Page 102 of Gambler's Fallacy

I’d been toobusy.

Despair threatens to choke me.

Vortex must notice something’s wrong because he gently turns me to face him. “Hey, beautiful boy. We’re here to have fun. If you aren’t having fun, we can do something else.”

I want to ask if blackjack is on the table, but I know better. It doesn’t matter that it would help to get my mind off of everything. They’ve already made it clear I’m not allowed, and the one time I’d stopped by Nat’s table, they’d been every bit as firm.

“Okay. Swimming lessons for Seven!” Havoc declares. He extends a hand out to me. “I looked it up online. You’ll definitely be able to gently float on the water before the night is out.”

I look skeptically at him. “Float on the water,” I repeat. “Show me?”

“I bet he plummets right to the bottom,” Vortex says with a smirk.

Havoc leans back and raises his legs, somehow, and it ends with him floating on the water like he’s made of light plastic. He even closes his eyes and smiles serenely.

Until Caleb kicks at the water and splashes Havoc’s face.

Havoc sputters and gets upright again. “Hey! What was that for?”

“It was funny,” Caleb says.

I can’t help but smile at that, small as it is. I wade over to Caleb, for all that I’m wary of the way the pool slopes more and gets deeper as I go. I touch his leg. “Are you going to get in with us?”

Caleb ruffles my hair. “Yes. In a moment.”

Havoc and Vortex both approach too. They share a look that I don’t understand, but Caleb tenses and starts to pull his legs up.

He’s too late, though. Vortex grabs one leg, Havoc grabs the other, and they pull Caleb into the pool. He yelps and sputters while Havoc and Vortex both laugh.

“I should have you both fired,” Caleb mutters as he wipes water away from his brow.

“But you won’t,” Vortex says, still grinning.

I wrap my arms around Caleb, kissing his wet face. “It was inevitable,” I tell him. “At least the water is warm.”

“Unheated pools are torture devices,” Caleb says. He kisses back, then glances at Havoc. “All right, swim lessons for Seven. Then he can come here during his free time even without us.”

Familiar panic surges inside of me, and I shake my head. “No. That’s not going to happen any time soon.”

“It doesn’t have to be soon,” Vortex reassures me. “But eventually. It’ll be good for you to have more to do without us.”

But I don’t want to do more without them. I don’t want to be alone. I don’t want to be left to my own devices after I’m finished working — or at all.

Havoc nods. “Swimming’s great, and if you ever have a free hour, you can kill time here.”

Instead of at the tables, which is what they all mean. They want me to have hobbies that aren’t gambling.

I wonder if I could drown myself while no one’s paying attention.

The thought comes out of nowhere, and I instantly tamp it down. No. I’m not going to think that way. I’m not going to do that again.

“Okay,” I say even though I have no intention of coming here by myself.

“I guess I’ll let Havoc teach you,” Vortex says, and he steps back.

Havoc is a surprisingly good teacher, and with his help, I’m doggy paddling for my dear life in the deeper water. I hadn’t been afraid of the water, and now I’m even less so. It’s not that bad.

But after a while, it gets boring, and I can think of several things that would be more entertaining than swimming lessons. I paddle my way back to shallower water, where Vortex is waiting, and press my chest against his. “I did good!” I say. “Now it’s time for my reward.”

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