Page 14 of Poker
“Is me coming to the games a problem for you?”
“What? No.”
“Are you sure because tonight seemed to suggest otherwise.”
“Neero?” she asks, her lips pursing for a second. “He’s a dick, but I can handle him.” She waves her hand dismissively. “Besides, I suspended him for a month, and it’s his second strike. He knows he’s walking on thin ice.”
Relief washes through me, knowing she doesn’t want me to stop participating. Then it’s replaced by another, more sinister thought.
“Thin ice won’t stop a man like that.”
“I know what I’m doing, Poker,” she insists.
Deciding to back off, I nod and let it go. “So, are you hungry?” I ask.
“Starved, but I’m more exhausted than anything else.”
Unable to resist, I brush a wayward strand of hair behind her ear. She shivers at the contract. “Then you should go home and get some sleep.”
Meri swallows. “I… Yeah.”
“I’ll come by tomorrow to help you clean up.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I know I don’t.” I shrug. “But I’ll be here. Go get some sleep.”
The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do is walk away from her. Meri is intoxicating and if I didn’t, I was going to shove her against the wall, hike up her skirt, and fuck her like my life depends on it.
The ride to the clubhouse goes by in a blur. My mind races with what happened at the warehouse, with all the ways things could’ve played out differently. When I’m not dwelling on the what ifs, my brain conjures up images of all the things I want to do with Meri.
When I walk into the clubhouse, it’s quiet, but Crow is sitting at the bar sipping a drink. I make my way to him and slip onto a stool.
“How was the game?” he asks.
“Shitty.”
He turns to face me and arches a brow. As he takes in my expression, he grins. “She’s getting to you, isn’t she?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Brother, it’s obvious you like her. You spend more time at Ballinger’s than you do here, you haven’t fucked a Bangin’ Betty in I don’t know how long, and we’ve donated to so many charities since you started playing in her games that the good people of Marble Falls are going to start thinking we’re saints instead of sinners.”
“Shut up,” I snap, but then I heave a sigh. “Meri’s…”
“She’s what?”
I take a deep breath, fully intending to answer his question, but the one word—everything—on the tip of my tongue isn’t what comes out.
“Call church for the morning, would ya?”
CHAPTER8
MERI
How is it that this man can make me laugh when I’m madder than I ever remember being?
“Someone must’ve reallypissed you off.”
