Page 18 of Still The One

I laugh. ‘Princess?’

She nods.

‘He’s in,’ Matty says, tossing in a chip. ‘As am I. Read ’em and weep boys – and girl.’ He lays out a straight.

Jeff lays his hand of cards across the table. ‘Fucker. I’ve got three queens.’

‘Loser,’ Matty says with glee.

All eyes are now on Eve and me.

‘Who will it be?’ Jeff asks. ‘Is Foster finally going to win a hand or what?’ He and the guys laugh as they pick on me.

‘Do you really lose every time?’ Eve asks.

‘Not every time.’

‘Once,’ Matty snaps out the truth, ‘he won fifty bucks; one time in years.’

Eve grimaces. ‘That is bad.’

‘Motorcycles are my game, not cards.’

‘This is going to be fun,’ she says.

‘You think you can beat me, don’t you?’ I ask.

She shrugs.

‘Fine, I’ll go first.’ I lay my cards on the table proudly. ‘Full house. Beat that, Jellybean.’

She lays her cards on the table with a playful roll of her eyes. ‘Good thing you’re good at something because you’re right, poker ain’t it, Pumpkin – royal flush, boys.’

Matty stands from the table, nearly knocking all of our beers over, pissed off and running a hand through his hair. ‘Are you fucking kidding me?’

Jeff’s jaw drops. ‘Oh, yeah, “I’ve never played before”,’ he mimics her earlier words in a high voice. ‘You little liar!’ he laughs, staring at the hand that beats us all.

I glance at her, confused, raising an eyebrow.

‘Truthfully,’ she admits, ‘poker was my family’s holiday game. I’ve been playing since I was about five. My dad’s dream was to go pro, but Mom didn’t love the idea of him being in Vegas that often because alcohol always trumped gambling, and mix those two addictions and you can imagine the fallout. However, I do know a rule that you guys forgot.’

‘What’s that?’ Matty asks, still mad.

‘The first rule of a good poker player is to be good at bluffing.’ She doesn’t hesitate to pull the pile of chips her way, obviously eager for the next round. ‘You dummies believed every word I said.’

‘My God, I underestimated you…’ I laugh.

‘She’s scary,’ Matty says, re-dealing the cards.

‘Three hundred dollars,’ Charlie moans an hour later. ‘Fiona is going tokillme.’

‘Well,’ Matty says, pulling on his coat. ‘That was the fastest I’ve ever lost five hundred bucks.’

‘Like you guys wouldn’t be dancing around the damn room if you’d just walked away with thirteen hundred dollars,’ I say, defending the queen of poker.

Eve laughs as she rolls a wad of cash up and stashes it in her purse. ‘You guys act like I robbed you blind. I didn’t plan it.’

Jeff glares her way. ‘I hope you call your dad tonight and tell himyou’rethe one who should go pro. Girl don’t even need dark glasses to lie. You better watch out,’ he warns me, poking his finger into my chest. ‘She’s dangerous.’

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