Page 32 of For the Promise

Jaxon

Idrag my feet as I make my way from my car to Eli’s mansion. Today is the monthly Raider poker night, and I’m required to attend.

I’ve tried everything I can think of to get out of attending. I’ve feigned being sick. Miles hauled me out of bed, Zane handed me a bucket to ‘barf’ in, and Kai dragged me to the poker table. I’ve claimed to be too busy with work. But Eli shut off all the power to the distillery – including my back-up generator I didn’t think he knew about.

I was certain when I ‘lost’ my good luck charm, I’d finally figured out a way to skip poker night. Since we’re required to bring a good luck charm to each poker night. I didn’t expect Rhett to comb through my house until he found the Green King – my Chia Pet that resembles Elvis.

The door flies open, and Miles, Kai, and Zane pour outside.

“I win! Pay up, suckers!” Miles shouts.

Kai glares at me. “You let me down.”

“You’re always trying to get out of poker night, but now you come?” Zane complains before slapping a ten-dollar bill in Miles’s hand.

I ignore them and enter the house. They follow me and we gather in Eli’s living room with Rhett and Eli, who are standing near the bar.

“Didn’t think you could make it,” Rhett says.

I hug my Chia Pet close to my chest. “I didn’t want to give you an excuse to kidnap the Green King again.”

“It doesn’t resemble Elvis in the least,” Miles grumbles.

I glare at him. “I won the science fair.”

Zane snorts. “Because you had a fifty-page PowerPoint presentation on how to grow plants. The judges gave you the prize to shut you up.”

“It was fifty-five pages,” I correct.

“Dude.” Miles chuckles. “You’re not making this any better.”

“Says the man holding what he claims is a rabbit’s foot but is not the size of a rabbit.”

Miles pets the furry foot. “Don’t make fun of Hopper. He’s sensitive.”

“He’s a freak, is what he is,” Rhett mumbles.

Kai points at him. “You’re holding a bowling shoe. You’re not one to talk.”

Eli rolls his eyes. “As if you’re one to talk with your pickle in a jar.”

“Do not make fun of Mr. Crisp. He can out poker all of you.”

Zane sighs. “Me and Nugget don’t need this negativity.”

“Nugget?” Miles snorts. “It’s a taxidermized squirrel in a cowboy hat.”

“Can’t we get rid of this requirement to bring a good luck charm?” I ask.

Zane narrows his eyes on me. “We’ll get rid of the good luck charms when you stop insisting on the ‘Jaxon’ rule of poker.”

I clear my throat and push my glasses up my nose. “The bluff shot rule is everyone’s favorite.”

The bluff shot rule works as follows. If someone catches you bluffing and calls it out, they get to invent a one-time rule for the next hand. The one-time rule can be anything. Each of my brothers has a favorite outrageous rule.

Miles invented the Mermaid’s Mercy Rule. If a player draws three hearts in a row, he has to sing a sea shanty before the next round begins. If he doesn’t, he folds.

Eli came up with the Smuggler’s Bluff. Each player has to call out a card in their hand. If they get caught lying, they have to reveal a secret.

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