“GET ME OFF THIS THING!”

“MUY HA HA HA HA HA HA!”

We were on the Vomit Comet; the ship’s craziest, most agile, and out of control coaster. It had all sorts of flips, inversions, rolls, and drops that made it such a scary ass ride.

I laughed as the coast flew along the maglev track and did a rotation before pulling down into a pitch black tunnel. Spitfire was screaming in terror next to me. She had been on nearly every other ride in the park and insisted I take her up on this one. I had tried to warn her that it was for the more experienced of riders but she wasn’t gonna have any of it. Needless to say she was probably regretting it.

I couldn’t figure out why a girl whose thing was flying would be terrified of a roller coaster. I mean she was a wonderbolt so crazy maneuvers were probably in the cards for her. As to why she was uncomfortable on this ride was anyone’s guess. Hmm, kinda funny I’m having this train of thought on a roller coaster while Spits is screaming her head off.

The coaster inverted again and did a flip before diving down again and pulling up into a curve.

“Oh Celestia help me!”

The ride finally began to slow. We pulled into the station. The lap bar began to rise.

“How was the ride every-” The technician began. Spitfire immediately pulled the bar off of her with so much force that it probably broke and rushed off the car and down the exit ramp. I pulled my bar off and followed her.

“Sorry,” I said before leaving.

I walked calmly down the ramp. Spitfire was sitting on a bench, breathing pretty hard. Oh lord I hope she’s alright. Well I did try to talk her out of it. But still.

I walked up and sat next to her, “You alright? I hope the ride wasn’t that bad.”

She gripped my shoulders in a death grip and looked me in eyes, “If I ever say I want to do that again, immediately punch me in the face and check me into a mental hospital.”

I was sweating bricks at that point, “Yes ma’am.”

“Good.” She punched me in the shoulder.

“Ow. What the hell was that for?”

“For not trying hard enough to talk me out of that,” Spitfire smiled smugly.

“Now that is totally not fair.”

“I know.”

“So…” I began, “Wanna go again?”

She hit me again.

“Ah! You’re like an abusive Italian grandmother with a wooden spoon.”

“I have no idea what an Italian grandmother is.”

“If you keep hitting me like that, that’s what I’m gonna call you.”

“Italian?”

“No. Grandmother.”

“Fine.”

We laughed. Hmm. A few days ago I didn’t know she even existed. I guess I’ll miss her when she eventually goes home. She’s certainly tossed a lot of excitement into my life lately.

“Can we go swimming?” Spitfire asked?

Great, this again, “Not right now. We don’t have a bathing suit for you and you have wings.”

She sighed and looked crestfallen. Good. You crushed her mood again jackass.

Shut up.

You shut up.

I sighed, “Look. Maybe we can work something out. AND NO! You are not pushing me into that pool like last time.”

Spitfire laughed, “What’d ya have in mind?”

“Well there are no parties tonight so a lot of people will be either asleep or at the casinos and clubs, so we’ll hopefully have the pool to ourselves. And we can work out getting you a bathing suit later today if you want.”

See? You do have a heart.

Um. NO.

“Really? You mean it?”

I sighed again, “Yeah I guess we can hit the pools at night. I’ll have to talk to Cat first but yeah I guess. And if she says no we can always sneak out.”

Tactical bear hug incoming, “Oh thank you! I’ve been wanting to relax like this ever since we stepped into that hotel! I mean, we don’t have anything like this in Equestria and this is just so cool!”

“Yeah yeah, thank me later. For now let’s get something to eat. I’m starved.”

“That sounds good. And later the pools?”

“Yes, later the pools.”

“YES!” Spits pumped her fists down.

I smiled. She was just as excited about this as Cat was when she got Dad’s credit card during spring break. I laughed because she got grounded for spending a huge shit ton of money on a rave.

We stood up and got walking. I always loved amusement parks. They always… amused me unlike anything else. I suppose it was because I got struck with childlike wonder whenever I entered wonderlands like this… Yeah right! I had about as much childlike wonder as Vladimir Putin had whenever he did ANYTHING. In truth I was all in it for the rides and the food. Games? Yeah right! Casinos are where it’s at. Just as long as this ship had an open door policy.

We stopped and got churros along the way. Spitfire didn’t know what they were at first but quickly found them delicious. We walked along, continuing our way out of the park. I guessed that Spits had had enough of the crazy out of control rides for one day.

