Page 20 of The Roadie
Damien’s eyes narrowed slightly, challenging him, but already glowing with victory.
You are so fucking wrong.Brett picked up his cards and rearranged them so the aces and threes all sat next to one another. He was about to reveal his hand, but at the last second, he threw his cards face down on the table. “You got me. I only had the pair of threes.”
Damien sprung to his feet, fists raised in victory, almost hitting the ceiling, and let out a loud, “Woo hoo!”
The other guys cheered and patted Damien on the back as he scooped up the cash on the table, which had to be several hundred dollars. Damien glanced up at Brett as he gathered the bills and nodded, the rare smile tucked into the corner of his mouth. “You’re a good sport. But I’m still taking your money,roadie.”
“Go ahead,” Brett said, with a wave of his hand, even though the remark, and the way Damien said it, irked the hell out of him. “It was a fair game. You won.”
Kira entered the living area as the rest of the guys all headed toward the kitchen. “What’s going on?” she asked.
“I just beat the pants off your guy,” Damien boasted. “I hope you don’t have to give him a loan.”
Kira displayed a bewildered smile as she looked from Damien to Brett, then sat on the couch next to him. “How much money did you lose?”
“It doesn’t matter. I have my ATM card.”
“Brett!”
“I’m kidding. It wasn’t that much. We had fun, and I got to know your friends. That’s all that counts.”
“Still . . . you shouldn’t have been playing for money.” She picked up his cards from the table and flipped them over. “You had a good hand. What did he beat you with?”
Brett tried to stop her from reaching across the table and fanning out Damien’s cards, but she already saw them, so he fell back in his seat and sighed.
She looked at both sets of cards, wrinkles furrowing her beautiful porcelain skin. “Wait. You had the winning hand.” Her shoulders fell. “You let him win. Why?”
“Because. He obviously has trust issues. I didn’t want to win a big pot of cash when it was just me and him. He’s important to you. And you’re really important to him. I thought it would keep the peace if he won.”
She opened her mouth to say something, but only a grunt came out, and her jaw remained agape.
“It’s not a big deal.”
“Brett! Of course it is. I can’t believe you did that.”
“It’s just money, Kira. I—”
“It’s not the money. I can’t believe you lost on purpose because you wanted him to like you.” She curled into his lap and kissed him tenderly. “That was so sweet.”
Her touch gave him shivers, and if she was going to kiss him like that, he’d throw his whole damn wallet on the table next time.
