She grins. “Okay. Let’s see your hand.”
He turns over two cards and compares them to the ones flipped on the table.
My attention is split between the game and Lo, and I don’t want to focus on him anymore. I’m about to go against Connor’s wishes and dart to the back of the plane. In order to stop myself, I switch the television channels to find a show that can preoccupy my mind.
“So you have two eights,” Daisy says, a smile to the words.
“You beat me, didn’t you?”
“Two jacks,” she says.
“You were dealt two fucking jacks?”
“You shuffled.”
He groans.
“You can have the ring back if you want.”
Boy Meets World?No.Sabrina the Teenage Witch?No. Soccer? Definitely not.
“No, you won it. It’s yours.”
“I’m going to feel weird if it’s a family heirloom or something.” She tries to shove the ring into his hand. He holds them up in the air.
“It’s from a jewelry store, and I was going to retire the thing anyway.”
“Why?”
“It’s ugly.”
“So, you gave me an ugly piece of jewelry.”
“It’s worth two thousand fucking dollars.”
She smiles wryly. “Oh yeah.”
Ryke crumples the paper with the Ducati arrangement on it. He lost those bikes, and there’s a bit of disappointment in his eyes from not being able to snatch one. I wonder if they’re rare.
“How about…” Daisy folds the cash and stuffs it in her wallet. “…I’ll let you keep the black Ducati if you teach me how to ride.”
Law & Order?No.X-Mencartoon? Possibly. I hover on this channel a little, watching Wolverine in his original yellow and blue spandex.
Ryke taps the pen to the table. “I’m not going to teach you how to kill yourself.”
“That’s dramatic.”
He glares. “Knowing you, you’d run the fucking bike off a damn cliff for the hell of it.”
She spreads her arms. “Then teach me how to stay on the road.”
He shakes his head. “No, if I show you how to ride, you’re going to do something stupid on the interstate.”
She touches her chest. “I would never.”
He throws a hundred dollar bill at her face. And it flutters into her lap before hitting her nose, not the effect he was looking for.
X-Menis not helping take my mind off Lo. I glance back at him again. Same hunched position. Same sadness. What is going on? I sigh and switch channels quickly.
