Page 63 of What Happens In Vegas
Chapter 25
Quinn kept his gaze glued to the pot. He knew that if he didn’t get his shit together in a hurry, it could disappear into Dante’s grubby fingers. Or one of the other players’, for that matter. But Dante was his biggest threat and usually Quinn was on point. But not this time.
It was all he could do not to growl with frustration. He was off his game. He could feel it. And it showed.He’d played Dante before and knew his signals. Granted, he had a few new ones, but it wouldn’t normally take Quinn this long to figure them out.
It’s just that today is different. He had a distraction. A beautiful, sexy, wonderful and challenging distraction. And her name is Bonni.
Quinn mentally shook his head to try and dislodge the image of a naked Bonni from his brain. He looked at Danteand almost grimaced. The expression on his face right now, while blank to others, wasn’t to Quinn. The wrinkle on the bridge of Dante’s nose was him trying to bite back a smile. The slightly squinted eyes were also tell-tale. He was smug. He knew Quinn was offand he was capitalizing on it. Quinn wanted to smack that smug look right off his competitor’s face. It wasn’t the final round. They weren’tthe last two players. His opponents were whittling down, though, and soon it would be the final two. Damn straight he still wanted to win, but if he kept this attitude up it would be a snowball’s chance in hell he’d make it to the final round.
He was having a very difficult time focusing. He wasn’t overly concerned about the other players and kept his semi-focus on Dante. The prick. That, ifanything, should spur Quinn on to kick his ass.
Somehow, after last night, things seem to have shifted for him. He glanced at the very stoic-faced dealer as he burned a card and dealt the river. Quinn stared without really seeing the cards. All he saw in his mind was Bonni.
The day had started so promisingly. He’d held her all night. And she had slept like a baby. In the morning, he had lainthere, watching her sleep, feeling like the king of the world. Quinn stared blankly at his cards before they registered with him. The only thing he could see was the image of her fast asleep on the rumpled bed, looking so peaceful and lovely, and how cute she’d been, even if she had been drunk as a skunk. He’d been so sure that she’d be eager to stay, that they’d really be able to talk about buildinga future together. She’d lashed out at him. And he’d been stunned into speechlessness. Then she’d stormed out with those brutal words hanging in the air.
It had taken a moment for Quinn to gather his thoughts, and by the time he’d managed to unroot his feet from the ground and rush out the door after her, she was already gone, the elevator doors closing as he raced down the hall. There hadn’tbeen time to follow her down and find her in the lobby, as much as he had wanted to. If he had, he would’ve been disqualified from this final round.
Itwasn’t like Quinn had asked her to do anything too major. All he wanted was for her to stay with him. An extra night. Why couldn’t she just stay?
He separated a small stack of chips and shuffled them with his fingers. Contemplating his positionand Bonni. The two were not mixing all that well together. He picked a chip and rolled it along his knuckles and stared at the cards.
He could feel Dante’s excited energy. The other opponents weren’t nearly so agitated. Landon had always said that Quinn had some kind of voodoo magic with cards and poker. Maybe he did. But right now, all he wanted was to end this game. Quinn flickered a glanceat Dante, then back to his cards. He looked like he was getting smugger by the minute, so sure he had Quinn figured out. Insufferable ass.
Placing his cards face down, Quinn protected his hole cards by placing a chip on top. He hoped that it would unnerve Dante, because what Quinn was going to do next was risky.
‘Keep playing that hand, buddy.’ Dante’s lightly accented voice had a mocking toneand Quinn knew he was taking a jab at his slow play. But he also noticed the quick glance Dante gave to the other players. Dante was feeling the pressure. Quinn held on to his poker face through sheer will. He didn’t like to be told what to do; it was the whole reason he’d left home in the first place. He thought a little longer, then decided his next move was the right one. He checked.
Therewas a sinking feeling in Quinn’s stomach as he realized that he hadn’t asked Bonni what her plans were. He had just told her what he wanted her to do. And she’d bolted in a cloud of scathing words.
God.Hewas the insufferable ass.
For the first time ever, he was anxious to get a tournament wrapped up, eager to find Bonni. The words she’d said, whilecutting him deep, were true. He watched Dante,and it was all he could do not to smile. He bet, and now Quinn acted.
‘Raise. All in.’ Quinn kept his voice monotone.
Dante’s mouth thinned ever so slightly. He didn’t even look at the others at the table. Now he was the one taking his time. There were murmurs from the crowd and Dante looked like he was going to levitate right out of his seat. He’d been nipping at Quinn’s heels in the internationalrankings for years. The next move Dante made would be the end of this round as the others folded.It’s him or me going on to the final.Quinn’s head hadn’t been in the game and he should have tossed his cards into the muck when his hole cards were first dealt. So now he had to draw on strategy and check-raise one seemed to be his best option.
Being rebellious only gets you so far, Quinn. At somepoint, you have to grow the fuck up.
He had wanted to be more than the man his father expected him to be. He wanted to be free to go his own way and make his own choices. Quinn continued to shuffle his chips. The clacking of them and the silence of Dante as he lifted the corner of his cards and put them down again didn’t distract Quinn from staring at his cards. He realized, as he waited forDante’s move, that at some point defying society’s norms had become a habit, not a choice.
It wasn’t easy to find somebody you clicked with the way he and Bonni had. Or find that special someone you actuallywantedto spend time with. Especially for him. Not that he was a love-’em-and-leave-’em kind of guy, but he was always ready to move on. No commitments. No professions of love. No promisesto meet up again.
Until now. He wanted all of that with Bonni. Panic surged through him, and he willed Dante to hurry the fuck up and throw in his cards. Or, at the worst, raise him.
Dantemoved a pile of his chips around and Quinn unconsciously held his breath. He was going to raise him. The check-raise wasn’t going to work. Quinn was going to lose. He looked at the pot on the table. The winner’spot. And a lot of it his. He said a silent goodbye.
Quinn had a powerful realization. The clarity that hit him right now tilted his world. If he lost, he wouldn’t care. He already had money. Boatloads of it. But if he lost Bonni . . . well, that couldn’t happen. His heart hurt, it was pounding so fast. Normally, his adrenaline rush came from the game and from winning. But now it came from thepanic of potentially losing Bonni. He was done. This was it. His last tournament. Once it was over, then he’d go after her.
He looked around, hoping to see her in the audience. That would mean she’d decided to stay. But she wasn’t.
He knew what he needed to do. One last tournament. Now, he wanted to win. Wanted his strategy to work. Go out on top, crushing Dante like a bug. And then go afterher.
Winning Bonni back would be the only victory that mattered.
He looked at Dante, square on, giving him no tells. And when Dante stared back at him he thinned his lips and Quinn felt the hate coming off him in waves.
Dante tossed in his cards. He folded. Quinn had won on a bluff. All that was left was the final game.
And going after Bonni.
