The night was a success. All 20 people who came and listened were upset that the regular girl wasn’t there, but Senga soon won them over. Why wouldn’t she? She had a sad beauty, and the crowd seemed to love it. One person in the crowd commented she had a voice like an angel. Senga just smiled and went on with the lounge tunes. Maybe if more people came, she’d sing her own stuff.
At the end of the week, the manager gave her the pay for a week’s worth of singing. And what did she do with it? She went to the casino. She hadn’t had the chance to try out any of the slots.
She happened to glance over at the private poker rooms, out of curiosity, and saw the man being frog-marched by two rather rough looking men from the room. Not good. She tossed down the last of her drink and followed them, pausing at the slot machines every so often, just in case she was being watched. The guards led the man out to a loading bay, a rather dark and barren area to go in the middle of the night. Senga couldn’t head back there, so she went around the building. Which took forever. There was no time to sight see, not yet. When she finally reached the back of the building, the guards had gone, and the man was on the ground, groaning. His two black eyes were beginning to swell, as was his bottom lip.
“Hey…” She said softly, when she crouched beside him. “Need a hand?”
The man’s head turned to follow the sound of her voice. “Huh?”
She dug around in her purse, pulling out her emergency first aid kit. She always kept something in there, since high school, because she never knew when she would have to make a quick repair.
She pulled out a mini ice pack, and pressed it into his hand. He immediately put it on his face, wincing, and pulled it away, putting it on his eye, then wincing again and pulling it away.
“Hey, come with me. Let’s get you cleaned up.” She said softly, and held out her hand for him to get up. When he finally got up, he was limping and groaning. Senga led him to the service elevator. “We’ll take the back way.” She whispered, resting him against her shoulder. He nodded weakly, and closed his eyes.
“No, no sleeping yet, wake up.” She said, prodding the one piece of skin on his shoulder that wasn’t bruised or bleeding. But it still hurt. He moaned and his eyes opened, looking down at her.
“Thanks.” Was all he said. Senga smiled her usual bright smile and led him into the elevator and up they went to the penthouse.
She leaned him against the sofa, once they stumbled into the apartment.
“You wait here, let me go get some stuff to wash you up with.” She said, “And no sleeping!”
She dug around the bathroom and the kitchen for washcloths, and warm water and ice packs, bringing it all out for him.
“Here, let me see how bad they got you…” she said softly, putting the gear down and pulling her mess of curly hair back into a ponytail. And immediately winced when she saw the extent of his injuries. Bruised ribs, a split lip, two huge black eyes, and maybe a broken nose. She’d been there before, and knew he had to be in a lot of pain.
“What happened?” she asked softly, putting a warm wet washcloth to wipe up the blood from his face.
“Private poker games are bad.” He whispered, wincing when the washcloth touched his injuries.
Senga just nodded and continued cleaning him up. “We should get you to a hospital. You need a doctor.”
“I’ll be fine, I just need to sleep.”
“Your ribs might be bruised, and your nose might be broken. They got you pretty roughed up.”
Hades decided now was a good time to stumble into the room with a couple of women, and stopped dead in his tracks when she saw Senga on the couch with the man. He raised an eyebrow.
“Now, what did I tell you about bringing home injured animals?” Hades muttered, putting his arms around the scantily clad ladies’ waists. “Ladies, this place is a wee bit crowded, let’s go somewhere else.” He said, glaring at Senga as he left. “We’ll talk about this later.” He hissed, slamming the door behind him.
Tucker’s head started falling back, his eyes closing.
“Hey, stay with me Tucker.” Senga said, patting at his bruised cheeks. He winced again and his eyes opened.
“How do you know my name?” He whispered, tilting his head to the side, curious.
Senga stammered a little, “I, um, uh, met you briefly, at a diner in Chicago. I was your waitress, and dropped you and your girlfriend’s plates.”
He thought that over for a moment, “She wasn’t, well, isn’t my girlfriend.” He finally said, his eyes closing.
“Thanks for the tip.” She whispered, smiling as she dabbed the hydrogen peroxide on his roughed up shoulder. All at once, he winced, reached up to grab his shoulder, groaned in pain, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. It was time to get him to the hospital.
The ambulance ride was fun at least. Senga got to get a good look at the famous Vegas strip. She hadn’t had a chance to do that since she arrived in Vegas. The only way she could even get into the ambulance was to pretend she was his girlfriend. She thought she might have heard Tucker snort a little. Or maybe it was one of the EMTs. She wasn’t hot enough for him, she was sure. Either that, or they thought she was a whore.
As soon as he was checked in, and checked out by the doctor, she was allowed to go in and see him. Tucker was awake, sitting up a little, breathing shallow as his chest was bandaged up to keep his ribs in place. He had a patch over one badly damaged eye.
“Hey.” He said, looking at her through his one, good, blood shot eye.
Senga smiled at him a little. “Hey, you look rather ferocious, Dread Pirate Tucker.”
He snorted and winced as she sat down at the end of the bed, by his feet.