We stepped out of the park. The city was alive. People were going shopping, going to gyms, stopping in cafés to eat, all sorts of things people usually did on cruises.

“So what do you want to do now?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Spits said, “What else can we do until later?”

“This ship does have an extensive array of services we can use until then. Maybe we can see a show?”

“This place has theatres?”

“Yup. Though I’m not sure that many of the shows would be appealing to you.”

“Well what else is there?”

“Well there is a rock climbing wall on the upper decks. Maybe we can hit that?”

“That sound’s good.”

We turned and headed to the elevators.

***

“Come on slow poke! I’m over half way up!” Spitfire yelled.

“Didn’t you ever learn that slow and steady wins the race?” I yelled back.

We were on the ship’s low gravity rock climbing walls. If one fell the fall wouldn’t cause injury due to the 1/3 G and the soft cushy mats that lay below. No need for ropes. The rock wall over looked the running track and football field. Tennis courts and other sports courts and fields littered the area nearby. Farther away was the ship’s water park, while above us was the large glass super dome that separated us from the vacuum of space. Spitfire was ahead of me by a few meters but that was going to change soon. I had my path picked out and I could see where Spitfire’s was going was a dead end.

“Slow and steady doesn’t win any race of any kind! Speed and agility win all the races I know.”

“We’ll see about that one!” I yelled and continued climbing.

Spitfire reached her dead end. The closest rock that actually led anywhere was about three meters away.

“Looks like I win now girl!” I called.

“We’ll see about that,” with that she leapt for the closest rock. She nearly had it but lost her grip and began to fall.

Granted it did look comedic. She was falling considerably slow, like everything was in slow motion. She was almost out of reach when I grabbed her hand and swung her back onto the rocks below me.

“What did I say about slow and steady?” I asked with a grin.

“Humph,” was her response.

I laughed and climbed on, reaching the top before Spitfire.

“I win,” I declared triumphantly.

“Only ‘cause I fell,” Spitfire said as she gripped a rock next to me.

“Hey, I warned you. And you didn’t listen.”

“Mah. I’ll still kick your ass at swimming,” She said.

“We’ll see. For now, race ya to the bottom,” I swung my feet up and pushed off towards the mat.

“No you don’t!” Spitfire yelled. I turned around on my back and looked up. Spitfire was in a nosedive and heading straight towards me.

“Oh shit- Oomph!” I managed to get out before Spitfire impacted my stomach. Geez, she can tackle like a linebacker on the school football team. And those guys tackle hard. Especially when they ha

te you and try to plaster you to the wall.

We fell a lot faster now thanks to the added acceleration provided by Spitfire. I slammed into the mat with considerable force. My head fell back and smacked the cushy mat as the rest of my body followed.

The impact was a little jarring to say the least but not too bad. I opened my eyes and saw Spits pinning me to the mat. I looked at my arms and saw she had them plastered to the mat in the ‘don’t shoot me’ position. Her knees were pinning my legs to the mat making nearly all movement impossible.

“Pinned ya!” She declared.

Now there were several ways I could respond to that in this compromising position. Several years of martial arts training gave me several options for escaping this. Headbut her, out of the question. Crumple myself up before throwing my body out and flipping back over in a fighting stance. There was a third option, less desirable than the others…

No, don’t do that.

Option four, let her do what she wanted and hope for mercy.

“Uh, yeah, I guess you did,” I muttered, “Can you let me up?”

“Nope,” she replied smugly.

“Aw come on! I’ll let you win next time. What are you even doing anyway?”

A third voice spoke, “It looks like she’s asserting her feminine dominance over you, Jett.”

Oh sweet merciful Jesus, Muhammad, and Buddha. I turned my head. My sister was standing over me with a duffel bag on her shoulder.

“Oh, uh, Cat! Uh, this is not what it looks like!”

Cat put her hands on her hips, “What does it look like then, dear brother?”

Way to dig yourself into a hole there asshole. Good going.

Oh shut the fuck up. Who asked you?

You did.

Fuck.

“We were just wrestling!” Spitfire said, “Yeah wrestling, that’s it!”

Cat got this skeptical look on her face before continuing, “Ok… I just wanted to find you guys and tell you I’ll be getting back a little late tonight.”

Spitfire let me up. I socked her in the shoulder which she returned.

“How late?”

