Page 89 of Underground Prince

I glanced at Kai for verification and met a steady gaze, communicating to me that I should know this. Thinking back, calming down, I remembered that this meant a dealer was being chosen. Unlike the more official stakes at Theo’s games, in a relaxed setting everyone took turns becoming the one to flip the cards. Connor took the deck from Kai and threw one, faceup, in front of each of us. The jack of spades landed in front of me, and no one else was dealt a higher card.

I was on the button.

The only way to show them I could belong was to play like them. I accepted the cards from Connor and said, “Guess it’s time to shuffle up and deal.”

Kai’s subtle nod showed me I’d said the right thing.

Phil, who had yet to say anything to me, was on my left. As the small blind, he threw in ten dollars worth of chips. Russ was beside him and responsible for the big blind. I heard him mutter, “Female at this game. Ridiculous.”

I pretended Russ was a donkey and said, “Hey big boy, you’re the big blind. How ‘bout you put in the money.”

Three of the guys eyed only the corners of their cards by tilting them up. Connor held his with his elbows on the table, and Kai placed them against his chin as he thought. Me, well, I pulled my hands under, clenching and releasing them to try and relax, before sliding my cards close and sneaking a peek.

I waited for Kai to make his bet, taking the big blind and doubling it by betting forty. Sam folded. My turn came and I was tempted to bet because I was pretty sure I had the best hand, pocket queens. I was dealt two of them as my hole cards. But the last time this happened, I overbet the pot and lost monumentally in front of some very big, very smug men in Chinatown. This time I wanted the guys to walk right into my hands, so I called, matching Kai’s bet of forty. Phil could either fold, call or raise. He stayed in the hand by calling, too. Keeping on trend, Russ also called Kai’s bet.

“Let’s see some cards, sweetheart,” Russ said, prompting me.

Very little fidgeting occurred after I revealed the flop. I burned a card by setting the first card aside facedown and flipped over three cards faceup. Ace of hearts, queen of diamonds, five of spades. I’d just caught another queen.

My pulse thumped, anticipation jump-starting the butterfly stutters, as the table went around again. Phil checked and Russ bet forty. Kai doubled Russ by raising his bet to eighty. Sam was out, so he was only spectating at this point.

Back to me, and going with instinct, I called Kai’s bet again. Russ sniffed, attempting to include Phil in his derision, but Phil was focused on the cards. I wondered if Phil even realized people were around. After a ponderous moment, Phil folded.

In order to stay in the game, Russ was forced to meet the eighty-dollar bet. With more jolt than flair, he tossed the required chips in the pot.

“Burn and turn,” Russ said, prodding me to make a move.

I burned the top card and flipped over a fourth card, beside the flop. Ten of spades. Russ was a bulldog, refusing to leave, unfortunately, and bet seventy-five in chips. Kai raised to one hundred fifty, which sent my pulse fluttering for entirely different reasons. But still, triple queens were good—so good that only two other hands could beat me on the turn. Triple aces or a straight. So, I called.

Again.

“You hoping to catch something on the river, sweetheart? On a draw? Get outta here, this hand’s no good for you,” Russ said.

“How about you put your money where your mouth is and let the cards do the talking,” I said to him. He sneered, throwing in enough chips to meet Kai’s one fifty before raising a finger at me to just deal the last card already.

I burned a card before laying the last one faceup. The river. Eight of diamonds. Basically a blank for me, but I had it okay. One more round of betting and I’d know for sure, anyway.

Russ tried to buy the pot by betting big. With a few hundred already in the pot, he put in an additional two fifty. This pile of chips in the center was shooting out of my orbit, and I almost thought to fold. Especially when Kai called. At this point, I could call too—stick with my habit—or drop the hammer and come in with an even bigger bet. My three queens were top ladies, after all.

I’d been slow-playing it this entire time. I debated rolling big and finishing it off by putting three quarters of my stack in the pot. More money to owe Kai, more debt, but these were the stakes. If I wanted to play in Theo’s jungle gym, I had to be able to climb.

“I’ll raise,” I said, and painfully, excitedly, put in four hundred.

The last thing Russ expected was this baby girl who’d been calling all the way to come over top of him. He was forced to decide: did I have the goods? Even if I didn’t, he had four hundred and fifty dollars in this pot. If he didn’t call me with another one fifty, he’d be throwing almost half his stack away.

As expected, he put in the one fifty to see the hand through. After an appraising look at me, Kai also put in the amount to meet my raise.

My cards drifted from my fingers, landing on the table with a silent swish as I showed my hand first.

Phil, ever one with words, murmured at the sight, but it was unclear whether that was a good or a bad thing.

There was a fwup sound to my right. Russ, instead of revealing his hand, decided to throw it facedown in the muck pile with all the burn cards. It was his right, after a higher hand has been revealed, to then decide not to show his. He was beat. But it showed his character. A poor loser.

I won anyway. Two thousand and fifty dollars.

Kai laid his hand down, saying to me, “Aces with a big kicker, but your set beats it.”

He had the ace of clubs and king of spades, yet that only got him a pair of aces. I beat Kai.

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