AJ shot me a wry look. “No limit.”
I shrugged and set the cards down. “Have it your way. The starting bet is fifty.” I went on to establish the blinds, side pots, and other rules. “Everyone agree?”
They did, and the chips were divided.
Feddy (as his friends called him) frowned when I didn’t take any. “You’re not playing?”
“Wouldn’t be fair.”
Tommy, the broad, sandy-haired man across from me, made a disgruntled noise. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
I tipped my head toward Stella, who was observing from the couch. “I’m still trying to make a good impression. Embarrassing her old friends would be counterintuitive.”
Those within hearing distance gave me the reactions I’d been hoping for, mostly annoyance and disbelief. Because who the fuck was I to say no to these people?
Tommy tapped the table. “We can handle it.”
I tried to demur again, but they played right into my hand, all but daring me to take their money.
“Stella?” I said. “Would you come deal for us?”
She eyed me for half a second, wariness in her gaze, before standing. Yes, she’d agreed to help me, but it was obvious she was still adjusting to her role. “Fine.”
An hour later, Tommy was close to the breaking point. He’d decided to go all-in with me for the second time and was now down to a pitiful stack of chips.
“You’re cheating,” he declared, chucking his losing hand at Stella.
Anger tore through me at the accusation, but I did my best to tamp it down. The rules of the game were holy to me. I would never commit the sacrilege of cheating.
“Tommy,” AJ said, a hint of displeasure in his tone.
Tommy pushed back in his chair. “Tell me you don’t agree,” he said, glancing around the table.
No one took the bait, but no one stepped up to defend me, either.
“You’re just bad at poker,” I told him.
“Fuck you,” he shot back. Ooh, testy.
“You tap the back of your cards,” I said. “When you have a decent hand. Just once or twice with your right index finger while you’re holding them. When you have a bad hand, you nod and grin, trying to throw everyone off. And when you have a great hand, you sit almost perfectly still to not give anything away.”
“How is that not cheating?” he said, voice rising.
Julia made a face. “Because all he’s doing is paying attention?”
“Bullshit,” Tommy spat, and now I was really starting to get mad.
“Calm down,” AJ said, rolling his head to look at Tommy in laconic annoyance.
The larger man gestured at me. “Who the fuck evenisthis guy?”
Stella slapped a hand against the table. “My boyfriend, you coked-out jockstrap.”
Julia and I choked back surprised laughter, which only seemed to enrage him.
“Fuck you!”
“Not even with someone else’s vagina,” Stella shot back.