“I think like, 3:00? Maybe? I don’t know. There’s an adults night at the casinos so no kids like you allowed,” she said smugly, “But there are a lot of night clubs and youth things happening tonight so you two could probably go to one of those?”

Spitfire and I exchanged a quick glance. We wouldn’t be going.

“Yeah. Uh huh.”

“Well ok then. I’m off to a cooking course. And NO Jett I will not set water on fire for you.”

“Aw come on! I can’t figure out how you did that! Do you know how useful it would be if I could do that?”

“NO.”

“Buzz kill.”

“Well I’ll be seeing you both tomorrow. Bye.” With that she hefted her bag and got walking.

I stared as she left, muttering something under her breath. Well that was one awkward moment. God I just hopped something like that didn’t happen again. I-oomph!

I was once again flattened against the ground, this time on my stomach with my arms tied behind my back.

“Pinned ya again!”

“Get off me vile creature!” I hollered.

“Nope.”

***

So the 7 is on a cruise ship now.

Yes.

Well I must say the 7 is certainly the most unique member of the Titan project.

What gave you that idea? Besides the obvious.

Well it is one of two that know what they are and what they are capable of. That and it is the only one aware of how much it has the potential to do and what it should be able to do but can’t.

Meaning it’s aware of the blocks?

Yes. As far as we can tell it is aware of the blocks that are in place. It has been trying to find ways around them but hasn’t succeeded.

Which blocks has it been trying to get around?

The one’s in its EM card. Those appear to have the greatest importance to it.

Ah. If we were all so lucky as to have a switch like that.

Oh yes. Just shut off the things that get in the way.

Yup.

Continue to monitor its vitals.

***

“I’m not going in there,” I stated quite plainly.

“Why not?” Spitfire asked, “I need a bathing suit and you already bought one. I went into that store with you.”

“That is SO much different. One, it wouldn’t be weird to see a girl in there considering they sell everything for all genders. This? NO.”

“Oh quit being such a puss and come in there with me. I’ll need a second opinion,” she finished with a smirk.

FUCK. She wanted WHAT?! OH NO.

Tracy Morgan no monologue incoming, “No, no, mhmh, mhhmh, no, no, nonono, no! Hell no! No! No! I refuse... no, no!”

Spitfire laughed, “We can do this the easy way, or the hard way.”

“No,” I said and sat down defiantly on the bench in front of the store.

“Fine, we’ll do this the hard way.” With that she strolled into the store.

Thank god I didn’t have to do that. I’ve had enough situations like this these past few days to last me a life time. I sighed and closed my eyes and attempted to drift to sleep.

In hindsight I probably shouldn’t have done that. I woke up to the sight of Spitfire exiting the store with a pair of handcuffs. They had a pink fluffy around them but they were still handcuffs.

The color instantly drained from my face. Behind me was a balcony that over looked the rest of the mall and promenade below. I seriously considered jumping and taking my chances with the fall. Just as I made up my mind I felt one end of the fluffy cuffs latch onto my left wrist.

“What are you do-” the other cuff latched onto my other wrist. Oh no. Oh dear god. Oh sweet Jesus, Muhammad, and Buddha.

Oh fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

“NO!” I yelled and drew a few looks from people. Spitfire just smiled and waved.

“Come on,” she said and dragged me into the store.

“No! NO! NO!!!”

It must have been a strange sight. A Jett black haired boy being dragged into a Victoria’s Secret by a flame haired girl. Needless to say I wasn’t happy and repeatedly tried to break free.

“Let me go!”

“Oh no you don’t! You’re coming in here!” Spitfire said with a drag and pulled me farther into the store. God this was mortifying. Everyone either gave us weird looks, snickered, or smiled. A few guys mouthed in the store mouthed, ‘I’m sorry.’ They must have thought psycho girlfriend.

I got pulled into the swimsuit section. My face turned red at some of the more… revealing garments.

“Spitfire? Why are you doing this to me?”

She lifted the cuffs, and me, up and hung me on a rack of thongs. If there could be a more humiliating thing in the world, and at this point I’m pretty sure there wasn’t, actually, nothing could possibly be more humiliating than being handcuffed to a thong rack. Spitfire has a twisted, horrible, diabolical, sense of humor.

She began sifting through the various suits. She selected one, though I couldn’t see what it was from my compromising position. At this rate, any sense of dignity went out the window at this point.

