Page 39 of Betting Blind

Silas coughs into his fist to hide his chuckle and slides to the edge of the table. We both heard him and Emelia last night, and we both agreed this morning that he was just as bad off as we were even if he wouldn't admit it.

“You’ll be calling me a lot of names when I wipe the floor with you two sorry bastards,” he snaps and regains his composure. Declan deals out the cards and we square up, ready to settle this like men.

The side door opens suddenly and Emelia pushes inside with an armful of pizza boxes and a case of beer. God bless her, she is truly the darkest saint. I fight the urge to sit up on one knee and propose to her, again. I want this woman tied to me in the worst kind of way.

“Hello, boys,” she calls in a sultry voice as she drops the food on the kitchen counter. “What are you doing?” she asksand comes to stand behind the sofa where Silas is sitting. She slides her hands down his chest and leans forward to kiss his cheek. Silas just grins like an idiot with a faint pink tint on his cheeks.

“Just playing a card game,” Declan says gruffly and draws a card from the deck before discarding another from his hand.

“Oh?” Emelia walks around and takes a seat on the floor beside me. “What are the stakes?”

I look from Silas to Declan and tilt my chin slightly. They both return the knowing look. We can’t tell her the truth. She’s too volatile to trust with this information, especially about someone she knows. “You,” Declan lies smoothly without breaking eye contact with me. “Whoever wins gets to fuck you first.”

“I’m in,” she says suddenly and drums her fingers on the table. “Deal me in.”

I watch as she narrows her eyes at Silas, who bites his lip to hide a smirk. “That’s not how this works, Princess,” Declan says, now staring intently at her.

“Oh, I think it is,” she says in a low voice, leaning forward to prop her elbows on the table. She gathers all the cards from our hands and tucks them into a neat stack. “When I win,” she states confidently and shuffles the cards in a flourish from one hand to the other in a move that I’ve seen Declan do many times. “I fuck myself.” She looks into each of our eyes for several seconds before she grins. “And you all get to do nothing but watch me.”

Fucking hell I love it when she smiles like that. It’s terrifyingly beautiful and makes my cock stand at attention every damn time. I watch the way she handles the cards,dealing them out with grace, and I know that we’re in trouble. In more ways than one.

Declan narrows his eyes at her and clenches his jaw. “You swindler,” he says with a dark chuckle. “You played me.”

“Like a fiddle,” she answers and picks up her cards to inspect her hand.

I make another mental note to find a local jeweler post haste. I need this woman to be mine, and I needed it yesterday.

We play a round and Silas folds. No shock there. He’s terrible at poker because he can’t keep a straight face. Another round and no one folds, but once the cards are down I realize that I’m out. I grin and lean forward to watch the showdown.

“Alright, Princess,” Declan says in a voice dripping with danger. “Let’s see them.” He lays his cards out on the table, and I wince. A four-of-a-kind hand is hard to beat, even with skill on your side. “I’ll see you in my bed later,” he whispers with a smirk. Cocky bastard always wins.

By the look on her face, she knows it too. Emelia sighs and brings her cards down and lays them out slowly, one at a time. I watch with rapt attention as each card is revealed.

Ace. King. Queen. Jack. Ten. All black. All clubs.

A royal flush.

Declan stares at the cards in shock. Silas jumps to his feet with a shout, and I clap my hands slowly with a shit-eating grin on my face. Emelia grins at Declan and folds her arms across her chest. “I’ll be sure to send you a video,” she says with a laugh.

I reach over and wrap my arms around her slight frame, giving her a squeeze. “Royal flush! Who knew you had it in you,” I tease softly and kiss her cheek. She leans into myembrace and her warmth seeps into the cold darkness of my soul. “Your majesty,” I say fervently and bow my head low.

Silas and Declan both also make a show of bowing with varying degrees of amusement on their faces. Well, Silas is amused. Declan still looks pissed. He never loses. “Pizza?” Silas chirps and rolls over the back of the couch to get to the kitchen before the rest of us.

We joke around and talk about inconsequential things as we down the beers and pizza that Emelia ordered. I keep my hand firmly on her thigh as we sit around the table and share stories about ourselves. Nothing too revealing obviously, we all still have secrets to keep. I meet Declan’s knowing eyes over the rim of my glass, and I tip my head ever so slightly.

There is no doubt in my mind that the four of us are now entwined together and we will be for the foreseeable future. I’m not letting go, and by the looks Declan and Silas are stealing of Emelia, they aren’t either. And that is a big fucking problem.

We still have the Irish to deal with, but that can wait just a few more hours. I grin over at Emelia and squeeze her leg, hard. We were promised a show tonight, and I do not intend to miss a single second of it. The guys and I tend to disagree on a lot of things, but this is one thing that we all agree on wholeheartedly.

Fuck the Irish.

Chapter 22

Emelia

I twist my long hair into a braid and tuck it into my helmet before climbing onto my bike and heading for home. The engine echoes in my ears as I tear down the road. The sun is just beginning to peak over the treetops when I skid to a stop in my driveway. I hang my helmet from the handlebars and head up the stairs.

Anubis greets me with a howling bark and nearly knocks me off my feet when he places his front paws on my shoulders to lick my face. “Silly beast,” I croon and scratch his ears. He whines softly and shakes his head. “Who’s the best guard dog around? You are!” I boop his snout and smirk when he snorts in my face.

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