Page 4 of Wolf Fated
When I glanced away, he lifted one of my hands and kissed my knuckles, making my breath speed up.
“Tell me. We don’t keep secrets from each other, and I don’t want to start now.”
“Right, you’re right. Your card was declined.” Embarrassment heated my cheeks. I pulled it out of my purse and handed the card to him. “Dawn had to pay for our meal.”
He blew out a breath and chuckled shoving his hands into his pockets. “Well, we can let her off the hook for a wedding present.”
“This isn’t funny.” I wrapped my arms around myself. “Did you put my name on the account like you said?”
“Sorry, must be the internet when they tried it.” He gave me an easy smile. “I’ll take care of it after the wedding. Promise. Ready to become Mrs. Stephen Cruz?”
I don’t know why, but the way he said that instead of using my name made my throat feel like I’d swallowed a porcupine. But maybe it was wedding jitters as to why I was feeling so off.
Leaning into Stephen’s side as we walked, I said, “We’ve nearly three hours until the wedding and it’s bad luck twice over now.”
“Nah, you’re my good luck charm. I’ve got a game set up with plenty of time for our wedding after.”
“What? No way, Stephen.” A heaviness wrapped around my heart and squeezed.
“Sorry, babe,” he kissed my temple, “I’ve got a game set up.”
“On our wedding day?” I gasped, my stomach knotting up in worry. “You promised you were cutting back on gambling.” He’d lost his last job because of his habit, and I’d caught him stealing money from my wallet. He swore he had stopped.
“Don’t be mad. This is a big one. Three top poker players in a high-stakes game. I win this and we coast through the rest of our lives. No more waitressing and busting your ass. We live the life of luxury and cruises and hell, eating at fancy places for every single fucking meal.”
What he described sounded like something I couldn’t imagine in my wildest dreams. Still, he’d lost way more than he won. But it was the thrill of the chance of winning one more time that had gotten him addicted. I couldn’t deny though that the thought was super tempting. Never to have to work again and to eat at fancy places like tonight without fear of how to pay.
“So, you forgive me?” Stephen brushed his shoulder up against mine. “I need my lady luck with me tonight.”
“What if the game runs late? We’re supposed to be getting married?” I hated that I sounded whiny, but I was looking forward to starting my life with Stephen and our future together.
“It won’t.” He crisscrossed a path over his heart, his lips dipping into a pout. “Please say you’ll come, Brookie.”
Rather than remind him for the umpteenth time that I hated that nickname, I asked, “What about Dawn and my mom?”
He pulled out two gleaming tickets. “No prob, I got them seats for the latest comedy show. They’ll have a blast, then come to the wedding afterward. It’s perfect.”
“I don’t know about this. What if something goes wrong?” I turned back behind us where Mom and Dawn had stopped to window shop at a shoe store with red sale signs everywhere.
"Come on, please?" Stephen tugged on the sleeve of my blouse. "One last game for old times?"
An old man shuffled past with two miniature poodles on leashes while a woman overloaded with shopping bags tried to light a cigarette.
"This is it, okay? No more gambling."
He straightened and winked. "You're about to marry a very rich man."
* * *
An hour later, I sat next to Stephen at a private poker table. Three guys were across from us and each of them looked like they belonged on a professional football team rather than here. One had dark, curly hair that laid across his forehead. His piercing cognac-colored eyes seemed to sense more than a normal person and his gaze met mine more times than I could count. The next man had dark auburn hair with emerald-green eyes, and he seemed bored with the game as he leaned back in his chair, his cards faced down on the table. He'd only looked at them once so far. And the third guy playing had golden hair, but his face was young-looking. He had ice-blue eyes that made me think of the sea.
All three of them were intimidating as hell. And I couldn’t help feeling like I’d seen them somewhere before. Maybe a magazine.
Then it hit me. These were the guys in dozens of articles in Stephen’s apartment. He even had pictures of them on his desk. Probably to study their habits in the game and learn their weaknesses. From what I remembered when I'd glanced at the articles, the three of them owned this casino. They had to be even richer than I thought and the urge to fall down at the weight of this game nearly overwhelmed me.
Stephen was sweating, his hands trembled as he threw in his chips. "I raise you all."
He was betting on beating at least one of them and possibly bluffing the other two enough to have them fold. But there was no guarantee they would all have bad cards. My fiancé had four of a kind and only a straight flush or royal flush could top him. Not a huge chance, but enough to make me keep my hands at my sides rather than biting my nails and giving anything away.
