Page 126 of Underground Prince

“No game this time?” I asked.

“Just you and me, sister.” He offered me an icy glass of beer, which I accepted. “You haven’t played Head’s Up in a while. This way I can see how you’ve improved and most importantly, smack your hand and curse at you each time you fumble.”

“You’d do it, too,” I said, following him to the small round table.

We sat across from each other, Kai doling out the cards and pointing at particularly intriguing flops. He had me show my cards each time, though he made sure we were still playing for money.

“You expect M&M’s at my place? Skittles? You want to play like a boss, act like one,” he said when I commented that it appeared I was losing significant amounts of chips to him. Again.

“And you realize my money’s nonexistent, right? These chips are literally my cash.”

He preened over his cards. “Until tomorrow night.”

I took stock of the flop, eyed my hand, then raised. “Why do you have such a satisfied smile right now?”

“You’re playing a big game. I’ve set you up, because I think you’re ready. Buy-in’s five thousand.”

The pile of chips in front of me scattered. “Are you out of—”

“Scar, you’re above and beyond my expectations.” He called me, burned a card, then flipped another onto the table as if he hadn’t just proposed life savings as a beginner’s bet. “Papa wants to see you fly.”

I fell back into my seat. “As much as I’d love to throw away five grand that I do not possess, I can’t.”

He slowly placed his hand on the table. “‘Scuse?”

“I’m with—” I recovered myself. “I have plans.”

“Plans?” he repeated, but as though offended by the word. When I didn’t respond, he said, “While I adore you for focusing so hard on the game in front of you, I’m not gullible enough to believe you’re thinking about it behind those suffering, plaintive eyes.”

I frowned.

“You’re making too many god-awful mistakes for one and I know on good authority I’m a badass teacher, so it’s not my doings that have you so utterly flailing. So. Enlighten your mentor. I have a good sense it has to do with a certain other brooding man with suffering, plaintive eyesight as well.”

I blew out a breath, crossing my arms.

“Wait.” Kai popped out of his seat and I heard the clang of bottles coming from the kitchen before he came back with two tumblers full of whiskey. “Hard business calls for some serious liquid.”

I sipped at the whiskey, enjoying the unfurling burn at my throat. “He’s in trouble,” I admitted into my glass.

“Scarlet, he is trouble.”

“No, I mean—he seems like it. Acts like it, produces fear in his audience like it’s a superpower of his, but he’s stuck. I sense it and I’m going to do whatever it takes to get him out.”

Kai’s drink hit the table with a soft, careful thud. “Are you in love with him?” he asked.

I chewed on the inside of my cheek and stared out his side window.

Kai sighed. “Understood.”

Shaking myself out of it, I said, “It’s not about how I feel, it’s about what he has to resort to. If I don’t do something now, he’ll fall too fast and hard for me to ever catch him again. This is the moment. There’s a small window of opportunity and I’m leaping through.”

“What is it you think you can do? This isn’t small potatoes.”

“I know that.”

“You’re dealing with a very adept, incredibly entrenched family whose successes depend on getting those who rebel to submit. And you are coming superbly close to scaring the shit out of me.”

“They can’t control him this way. If he doesn’t want to fill his father’s shoes, why make him?”

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