Page 2 of Her Surprise Protector
“We wouldn’t have if you hadn’t been so late,” Zeke pointed out. Of course, Zeke would have started without me. He was the self-proclaimed life of the party, and everyone at the Hamptons Peak knew it. Zeke had been born into money, grown up with money and lived his life spending all the money he wanted on anything he wanted. Even the locals regarded him as spoiled.
Nate raised his own drink in a toast as I sat down. “You’re here now. That’s what matters.” Nate only lived in the Hamptons during the spring and the summer because of his career as a professional football player, but Zeke and I always stuck around and welcomed him when he came back. He and I worked out together sometimes, but our differing schedules made that only an occasional occurrence - and besides, we preferred to spend our time together drinking, and playing cards.
“Yeah. Sorry. Got held up.”
Nate glanced at Zeke, but neither commented. “Well, hurry up and finish that drink. We’re ready for round two.”
I obliged willingly and, before I knew it, I was talking and laughing like nothing had gone wrong today at all.Bless whatever primitive version of man discovered alcohol.I stared into the nearly-empty tumbler and gave the amber contents a swirl.
Zeke noticed the motion and glanced at his own glass. “Your turn.” He nodded toward the bar.
I stood with no argument. Zeke and Nate had both made trips to replenish our drinks already. I managed to reach the bar just after the Yankees game televised this evening had ended and stood, waiting, with a press of people. The lightheartedness that had grown in my chest with the presence of good friends and good conversation dissipated slowly, drifting away to the ticking hands of the watch on my wrist. “Come on,” I muttered.
When I finally got our drinks and returned, my two friends already had a deck of cards and their poker chips on the table, waiting to start our first game of Texas Hold ‘Em. Poker was usually my favorite pastime. Anyway, I couldn’t seem to keep my head in the game tonight. I had already lost a few hundred dollars in chips and any last vestiges of my good mood by the time the clock struck 11 PM.
“Alright, what’s up with you?” Nate asked finally when Zeke collected yet another hundred off me. “You aren’t great at poker, but you’re not this bad.”
“I’ve just had a lot on my mind today,” I told him, trying to wipe the scowl off my face and failing entirely. Thursday evenings were usually my favorite of the week, and I was aware that I was ruining this one for everyone at the table.
“Hallie again?” Zeke sighed, seeing through my attempt at deflection like I had been holding up a glass pane. “Come on, man. She’s not worth this.”
“I know.” I sighed gustily. “Believe me, I know.”
“She was a gold digger,” Nate reminded me bluntly. “That’s why she’s your ex-fiancée.”
“I know,” I said again, more miserably this time. “I just can’t seem to get her out of my mind... I miss her. I know it’s sounds lame.”
“You just need another woman to get your mind off Hallie.” Zeke snapped his fingers and glanced around, evaluating the women in the casino, clearly gearing up to go into wingman mode.
“Not how it works.” That short statement was all I gave Zeke, because I knew he wouldn’t understand. He lived his life like a floating leaf in a current, carefree and aimless. That was how he liked it, and I doubted he would ever change.
Nate understood a little better. His life in the NFL meant that he couldn’t really settle down, not for a large portion of the year, and holding onto a steady relationship was hard. He too had been burned by love in the past, and I knew that was why he was giving me a sympathetic look right now. “You didn’t make a mistake. You had every right to have a prenuptial agreement written up, and if she had really loved you, she would have signed it, not flown off the handle like she did. Trust me, that girl would have split and run with half your fortune the day after the wedding. You made the right choice.”
Instead of answering, I downed my whiskey and glanced at the bar, swaying a little.
“I got it,” Zeke announced, probably realizing he had messed up earlier and trying to make amends.
“You ever just miss someone, Nate?” I asked quietly. “Even when you knew the relationship was a disaster?”
Nate set his glass down without taking a sip. “Yeah. Don’t remind me.”
We sat there together, thinking about our lost loves until Zeke came back, and the game resumed. I had discovered that the more I drank, the worse I played, and there was a certain point during these nights that I needed to cut myself off from either the game or the alcohol or risk losing more than I wanted to part with. I was quickly nearing that point – in fact, I had privately decided this game would be my last.
“Better luck next time!” Zeke crowed, backhanding me jokingly in the chest and collecting the chips for this round.
“Ouch,” I muttered, reaching up to rub my chest and glaring at Zeke’s hand, looking for a ring or something that could have cut into me. The culprit wasn’t on Zeke’s hand, it was in my breast pocket where I had slipped it hours ago. “One more,” I said so suddenly that I cut off Nate. “One more game. And I’m betting this.”
The engagement ring clattered onto the polished wooden table, glittering opulently. Something in my face must have discouraged Nate and Zeke from asking any questions because they just shrugged and silently began arranging their chips.
The game began. I couldn’t hold a poker face to save my life – or rather, to save this ring. The game had become something else to me. I had fought so hard to keep Hallie, even after the prenuptial agreement had brought out her true nature. This game was another fight, and this time…this time, I didn’t care. I didn’t want to win. I wanted to be done fighting for her, and I wanted to be done remembering her.
“You sure, man?” Nate asked hesitantly, the winning hand on the table before him. “I understand if you don’t want-”
“I’m sure,” I cut him off. “It’s yours. You won it. Congrats.” My voice slurred, but I knew I wouldn’t regret this when I was sober.
“Okay.” Nate took Hallie’s engagement ring and pocketed it without further comment.
We abandoned poker and reverted to chatting, winding down for the evening, and I found myself doing something I hadn’t been able to do all day – relaxing. Taking deep breaths, I leaned back and watched the club-goers flit from the tables to the slot machines and back again. I was even able to listen to Zeke and Nate talk about the women they were dating without wanting to remind them that romantic relationships were a royal pain in the ass.
