Second Chance - 3

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It was nearly Christmas and Jeremiah snuck Maddox out while Janine was out with her girlfriends. "Your wife is killing our flow ..." Jeremiah said to Maddox as they got in his car. "Do you HAVE to keep her?"

"Man, fuck outta here, she ain't going nowhere."

"Alright, alright!" They got into the car and drove off. The drive from beachside was almost 30 minutes before they pulled into a neighborhood with nice homes. They parked and walked a few houses down, then into a house. Music was going, but not too loud. There were poker tables and other card games set up all over the first floor and bars set up on the second landing overlooking downstairs. Jeremiah whispered, "just have my back at the tables, man."

"Not a problem " Maddox just looked around.

They walked through, spoke to a few folks, then they walked up to the guy who apparently owned the place, "Maddox ... This is Antonio. Antonio ... Maddox," Jeremiah introduced them.

Antonio raised an eyebrow at Jeremiah, then shook hands with Maddox. He then turned back to Antonio, "are your hands clean this time?"

Jeremiah raised them like he was surrendering, "hospital grade antimicrobial cleansers, bro,"

"Enjoy yourselves," he chuckled and walked away.

Jeremiah looked at Maddox and grinned, "lets get a seat somewhere."

"What was that about?"

"Nothing," they sat at a Blackjack table, "he's just being funny," Jeremiah assured him. "If there were a problem, I wouldn't have been invited. Right?" He turned to a young woman walking with gambling chips. He traded a wad of cash for some chips, then looked at the dealer, 'deal me in."

Half an hour they sat at the Blackjack table. Jeremiah walked away with a little over 5grand. He grinned at Maddox, "you not playing?" He held out some money to him.

"Nah im good.." Maddox looked around, "you done?"

"No way. Too many suckers around here ... Let's get drinks," they went upstairs and greeted the woman who was working the small bar. Jeremiah chatted with her while looking around a bit, then he and Maddox walked back downstairs, "new dealer at the black jack table. We can go there or somewhere else. Aye ... Roulette." They walked in that direction, "come on ... Try not to have a stick up your ass tonight, man."

"Alright alright..." Maddox went into his wallet and headed to the poker table, pulled out 5 100 dollar bills and looked to Jeremiah, "go big or go home huh?"

"Exactly." They stood playing roulette. Both of them winning ever so often. Halfway through, Jeremiah put a big pile of chips on the table on Red25, kissed the dice and then threw them. He hit and started yelling. He hit again, then two more times. After the last time, he started scooping up his chips, "alright, we good, let's go," he looked around, holding all the chips and rushed over to the cash-out table. He smiled at the girl as she counted out his and Maddox's winnings. As she was loading the money into a briefcase, Jeremiah started to get antsy. The two of them started to the door. Jeremiah noticed the roulette guy pointing at them and then security came. "Shit! Move it!" He said to Maddox as they started running.

"Fuck! are you shittin me?" Maddox took off running putting his All-State gold medal in Track to good use. 

Jeremiah grinned as they weaved through the crowd quickly. A lot of 'STOP' and 'HEY' and 'GET THOSE ASSHOLES' were heard as the two men were stopped at the door by a guard. Jeremiah looked around, then hit the dude in the face with his briefcase and hauled ass out of there. "Catch!" He told Maddox. He tossed his briefcase to him and pulled his keys from his pocket. He unlocked the car and started it with the keyless entry. They got in and drove away. "SHIT! THAT WAS CLOSE!" Jeremiah was pounding on the wheel out of sheer excitement as they drove away.

Maddox was fuming. He looked to him, "I told you to keep me out of your shit because of my wife. You really that fuckin selfish, knowing i could lose her if we end up getting caught because of your bullshit?!"

"It was just some weighted dice. Chill ... Besides ... She won't leave you, man. And look! We got away clean."

"Principle man, principle. Take me home."

"Damn dude. Lighten up!" Jeremiah smiled, "how much you win? Huh? How much?"

"7 Gs.." he paused, "and i'm not kidding, take me home."

"I got 15. Just show her the money and you be alright." They drove to Maddox's house. "I'll see you Sunday for the game."

"Yep.." they slapped hands and Maddox got out and went inside his house.

Janine hadn't long gotten home. She was standing in the foyer with her heels in one hand and cell phone in the other. She'd just opened her Messages to send one to Maddox when she heard the door open. She turned, "there you are."

"Hey love..." he grabbed her by her head and kissed her lips, "i missed you."

"I missed you too. Anya and the girls and i went for happy hour." she started walking off but looked at the briefcase, "what's that?"

"Nothing baby, just did a little light gambling," he sat it on the coffee table.

Janine frowned but also smiled a little, "at least you didn't come home broke."

"I want you to take half of it and do whatever you want with it. I'm putting the rest in our retirement savings."

She laughed, "just put it all in there. We're about to start having kids and kids are notoriously expensive."

"True..." Maddox sighed, loosening his tie.

"You okay?" she looked him over a good while.

"Just a little pissed, but I'll be cool baby, dont worry. Want to get a shower in?" He pulled the tie off and then started unbuttoning his shirt as they stood in the livingroom.

She dropped her heels and took her hair down. She didn't know what he got into while gambling but he looked tense. Must have been with that fucker Jeremiah. Walking to him, she helped him undo his pants then took off her dress, "let's go."

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