Kira, however, appears concerned. Suddenly, there are a lot of eyes on our group. I see it in my periphery as more of the “young leaders” start to pay attention. By saying no, I’m somehow causing a scene.
“Tommy, it’s okay,” she whispers softly. “Play with them, I’ll stay with Lexie. And,” she almost chokes, “Janessa.”
“Darling,” I cajole, not liking that weak, defeated tone, but she shakes her head stiffly, her eyes darting to the others watching us. Anxiety flashes across her features.
Like a bolt of lightning striking me, I suddenly realize I’m misplaying my part. I was supposed to make her feel more comfortable here, and more confident, not less. It’s frustrating, because I thought that by listening to what she really wanted, I’d be helping her, but I’m not.
I make my tone lighter, more casual and flirty. I try on a grin and find that it sticks well enough to work for now. “Okay, my love. As long as you don’t mind being seen with someone who might be naturally terrible at poker.”
She relaxes, and lets out a relieved breath. “I’m sure you’ll do great…um, honey,” she adds belatedly, blushing bright pink.
I spin and face Brian, who is sitting back down and rapidly shuffling cards, watching me like he’s having trouble figuring me out. A moron wouldn’t have said no to him like I just did, so now he’s reassessing me.
Good. I like to keep a man on his toes.
“Seems like I have permission,” I let my smile grow wider, and get a round of cheers from the boys as I sit with them. I’m acutely aware of Kira leaving my side. I don’t like it. She’s too soft and anxious and kind. She shouldn’t be here without someone to protect her.
At least she still has Lexie.
“We’ll do a practice round, no stakes this time,” Brian says generously, but the way the brothers are failing to hide their glee is a hint of what’s to come.
“Much appreciated.” I glance at the girls, and I’m a little surprised, because I expect Janessa to be all over Brian, claiming her conquest and trying to regain his affection after his cold dismissal a moment ago, but she seems completely dialed in on Kira.
What’s her angle?
“So, it goes like this–” Brian starts putting cards on the table, “--let’s play face up first so you understand. Everyone gets two cards, and the dealer will flip some cards over, and if you can make a strong hand with five of the cards, including the two you were originally dealt, then you win the game. First, everyone gets their two cards, and we place a bet. Then, the dealer puts three cards face up on the table, that’s called the flop. You can either raise the bet, meaning you think you’ll have a good hand at the end of it and want to increase the price everyone pays into the pot, call the bet of the person who went before you, meaning you match their bet, or fold, meaning you bow out. If you bow out in the first round, you only lose the buy-in price. If you fold out in the later rounds, you lose everything you bet in earlier rounds. There are three rounds in total. Making sense so far?”
I nod, furrowing my brow, eyes on his hands as he flips three cards over. “This is the flop round. I’ve dealt a nine, a jack, and a seven. I’ve got a two and a queen, which might go with the jack if I get another number or face card in order. You have a nine,so you’d do well to place a bet, because a pair of nines–or a pair of any kind–could win a hand if no one else has anything good. But it looks like Gregory has a ten, so with the nine and jack on the table he could end up with a straight in the next two rounds, which would beat a pair. We aren’t using money, so don’t worry about it this time.”
He’s throwing everything at me fast, and I furrow my brow while he speeds up. I can tell he’s trying to overwhelm me, trying to make it so I’m basically guaranteed to lose with no idea how to play.
He places another card face up. It’s a four. “The second round is just one card, called the turn. Leonard has a four, so he might feel good about winning with a pair, but you have a four, too, Claremont,” he tips his head to me. “With the nine pair and four pair, that’s two pairs, which makes for a decent hand, especially since Gregory now lost his chance at a straight. If this were a real game, you should raise the bet to pressure others to fold.”
He flips over a final card. “The last round is one more card, called the river. This one is an ace, and that card doesn’t work with anything else we’ve got, which leaves you the winner with two pairs. You’d win this round. Do you understand now?”
I tilt my head. “So… there’s more than one way to win?”
“Yeah!” Brian says, like I’m the smartest kid in class. “There are lots of different ways to win. The strongest hand is the one that wins, and they are ranked in order. Here, listen–” he briefly runs through the tiers of winning hands, from royal flush, down to high card, which he tells me is when no one has a good hand and the highest card wins.
“Got it?” Leonard asks me impatiently, drumming on the table.
I shrug. “Maybe. It’s just a card game.”
“That’s the spirit!” Gregory claps me on the back roughly as Brian reshuffles the deck.
I watch his hands like a hawk, and what I see makes me relax into my chair. The boys are convinced they’ll crush me at this game, but I can tell Brian isn’t stacking the deck. He’s shuffling plainly, so he’s relying on his skill at bluffing, or maybe just luck, to win. Being able to cheat at cards without being seen takes motivation and discipline, neither of which Brian seems to have.
That evens my odds, at least a little. This game seems to rely mostly on luck, and the rest on a person’s ability to keep a straight face. It’s basically a game of chicken, where getting the other players to fold is the easiest and surest way to win.
“Alright, buy-in is five hundred.” Brian grins and starts passing out cards, face down this time. “Standard bet is the same. Let’s go, boys!”
I nod like I’m excited, even though I want to vomit at the idea of losing a week’s worth of pay to a couple of pricks as insufferable as these three.
I take my two cards, pull them close, but I don’t peer at them yet. I take some time to watch the brothers both look at their hands. Brian checks his cards as well.
I try to read their faces. Leonard’s eyebrow twitches. Gregory scowls fiercely but I can tell by the way he hesitated that he decided to scowl, meaning it wasn’t natural. Brian keeps his face admirably blank.
They all look at me, because waiting to watch them means I’m the last one to look at my cards. With all the eyes on me, I look at my hand, then blink like I’m trying to remember all the rules that were hastily thrown at me.
