The Poker Game

There was a knock on the thin wooden door.

Mercedes was startled. Who could that be? It was too early for the postman and anyway she was not expecting a package.

She got up from the table and walked to the door. The door creaked as she cracked it open and looked outside. A man in a suit was standing on her porch.

"Rodrigo?" she asked recognizing a long not seen face. "Tomas isn't here. He didn't come home last night."

Rodrigo was the son of a local businessman. The family owned several farms, a supermarket and a night club. Rodrigo's family hadn't always been wealthy though and he had grown up here in the same rundown neighborhood.

Rodrigo had gone away to college several years ago. She never thought that he would come back. In fact she didn't think about him at all. Mercedes had never really liked him and she was glad when he finally left. He was a sneaky one and he always getting her little brother Tomas in trouble.

"Oh that's ok. I didn't come to see Tomas." Rodrigo replied smiling.

"Then why did you come?" Mercedes asked warily.

"Do I really need a reason?"

"Ci, you do"

"Well, I guess then I came to see my house."

"What are you talking about? Your house?"

"This house. It's mine now."

"You're loco."

"Oh really? Look at this."

He held up a slip of paper and showed it to her. She reached out to take it but he pulled it back, not letting her hold onto it but holding it in a way so that she could read it.

It was a title transfer for her house, signed by her brother Tomas.

That fool. Mercedes thought. What has he done?!

They lived together in the small wooden house. It was not fancy but it was theirs. They had inherited it from their abuelo, their grandfather. When he died five years ago he left them as teenagers alone to fend for themselves, but with this house they had managed to make it.

The house had a tin roof and wooden floors, one bedroom, a bathroom with running water, a living room and a kitchen. She slept in the bedroom and Tomas slept on the couch in the living room. The house was the one thing that kept them out of poverty. No matter how bad things got, even if there wasn't money for bread, they always knew that they would have a place to sleep. What could have possessed him that he would sell their home?

"There must be a mistake", she objected. "Tomas would never sell our house. Certainly not without talking with me first."

"Oh I assure you there is no mistake. But you are right, he did not sell it. He lost it last night betting on three queens." He smiled at her, enjoying her discomfort. "But I had a full house. And now I have this house."

Yes, that was possible. Tomas was a fool at gambling, especially if he was drinking, which she admitted to herself, he always was.

"Can I see that again?"

She was not an expert in legal documents but it looked like it was legally binding.

"But Tomas cannot sell this house, he does not own the whole house." She replied grasping at hope. "He only owns half of it. I own the other half."

"Well then," Rodrigo smiled his mischievous smile again, "I guess we could share it."

As he said that he walked determinedly through the door. Rodrigo was not especially big, but he was quick. Mercedes tried to push the door shut, but she reacted too slowly and before she realized it, he was inside her simple kitchen, walking around and looking at her home.

It was not the first time that he had been there. When they had been children he had often come over to play with Tomas and the house hadn't changed since then. But this was different. This time it was not a game.

Rodrigo had always teased her and played tricks on her. Once Rodrigo and Tomas tricked her into believing that Carlos, the good looking neighbor, had a crush on her. They left flowers at the door with love notes attached and told stories how they had seen him watching her at a distance. She had fallen in love with him and waited for him to call her but he never did. Only later did she find out that it had been Rodrigo who had been behind it the whole time.

Rodrigo had always been trying something. She had shared a room with Tomas and Rodrigo and Tomas would often be in there. Several times Rodrigo had tried to steal one of her bras. Tomas hadn't let him though. At least once Tomas had a black eye after taking it back. Mercedes had made sure to cook his favorite food that night.

Rodrigo had also tried to spy on her while she was taking a bath. There was a small window in the bathroom and he had rigged it so that it wouldn't latch shut, then when the window got steamy from the bath he had quietly pulled it open. Abuelo wasn't pleased. Rodrigo had timed it wrong and instead of catching Mercedes he got a full view of the 70 year old man.

He also once "forgot" his mobile phone in their room, with the video recorder on. But Mercedes had noticed the glow of the screen right away.

