The Gambler (3 page)

In the end he decided to give her his bed, while he sat in the high backed chair next to it, so she would see him as soon as she awakened.

Kicking off his shoes and loosening his tie
, before shedding his jacket, he prepared for a long night spent in the stiff chair, that made him question not for the first time, what the fuck the people of the last two centuries were thinking when they built uncomfortable shit like this. Still, it was the best, and his decorator had insisted it went with the house, what the hell did he know?

He did no more than remove her shoes, and noticing the stains of chocolate that he'd somehow missed when he'd cleaned her up at the restaurant
, went into the bathroom to wet a washcloth in order to finish the job. She sighed and sunk deeper into the soft sheets of his custom made bed. Returning to his chair where he would keep vigil, he cleared his mind of everything; tomorrow will take care of itself, no sense in worrying about it now.

He must've drifted off after all
, because the next thing he heard was her calling for him in her innocent voice.

"Angel?"

His eyes flew open at the sound of her voice and he sat up, expecting her to be disoriented by her surroundings, but she was still asleep. She'd called his name and curled herself deeper under the covers he'd thrown over her.

"Fuck." He wiped sleep from his eyes and checked his watch, almost six in the morning and he'd had barely three hours sle
ep. Oh well, it will have to do; he had shit to do today.

He went into the bathroom
, being sure to leave the door open in case she woke up, while he brushed his teeth and cleaned his face. Running a hand over his morning whiskers he decided to leave off shaving for another time.

Since he had no idea what time she usually woke up and more importantly
, what she liked to eat, he called downstairs to Willy, whom he was sure would be up and about. The other man never seemed to need much sleep.

He whispered into the phone as he walked back into the room.

"Yeah we're going to need a full Irish, can you get cook on it when she gets here?"

"Will do, and how is our new charge this morning?"

"I wouldn't know Willy
, she's still asleep yet."

"As you say sir, I shall see to preparations just the same."

"Thank you Willy." He hung up the phone and went about getting out of the clothes he'd worn the night before. He'd not wanted to leave her long enough to change them last night, but he figured with the sun peeping through the windows it might not be as scary for her.

Shit...her, he didn't have shit all in his place for a female.

Picking up his phone he made another call, which was picked up on the first ring.

"Sir?"

"I need a complete wardrobe of female clothes in size..." He eye balled Jenna's form under the covers.

"Two should be about right."

"Sir?"

"What the fuck
Minnelli, didn't you hear me? I need a full wardrobe, everything from the skin out. Use the Bloomingdales account, I'll get her the better stuff myself later. I'm also going to need toiletries, the best they have on the market." Shit, he knew fuck all about women's shit. He was going to have to learn real soon though, because Jenna was going to be a permanent part of his life from now on. He would've preferred to talk to his mother about this shit, but Stella and Petros were in Europe sight seeing, or some silly shit. What was left for them to see was a mystery; they'd been taking one of these little trips, traipsing across Europe, since he was a young boy.

"Sir is this for a child?"

"What, no, why?"

"Well you said size two and I thought, never mind
; it would help if I knew something about the recipient so I could make my choices."

"She's mine, you know me, go from there." He hung up the phone after that
, sure that his orders would be carried out.

That should take a few hours to accomplish. He still needed something for now though.

Rummaging through his drawer of old college things, he found a washed out pair of jeans and an old t shirt, still too big, but it'll do for now.

   She awakened not long after, her eyes flying open as she took in her surroundings
, until they landed on him. He held his breath, waiting to see what would happen next, will she remember him or...?

"Angel." That fucking smile was going to be his undoing.

"Good morning little Jenna."

The smile became a full-blown grin as she lifted her arms from beneath the covers and held them up to him. Walking over to the bed
, he sat next to her and accepted the hug; she felt soft and warm and he felt his heart open and let her in as she rested her head against his chest.

Petridis and the Bonatas were so fucked.

He set up her bath for her
, making sure the water temperature was just right, as she smiled and flitted around the gigantic bathroom, getting into everything, and nattering away at him. Bath salts were opened and cast aside, until she found a scent she preferred; it was his favorite, sandalwood. She poured a heavy dose in the water and he told himself to remember to check if there was any danger in the amount used. For now, he decided to just watch and see if she had any sort of reaction to it.

"Angel, bubbas."

Bubbas, bubbas. "Bubbles?" She nodded her head with that smile that tugged at his heart every time. Where the fuck was he gonna get bubbles?

"Get in the tub little Jenna
, I'll go see about your bubbles.

He ran down the stairs calling for Willy
, who appeared like smoke at the bottom of the stairs.

"I need bubble bath
, now."

"There's none on the premises that I know of
, and the shops will be closed for at least another couple of hours sir." Was the man always so stoic? Shit, it was barely past six and already he was Mr. Reserved.

"Shit, never mind." He pulled his phone and started calling around; Garrett was first on his list.

"Does Kate use bubble bath?"

"Does a bear shit in the woods? She's a female boss."

"Yeah well, I need some like yesterday."

"On it, be there in ten."

He hung up the phone and hurried back up the stairs, should he have left her alone this long? Was she accustomed to taking care of herself? He didn't know shit. Alice had been an independent sort even as a kid, but he knew of many who weren't quite as proficient. When he got back to the room, he was brought up short by the sweet sound of her voice coming through the door. She was singing an old lullaby, something he hadn't heard in a long long time. It was as though someone had opened the stairway to heaven and given him a glimpse of something not seen by men.

He held onto the doorjamb as his world turned on its axis
, and let the sweet sound wash over and through him. If he'd harbored any doubts before, he no longer did. There was just too much going on too quickly for him to put it off as coincidence.

He walked to the bathroom door, and with his ear pressed against it, listened to his heart, and understood
, that his life was about to change in a big way.

