“D?” the dealer called out as he was to have the first move. I gave blue eyes a questioning look. What the fuck did “D” mean? Like D for dick? D for Drink? D for Dynamite?
“My professional name. It’s D,” he growled out like he could hear all my thoughts about how unclear the name letter was.
“Oh! It’s like that symbol thing, like that musician Prince, right?”
His hands clenched his card to the point of them bending, his anger started to skyrocket, and I couldn’t help but just dig in a little more. I made my voice a couple octaves higher and added a slight nasally sound to it as I did my best valley girl.
“That’s, like, soooooo cool!” Then I gave him an unimpressed roll of my eyes and looked back at my cards.
That did it. His voice snarled out with fury. “It’s short for Death!”
I felt a surge of power flood the table. It tasted like moist air and the minerals of earth, combined with a sweet aftertaste of wildflowers. There was a finality to it, a shadowed darkness that surrounded it. It was a warning, a threat, and a promise all wrapped into one delicious package.
Maybe I had a few screws loose. Maybe my self-preservation instincts were broken. Or maybe I had lived for so long that none of that scared me anymore, but I was drawn to it. I wanted to consume that yummy, dark, shadowy goodness. Fill my belly so full of it that I couldn’t think of anything else but those blue eyes and the power he could offer. If he meant for it to deter me or scare me, he was fucking with the wrong woman.
I put my cards down and folded my hands, resting my chin on them as I acted like this was an everyday occurrence, making sure he knew I wasn’t intimidated by his burst of power.
“Nice to meet you, Death. You ready to play yet? We’ve both got a lot riding on this. Soooo…” I left it out there like a challenge, liking when he got riled up.
I heard him exhale out of his nose, not calm enough yet to speak to me, as he tipped his head in acceptance. The dealer hurried and turned over the flop. Both of us watched each card land like it would determine our destinies. It was an ace of spades, a nine of diamonds, and the jack of spades.
Our eyes flicked to each other at the same time, both of us trying to see if we could catch if the other liked the flop or despised it. Since both of us looked, I would say that we both didn’t hate the flop as we eyed each other in concentration. That was broken when someone slammed their cards down.
“Fold!” they screeched and left the table in a huff.
We both looked over at this person in surprise. I think we were both so consumed with our bet we didn't realize that others were at the table too. The next player put in a hundred-dollar chip in, and it went to me. I looked back at D, put my hands around all my money and pushed it into the center.
“All in.”
There were a few curses and all the others folded except for D. He snorted, smirking as he saw what I was doing and pushed all his chips in too.
“All in.”
There were a few gasps and whistles as we were the two at the table with the most money, but at that moment, the money meant nothing to us. What we just did was ensure that this game was only between us. That we didn't have any bumps in the road to seeing what was to play out for each of us.
The demon dealer nodded and flipped the next card. A ten of spades. I took a breath as he settled back into his chair, smirking at the cards.
“I will tell you right now, sweetheart, I don't want you cryin’ when everything goes my way.” His eyes drilled into mine, telling me he was going to be on top, going to win for sure.
I had this hot urge to stand up and smack his pretty little mouth, but I clenched my hand underneath the table and gave him a tight smile as I spoke between my teeth.
“Oh, I wouldn't count your chickens so soon,sweetheart. The devil is in the details.”
He glared at me, eyeing me and the table, before he whispered, “We’ll see.”
The dealer slid the last card out of the deck, and time ceased as I focused all my attention on this card. I didn't know what it would take for me to win this game, but I hoped he made it memorable.
He flipped it to reveal the queen of spades. I paused my breath as the dealer turned to him and asked him to show his cards. D looked at me for a long time before he cracked a smile and turned over his cards with a flick of his wrist. It was an ace of diamonds and a king of clubs. We had almost identical cards except for one small fact.
I took a big breath of relief. Even though I knew that I was supposed to win, I didn't really know if the demon dealer could pull it off, but it was the risk I was willing to take and it worked out in my favor in the end.
I turned my cards over slowly before the dealer even came to me and I showed D how miserably he had failed. He did a quick pass at my cards, thinking he’d won, but then saw my smiling face and refocused his attention to my cards.
His eyes flew open in disbelief as he shot up, his chair crashing backwards as he slammed his palms on the table. His expression was perfect. Just the right mix of anger, shock and dread.
My smile was wide and priceless as I settled in my seat. “It looks like I got a straight flush… Which I think beats your straight, no?”
It was hard not to feel smug at the moment, not to want to revel in his utter devastation at losing, but as I looked at the disbelief across his face, I slightly—and I mean only very slightly—felt bad about it. But it was either him or me.