“Let’s go prisoner. I gotta try this on, but first…” she held up a small camera.

I executed a perfect tomato impression, “Don’t you dare!”

She snapped a picture, “Oh dear Celestia! I am so showing this to your sister!”

“I will murder you in your sleep!” I seethed.

“Like hell,” Spits said flaunting her hips, “You love me!”

She unhooked me from the rack and dragged me into the changing room. There were two teenage girls around my age who got to witness my drag of shame across the hallway. They put their hands to their mouths and stifled a laugh. I gave them death glares as Spitfire dragged me towards the back.

There was an open changing room with a hook in front of it. Just my luck. Guess where I ended up? Spitfire used her strong arms and lifted me up onto the hook with my feet just barely touching the floor. Great. No escape. She grabbed the bathing suit and disappeared into the changing room.

FML

***

Hey Jack! Come see this!

What is it?

This girl has huge lady balls! Look what she did to number 7!

This better be good. I’m halfway through The Young and the Restless and- Oh my god! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Now isn’t that to die for? Look at it! How the hell she managed to handcuff it like that is beyond me but it still won’t stop me from pissing myself! Oh lord look at its face!

Whoever that girl is, she has guts.

***

I was still hanging from the hook when Spitfire emerged.

“What do ya think of this one?” She asked turning in the mirror.

By now I had cooled down enough to the point where I wasn’t outright plotting how I was gonna murder this wonderbolt but still mad enough. I kept it hidden.

She was wearing a nice blue bikini that fit well with her hair. That and it complimented her form nicely. The straps on the top fit nicely above and below her wings. I had to admit, she did look pretty attractive with it on. Well, for a human anyway.

“It looks nice,” I said calmly, “The color matches your hair and it compliments your well-toned body quite nicely.”

“R-r-really?” Spitfire asked as though she wasn’t expecting a straight answer.

“Yeah. It does go well with your natural hair color and looks almost like a wonderbolt flight suit. Now that that’s out of the way, WILL YOU PLEASE LET ME OFF OF THIS THING?! I’VE BEEN HANGING HERE LIKE A RAPE VICTIM HERE FOR THE PAST HALF HOUR!”

Spitfire laughed. She was enjoying being the captor in this situation. I on the other hand wanted out before this got any weirder.

“Geez calm down,” she laughed; she laughs at everything. Especially when I’m aggravated. She finds my being aggravated funny.

“I think I have the key here somewhere,” she said putting a hand to her mouth, “Oh no I think I lost it!”

No god! No god, please no! No! NO! NO!

She must have noticed my involuntary twitching, “Just kidding, calm down. It’s right here.”

She walked up to me and unlocked the cuffs. I fell to the floor before jumping up and forcing her into the dressing room.

“IF YOU EVER SPEAK OF THIS TO ANYONE,” I hissed.

Spitfire was laughing. Oh yeah I forgot. Me being irritated amuses her and tickles her perverted sense of humor.

“Chillax Jett,” she laughed, “No one but us will know about this. Though I’m keeping that picture.”

She rolled her eyes and smiled, “Priceless!”

I let her go. My common sense returned to me and I remembered where I was; in a changing room, with a scantily clad Spitfire in a bikini.

I flushed and quickly left the room with Spitfire’s giggling following me out of the store. I stomped out and sat on the bench outside the store.

Secretly, I was wondering if that fall would have hurt me in any way. But too late to consider jumping after the damage is done.

***

Well throughout the day of us exploring the ship, eating, shopping, and other antics that one did while on a cruise ship I had cooled down enough to almost forgive Spits for handcuffing me. Almost. Revenge was something I still had planned. But that’s for later. Now it was finally night time.

We stopped by the room again and said goodbye to Cat whom was heading to the blackjack tables. Ha! She was probably gonna lose and come to me about it later.

But anyway.

I went to my room and changed into my bathing suit and pulled a shirt and some goggles on over my head before exiting.

Spitfire emerged from her room with her bikini and a shirt on over it to cover up her wings. I peered past her rather quickly and saw the handcuffs and key on her nightstand. Good to remember.

“Ready to go?” I asked.

“As I’ll ever be! I’ve wanted to hit the pools of the longest time now!” Spitfire said, “But your whole ‘No wings in public’ rule has put a rut in that!”

“Hey, just be glad I agreed to do this with you.”

