Alkalians (24 page)

Slowly nodding as he doesn’t notice
her subtle stare, instead peering at her body that glistens with
the water drenching her, giving her skin a slick, sexy appearance,
he says, “Yeah, same here.” Forcing himself to look away for a
moment, he takes a sponge and bar of soap to begin washing himself,
running the soapy sponge over his arms, neck, and chest.

Arcing her head back against the
shower to rinse her hair, unaware she draws another entranced gaze
from Matt as her body moves while doing so, she looks back to him,
fascinated by how his lean and fit body appears more handsome and
inviting than before, and says, “Hey, would you mind if I washed
you?”

At first surprised by the risqué
question, Matt realizes he wouldn’t. Holding out the sponge, he
replies, “Sure, go right ahead. And then, um, may I wash you, in
return?”

“
Ah, sure, of course.”
Rose takes the sponge from Matt and begins slowly scrubbing his
torso, stepping closer so that their bodies nearly touch, while her
free hand traces over his soapy chest, stopping over his heart to
feel it pounding like a drum, a sensation further mesmerizing her
and matching the beating of her own. As she moves the sponge down
toward his waist, on its way to his pelvic region and his features
down there, she glances up to look Matt in the eye, warning him,
“And by the way, we never tell Sean of this. This is none of his
business.”

“
Oh, of course not! This
is just between us.” He warmly smiles at her, to which she smirks
in return before resuming washing him. Soon, the bathroom fills
with steamy vapor from the hot water, an enchanting mist that
wreaths and binds them together as they take what could be the
longest shower of either of their lives, slowly washing each other
and exploring the other’s body with their eyes and
hands.

***

“
Step right up, folks,
step right up! Come one, come all, and feast your eyes upon the
wonder that is I, Sean Wyseinburg, Gambler Extraordinaire! Take
care not to blink, or you may just miss me clean out this entire
casino!”

Being the one with the most
enthusiasm, as well as incredible luck, at his side of the
real-wager tables in the gambling hall of the casino, Sean has
drawn a large crowd around the dice-rolling table he is at, making
it big on games of crap-shooting and dice-dueling. With an
impressive wall of stacked coins before him, he takes sips of his
drink in between rounds of tossing the dice, and the majority of
the time he wins it all. If he lost a match, it was only a small
margin of the wealth he has already accumulated that
evening.

With every round he wins, more and
more people in the crowd cheer him on, especially the women closest
to him, fawning and wooing over his charm and luck, to which he
grins and winks back at them, causing them to blush or swoon. When
he feels nothing could interrupt his moment of glory in the hall
that evening, something does. An intoxicatingly succulent voice
says from within the crowd behind him, “Well, well, well. It
certainly is you, Sean Wyseinburg, the one-and-only. It has been
awhile, hasn’t it?”

In that moment, a sense of shock and
awe goes through the crowd like a blast of heat, Sean himself
sweating the most. They all turn around to see amidst them an
alluring young woman, yet taller than some of them to hint at the
fact she is older than them, a senior student. She wears a
shimmering red dress that nicely fits her frame, having her curves
stick out and much of her cleavage showing. Her skin, lips, and
hair are red, the hair long and flowing down over her back a mane
of crimson, her skin is a fine, dark shade of ruby to compliment
the scarlet of her dress, and her eyes shine like jewels, black
pearls in a sea of pinkish red as the sunset dives into
it.

The woman looks at Sean, a friendly,
courteous smile on her blood-red lips. Double-blinking to make sure
he isn’t hallucinating, that the very woman who had broken his
heart the year before was addressing him, Sean staggers before
saying, “Heh, yeah, so it has, Cynthia! What, ah, what are you
doing here?”

“
Oh, I was just passing by
when I couldn’t happen noticing some kind of ruckus going on over
here. And here you are, at the center of it. Having quite some
fortune with the dice tonight, are we?”

“
Haha, I guess you could
say that. I suppose that must mean Lady Luck’s been real kind to
me, eh?”

