The Gambler Read Free

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,