“Fine.”

We walked out of our cabin towards the elevators. An old man was sitting in a chair in front of his cabin and felt the need to make a comment.

“Ah young love. What a magical thing.”

Ok, that man had to have been at least 200 years old because nowadays people don’t just do that. Spitfire and I both blushed.

I gave the man a look before mouthing back, ‘you have no idea what this girl has done to me.’

He gave me a wink. I sighed and continued walking along towards the elevator. The doors opened and we stepped inside.

Just as the doors were closing I heard a faint, “Don’t forget to wear a rubber!”

I paled.

“What did he say?” Spitfire asked.

“Nothing! Absolutely nothing!” I said as the elevator began to rise.

“Hmm, I thought I heard something about an umbrella,” Spits said skeptically.

“No you didn’t. You didn’t hear anything because he’s just a crazy old man.”

The elevator continued to rise until we were on the upper decks. The water park was a huge super structure in the center of the large upper level.

It was surrounded by a lazy river that circled all the way around the park. Farther in was a wave pool. Aww yeah, wave pool. Beyond the wave pool was a simple, normal pool. Nearby were a bunch of other small attractions like waterslides and water raceways. There was even a surf simulator. There was one slide that started up several stories high before diving down into this large pool area. Inside the pool were various, tamed sea creatures. Everything from sting rays to even dolphins was in that pool. This park had everything.

And we had it all to ourselves.

“So what’d ya wanna hit first?” I asked.

“I don’t know, but I’ll race ya to the wave pool,” Spitfire said stripping her shirt off and tossing it in my face. She made a B line for the pool.

I grabbed the shirt and mine and tossed it and our towels on a nearby beach chair, “Oh it’s on now! And no flying! That’s cheating!”

***

“Hey!” I yelled, “That’s cheating!”

We were racing down one of the waterslides. Spitfire felt the need to use her wings and gain an advantage. She pushed herself down the slide farther ahead of me.

She simply turned her head and stuck her tongue out at me.

“You suck.”

She reached the bottom and hopped off of the slide just as I reached the bottom.

“No fair,” I said, “That’s cheating.”

“You never said I couldn’t use them,” She grinned, her flame hair falling over her face.

“Yes I did.”

She pushed her hair out of her face and behind her ears, “No, you said I couldn’t fly. You never said anything about that!”

“Humph. Still not fair though.”

“You’re just jealous you don’t have wings,” Spitfire laughed, flaunting her flight instruments.

I smiled, “Yes in fact I am. But you just wait until we go back to school in a few weeks. I can do things in space you can never do with your wings in an atmosphere.”

She put her hands on her hips, “Really?”

“That roller coaster is nothing compared to what I can do,” I smiled deviously.

Spits cringed, remembering the torture coaster.

“How about we grab a few surf boards and hit the wave pool again?” she asked.

“I like that. Where did we leave the boards last time?”

“I think they were somewhere in the lazy river.”

“Well we can hit that and find them along the way. Speaking of which, what time is it?”

“I think like 1:00? Maybe? I don’t know I don’t have a watch.”

“Well either way we have a few hours before we have to head back,” I said, “Come on, race ya to the river. And no using your wings!” We took off running.

“I’ll still beat you!” she yelled.

“We’ll see about that one!”

***

Several, long, fun hours later we headed off back to the hotel. We were both soaking wet since when we were getting ready to leave Spitfire pushed me into the pool; again. I being me decided to drag her in with me.

“So let’s see,” I decided to troll Spitfire, “How many races did I win when you weren’t using your wings?”

She fumed, “All of them.”

“So who’s the faster ground pounder?”

“You are.”

I pumped my fists down, “Hell yeah.”

“I still have those handcuffs,” Spitfire said.

Well fuck me sideways with a screwdriver I- oh wait, I knew that. Oh later you’re in for it Spits.

“Don’t you DARE.”

“We’ll see,” she grinned deviously.

I unlocked the cabin and we stepped inside closing the door behind us. I went into the bathroom and tossed my towel and shirt in the washing machine before returning to the living room and sitting on the couch. Spitfire was resting on the armchair.

The door opened and Cat walked in.

“GODS DAMN IT!” She spat, “Stupid fucking house rigged that fucking deck!”

“How much ya lose this time?” I asked.

“A lot! That fucking dealer, I swear I’m gonna- Aaaahhh.”

