Page 123 of Soulmates

Time slipped by in a blur. Eventually Shawn called it a night and headed up to Thomas’s apartment. I made my way back to the bar where Thomas had been watching us.

“You’re not going with him?”

Thomas shook his head. “Come on. I have an idea about how to take your mind off everything.” He led me through the alcove that was reserved for Sam and into the labyrinth of hallways that hid the back rooms.

“Am I supposed to be here?” I’d never been to the back rooms without Sam.

“I don’t see why not.” Thomas shrugged. “What do you like to play?”

“Poker?” It came out sounding like a question more than an answer. I’d never seen any of the back rooms other than the one Sam took me to with the pool tables.

“Sounds good.” Thomas led me to a room set up with a collection of tables, each lit by a green lamp that hung from the ceiling. People sat around the tables with drinks and cards in their hands, piles of chips in front of them.

“How do I buy chips?” I whispered to Thomas. I remembered Sam saying money wasn’t allowed in the back rooms.

“The chips are worth whatever is decided before the game starts. They’re just symbolic so the game is easier to play since we mostly deal in favors instead of things.”

There were two ways to play poker for favors in Youngblood’s back rooms. Low stakes, where a certain number of chips equaled a certain favor. Or high stakes, where you played until one player won all the chips and then claimed their prize. Most of the favors were little things, like promises of cleaning weapons, buying each other a drink or dinner, or taking shifts at the club.

Since I didn’t work for Sam, I couldn’t offer most of the favors everyone else did, but no one seemed to mind. They let me substitute favors or just let me play “for free.”

I lost myself in the games and the fun of the moment. I’d actually managed to push my crazy evening to the back of my mind when a voice brought it all rushing back.

“Ladies. Gentlemen.” Sam’s words cut through the general conversation in the room and drew every eye in his direction.

I stared at the cards in my hand, refusing to turn. I could feel him behind me, that prickle of awareness that skated over my spine.

I thought back to what Mamma told me about walking away from Papa when they were young. They’d chosen to forgive each other, but I knew it hadn’t been a simple decision for them, and it wouldn’t be simple for me and Sam either. I needed answers from him, and I needed to know where we stood because I knew I couldn’t go back to being what we’d been before Asura showed up. Okay, Icould, but it would eventually blow up in our faces. I couldn’t live like that long-term.

“Siren,” Sam said softly.

My blood sang in my veins at the sound of the nickname.

I set my cards down and turned to find him right in front of me. “Do you want to play?”

The game I’d been in the middle of was already being cleared, and chairs scraped along the floor as people abandoned the table.

Sam crossed his arms. “What are the stakes?”

I leaned back against the table so I could look up into his face. He’d changed into a white button-down that had turned transparent where it stuck to his damp skin. His hair was wet and hung in his dark eyes. I swallowed hard. He was the sexiest man I’d ever seen, and I knew for a fact that he had the skills and mind to back up his looks.

But I couldn’t have him if we couldn’t agree to face life together. And to do that, I needed answers and honesty. We needed to understand each other before we could forgive the words that had been said between us.

“If I win, you tell me all your secrets. I want the truth, Sam. About everything.”

His expression didn’t give anything away. “And if I win?”

“What do you want to win?” I asked.

His lips curved up into a daring smile. “If I win, you marry me.”

The room was so silent you could hear a pin drop. I was fairly sure everyone could hear my heart pounding as it attempted to escape my chest.

“Marry you,” I repeated, the words not quite audible since my voice no longer seemed to work. The man who’d never once claimed me as his girlfriend, who’d told me over and over that he couldn’t give me the future I wanted, was asking me to marry him?

Sam didn’t look away from my face. There was so much heat in his eyes I half expected to catch fire.

I could refuse the stakes. Walk away.

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