Page 108 of Gambler's Conceit

“I moved into my new place today,” I tell Seven, leading him toward the elevator. “The landlady said I could paint the walls, I just have to paint them white again when I move out.”

“Are you going to go with that pretty blue we looked at?” he asks, taking my hand. “I liked that one. And you can get some dark blue blankets for your bed. I think that would look nice.”

“Sure,” I say, because I don’t really care what color my walls or sheets are.

I spot Vortex when we walk past the gift shop. He sees us, too, and jogs over to us. “Where are you two going?”

“Seven wants to learn to play poker. It’s loud here, though, so I figured we’d go up to Caleb’s rooms…”

Vortex grins widely, though. “Oh, poker? Well, I’m fairly decent at the game. And if we’re doing poker, we should do it at a proper table.”

Seven squirms uncomfortably. “Just upstairs is fine, Vortex.”

Vortex shakes his head and pulls out his phone. “Nah. We’ll give you a proper poker experience—Hey, boss? Is your private gaming room occupied right now? Seven wants to learn poker.”

This is all turning into more of a production than I expected, but I like the distraction. After confirmation from Caleb, Vortex waves us over to one of the side hallways.

“Isn’t this where they host the poker tournaments?” I ask, looking around with curiosity.

“Yep,” Vortex says. He glances at Seven, seeming to finally realize that he’s not fully on board with this. “Hey,” he tells Seven, “it’s okay. It’ll just be the four of us and a proper dealer.”

Seven perks up at that. “Caleb’s coming too?”

Vortex nods. “He’s clearing his schedule just for you.” He lets us into a private room that’s every bit as swanky and lavish as Caleb’s penthouse suite is. It’s on the small side, considering, and I wonder just how many other illicit deals go down in rooms like this when they’re supposedly playing the VIP games.

Seven and I sit down at the table while Vortex fills glasses of water for us from the wet bar. Caleb arrives soon after, with one of the dealers in tow. Madeline, I think her name was.

Seven tenses when he sees her, and his smile turns brittle.

“Hey, boss,” I greet. I set my old deck of cards on the table. “I know you’ve probably got a sealed deck, but while we teach Seven, can we use mine?”

Caleb shrugs. “Sure. Vortex, can you check to make sure they aren’t marked?”

“As long as Havoc isn’t going to bite my hand off for grabbing them,” Vortex says dryly. He quirks a brow at me, and when I nod, he picks them up.

“What are you looking for?” Seven asks, edging closer to me. He’s practically in my lap, and I’m tempted to just grab him and put him there.

“Just little marks that might tell someone what cards they are. Not that I think Havoc is trying to cheat in a closed game like this,” Vortex says as he examines them, “and not because this is a high-stakes game, but because Caleb is a paranoid bastard.”

Seven smiles a little, but it’s nothing compared to the look he’d given me when I’d shown up at the casino. “Are you supposed to call your boss a paranoid bastard?” He’s very carefully looking everywhere but at Madeline.

“It’s standard practice to use fresh decks to ensure that nobody is cheating,” Caleb explains. “But I am not tossing out decks when I don’t have to. There’s enough waste as it is.”

I burst out laughing. “So, what I’m hearing is that the house cheats.”

“Is that why I can’t win a single game of blackjack?” Seven complains.

“It’s not cheating,” Vortex says. “This is a private game, not an official one.”

“And you lose as much as you do because you don’t quit while you’re ahead,” Madeline says with cheer. “But you won at least two games that I saw recently.”

Seven’s smile falters again, but he nods to Madeline. “Maybe I’ll have better luck with poker.”

“You won’t,” Vortex says, handing the cards over to Madeline, who starts to shuffle the deck with a deft hand. “Your poker face is terrible.”

Is it, though? I think of how many times Seven has flat-out lied to us, or misled us, or just left out parts of the truth. Hemay not be a master manipulator, but he knows how to keep his secrets.

Seven scoffs. “That’s what you think.”

---