Page 72 of Underground Prince

Twice what I bet. This was not good. But what were the odds? How could he possibly have…no. Not possible. He was bluffing. A common tactic. Pretending and overplaying his hand to intimidate me. But I’d come this far.

“I’ll call,” I said, and met his three hundred and fifty dollars, leaving me with thirty-five dollars worth of chips left.

No time to rethink things, because it was time to show our cards. I had the hand—I knew I did. It was damn good and it was okay to call because the chances were so slim—

Jowls lifted one of his two cards. He didn’t even have to turn over his other one. There was no reason to.

Exposed, red as blood against the faded green table, was the ace of hearts.

My lips parted, and I hoped no one saw my agonizing slide from glee to horror, but Jowls had been waiting for it and gave me a big, toothy grin in return. “You tried, darling. I’ll give ya that.” He reached for the winnings in the center. “Nut flush’ll get ya every time.”

I felt sick and all too aware of the stares around the table, the slight pity, the wry thoughts as to why I thought I could beat Jowls, but I avoided it all by keeping my head down and stumbling out of there—leaving my meager thirty-five bucks behind.

I tore through the curtain and shot right into the figure waiting on the other side. I backed away, hands raised and ready to apologize, until I raised my gaze from the floor.

“So,” Kai said, grinning like a fool. “Learn anything yet?”

17

NO SMOKING

“You giant piece of dick!” I slammed both palms into Kai’s chest.

Kai gave in to my push, hands up as he laughed, but that was like dangling fresh chum in front of a fledgling shark.

“How could you?” I kept pace with him as he retreated, swiping at his arm. “What were you thinking?” I smacked his shoulder. “Did you think I’d double your stupid money?” Another whack in the pecs. “I’d be some kind of savant? Some kind of enchanted poker elf?”

“No!” he said through his laughter, then nearly tripped when his heel hit the stairs. “Okay. Don’t have me cracking my skull.”

“You should have a fractured head.” If I had the capability of snarling, I would’ve, but instead I whirled around, paced a few steps, realized my predicament, then whirled back. “I need you to move.”

He sobered. “We should probably talk this out before you leave.”

“Now you want to communicate?” I was so pissed at him I couldn’t maintain eye contact, instead looking over his head and up the stairs, to freedom. “I don’t know what to say to you other than to yell. I’m—what happened in there—it was embarrassing, it was—”

“Learning,” Kai said. “Ever heard of throwing a kid in a pool so he can learn how to swim?”

“That’s not teaching! That’s negligence!” Flinging my arm out, I said, “Just like putting me in there with four figures in chips!”

“But you did something with them, no?”

“I—”

“You sat down, you tried, you played, you recognized a monster hand and you went with it.”

“I lost it.” I slumped down on the stairs, my arms resting limply on my thighs.

“No kidding.” Kai sat beside me, nudging me with his shoulder. “Can’t believe you stayed in there. Too bad ‘bullheaded’ and ‘hustler’ don’t mean the same thing, huh?”

I looked at him sideways. “I had the odds and you know it.”

“I’ll give you that. Surprised the shit out of me when he pulled out that ace.”

“You saw the whole thing.” I snorted at the ceiling. “Should’ve known.”

“You damn well surprised me in the end, loser or not. Did not see that flush coming—well, correction.” He stopped, his words catching on his guffaw. “I saw it coming, but in anyone’s hands but yours—and I don’t think anyone else at that table saw that bullet being loaded either.”

“So what now?” I grimaced at my next thought. “That was a lot of money I lost. I must owe someone.”

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