Annika smiled and weighed the balls in her hand. It was a familiar feeling as well. 'They have different spinning times. I prefer the big ones.'
She started the wheel spinning counterclockwise, took the big ball between her middle finger and thumb, held it against the inside rim of the wheel, and shot it off clockwise.
Patricia was impressed. 'How did you do that?'
'It's in the wrist. The ball has to do at least seven turns around the wheel or the spin is invalid. I used to average eleven.'
The ball slowed down and fell into number 19. Annika leaned over the wheel. 'Next time I spin the ball, I have to start on the number I last picked it up from.'
'Why?'
'So you can't cheat.'
'How do you calculate the winnings?'
Annika gave a brief account of what
Patricia shook her head despairingly. 'How on earth can you calculate all that?'
'It's quite simple once you've figured it out. It helps at first if you're good at mental arithmetic, but you soon learn the different combinations.'
Annika demonstrated how she calculated the winnings- twenty chips in each stack, halve them and let your fingers slide along the edge so the rest of the chips followed.
Patricia watched Annika's nimble movements with fascination. 'That's so neat. Maybe roulette is for me after all.'
Annika laughed and spun the ball.
At that moment the other girls turned up.
Sanna, the hostess, was standing stark naked next to the reception desk when the men started arriving. She smiled and teased, flirted and coaxed, telling the guys what a good time they were going to have. Annika recognized Sanna's voice from the answering machine. When Sanna had got the men to part with their money, they would turn their gazes toward Annika. Their stares bore into her like steel arrows, making her feel as if the bra were shrinking, baring more of each of her breasts. She averted her eyes and stared at the burns on the table. She had to force herself not to cover herself with her hands. Nobody was interested in the roulette.
'You've got to flirt with them,' Sanna said coldly when a group of Italian businessmen had disappeared inside the strip bar. 'Be sexy, girl.'
Annika swallowed self-consciously. 'I'm not very good at it,' she said in a far too high-pitched voice.
'You've got to learn. There's no point in your being there if you don't bring in any money.'
Annika's eyes flashed. 'The table's here,' she said, raising her voice. 'Does it hurt you if I'm standing here? Or do you want me to pay you for the air that I'm using?'
A man's big burst of laughter emanating from the spiral staircase shut them up. 'Sounds like we've got two wildcats in a cage down here.'
Annika knew immediately that this was the famous Joachim. He had long blond hair and expensive, fashionable clothes. A thick gold chain dangled on his chest. This was the guy Josefin had had her breasts done for.
She walked up to him and introduced herself. 'I'm Annika. It's nice to be here.'
Sanna pursed her lips.
Joachim looked Annika up and down, giving an approving nod when he reached her chest. 'You'd look good onstage. If you want, you can go on tonight.'
No one has asked for my surname, Annika thought, and tried hard to give him a natural smile. 'Thanks, but I think I'll try the roulette first.'
'You know, Sanna is right. You have to bring in your share of dough, or you're gone.'
Annika's smile died. 'I'll try.' She looked down.
'Maybe you should start in the bar with the other girls for a few nights, have them show you the ropes.'
The man stood a bit too close for comfort; Annika could feel his electricity. He was a looker, she had to admit that.
She closed her eyes for a moment before looking up and meeting his gaze. 'Yeah, that's a good idea. But I'd like to try and see if I can make some of the customers stay here on their way out.'
At that very moment, two half-drunk men in business suits staggered out of the strip bar. Their brows were damp and their clothes were rumpled.
Annika walked up to them, pushed her tits in their faces, and put her arms around them. 'Hi, guys. You've just fallen in love, right? But if the night's going to be really good, you need to try your luck with me.'
She smiled her most playful smile, her knees shaking. Joachim now had his thigh pressed against her behind, and she just wanted to scream out loud.
'Nah,' one of them said.
Annika took a step forward to escape Joachim and gave the other guy a hug. 'What about you? You look like a lucky guy, a real gentleman. Why don't you come and play with me?'
The man grinned. 'What do I win? You?'
Annika managed a laugh. 'Who knows? Maybe you'll win enough to buy any girl you want.'
'Okay,' the man said, and pulled out his wallet. His friend reluctantly followed suit.
The first man put a hundred on the table.
Annika smiled a troubled smile. The guy had just shelled out several thousand to drink sparkling apple juice and to look at naked girls, and now he was going to make her sweat for a hundred kronor.
'That won't even spin the ball,' she said sweetly. 'We play for high stakes here, handsome. High stakes, high winnings. It's a thousand for twenty chips.'
The man was wavering, and Annika made a sweeping movement with her hand over the table. 'A corner bet pays five thousand, a street, six thousand eight hundred. That's nearly seven thousand. Fifteen seconds, boys. You could win back all the money you've spent here tonight.'
A light came on simultaneously in both men's eyes. She was right…
They bought chips for a thousand each on their credit cards and placed streets on numbers 11 and 16, their bets worth twelve hundred in all. Annika spun the wheel and launched the ball fast and hard. It rolled almost thirteen turns before it started slowing down.
'No more bets,' she said, remembering how it went.
The ball dropped on slot number 3. With practiced movements she cleared the table and stacked the chips.
'Place your bets,' she said, glancing at the men's disappointed faces. They were more careful this time, only doing corner bets and changing to numbers 9 and 18. New spin, no more bets, number 16. One of the guys won ten chips.
'Here you go.' Annika pushed the small pile over to him. 'Five hundred kronor. Didn't I say you were a lucky guy?'
The man lit up like a sun, and Annika knew she had them right where she wanted them. Both men spent another three thousand each before they paid Sanna with their credit card and slunk away. Annika saw that Sanna wrote 'food and drink' on the receipt.
Joachim had been watching her from behind the reception desk.
'You know what you're doing,' he said, and came closer. 'Where did you learn to spin the wheel?'
'At the hotel in… Pitea.' She smiled and swallowed hard.
'Then you must know Peter Holmberg?' He flashed a smile.
Annika felt her own smile quiver in the corners of her mouth. Shit, she thought, he'll catch me out before I even get started.
'No, but I know Roger Sundstrom on Solandergatan. Do you know him? Or Hans on Oli-Jansgatan out in Pitholm?'
Joachim dropped the subject. 'You're charging too much for the chips, by the way. That's illegal. The stakes
