“Now, that’s a bald-faced lie. Come on, Mav.”
“I’m good, darlin’,” I said, pointing to the empty glass. She sighed and poured me another while I waited for a response from Trojan.
“One day, Maverick, someone’s gonna come in and walk right into your heart and you’ll let her. I can’t wait for that.”
Why did I picture Tavi when she said that?
“Maybe, but this life ain’t for love. It’s too dangerous. “
“That’s bullshit and you know it. This club is family. We protect our own. You just want to make excuses.”
Cherry moved off, leaving me the bottle, annoyed. I didn’t blame her. She came from nothing, and this club protected her when no one else would. She was right, we were a family, but it took a damn strong woman to want this life.
Mari hadn’t wanted it. We hadn’t been strong enough to withstand that. The club called to me, whereas motherhood called to her. We’d agreed. Both of us, and yet, I had lived a life away from responsibility, away from finding love because I didn’t want to hurt the memory of my marriage, and my kids.
But I’d missed out on so much.
I grabbed the bottle of whiskey and headed over to the tables at the bar of the clubhouse. Animal, Knight and Beast sat at the tables, dealing cards.
“Ah shit,” Animal scoffed. “Time to lose your money, boys.”
I smirked at him, knowing he was probably right. I wasn’t named Maverick for no reason. My poker strategy was unparalleled.
“Deal.”
Beast groaned, but did as he was told. We were joined by Pope, Shadow and our treasurer, Vegas. If anyone could best me, it was him, but only on a good day.
The game was underway, sweaty brows, serious faces. I could see the tells on all of them immediately. Suckers.
I played my hand, watching as each of them chewed on their lower lip, or watched as their eyes darted around the table.
Easy prey.
Vegas and I went on rides once a year, heading to Brisbane to meet up with our Brisbane chapter to hit the casino there. Long nights, drinks, cocaine and usually women on tap. When was the last time I’d done that?
When Beast finally put his cards down, I chuckled as we all saw the cocky bastard had a good hand but not as good as mine.
“How the fuck do you do that?” he grunted, as he pushed the chips toward me. “Every fucking time.”
“It’s called strategy, kid,” I told him with a wink, which only earned me a scowl. His twin, Knight, and older brother, Animal, both laughed and clapped him on the back. He always did have the biggest temper of all of them.
But he was one of the fiercest we had.
“Deal.”
Vegas did as he was ordered and I sat back, watching, calming my nerves after being off kilter from seeing her again, and waiting on Trojan’s text.
Play after play, I got lost in the feel of the game with my brothers, laughing at Beast losing his shit and tagging in our prospect Brandon. He was good.
Damn good.
Better than I thought he would be, and I didn’t have a proper read on him yet. I would. I always did. I could read people. Always been able to. It was a curse sometimes, and there were times it was useful.
Like this.
Like when I needed to get us out of sticky situations with rival clubs, or the Ironborne.
Brandon almost got me with his hand, because I’d been thinking about the shit we were going through with Prez’s son.I knew Trey, and I knew he was a dumbass, but to get involved with the Ironborne wasn’t like him.