Yeah she lost a lot.

“You know we can come with you to the casino tomorrow. I think the open door policy applies in international space?”

“Yeah, why-” her face changed from rage to a smile, “Oh Jett you devious little boy.”

I smiled, “So I’ll be the scout. You and Spits can come in after I find which table is hot and then bet.”

“Wait, what are we doing?” Spitfire asked.

“I’m getting my money back!” Cat smiled, “And potentially more.”

I had gotten bored during the summer last year and decided to learn something. And the internet led me to card counting. The algorithms were easy to pick up and easy to learn for me. The cards were easy to keep track of. I had practiced with one of my friends as we planned a hypothetical trip on the town on day. Only problem is that laws were still in place and I couldn’t enter a casino until I was 18. But International Law was a bit more flexible.

“We’re gonna break that place.”

***

Well it was night time; specifically 4:00 in the morning. Everyone had gone to sleep. Except for me. I had stayed up and carefully plotted my revenge for the rape cuffs incident.

I crept into Spitfire’s room with a stool from the kitchen in my arms. I searched the darkness for the last bit. The pink fluffed handcuffs still rested on the nightstand.

Perfect.

I grabbed the cuffs and crept to the foot of the bed. Spitfire was quietly snoring and again sleeping on her stomach. Her feet were hanging off the bed. Good, less work for me. I threaded the cuffs through the legs of the stool and quietly cuffed both ends to Spitfire’s ankles, firmly latching the chair to her legs.

I smiled deviously and grabbed the key and crept back out of the room.

***

I woke up to the smell of cinnamon rolls and hash browns being cooked. Hmm, looks like that cooking class actually taught Cat something. I wonder if Spitfire’s up.

I looked at my body. Nothing maimed or damaged in any way so I’d say I’m good.

I walked out of the bed room and into the living area. Sure enough, Cat was actually COOKING something without it catching fire.

“Morning little brother,” she chirped cheerfully.

“You’re certainly cheerful,” I said rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

“Hell yeah. I’m bringing my card counting brother to a casino tomorrow,” she purred deviously, “I’m about to have a nice winning streak.”

I poured myself a glass of orange juice before settling down on the couch.

“I better get a cut of that.”

“Oh you both will. Speaking of which where is Spitfire?”

“Oh she should be waking up right… about…”

“AH SWEET CELESTIA! WHAT THE? JETT!!!”

“Now.”

Spitfire flew into the living room with a stool attached to her ankles by a pair of fluffy handcuffs. Her face was red. I stifled a laugh at the mental image of a floating apple on fire but laughed freely at the sight in front of me.

Cat turned and gasped before coughing and breaking out in a fit of laughter, “Jett?! What did you do?”

“Caught and tamed an eagle,” I said before falling off the couch and onto the floor.

“Oh you think this is funny? Well let me just go get that camera.” She flew back into her room with the chair still in tow.

“Now wait!” I called still laughing, “Come back!”

She did. With the camera. Oh no.

“Hey you swore not to show that to her!”

“This nullifies that agreement,” she said with a devious smirk.

“No you don’t!” I made a grab for the camera. Spitfire, flying and all, was dragged down to the floor. She awkwardly landed on her side, taking me down to the floor with her. We wrestled for control of the camera.

“Give me that!” I yelled.

“After this? No way!” she yelled back.

After a wrestling match that resembled something out of a 1940’s cartoon, dust cloud and all, I ended up on the floor on my stomach, with Spitfire pinning me down fighting for control of the camera.

Cat bent down and snatched the camera from my grasp and turned it on.

“NO DON’T-” was all I got out before Cat got a look at my most humiliating moment of my life. Curse you emotional responses.

Cat’s face began contorting as she attempted, and key word here is ‘ATTEMPTED,’ to squash a laugh. She burst out laughing and held the picture up. I covered my head.

“Now,” she began, “WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?”

“I handcuffed him and hung him on an underwear rack,” Spitfire declared triumphantly.

“I can see that!” Cat laughed, “What part of your body did you show him to get him to agree to that?”

Spitfire and I both turned red.

“NOW I WILL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT THAT WAS DONE AGAINST MY WILL,” I fumed, “I WAS PRACTICALLY RAPED IN A DRESSING ROOM.”

“Oh shut up,” Spitfire said, “Maybe a peep show but not RAPE.”

