CHAPTER 9
You Played
KYIRIS
“Give us an eight,” I said, scanning the fire hand in front of me.
I sorted my cards by books and knew we were about to fuck the table up. It didn’t matter that Mehki only confirmed one for sure book and a possible. We had already won two games and had four more tables to go before we got to the final one.
“An eight?” Mehki repeated like he wasn’t confident in my skills.
“Have I showed you nothing on the last two tables, partner?”
“Ion know. You did cut a nigga lil’ joker the last go round.”
I giggled. “The big joker was all I had left. You thought I was gon’ play my showstopper at the beginning of the game?”
“Nah, but my partner ain’t supposed to cut me.”
I looked across the table at him with a raised brow. “This don’t sound like solidarity.”
“I’m convinced the fake arguing is their strategy,” one of our opponents called out, making her partner laugh.
Ever since the tournament began, we’d become the entertainment. Whether we were calling each other out for wrong steps or talking shit once we made a book, one would think me and Mehki had been playing together for years. Andthat was the goal. Spades wasn’t just a card game, at least not when I played. You had to have chemistry with your partner, and we had that.
“I think they’re on to us, partner,” I joked.
“I am,” the woman countered, smiling at me. “Put the eight down, bae,” she instructed the guy across from her who I assumed was her man. “I know we got five easy.”
We played the hand, grabbing the first three books easily. By the time we got to book seven, Mehki looked pleased.
“Bae, really?” the woman fussed. “You see me cutting hearts, and you gon’ throw one out?”
“Shiiid, you wanna make the books or not?” he reasoned, putting a red cup to his lips and taking a sip.
“No need to fight. You cutting hearts shouldn’t cut the love y’all truly have for each other,” I teased, hugging myself and making Mehki laugh.
“Alright, y’all. The winner of your current table gets to move to the next once you’re done.” Someone called out near the DJ booth where they had a whole scoreboard set up.
“Oh, that would be us,” I said, confidently slapping my big joker down on the table and standing. “Let’s go, partner. No need to check the score. I know we showed out.”
Mehki stood and walked around the table to me.
“That confident shit is a turn on,” he said.
“Nah, baby. It’s this winning shit that’s turning you on,” I said. “C’mon, there’s more money to collect.”
By the time we got to table five, the teams that we’d already whooped had stuck around to watch us. It had gone from a spades tournament to the Mehki and Key show, with me being the perfect leading lady. See, I was a shit talker and used that to my advantage to knock the players off their square, while Mehki studied his cards and fed off me. I was having a ball.
“Partner,” I called to him across the table.
“Wassup?” he replied, not looking up from his cards.
“You up for something sweet later?”
The question got his attention just like I knew it would. His eyes shifted in my direction, and he licked his lips.
“Yeah.” He nodded. “I got a taste for it.”
