Page 71 of Burning Ember

“Might as well be drinkin’ Kool-Aid,” he sneers with a shake of his head.

“Would you like to see my dinner make a reappearance all over this nice poker table?”

“Fuck no.”

“Then I suggest you don’t give me shit about my drink and I won’t give you shit about yours.”

I realize my mistake a moment too late as silence falls over the table. Or at least it does until Taz mouth twitches. “You know, I like girls with big mouths, little stray. They’re fuckin’ wild in bed. And I get to experiment with all the different ways it takes to shut them up.”

His smirk gives me hope I won’t dig myself in a deeper hole by playing around when I say, “Then consider me a mute from now on.”

With that, the boys break out laughing and the game progresses like before. More alcohol flows and we banter back and forth. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t half-focused on that tingle of awareness I feel all along my spine and the man responsible for putting it there.

When the pot gets up to four hundred dollars, I start to get nervous. My palms grow sweaty. Griz adds fifty to his bet and it’s enough to have me searching out real guidance from Dozer. Leaning over I whisper in his ear, “Are you sure this is okay?”

He gives me a slight nod, which doesn’t make me feel any better.

I hesitate as I take my fingers off my chips.Maybe I should fold. Let someone else win this hand. That’s too much money.

Mav makes a noise behind me. Turning, I find him watching me and frowning.

Unease swirls in my belly.Does he know what I’m doing? Is he going to out me in front of everyone? Will the guys want to beat me to a bloody pulp for taking their money?

I begin to feel ill. Really ill. Maybe it’s the alcohol.

Then I hear his stool squeak as if he’s getting up. Which causes my back to go ramrod straight. Dozer catches my movement and spares a glance at Mav who must be standing directly behind me.

“It’s okay,” Dozer whispers back into my ear.

No. No. It’s not okay.

Questions start to whisper across my brain. Little by little my paranoia grows. In no time, the crazy plan to steal their money in a nice innocent game of poker sounds like a bad idea. Some of these guys are ex-cons, and I’m sure Taz is mentally unstable. And I’ve finally managed to get Taz to lay off on tormenting me. Do I want to go back to the way things were before I found Boop?

No, I don’t. We have a truce. I’d like to keep it that way.

Not to mention Luce has been looking for any reason to throw me out. This could be it. I’m lying, cheating, and stealing.

I toss my cards to Rigor, the dealer.

I’ll lose. Lose it all back to them. Then no harm done, right?

When I get a crappy hand, I play it to its death. When I get good cards, I trade them in or fold. And when I can, I push a big chunk of change in to lose. I keep just enough to pay Dozer back for buying me into the game. He didn’t want me using any of my money to gamble with. At the time, it sounded sweet and generous, but not anymore. Because now I’m wondering, if I had lost it, how would he have expected repayment? Dollar for dollar or in favors?

Em, settle down.

A hand taps Griz on the shoulder. “Scoot over.” Griz moves to Goose’s vacated seat and Mav slips into the seat on my right. His leg brushes mine and he leaves it there. His thigh to my thigh.

I bite the inside of my cheek and try to focus on the pain instead of the heat coming off his body.

With a surprised look on his face, Griz asks Mav, “You want in?” I don’t see Mav’s response. But Griz replies, “Didn’t think so. Too ‘fraid we’ll take all your green?”

“Nah. I’ve already taken my fair share of bad bets ‘s all.” Mav steals a glance at me and warmth flushes up my neck.

Jade saunters up to the table. She eyes the guys. Her gaze flickers over Dozer and goes around the table. The green monster inside me only peaks its head up when her eyes land on Mav and stay on him just a second longer than the rest. I beat it down. He’s not mine. I have no reason to feel jealous. But relief soars through me when she sidles over to Griz instead. She plops down on the older ginger’s lap, and circles her arms around his neck.

Mav turns his head and looks at me. His eyes burn holes into my face.He knows! He knows! He’s going to call me out in front of everyone.

I shoot up and out of my chair. All eyes snap up to me. “Um, I need to use the restroom.” I push my remaining money over to Dozer. “Here, you take over for me.”