Page 7 of A Lot Like Love
“I don’t see you offering more.”
Parker nodded, thrumming his fingers across his own cards. But Ryder could see the sweat beading across the other man’s face, knew the bastard was panicking already. Still he sat there though, not wanting to rush, wanting to draw the game out for as long as he could.
Parker pushed a wad of cash into the center of the table, alongside Ryder’s money. “Ten grand it is then.”
One of the others folded, which just left Tom. His face was blank. “Fifteen.”
Ryder had to fight not to grin. He loved this. There were three of them left and he knew he was going to smoke them. He watched, never taking his eyes from Parker as he discarded one card. Tom threw down two. Ryder didn’t blink as he pushed two of his own cards together and discarded them, pushing them facedown toward Chloe.Damn.If Parker had only needed to discard one… Ryder fought the urge to glance at Chloe—he could feel her watching him. Parker had been easier to read before, but now he wasn’t so sure.
“Two,” he confirmed, heart pounding like a jackhammer as she slid the cards across the table. He blew out a low breath, picked at the corner of the first one to see what he’d been dealt.
Hell yes.It was the fourth ace. He glanced at the other card, taking no longer looking at that than the first one, before pushing his entire hand into one neat pile. Chloe was his good-luck charm, his hand was as good as unbeatable. He was about to win the lot, whatever the bet was.
“I think we need to up the stakes here, boys,” Ryder said, drumming his fingers against his glass. “Two hundred.”
Parker sniggered. “That all you got? I was thinking something more tangible.”
“Like?”
Parker leaned over the table, his fat stomach stopping him from coming too close, cigarette hanging from between his lips. “How about the deed to that pretty little ranch of yours? Didn’t your granddaddy carve it up for you boys?”
Tom looked between them, eyebrows raised. “I’m out,” he said, throwing his cards down and pushing off. “Whatever the hell you guys want to bet, go for it.”
Ryder didn’t even bother looking at Tom’s cards. He never shifted his stare. It was just the two of them now. The other guys were watching, waiting to see who was going to lose a ton of money, but Ryder couldn’t see anyone else except the asshole seated across from him. Even Chloe wasn’t distracting him now.
“What areyouoffering?” Ryder kept his voice calm when all he really wanted to do was slam his fist into the table.Or into Parker’s smarmy face.“How about the latest ranch you burgled? Or maybe your own one.”
Parker laughed. “I’m in. My ranch against yours.”
Ryder was going to win, there wasn’t a doubt in his mind. Whatever the stakes, he was playing. Parker swindled locals out of property all the time, men who couldn’t afford to keep a roof over their families’ heads, which in Ryder’s books meant he needed to be knocked down a peg or two. And he was just the man to do it.
Ryder reached for his drink, took a sip while he thought about what he was about to do, swallowed away his nerves. His third of the ranch meant everything to him, and if his brothers found out that he’d even thought about gambling the property he’d just inherited…but he had four aces.It wasn’t unbeatable, but it was damn close to it.
“I’m in,” he replied, “so long as your ranch is on the table, too.” There was no chance he was going to lose, not after the run he’d had. Hell, not after the weekend he’d had.He’d win the game, take Parker’s ranch, and then call it a night. Satisfaction was sweet, and winning was beyond describable, a pure hit of adrenaline to the part of him that was insanely competitive. And he was about to take it all.
Ryder gave in and glanced at Chloe, saw her swallow, recognized the worried expression on her face as he turned his focus back to the game, downed the rest of his drink, and flicked his cards over faceup on the table. She had nothing to worry about—it was one of the best hands he’d ever been dealt, and he had her to thank for that.
“Four aces,” he announced, leaning his chair back on two legs.
Parker shook his head, looking down before slowly raising his gaze again. Ryder sat still, his breath catching in his throat as he recognized the smirk spreading across the other man’s face.
“Well played,boy, but I think you’ll find that a king-high straight beats your aces. No?”
Ryder dug his fingers into the table, never taking his eyes off Parker’s cards as he watched them flutter to the table.He never lost. All these years he’d ridden the toughest bulls, jumped on horses no one else would, hell, the only consistent thing he’d done in his life was gamble, and now...
“Fuck.” The word was barely a whisper as his eyes shut, hand closing around his glass almost tight enough to turn it into splinters. “Fuck!”
A hand fell on his shoulder and he shrugged it away, stalking toward the bar before he ended up with Parker’s goddamn neck in his hands. The fucking asshole had won,the one time he’d had the balls to put everything on the line, and now he’d lost the only thing that meant something to him. Parker had probably been playing with him all night, making him think he was the better player. And he’d been the stupid asshole who’d fallen for it.
“Send over the keys and the deed,” Parker yelled out, his voice backed by laughter from the other men they’d been playing earlier. “And don’t take too long, you hear me?”
“Give me a full glass of whiskey,” Ryder ordered, pulling his wallet out and dumping a wad of cash on the bar. “Or the bottle.”
The girl was taking too long—he wanted the drink now. “Hurry up,” he ground out, “and fill it to the top.”
She did as she was told and he stalked off, heading straight for the door. For the first time in his life, emotion choked in his throat, tears burning fiercer than the straight liquor making its way to his gut. The only things he really, truly cared about were his family and his ranch, and now that he’d gambled away his share of the property, he’d lose everything. His brothers would never forgive him, his grandfather would disown him, and he couldn’t blame them. He was an idiot and he knew it. Maybe they would have all been better off if he’d never come back.
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