Aside from that, I didn’t want these players to complain to my contact who wouldn’t tell me about future games because of it.
Someday, this whole ordeal would be done. Court would have occurred. Papers would be signed. And this ridiculous marriage would just be a story I pulled out at parties.
I wanted to keep my life the way I liked it: with tournaments, with casinos, with back-room games.
I wasn’t surprised when I lost the first hand to Harrison. My head wasn’t in the game. And he was the best player at the table aside from me.
But when the second hand went his way, then the third, my heartbeat started to hammer in my chest, in my ears.
What was going on?
When there was a quick refreshment break, Harrison and I stayed seated.
“You have a tell,” he said, making my spine stiffen.
“No, I don’t.” If I had a tell, I’d have lost every hand at a professional tournament.
“You didn’t,” he clarified. “But you do now.”
Before I could ask anything else, everyone filed back to their seats, the cards whispered together as they were shuffled, then we each reached for our hands.
I watched everyone else before checking my cards.
As I did, though, I saw Harrison’s gaze slip from my face to my hand.
My own followed.
And, damn him, he was right.
My thumb was turning my wedding band around my ring finger.
A nervous tick.
My hand was crap. Not so bad that I wanted to throw it all away, but not likely a winning one unless there was a small miracle.
If he hadn’t given me the rings back, if he hadn’tshown upit never would have happened.
It wasn’t enough that he’d been screwing with my mind since Vegas; now he was messing with my livelihood.
Alright, fine, this was just a game for fun. But real moneywasinvolved.
It was just the point.
Annoyed, I pulled my ring off my finger when it was my turn to ante up… and tossed it in the pot.
To his credit, Harrison had no reaction to the move even as others at the table made comments or noises.
We both knew I was going to lose my hand.
I was going to lose that ring.
But I still played my bad cards with a rolling feeling in my stomach and a strange ache in my chest.
Eventually, after trying and failing to turn my hand around, my only choice was to fold.
But Harrison?
He kept playing his.
