“No game here,” the man said, then turned away.
Declan grabbed the door, holding it with a tight grip. “Aw, come on. I know there’s a game. You know there’s a game. And me and my guy here are looking to lose some money. You really going to make us walk back out in the rain?”
The man turned, narrowing his eyes. Seb felt his heartrate accelerate, but with Declan grinning and acting cocky, it felt more like a thrill than actual danger.
“Private club,” he said flatly.
“What am I supposed to say to get in?” Declan asked. “Purple rhinoceros? I’m here for Sammy with the nice jacket? 867-5309?” When the man started to walk away, he raised his voice. “What if I tell you Anthony Pierce says hi?”
The man stopped in his tracks. A moment passed. Then he waved his hand over his shoulder. “Come on in.”
Seb hurried alongside Declan as they passed through a corridor, then out into a small bar. There were a couple of tables set up with men playing cards, a few women lounging by the counter, and black-and-white photos fading on the walls. The air smelled like wood and smoke, and the lights were dim enough that you had to stare to make out anyone’s face.
“Who is Anthony Pierce?” Seb whispered.
“Some asshole who runs a lot of shit in this part of the country,” Declan said. “Thinks he’s the king of the world.”
“How do you know him?”
“Me? Oh, hell no, I don’t know Anthony Pierce. But neither does anyone else in this hole in the wall.”
Seb chuckled to himself as Declan went to grab them both drinks from the bar. He caught a few people glancing his way and ended up shuffling uncomfortably against a pillar in the middle of the room for a minute. He felt like someone there might recognize him as an outsider, an imposter in a world so different than the place he actually belonged.
Definitely no friend of Anthony Pierce’s, that was for sure.
But then Declan appeared back at his side. He smiled, his mouth wide and the silver in his hair flashing, and Seb instantly felt at peace again.
Declan handed him a glass of brown liquid. “It’s called an Old Fashioned,” he said. “Thought it matched the environment.”
Seb laughed. “I’ve had one before,” he said, taking a sip of the drink, sweet with a kick. “Thank you.”
Declan nodded, then cast his eyes across the place. “Seems pretty quiet,” he said under his breath. “I doubt there will be much action here tonight. Just cards and drinks.” He chuckled to himself, then shook his head. “I started off being a bodyguard at a place like this. It was a fight club on the weekends and a gambling house during the week.”
Seb’s eyes got wider. “A fight club?”
Declan held up his arm, then rolled down his sleeve. “This scar,” he said. “Came from some old man who didn’t want to pay his poker debt. I wasn’t even out of my chair before he broke a bottle and came at me with it.”
“Wow,” Seb said. “That sounds horrible.”
“It wasn’t pretty,” Declan nodded, then laughed. “But I earned my reputation there. Not much else nice I can say about that place.”
Seb’s heart ached. The fact that Declan was still so kind to him after the life he had lived was kind of astounding. The stress of all that violence would make many people cold and cruel, he knew, but Declan was somehow so tender with Seb. “You didn’t have to bring me here,” he said, “if it’s too upsetting.”
“It’s not upsetting,” Declan answered. “I still love a place like this, too. I always will. And you can tell this dive, in particular?” He nodded out toward the room. “These are honest people. Misfits, sure, but not the kind to take advantage of someone else. They’re the kinds of men I’ve always known, people who might fuck up every now and then, but who work hard and do their best anyway.”
Seb looked around and tried to see the bar through Declan’s eyes. There were a few men who looked mean as hell, but just as many who were smiling and laughing together. And when he glanced at the walls, he noticed how many of the photos were of families.
“What do you say?” Declan asked. “Want to play a game of poker before we go?”
“Oh, gosh,” Seb said quickly. “I don’t really know how.”
Declan grinned. “I’m sure you’re a quick learner. Here, let me explain the rules. Unless you got something else going on?”
Seb smiled. “If you really think it’s okay, sure. I’d love to try.”
They found a spot at a booth, and as they sipped their drinks, Declan explained the rules. It felt unreal to Seb. It’s not like he had some burning desire to play poker that he had denied himself or that he was itching to break the law. But as he and Declan rubbed their feet together beneath the booth, Seb realized that the dream of his work had consumed his life for so long, he had forgotten how many other things there were to explore in the world.
He had forgotten he could change, that he could be the one who made his life different.
