Page 53 of Noah's Reckoning
It was a Monday, so Bud’s was pretty quiet. Just the local regulars and us. And her. Floating around the place like she owned it. I tried not to watch her. I tried.
“I’ll bet,” Kate said. She was here for the week while Jackson was off rotation, which had become their new norm. “Two bucks.”
“Fold,” Jackson said.
“Is she bluffing,” I asked Jackson.
He smiled. “Let’s just say I folded for a reason.”
“Jackson,” Kate admonished him. “You’re not helping me here. Besides, you don’t know if I have a poker face.”
“Babe, you do not have a poker face.” He laughed, clutching her thigh under the table.
It was an intimate moment. As if there was no reason why he couldn’t and shouldn’t touch her in exactly that way. I’d forgotten what that looked like. What that felt like. Being up here with mostly men, it wasn’t like relationships were on display.
Now with Angel and Shelby, Jackson and Kate it was easy to be reminded of what happy looked like.
“I’ll keep you honest,” Angel said and forked up two bucks.
“Watch it, babe, Angel’s got sick luck,” Jackson told her.
I folded my cards in disgust. “Where’s Shelby?”
Eli looked at me like he didn’t want to tell me. “Uh…working.”
Right.
“Another round guys?” I looked up and scowled at the woman standing next to our table. Naturally, she scowled back. Only in this obvious you-don’t-scare-me sort of way. When had that happened? When had I stopped intimidating her?
I scared everyone. It’s why I was a good boss for the crew up here. If you didn’t respect me, then at least you feared me.
“Vivienne, what are you doing?” I asked her finally. I mean, it was obvious what she was doing. But if this was another one of her attempts to get to me…it was working.
“Bud and I have an arrangement. I deliver food and drinks and I get to keep the tips. So how about you all order another around and then pony up?”
“I’m in,” Kate chirped up. She had clearly chosen her side in the battle between me and Vivienne.
“Yep,” Jackson said, getting out his wallet. Same with Eli.
“Fine,” I said. I pulled out a twenty and handed it to her. She flashed me a smile then made her way to the bar.
I shook my head.
“It’s not a bad idea,” Angel said. “Bud’s needs waitress now that the town is growing.”
I dealt the river. It was the Queen of Hearts. Red hair. Just like Vivienne. She wore it in a braid down her back any time I’d seen her. I thought about what it might look like free and spread out around her shoulders.
A pale, freckled version of Julia Roberts, no doubt.
Then I realized I was thinking about her again and forced myself to stop.
“Two bucks,” Kate said quickly. Too quickly, I thought.
Angel shook his head. “Sorry, Kate. I’m going to go with Daniels and assume you’re not bluffing.”
She pouted and turned over her pocket queens. “Darn, I won hardly any money.”
Jackson started to shuffle the cards and Vivienne was back. She plopped down each of our beers in front of us, gave Jackson and Eli some change. Then they gave her back some singles. She was about to leave when I reached out to her.