Those days though he had been smaller than her. She was two years older than Tomas and Rodrigo and that had made all the difference. Whenever she caught him trying something, she had always given him a sound beating.

She wasn't going to be beating him today though. He had grown up. He was a man. And it wasn't just his height of 1 meter 80, or the three days growth of black beard that made the difference. He was confident and carried himself with authority. His suit also gave him an air of importance. People didn't wear suits in this part of town. Rodrigo was no longer the mischievous boy she had known. He wasn't sneaking around anymore. He was direct, strong. Somehow she hadn't noticed this until now. She liked this change. It actually made him handsome.

She didn't like the way he looked around her home though. He opened up their cabinets and fridge without asking, acting liked he owned the place. -He did own the place. She thought to herself. At least that is, half of it.

He walked into the small hallway and into the bedroom. Her room.

"Hey, don't go in there." Mercedes called out without effect.

Rodrigo stood in her room next to her bed. He looked at her books, taking one down and flipping through the pages before putting it back on the shelf.

"Yes, I like this room." Rodrigo called over his shoulder. "This is a nice house." He leaned over her bed and pushed down on the mattress with both hands. The bed springs squeaked loudly as he pushed up and down. "Nice bed too. I bet you and the boys really get those springs squeaking. When I move in we'll get it squeaking like a couple of guinea pigs."

"No, we won't! Don't you talk like that! I don't have boys come over here. When that bed squeaks, I do it all on my own!"

"Oh, you like to make it squeak on your own do you?" He smiled at her and gave the bed a few more pushes bringing the springs to a rhythm to make his meaning clear.

"Wait just a minute." Mercedes was angry. "Get out of my room. Get out of my house! How dare you come in here and talk to me like that. I'm an unmarried woman. How do you think it looks if you come in here alone without anyone around?! Who do you think you are, coming over here unannounced waving some paper around, claiming you own my abuelo's house, claiming you own my bed."

Rodrigo wasn't fazed. He just smiled at Mercedes. Her dark eyes flashed with fury. She was beautiful when she was angry, which was most of the time. It reminded him of when they were younger. She was always yelling at him back then. She was just a little thing, just a little more than a 150 cm, she hadn't seemed to have grown since they were teenagers, but when she was angry, she was dangerous. She had more energy than a herd of cattle.

"Calm down Meche, using the nickname that her brother called her. Calm down. No one said that they owned your bed. You can have your bed. You can have your house too, if you will pay me what Tomas owes me. I am a reasonable man. I do not want to throw you out on the street."

That gave Mercedes pause. There was a way out of this mess? Maybe it wouldn't be too bad. How much could Tomas have lost in that poker game anyway?

"How much?"

"Excuse me?"

"How much does Tomas owe you?"

"Oh, 160,000 pesos."

"What! That's almost ten thousand dollars! Where am I supposed to get that kind of money?"

"That's your business." Rodrigo replied. "You don't have any savings?"

No one in the little town had savings. And if they did. They certainly didn't talk about it. But then again Mercedes was not an ordinary girl. She had dreams. She had plans. Each summer she went to the coast and worked as a waitress at a tourist bar and she had saved her money. She didn't want to stay here forever. She wanted to go the US, to have a future. But it wasn't so easy to move north. You needed money.

Mercedes looked at Rodrigo suspiciously. She did not want to admit that she had money. Everyone in town was broke. As soon as anyone heard that you had money they would all be over asking for loans.

"I might have some money."

"I thought you would." He smiled. "Give it to me and you can keep you old broken down house."

She walked over to her desk, opened up an old pencil box and out from underneath the markers and pencils she pulled out a white envelope. Her waitressing money. Silently she counted out the money on the desk. She had seven thousand dollars. It had taken her three summers to save that much. Three summers of working late and putting up with gringo tourists.

It hurt to see it all out on the table. Her dreams for a new life gone, all because of her brother's recklessness.

"There, seven thousand dollars. Now get out."

Rodrigo, had watched her count out the money. He took it now in a wad without counting it again and shoved it into his jeans pocket.

"Well that's a good start. You can get me the rest at the end of the month."

"The rest? That's all I have believe me."