“
Indeed. Say, would you
mind if I had a roll or two against you? It just so happens that
I’m somewhat of a gambling lady, myself.”

“
Er, well, I don’t know.
I’d hate to relieve a boss student of all her money in one sitting,
you know!”

“
Oh, don’t worry about my
standing bothering you. Just think of it as a contest between two
charming individuals. Surely you wouldn’t mind that, right, Sean?”
She flashes him an innocent look, her eyelashes fluttering as her
dark eyes twinkle.

Sean hesitates for a response as he
looks away, across the table and into space, gulping as what is
left of his rational thoughts tells him what was going on. Cynthia
Volvaron is once again trying to humiliate and demoralize him, but
this time in his element. Mentally smacking himself across the
face, he reasons to get a hold of himself and not let himself fall
apart before her again. If there is one thing he still has a good
standing for at the college, it was his notorious luck and skill at
gambling, and he would not let her just stroll in and make him look
stupid at that, as well.

Rallying his mental reserves, with the
help of some liquid courage from a quick gulp of the drink at his
side, he looks back to Cynthia, his own brown eyes twinkling as he
grins. “Why, but of course, I would have no issue wagering a match
with you, milady. In fact, I would consider it an honor and
pleasure to do so!”

Briefly raising an eye brow, mirroring
the reactions of the crowd around them, Cynthia again smiles and
says, “Excellent, then. Let’s cut to the chase, shall we?” Snapping
her fingers, a woman behind her, one of her lackeys, steps forward
and opens a bag next to her. She reaches in before tossing a few
colored coins on the table before her. Glancing back to Sean, she
flicks back her hair while suggesting, “How does fifty marcs sound
for an opening wager, to you?”

While the other students become
restless from such a high opening bet, Sean smirks and shrugs it
off. “That is no problem for me, madam. After all, what is fifty
marcs to the near three hundred I already have?” He shoves forward
a stack of coins matching her bet, and the casino worker
supervising the table’s activities hands him the pair of dice,
which he offers to Cynthia. “Ladies first, Miss
Volvaron.”

“
Ah, why thank you, Mr.
Wyseinburg. Such courteous manners.” She takes the dice from his
open hand, flashing him a sly look as her fingers tickle his palm
teasingly, before she tosses the dice across the table. They land
face-up as a four and five, and the casino worker announces, “Four
and five. Nine for Miss Volvaron.” The most of the crowd nods and
murmurs at the high number. She says to Sean, “Hmm, nine. Think you
could top that, good sir?”

As the worker hands him the dice
again, Sean smirks and complies, “Ah, yes. Nine, one of those
higher up numbers. Indeed, only a few other numbers could top it,
but even it must bow down to the universal number of sweet victory,
if it should happen to show.” Shaking the dice in his hand as he
spoke, he flings them across the table to land as a two and five.
“Why, look at that! Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.” The
worker announces, “Two and five makes seven. The winner is Mr.
Wyseinburg!” The crowd of students ripple with applause as he
scoops the coins back toward his side of the table, saying to
Cynthia, “It was a good try, milady, but I fear I’ve stripped you
of some of your fortune, no?”

“
Hmm, yes. The lucky
number seven. It is indeed a pity I have lost so much money from
one round. But perhaps I could gain it all back, if you would allow
me the chance.” With a nod toward her accomplice, the woman opens
the bag and pours all of the money in it upon the table, leaving a
large pile of coins before her. She declares, “There’s no need to
count it up. I have gone all in. Will you match me,
Sean?”

His eyes bulging at the large amount
of cash she nonchalantly put on the table while the crowd around
them gasps in awe, Sean shakes his head to resettle himself,
knowing what she was up to, and goes ahead with it. “Certainly,
Cynthia. The higher the stakes, the greater the thrills, as they
say!” He shoves the whole stacks of his coins to be all-in as well
while the worker hands the dice to Cynthia.

