“I’m sorry,” she mumbles.
“Damn!” He shoos her off. As Clarice passes me, I extend my hand and she drops the unicorn mane in my palm.
“Gentlemen”—I shove the mane in my pocket—“let’s make this our last game. I’m getting tired.”
The men grumble in agreement as Luke blots his soaking crotch with the napkin.
A few minutes later I announce, “All in,” pushing every dollar bill I’ve got into the pile.
Luke lifts a brow. “You got that good a hand, huh?”
“You’ll find out.”
He tries to hide a smile, but he can’t. He’s got this one in the bag, he thinks. “What the hell. I’m all in, too.”
Luke drops all the cash he stole onto the table, plus everything that’s in his wallet. It’s a good three thousand dollars. He sits back with a satisfied smile.
“I’m out,” Ron declares.
“Me too,” says Isaac.
“Me three,” adds McCauley.
Luke smirks. “Let’s see if that Rowe Wadley bad luck is rubbing off on you.”
“What’s that?”
“Nothing.” He scratches his beard. “Just that folks in town say Rowe’s bad luck.”
“She’s not bad luck,” I snap, glaring at him.
“Hey, don’t kill the messenger.” He lifts his hands in surrender. “I’m just saying what everybody else knows.”
“Everybody but me.”
Isaac raps his knuckles on the table. “Show ’em if you’ve got ’em.”
Luke drops a straight, and begins to gather the money with a cocky smirk when I say, “Hold on.”
His expression falls. “What do you have?”
I place my cards face up one at a time. “Ace, king, queen, jack, and ten of spades. Royal flush.”
His jaw drops. “You can’t— That’s not possible.”
“Oh, it’s possible.”
Isaac nods to me. “Pane’s the winner of this round.”
I pluck cash from Luke’s hand and drag the pot of money toward me.
Luke checks his pocket and sees that the mane is missing. He jumps out of his seat and towers over me, eyes bulging, neck veins popping. “You had Clarice ...”
Then he stops, because he can’t admit that he’s been cheating.
But this jerk’s not getting off that easily.
“I had Clarice, what? What did I have her do?” I rise slowly, putting the bills together and folding them over. Ron, Isaac, and McCauley stare at each other in confusion. “What were you going to say, Luke?”
