been the way he seemed to think it had gone on too long and only wanted it to end, as well as the way he managed to tell her “I love you” with less enthusiasm than he would show to one of his buddies with a new fishing pole.

Tricia got up and went to the bathroom. Coming back to the bed she saw Jaime’s card on the dresser. She picked it up and brought it with her as she crawled into bed again. She looked it over, read it’s short message, even sniffed it to see if she could pick up a hint of his scent.

What did he have in mind? Did he hope to take advantage of them being here to pick up where they had left off? God, Tricia thought, what will I do if that is why he is here?

She thought about that, running scenarios through her mind. She started off telling him how she could not do that again, how she had Matty now, how she had promised Matt never to do that again. Then she got to thinking more, how Matt was back to paying her little attention which is where she had been when she’d met Jaime the first time. Was fate bringing him back into her life now for the same reason he’d been brought into it the first time?

One thought led to another which led to another and they all became increasingly erotic until she was shaken by another climax. Realizing what she’d done and feeling guilty about even that she flung the card away and practically jumped out of the bed. Her shower that morning was colder than usual as she hoped that would control her reawaken lusts.

***

As she sat in her seat waiting for the tournament to begin Tricia looked around and smiled. She was thrilled to just be here but was now very nervous about her first really big tournament even though in the scheme of things it was not really that big. It was big to her and that was what mattered.

One good thing a morning spent feeling guilty and thinking about what she was going to say to Jaime tonight had done for her and that was to keep her mind off being nervous about the tournament. Now if she could put Jaime aside while she played she would be ok. It was then that it struck her that if she did well she could not be in the hotel lounge at eight tonight.

Players filled in the seats at the table and small talk began as they all waited. Tricia concentrated on that, enjoying the camaraderie and trying to get some idea as early as possible what the other players would be playing like. Thoughts of Jaime faded as thoughts and concerns over the tournament took over.

By the time the Tournament Director finally said, “Shuffle up and Deal” all Tricia’s thoughts were on the tournament and on how nervous she was.

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