Cat looked from between me and Spitfire before bursting out laughing. Spitfire joined her in her laughter as the guffawed at my plight.

“You should have seen the looks we got!” Spitfire was practically crying.

“I’ll bet! How did you manage to handcuff him like that? And with THOSE handcuffs!”

“That’s my secret girl.”

***

Well after getting laughed at by my sister and Spitfire we got ready to go break the casino. Well I did anyway since I was gonna be doing all the heavy lifting in this operation.

I sifted through my clothes and found what I was looking for; a town suit. It went good with the fedora and my sunglasses. Looking like a boss when destroying a casino: check.

I stepped out of my room and into the hallway. Spitfire was wearing a pair of jeans and her leather flight jacket and her aviators.

We met Cat in the living room.

“Ready to make some money?” she asked.

“Oh yeah.”

We stepped out of the cabin and made our way to toward the city. Cat soon led us to the casino where she lost her credits.

“WE GOT THIS.”

I cracked my knuckles, “Let’s do this.”

***

I brought my arm up and scratched my neck. The table was hot. Cat and Spitfire both came over and watched as I placed my bet.

“Going all in?” Cat asked.

“Oh yeah.”

The table was hot and an Ace came my way. Perfect.

The other players held; all were close to 21 but not exactly. There were a lot of faces left in the deck. I’ll press the advantage.

“Hit me.”

The dealer nodded and spat out a card. I slowly reached for it. I certainly hopped I wasn’t getting fucked with a three or some other card. I’d be deep in the shit if I got another Ace. I grabbed the card and flipped it over.

I smiled. A king.

“Well boys looks like I win,” I trolled the other players, “’Cause I’ve hit a perfect 21!”

The other player moaned as the chips began coming my way. One player gave me the finger as I constructed a small city out of chips.

One guy got up and left. Pity. He wouldn’t get to see me win again.

“Come on Jett. You got this,” Cat said.

“Sshh,” I said. The dealer began dealing out the cards. I caught them all. Plus 1, neutral, plus 1, minus 1… The cards kept coming.

I ended up with a Seven. The others kept hitting and soon the closest guy to 21 had 19. I had two cards, a Six and a Seven. Statistics were fifty/fifty here. I could either get a Seven or an Eight and win it all.

I gave a sly grin and looked between the others. Let’s see if any of them have the balls to hit again. I gave the dealer one look.

“Hit me.”

“If you say so sir.”

I certainly hope I didn’t screw myself with this one. If I got anything Nine or higher I’d be screwed. But hey, go big or go home right?

“Wait! I’d like to double down.”

The others gasped. I had a certainly large pile in front of me and already had a large amount in. Normally it took a few shots of liquor to get someone to do something as stupid as this but I’m not stoned yet!

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah I’m sure. I haven’t lost it yet. Double Down sir.”

I was in the shit now. I caught a look at Cat. She was biting her nails. Spitfire had a smile on her face and was on the edge of her seat.

The dealer reached for the deck. Lord I hopped the Gods favored me right now. He grabbed a card.

Please be an Eight or a Seven. Please be an Eight or a Seven. Please be an Eight or a Seven.

He pushed the card over. Slowly I grabbed it and flipped it over. I grinned widely.

“YEAH BABY! SEVEN!” I jumped out of my seat.

Cat jumped up next to me and danced around the table in a happy bliss. Spitfire jumped out of her seat and cheered.

The guy with 19 looked like he wanted to murder me.

“You little SHIT!” he yelled.

“You mad Bro?”

“Hey you can’t talk to my brother like that!” Cat yelled.

“Yeah? And what are you gonna do about it?”

“I don’t want to know what she’s gonna do but I know what I’m doing. I’m taking cashing this mountain in big boy so… peace to the Middle East I’m out!”

I scooped up the huge pile and bounced all the way to bank so to speak with Spits and Cat right behind me.

***

“85000?!” Cat said as we left the casino, “Jett how could you possibly keep track of all those cards in those four decks?”

“Practice makes perfect,” I said.

“Either way I thought that guy was gonna blow a head gasket!” Spitfire laughed.

“He did look pissed.”

“Well I’d be pissed too if you had just juked me out of 85000!” Cat laughed.

“Just be happy I’m on your side.”

“Amen to that.”

We walked along back to the cabin with our winnings from the night’s escapade. Yeah. This was gonna be a great cruise.