“When are the doctors gonna let you out?” she asked, staring down at her hands.
“They’re going to probably let me go in a few hours. No broken bones or anything, just some bruised ribs. The doctor wants me to rest then come back after a couple weeks.”
Senga nodded knowingly. She’d been right about all his injuries, damn she was good. “That’s great. Really great.” She said with a smile. It really was. “What happened to you?”
Tucker sighed and closed his eye. “Never, ever go to a private poker room unless you have a lot of money and are sure you can win.”
“Yeah, I kinda knew that. I work at the casino, I’ve seen what happens.” She said softly.
“You work there? What do you do, serve drinks with that smile of yours?”
Senga didn’t know if she should be offended or flattered. “I sing.”
“You’re a singer?”
“Yeah, mostly jazz right now, but I write my own stuff, and guitar and piano.” Hooray for basic chit chat and small talk.
“I might have to come and see you sometime.” He said quietly.
She smiled, “Aw, you don’t have to do that. Besides, I don’t know if they’d let you into the casino after that…” But now, she had an idea. She dug through her purse and wrote her phone number down on an old crumpled receipt. “Call me when you’re out of the hospital. I’ll come pick you up, and get you back into the casino.” She said, grinning brightly.
Tucker looked at her curiously, and he probably would have laughed if it didn’t hurt him. Senga just smiled, and got up from the bed. “Just call me, I have a plan.” She said, leaning over to kiss his forehead, maybe flirting, maybe just being friendly. And she might have caught him glancing down at her cleavage. It made her smile more. “See you then!” She said, leaving the room.
It was a few days before she got the phone call. He was outside, with the door guards glaring at him, were his exact words. Senga laughed a little, and headed down to the front doors. She flashed a friendly smile at the guards and at Tucker.
“Now, will you boys let my friend in please? He’s very sorry that he was naughty.” She said, pouting at the guards. They just shook their heads and stood guard.
“Alright then.” She pouted some more, and winked at Tucker, who was just staring at her. “Cover your ears.” She said, mouthing the words to him, and hoping he understood. He did. And plugged his ears up with his fingers.
Senga smiled charmingly, trying to control the nervousness she felt in the pit of her stomach. She slid right up to the first guard, pressing her body against the side of his body. The guard blinked and looked down at her. She just smiled up at him, a nice big smile full of promises. “Now, you’ll let my friend in. And let everyone know he’s cool to be here, okay?” she whispered into his ear, using the old Siren language her mother had taught her. The other guard heard her whispering as well, leaning in to listen. Both men nodded slowly, drowsily. She had them under her spell. Senga pushed away from the guard, and went over to Tucker.
“Hey, you can unplug your ears.” She said, giggling. He’d seen the whole thing, staring at her in disbelief.
“Oh, yeah, thanks. What did you do?” he asked, blinking and rubbing at his ears.
“A little trick I learned from my mother.” She said, laughing and grabbing his hand. “Come on, I have a show in twenty minutes, and I still have to do my makeup.” He just followed her in, shaking his head.
After that, Tucker came to see her perform every night, armed with a bouquet of daisies, her favorite flower. He’d hand her the bouquet, kiss her cheek, and dash off to the poker tables for another tournament. He was an odd one. Soon the apartment was full of daisies. And Hades was not happy.
“C;mon, Senga, don’t you think you’re rushing into this?” He said, whining and rubbing his head after a long night of wine, women, and song.
“Rushing? He comes to my shows, and gives me flowers. No rushing there! I think you’re jealous.” She rolled her eyes, emptying a vase of wilted flowers to put in a fresh bouquet.
“And I HATE daisies. The girls I bring home must think I’m sort of pansy.” He mumbled, as he poured himself out another drink. “Hair of the dog?” he laughed tiredly, holding up his glass.
Senga rolled her eyes again. He was rather annoying. “No, sorry, no alcohol for me today, I have another show later.”
Hades just shrugged and gulped down his drink. “Well, you have fun with THAT, I’m going out.” He thumped his glass on the counter, grabbed his dinner jacket and was out the door. Senga sighed and flopped down on the couch, ohhhh almost time to get ready.
Her crowds were getting larger and larger every week. That night was the same, Tucker sitting in a front row table with his drink. Senga smiled down at him from the stage. He gave her a half smile, and sipped his drink. When her set was over, Tucker came up to the stage, only this time he had a bouquet of roses. A whole dozen, red roses. Senga blushed and smiled at him, trying not to giggle like a school girl.
“Oh, Tucker, you didn’t have to.” She said, taking his hand and the roses.
“I just thought they’d be a change.” He said softly. “I was wondering if you’d join me for dinner tonight?” He asked, looking down, looking nervous.
“I’d love to!!” She grinned at him, letting him help him down from the stage. He smiled and gave her hand a squeeze. “Let me just change out of my clothes, and put the flowers in a vase.” She gave his cheek a quick peck, and ducked into the dressing room. “Don’t go running off to the tables now!”
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