As promised, Garrett was downstairs ten minutes later, with a few bottles of scented bubble bath. Andros barely spared the other man a moment to say thanks, before he was running back up the stairs.

"I'm coming in little Jenna okay?"

She laughed and told him to come on in. He kept his eyes above her head as he approached her in the tub. Holding out each bottle, he gave her enough time to sniff them, before exchanging one for another. She finally settled on some strawberry girlish scent, and remembering the bath salts episode, he poured a liberal amount of the bubbles into the water he'd just warmed up a little.

The place was soon filled with the scent of berries and sandalwood, a nice mix that pulled at the senses.

"I'm right outside the door little Jenna."

"Angel sit."

She pointed to the chair in the corner of the room, directly across from the tub.

Shit, I can't stay in here, how the fuck do I get out of this? She was fast proving to be a bossy little thing and somehow she just knew she could pull his strings. At least that's what he told himself as he reluctantly took his seat.

   She chattered away at him in her way, with short one or two word sentences; asking him about the things in the room, his hair, where they were, what they were doing that day? And each time he answered, even when she forgot and repeated the same question twice. She smiled wider each time he responded, as if he were giving her something special. It hurt his heart to think that she'd not always had that.

When she'd been in the tub a good half an hour by his estimation
, he thought it a good idea to get her out before she turned into a prune.

"You done little Jenna? Do you want to get out?" She held her arms up to him, so innocent, so trusting. He made a promise to himself, to her and to the memory of another innocent
, that he would fucking end anyone who dared harm her again.

Turning away he got one of his bath sheets that was sure to swallow her up it was so big. When he turned back she was standing in the tub
, water glistening on her flesh and so fucking gorgeous. He closed his eyes against the onslaught, the blow to his senses.

Fuck me, what now? She had no qualms about showing her body he knew, because she didn't see things the way others did. It was going to take him some time to get used to her innocence, to go slow.

He swallowed the lump in his throat and made fast work of wrapping her up
, before lifting her out of the tub. Before he could put her down, she rested her head on his shoulder, so he carried her in his arms, back to the bedroom.

He helped her get dressed in his over sized clothes, which literally hung on her.

First chance I get I'm taking her shopping.

He looked down at the dress she'd discarded, not bad
, but nowhere near what he wanted for her.

"Angel, momma."

Aah, he'd been wondering how long before that came up. He had no problem calling the Petridis residence, in fact, he'd had all intentions on calling to speak to her mother, to find out some of her likes and dislikes.

"I'll get her for you baby." She clapped her hands and went back to fiddling with the edge of her shirt.

He called the operator for assistance, but as soon as he said her family name, Jenna held out the bracelet she wore on her wrist.

"Momma."

He looked closely while the voice on the other end asked how they could help him. Sure enough, her name address and phone number were there on the inside of the bracelet. He kissed her hair and hung up without answering.

Calling the number
, he held his breath, hoping the lady in question would answer and not her asshole son, or the father he had yet to draw a bead on. He didn't know much about Paulie Petridis, but he knew if the other man allowed his fuck of a son to mistreat someone as precious as his little Jenna, he was fucked too.

Sonia Petridis answered on the second ring.

"Andros here, I need some info on Jenna's likes and dislikes, but first I'm going to give her the phone because she wants to talk to her momma. You put anyone else on, I'm hanging up and the consequences will not be pretty, and hey, do no upset her."

He'd whispered all of that so that the room's other occupant couldn't hear. Passing the phone off, he got a better idea and hit speaker. At first she still held the phone to her ear, but soon quickly realized something was different and pulled it away.

"Momma, Jerry."

Jerry, who in the fuck was this Jerry asshole? Calm down Andros; her eyes had flown to him just like that, as soon as the anger rose at her mention of another man's name on her lips.

"Mr. Andros are you there, she wants Tom and Jerry, she watches them in the mornings. Jenna baby you're good?" The woman sounded disbelieving as though she'd thought her daughter was being tortured.

Tom and Jerry, he couldn't believe he'd almost lost his shit over a cartoon character damn.

The two women chatted forever before Andros decided it was time his little Jenna had breakfast. Taking the phone
, he took it off of speaker and grilled her about her daughter's likes and dislikes.

"But when are you bringing her home? This is crazy, nobody would tell me anything, I don't understand, why did you take my daughter?"

“Because you weren't doing a very good job of taking care of her."

"What, that's not true I love my daughter, why would you believe such a thing?"

"I have no doubt that you do, she's obviously had care and that's the only reason you're not on my shit list, let's keep it that way shall we? Did you know your bastard son hits her?"

"Alec, no he hasn't in..." She cut herself off when she realized what her words revealed.

"But he said you took her to square a debt."

"What kind of debt?"

"A gambling debt, a game that you cheated on along with everything else."

"I wouldn't sit down with that piece of shit at a dog fight. Your son lied to you, he fucking hit her in a room full of people
, because she wanted to go to the fucking slot machines. He told you I took her to square a bet. I'm a fucking animal now? Lady you love your son?"

"Of course I do, I love both my children."

"Next time you see your boy you take a picture, remember what he used to look like." He hung up the phone and prayed for patience. Little Jenna had already moved on. Now she was rearranging the shit on his dresser. He took the time to watch her. He'd found that if he gave his charges enough attention, there was always meaning in everything they did. Sure enough she was making an asymmetrical design out of the odds and ends he usually threw there.

It was when she came to a picture of Alice that he held his breath and waited. She picked it up slowly and stared for the longest moment
, before running her fingers over the glass encased face and kissing it, before placing it front and center. When she picked up her head with that same look of sorrow he'd worn himself for so long, he couldn't help going to her and folding her in his arms carefully, so as not to spook her. She just melted into him like she'd been doing it for a lifetime.