“The fucking odds of her having two fucking Queens when I was holding a fucking Queen and a Queen on the fucking—fuck!” Ryker grabbed his beer and finished it. “Fuck!”
“This is what we like to call a temper tantrum.” I kept laughing and shook my head.
“It’s not a tantrum.” Ryker growled. “I need another beer.”
“Sorry.” Aurora stifled a smile and gathered her chips.
It seemed that Ryker’s bad luck was just beginning, or perhaps he was just mad that the odds didn’t add up. He made a few bad plays and after a half dozen hands, he was down to his Punishment Chip and decided to bow out of the game. That left me staring across the table at Aurora, with the prize I needed in the middle of her pile of chips. I just needed to lure her into a trap, which didn’t look like it was going to be very easy with how quickly she picked up the game. I played a few smart hands and hacked away at her winnings, but we were still pretty even with Ryker’s chips divided between us. She surprised me with a few good plays and tilted it back in her favor. It was harder to read some of her plays because she was an amateur. I had been playing with professionals so long that I anticipated professional plays, so careless ones drew me into a couple of traps.
“She’s going to kick your ass, too.” Ryker walked back over and took a seat.
“Did you beat up a pillow and get all your rage out?” I looked at him and chuckled.
“I’m fine. You know I don’t like losing.” Ryker glared at the table. “But well played, Aurora. I’ll admit defeat—with grace.”
“If that’s your idea of grace…” Aurora chuckled and winked at him. “Don’t worry, a few of these chips are going to be fun for you.”
“Yeah, if you don’t lose them to Cole.” Ryker muttered and shook his head. “He’ll burn my good ones.”
“You got that right. No blowjobs for you.” I smiled and tossed a couple of chips into the pile as we continued to gamble.
After playing for a while, I finally picked up on a few of Aurora’s hidden ticks—things she didn’t even realize she was doing. The way she cut her eyes at Ryker when she was contemplating a play she wasn’t sure about—and the way she got rigid when she was trying to control the ticks Ryker had previously pointed out. I used them to my advantage several times and started slowly tilting the chip balance in my favor. If I was playing with the Vegas Scourge MC, that would have been the point where I threw a few hands so I could walk away, but I was playing to win. Ryker finally got over his disdain for his luck and started acting as our dealer. Aurora’s chips were low, and I just needed her to get a hand that she would gamble on—one that would make her gamble everything.
Pocket Jacks. Okay. This might work.
“It’s your bet.” I looked up at Aurora after checking my cards.
“Yeah.” She nodded and smiled. “I don’t have many chips left, though. I guess I’ll stay.”
“I’ll bet a couple.” I pushed two pieces of paper to the middle of the table.
“Dang, I don’t know if I should call.” She sighed and checked her cards for a moment. “Okay, I guess I will call it.”
This may not be the one to lure her in on—unless she’s being coy.
“Here’s the flop.” Ryker laid out three cards.
Perfect, nothing that can beat two Jacks unless she’s got it in the pocket.
“I’ll stay again.” Aurora shrugged and leaned back in her chair.
“I’ll bet five.” I quickly pushed five chips to the middle of th
e table.
She looks perplexed and she’s not folding. Why isn’t she folding?
“I’ll—I’ll call.” Aurora matched my bet, which only left her with a couple of chips on her side of the table.
This may be it—she may think she has a winning hand. Fuck, what if she has three of a kind?
“All right, here comes the next card.” Ryker flipped over a Two of Hearts and I was pretty sure it wouldn’t help either of us.
“Well, are you going to stay again? If I bet at this point, I’ll clean you out—unless you want to put up the Punishment Chip.”
“Either I win or the game is over and I don’t get any of the awesome things on those chips.” Aurora leaned back and sighed. “I was really looking forward to some of them.”
“Cole has plenty of dirty things on his side of the table to keep you busy for the rest of your vacation. No reason to risk the Punishment Chip.” Ryker shook his head and looked at Aurora.