“I love having a dragon for a friend.”
“So, what are we playing?” Alistair asked as he passed out the now lit cigars. He kept one for himself and put it between his teeth
“Skins,” one of the other men at the table suggested. He was a short, burly fellow with reddish hair and a full beard. He snorted a lot.
“Tired of losing all your money, Hank?” he teased the man.
“Naw, it's just been a while since we played skins.”
“Uh huh! Well, alright, I’m game,” Alistair said.
“This time, Alistair, you’re letting your dragon out,” Hank said, pointing his cigar at him. “And no one is seeing this piggy.”
All the guys at the table burst into laughter.
“We’ll see. Deal them up, Tibs.” There were seven guys sitting around the poker table. The bar was hopping tonight, and Alistair looked around at all the familiarfaces and smiled when he spotted the back of the head of a pretty blonde. She was sitting across the table from a dark-haired girl. “Hang on, I want to say hi to someone.”
“You’re using that excuse to look at my cards,” Hank complained, trying to hide his cards.
Alistair walked over to the table.
“Hello ladies.”
“Alistair, I didn’t realize you were down here.” Teagan said,
“I was sitting over there, at the poker table. We’re playing skins tonight. If you ladies stick around, you might just get to see my dragon.”
“I’ll pass,” Teagan said.
“So my parents are still planning the wedding in three months, I thought you were taking care of things,” Phoebe asked.
“I thought I did. Clearly my father didn’t listen to me. Well, tomorrow is Sunday and I’ll talk to him again.”
“Maybe I should talk to him.”
‘No, no I don’t want him to hurt you.”
“Alistair, if he doesn’t listen to you--”
“If he doesn’t listen to me, then we’ll just have to show him. You and Teagan should get married. I haven’t worked things out with Sarai yet, but I will.”
“When?”
“Soon.”
“Good luck with that,” Teagan said.
“Alistair, you playing or what?”
“Have a good evening, ladies.” He walked back to the table. “Nice king of hearts, Hank.”
“I knew you were looking at my cards,” Hank growled. Alistair laughed and then picked up his cards.
“How many, Hank?”
“Three,” the burly man grumbled slamming three cards on the table.
“Bob?” Bob was burly but he was larger than Hank. He had shaggy black hair that kept falling in his face. He would huff at it till it flew back. It would stay that way for a few minutes, then fall back in his face.
