“Finally got your first trick,” I said to Tommy. “Hope you can cover your ass.”
“Game’s still early,” he said.
“Half the books are out now,” Brooke said. “Don’t know if I’d call that early.”
Tommy laughed. “Don’t you worry about me, princess.”
“Yeah, Brooke.” I sipped my rum. “Don’t worry.”
She squinted slightly, then smiled.
As Eric collected the book, not looking the least bit concerned, Tommy laid out the king of clubs. Brooke put down a six, Eric tossed a four, and I laid out my five. Again, Eric collected the book, and Tommy put down a queen.
Brooke laid her nine of clubs, Eric placed the ten of clubs down, and I threw my eight. Her eyes held mine in anOh, shit, they’re only one trick from getting their four,kind of way.
They were. But as Eric grabbed the cards, Tommy laid down the queen of diamonds. Which sounded like a fine idea. The king and queen were out, and he didn’t think anyone was trumping them yet because he hadn’t seen Brooke throw off when I’d led.
Brooke laid down her ace of spades.
Tommy laughed. “Shoulda held onto that, princess.”
“I think she knows what she’s doing,” I said, assuming she realized I had the remaining high cards.
Eric plopped down a five, and I tossed off my two.
That took us to nine rounds of the table, and all I had left were the king, queen, jack, and ten of spades.
I laid the remainder of my cards on the table.
Brooke smirked as Tommy’s mouth dropped open.
I gave her a smile back, lifting my rum to my lips and taking a long gulp.
CHAPTERTHREE
BROOKE
The second hand wasn’t as great as the first. Yet again, I had one spade, and this time it hadn’t been the ace, but a ten. If I hadn’t been the one to deal it, I would’ve been sure someone set the deck.
Nonetheless, I had the ace of clubs this time, and that was my only trick. Declan’s hand was shit too, so we only bet the minimum of four. By a hair, the hand ended with us collecting them.
That set the score to 131 and 56 in our favor.
The third round, Declan and I both had decent hands. I got my four, and Declan got his three. We bet seven, so that brought us to 201 and 107, still in our favor.
Below the table, my fingers were crossed, praying as Declan dealt the last hand. I hadn’t come here to play games—although, I’d admit, it was a nice change of pace for me.
As much as I loved my romance novels, cards got my heart racing in a whole other way. This game had been one of the few bonding experiences I had with my dad growing up. Despite how much I hated the guy, this brought back fond memories.
The few times I could remember Dad being proud of us were when we’d kick his ass in a game. He’d turn to his friend on the other side of the table and say, “See my girls? They’ll be stiffing assholes like us with their pretty smiles when they’re old enough to get into a bar.”
So bizarre how a sentence like that was the best memory I had with my dad.
Shaking that thought off, I kept my gaze on Declan as he tossed the cards across the table.
I liked the way he played. He was on his third drink since we sat down, while Tommy and Eric were on their seconds, and he was as thoughtful with each play as he’d been since the first hand.
Although, he was a Werewolf, so those three drinks weren’t even equivalent to one for the rest of us.