Glancing at the pair of dice as if
intrigued by them in her palm, Cynthia looks at Sean as she puts
them to her lips and gently kisses them, sending a few whistles
through the crowd, and says, “A kiss, for good luck,” before
rolling them across the table. After bouncing off the far wall of
the table, they show six and five. “Six and five makes eleven for
Miss Volvaron!” the worker declares, and the crowd murmurs with
gasps and hushed comments as she looks back to Sean, smirking.
“What do you think of that?”

Trying to hold back the rising worry
in his expression, Sean takes a deep breath before retrieving the
dice from the worker, knowing there are only three numbers that
could top that combination, twelve, a pair of ones, or seven, and
all he needs is one of them. Maintaining his composure despite the
pressure, he raises the dice to his face, hoping to rattle her cage
as well when he kisses the dice, tasting them before saying, “Hmm,
raspberry flavor. Such a sweet fruit, to be found among such savage
thorns. A fitting choice for you, if you did not mind me saying,
milady.”

Nodding at her with a sly smile as
Cynthia twitches from the subtle stab at her, he then takes a
moment to shake the dice before dashing them against the table,
sending them tumbling in separate directions. The crowd watches in
stilled silence as one dice lands with one, and the other, after
bouncing off the wall and spinning, stops on a two.

“
One and two equals three.
The winner is Miss Volvaron!” Most of the crowd, them being men,
roar in applause while Cynthia smirks. As her assistant gathers all
the coins on the table before them back into the bag, she says to
an expressionless Sean, “Well, that was a lot of fun. I do hope
you’ll be willing to gamble with me some other time. Wouldn’t that
be nice?”

“
Duh, yeah, sure,
whatever.” As the crowd disperses, with Cynthia slipping away
amidst them, he is left alone at the table, upon which he
repeatedly thumps his head against and mumbles cusses to
himself.

***

Thumping his fist against
the table he sits at, Cain cusses to himself before he growls out,
“Fire Spirit burn that bitch, Lyn! She
always
has to screw around with my
plans,
always
has
to make things difficult for me!” Standing up from his chair with a
start, again in the dark room at some point that night, he paces
angrily before stabbing at James, standing nearby, “And why haven’t
you done anything about it, James? If you have such a thing for the
ladies, then get to using that charm and
screw
around with Lyn and her
whores, so that they won’t
screw
around with me!”

Not showing his impatience with his
upset cousin, James chuckles before reminding him, “You know I
couldn’t do that, Cain. Ever since she and I broke up those few
years ago, Lyn doesn’t let me anywhere near her or her women. And
besides, I would like to refrain from getting into heated conflicts
with anyone in all of this. Even though I’m not bad at it myself, I
would prefer not to get dragged into open fights, you know? I’m
afraid that’s a problem you’ll have to take care of without me,
Cain.”

Yet growling at James, Cain sits back
in the chair and says, “Well, please tell me you at least did that
simple favor I asked of you.”

“
Oh yes, I did do that,
simply enough. That was no problem. I have enough background
knowledge on the history of Dark Warriors and the Shadow Core
terrorists, as well as on the history of Rose’s martial arts in
ninjutsu, for what you have in mind.”

“
Ah, excellent. Very good!
And I trust you will carry out the operation yourself with that,
heh,
fun
little
trick of yours.”

“
But of course. It always
works so well, after all.”

“
Good, good. Then there is
still hope! We shall see Matt brought to his knees, where he
belongs, soon enough.”

As Cain cackles to himself, James
asks, “Um, Cain, you still haven’t explained the end result of this
scheme of yours. What’s the point of putting Matt and Rose against
each other?”

“
Oh, do not bother me
about the details, cousin. Just do your part, and everything else
will fall into place. My plan, despite the attempts of Lyn trying
to interfere, is
flawless
! Matt shall be taken down
so suddenly, he will never know what happened.
Hehe…BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”

Chapter 5

Confused Betrayal