Page 2 of Vampires of Eden
Ashwin’s hazel eyes bore into me as she leans with her elbows on the table, her fingers entwined beneath her chin. The only thing keeping her from looking like a proper mob boss is the powder-blue satin of her ridiculously ruffled suit. “You’re too soft,Alexander. You have all this influence and status in Eden but you waste it. If Oliver had been mine—like he should have been in the first place—there’s no way in hell I would have let him go. You’re a fool.”
I don’t move or respond. I say nothing, because in some ways, I agree with her. I am a fool. But not for the reasons that she thinks.
“Master Griffins?” The dealer turns to Ashwin, breaking the tense silence plaguing the table. “Will you place a bet?”
Ashwin lifts from her mob-boss pose, takes two dark green chips from the edge of the table and tosses them into the center. “Check. You probably don’t even have anything good. I think you’re at the end of your rope, babe. In more ways than one.”
The dealer turns over the fourth card. Five of hearts.
I take two more green chips, then toss them into the pile. “Raise.”
“Holy hell.” Sebastian stretches his spine and places his hands on his hips as if something pains him. “Should I leave? I’m worried that this flagrant show of egotistical recklessness might be contagious.”
“Alexander, are you serious?” Nadya asks sternly, her burning cigar teetering between her fingers. Always the pragmatist of the group. “If you’ve truly promised your entire dowry to Lord Blakeley, you shouldn’t be fucking around with large sums of money like this.”
Never taking my eyes off Ashwin, I wait, because I have nothing to lose. I’ve already lost everything that matters.
Ashwin inhales a discreet breath. Adjusts ever so slightly in her seat.
She’s nervous.
Insecure as always.
Casually, she smooths the length of her platinum ponytail.
“Pathetic,” she spits. An obvious attempt to conceal her unease. “Are you trying to prove some silly point?” She reaches for another pair of green chips, then adds them to the pile. “Check.”
“This is insane,” Sebastian says. “You all are nuts. Out of your tutti fruity minds.”
“Tutti fruity?” Nadya looks him over, scowling. “Such a strange creature you are.”
Sebastian smirks. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
The dealer turns over the final card. Queen of hearts.
Glancing down at the colorful array of chips lining the table’s edge along my side, I pull a light gray one from the end of the row and toss it into the center of the table. “Raise.”
Sebastian turns and grabs Nadya’s shoulder as if to keep himself upright. Nadya ignores him, stiff as a board and with her irises darting between me and Ashwin.
The latter visibly bristles from my action. “Listen—I did not come here to fuck around with two-hundred grand, Alexander. Have you lost your goddamned mind?”
“What’s your choice, Ashwin?” I ask her.
“Do I have one? You’ve trapped me!”
No one moves. Ashwin’s eyes shift nervously. First, toward Nadya and Sebastian. Then, toward the dealer, as if one of them has an answer. Or maybe someone will bail her out.
Ashwin stands abruptly, rocking her chair back as she glares in my direction, then down at her two cards on the table. In a hostile motion, she flips one of them over, revealing its face. A queen of clubs. Three of a kind. A very good hand. “This is what I’ve got.”
“Ash,” Nadya chuckles, one palm pressed against her forehead in second-hand embarrassment. “Are you kidding me? You’ve totally lost the plot.”
“What do you have?” Ashwin demands. “A flush? A full house? How can you sit there and bet all this money without batting an eye?—”
“Tell me your choice,” I repeat calmly, sighing. “I don’t need this theatrical bullshit.”
Sebastian cowers into Nadya’s shoulder. “Aleksey is being scary tonight.”
Ashwin straightens, pulls the hem of her jacket and rolls hershoulders. “I hate you.” She reaches down, grabs her cards and flicks them toward the center with a dramatic flourish. “I fold.Happy?”
