“That’s ten grand you just cost me, Grinch.”
“Ten grand?” Joi’s eyes stretched widely as the rest of the cards from the other players were revealed, and the man next to them smiled, sliding the chips from the pot his way.
East lifted a brown chip from the stack in front of him, flipped it in his fingers, then placed it down in front of Joi. She looked at it with a light pout, not realizing he had bet so much.
“Ten grand,” East repeated before he moved his finger from each stack of chips one by one, calling out their value. “Ten, five, two, five hundred.”
“Shit, my bad.”
East’s smile was infectious as Joi surveyed his handsome face. He didn’t seem bothered by the loss, which was good. She hoped he wasn’t about to trip and expected her to recoup the money. This betting thing was his idea, not hers, and even though she delivered her answer about money for bets with confidence when East inquired, she damn sure didn’t have it like that.
“It’s cool. Let’s just get it back. Place a bet.” He nodded to the chips and Joi bit her lip. She eventually lifted one of the five hundred dollar chips and pushed it forward. The man next to her giggled like a bitch and it caused East to address him.
“Check that giggling shit or go find another table, pussy ass.” Not raising his voice even one octave, the threat was still present. East followed it up with a look that had Booker straightening in his seat while he kept his eyes forward. Being the focus of a man like East wasn’t something most looked forward to. East, however, had spoken his piece and moved on.
“Minimum bet is one thousand. You have to do better than that.”
Joi sucked her teeth and looked at the chips, surveying each one. Between the neatly stacked columns and the pile next to them, she surmised there was no less than two, possibly three hundred grand. Since East wanted to be a big shot, she removedthe chip for five hundred and replaced it with two that were ten grand each.
All eyes were on Joi again while East moved his hand across his curls. The money wasn’t shit to him. He had set aside five hundred grand for the night, and even if he hadn’t planned to lose it all, if he did, he wouldn’t so much as flinch behind it.
“Twenty large?”
He looked up at Joi, who simply shrugged with a smug grin creasing her lips. He read right through her casual demeanor and offered a slight nod.
“Aight, bet.” He then gave confirmation to the dealer that he was going with Joi’s decision.
Two of the other men groaned at the amount Joi had placed for East. Their pockets were straight, but nothing compared to East, and placing a small bet against his twenty made them look bad. They pushed their chips in, one at five, one at ten, while Dodge, who was pretty solid in the streets, tossed twenty to match East. He was also unbothered by the money.
Joi watched intently as the cards went down one by one. She was anxious. As confident as she tried to be, she didn’t want to be the reason behind East losing more money. The way her finances were set up at the moment, she damn sure didn’t have it to reimburse if he expected her to.
Moments later, cards were down in front of each player, but East didn’t move. Joi looked back at him and he nudged her slightly.
“Your bet, your decision. What we working with?”
“No, you’re not about to put that on me.”
“Your scary ass. Lift the card and see what we have. This is your bet.”
“I’m not scary. I’m just not crazy. This is your money.”
“True, butyourbet, withmymoney. Lift the card.”
Joi’s heart seemed to be pumping harder as she timidly peeked at the card that was face down.Queen of spades.The one face-up was a king of diamonds.Twenty.
She smiled, feeling a little more confident.
East chuckled when Dodge mumbled “shit” after watching Joi.
“You just gave away our hand, pretty.”
“How?” She frowned at East, causing his smile to grow wider.
“That cute ass smile of yours. It only showed for a second, but a second too long in a game that’s based on body language and facial expressions. They know we’re sitting nice over here.”
Joi surveyed the table and the looks on everyone’s faces while they waited for the dealer to turn one more card for himself. He was out. East tapped the table and the other two men pushed their cards forward while Dodge chuckled.
“Get our money.” East nodded at the pile of chips and Joi smiled harder than she had before. “I won?”