"Yeah, well you brother owes me another two thousand five hundred. If you don't have it by the end of the month I'm going to have to take this title down to the municipal courthouse and register it officially."

"Please, don't do that. There's no way I could earn that much money in a month. You have to give us more time."

"Well maybe, since we are old friends, I could give you a chance to reduce the amount he owes."

"Sure, I'm a good waitress. I could work at your club every night this month."

"Meche, even if you were there every night for three months, you'd never earn enough bringing people their drinks. No, I had something else in mind."

"Sure, whatever. I don't mind."

"You know I've always liked you." He paused, and he may have even blushed. For a moment the confident man seemed to disappear and the old Rodrigo appeared.

"I tell you what, if you'll finally let me see you. All of you, without your clothes on, it would go a long way to me forgetting all about your brother's debt."

"What!" Mercedes anger exploded again. "You really are crazy, aren't you?! You come in here and you want me to show you my tits?!" She pushed her breasts up with both her hands and took a step toward him angrily.

"Look, it was just an offer. Take it or leave it." Now Rodrigo was angry. "But you better start thinking about your options. If you want to raise two and a half thousand dollars by the end of the month, you're going to have to get that bed squeaking with just about everybody in town. And don't think that Tomas is going to be able to earn the money. He couldn't even find work doing that."

Of course, Rodrigo was right and Mercedes knew it. There weren't any jobs in their town where she could earn so much and right now there were no tourists in the resort cities either. There really weren't many options. If he was still so hung up on his juvenile crush that he was willing to forgive the debt just to see her naked, she should jump at the chance.

Still, just thinking about it made her feel sinful and dirty. Her abuela hadn't known how to raise two young children so he had brought them to St. Elisabeth's convent. Every afternoon they had spent with the nuns. The sisters had taught her to be constantly vigilant that her body remains pure. Never let a man touch you. Never let a man see you. Never be alone with a man. When she had graduated high school they had wanted her to join the convent. She hadn't done that, she wanted to get married some day, but at 23 she had never been with a man and she had never let a man look at her unclothed body.

Reluctantly though, Mercedes realized that she did not have much of a choice. She hoped that Sister Regina would understand and that she could be forgiven for what she was about to do.

"Ok, I'll let you look." Mercedes said carefully. "But no touching!" She glared at him, staring right into his eyes.

He nodded. "Sure, no touching fine. That's ok with me."

She walked over to the window and pulled the curtains shut. Then taking a deep breath she slowly started to unbutton her shirt her back towards him. She had reached the third button when he told her to stop.

"Turn around. I want to watch." Rodrigo told her.

Mercedes did as she was told and undid the last two buttons. Her fingers wouldn't cooperate though and it took her twice as long as normal to undo them. Finally she pulled off the shirt she tossed it on the bed.

Her bra was plain and white. It was not made to be seen but rather to be comfortable and offer support. But it contrasted nicely with her mocha colored skin. Her long black hair fell over her shoulders in a wave almost down to the bottom of her bra.

Looking down and avoiding eye contact she unbuttoned her jeans and lowered the zipper. Briefly she looked up. He was staring at her watching her every move. Breathing in, she pushed her jeans down her hips revealing her white cotton panties underneath. The jeans fell at her feet in a pile and she stepped out of them.

How many times had she done this? It was a normal movement but with Rodrigo in the room with her, not even two meters away, she was terribly conscience of her body, her exposed thighs, calves, her belly, her shoulders. Of course she didn't wear any more than this when she went to the beach, but this was different- the two of them, alone, in her bedroom. A bra and panties may look like a swimsuit but they weren't the same. She felt the weight of his staring on her, the lust evident in his eyes.

Mercedes stopped for a moment, her heart beating.

Rodrigo pointed a think finger at her breasts and wiggled it around. "Now take off that."

Mercedes had always been modest. As a waitress the other girls had unbuttoned several buttons on their blouses to get more tips from the tourists but she had always made sure that no cleavage showed. When she would bend over to bring their order, she would use one hand to hold her shirt in place. Perhaps her breasts were not that different from anyone else's, still she felt they were hers to keep private. But now all her modesty was being taken away.

Mercedes swallowed hard and unfastening her bra, she pulled it off and dropped it on the bed. Her breasts were now exposed for the first time to a man. And it was Rodrigo. After all these years, after all those attempts, he was finally getting his chance to see her.

Her breasts hung freely. Even without her bra, they were firm and did not sag. They were pale from being hidden even from the sun itself. Her dark nipples were soft but as she stood there Mercedes felt them tighten and harden. It embarrassed her that her body would react like that. She didn't want him to get the idea that she was enjoying herself. She willed them to soften but defiantly they continued to grow into two prominent points.

Every breath now was just pushing her breasts out towards her viewer. She wanted to stop herself, to run away, but she had to stay. She had to stand there and let herself be seen.

Rodrigo just stared.

Mercedes couldn't help but wonder if he liked what he saw. She knew that she was an attractive woman but like any woman she was self-conscience about her body. She didn't feel especially sexy today. If she had known that a man would be looking at her naked, she wouldn't have eaten so much last night. She hated the way her flesh gathered in a fold above her panties.

But there wasn't much doubt that he enjoyed what he saw. He just stared at her flesh, her breasts, her legs, her white panties.

She stood there not knowing where to look. For a moment their eyes met but she quickly looked away. That was too intimate. But when she looked down, her eyes rested on his jeans and she could see that she was making him grow. Thinking of that made her uncomfortable too.

After a moment he spoke, "Aren't you forgetting something?"

Mercedes looked down at her panties and blushed. Could she really remove the last piece of clothing keeping her from being completely naked? It was one thing for him to see her breasts. It was maybe a bit embarrassing but letting him see her without any panties was so much worse. It would be humiliating. She had always been taught that her private area was only for her husband. No one else should ever see it. Even for her doctor's visits she had always taken the bus to the city so that she could have a female doctor. Was she really going to let Rodrigo of all people see her womanhood? She shifted weight from one foot to the other.

But she thought about their home. This is where she had grown up. It was a modest home, but she knew every floor board, every crack. Her grandfather had worked hard that they would always have a place to stay. What did it really cost her for him to look? When she was homeless, would it be worth it to know that she hadn't shown him all of herself?

It took a moment to work up her courage but she hooked her thumbs in the hem of her panties and quickly pulled them down before she could change her mind.

She was now standing naked in front of him. She was completely uncovered. Her pulse quickened as did her breath. His eyes stared at the folds that were partially hidden under a mat of dark curls, the expression on his face made her nervous. It was clear that he enjoyed what he was seeing. She could now clearly see his erection through the pants of his suit.

He was still in his suit jacket, tie and all. He hadn't even loosened the tie. He looked like he was ready to go to the bank but there was nothing covering her. Was there anything more vulnerable, than being naked with someone who wasn't?

She was glad that she wasn't shaved down there. At least it gave her some covering. But it wasn't enough. She knew what he could see. She had looked at herself naked in the mirror. She knew that he would clearly be able to see the long lips of her pussy protruding through her dark hair. She longed to put her clothes back on to get away from his probing gaze.

After what seemed like an eternity she finally built up the nerve to speak. "Can I put my clothes back on now please?"

"Sure, of course." Rodrigo answered. "You're free to do what you like. No one is forcing you to do anything. You took your clothes off yourself didn't you?"

Mercedes was relieved. That wasn't at all the answer that she had been expecting. That hadn't been too hard actually. In a strange way, it had actually been exciting. She'd never experienced the feeling before. She had wanted to cover up, to get away, but at the same time it was exhilarating to be seen like this by a man. If it had been other circumstances she might have even enjoyed it, but she was glad that it was now over. She grabbed her panties and quickly stepped into them and pulled them back on.

"Of course, if you want the whole debt wiped out you'll have to do more than just drop your panties."

"What?!" Mercedes fumed with anger. "But you said..."

"I said if you would let me see you naked it would go a long way to reducing your debt." Rodrigo interrupted. "And it has. Normally a stripper gets paid $200 a night or so, for dancing and getting naked in front of a whole group, but because you're an old friend, I'll count that as $500 towards your debt."