Page 26 of Midnight Creed

The men took forever, deciding whether to hold or fold or take another card. Brodie didn’t mind. The best part of playing poker was watching and listening to them. It took her a few times playing with them before she realized the cards were only a prop. What they really wanted to do was get together and talk. Men were complicated.

Actually, Brodie believed people were complicated. Nobody said what they meant. She tried as hard as possible to understand sarcasm, but still didn’t get it. And then there were certain topics that couldn’t even be discussed.

She and Jason talked about anything and everything, but she had learned that his relationship with Taylor Donahue was off limits. So even though she noticed him checking his phone every five minutes and scowling at it, she couldn’t ask. She didn’t really need to. Only Taylor seemed to trigger those creases in Jason’s brow.

“Is everything okay?” she asked him when they first arrived because he’d immediately checked his phone.

“No worries,” he told her as he texted a short message, then slid the phone into his back pocket.

But it didn’t end there. The checking the phone, the furrowed brow continued throughout the evening.

Now, Brodie glanced down at Hank curled up at her feet. She preferred the company of dogs and her cat named Kitten. They weren’t complicated. Most of the time, she could figure them out. Sometimes the big dog snored when he was fast asleep. Now, despite his eyes being closed, she knew he was not asleep. They were safe here, but Hank was always on alert, ready to pounce into action to protect her.

The poker room at the Segway House was small. Still, Jason insisted she have the seat at the table that put her back to the wall, knowing that’s where she’d feel most comfortable. He sat across from her with his back to the room’s entrance. Benny and Colfax sat across from each other. Both men were veterans, like Jason. All of them carried obvious wounds they’d brought back from their tours of duties.

Brodie was used to Jason’s mechanical arm. When she first met him almost a year ago, the fingers were still black jointed metal that looked like something from a sci-fi movie. His most recent update included a coating that resembled skin. It even felt like skin. Though he still didn’t have fingerprints, the addition of micro-sensors—added to the neuro-translator ones he already had—gave him a higher level of sensation. In other words, he could feel what he touched.

According to Jason, the only reason he was able to get all these amazing updates was because of a deal Ryder made with some guy from DARPA. Brodie wished Ryder could get a deal for Benny and Colfax, though both men seemed resolved and content. Benny had a souped-up truck with hydraulics for his wheelchair and special equipment so he could drive with his hands. Both Benny’s legs were amputated above his knees.

As far as Brodie knew, Colfax came back whole. But one side of his face looked like a jigsaw puzzle with some of the pieces put in the wrong spots and melted into place.

Benny tossed two cards on the table and asked for “two better ones” from Colfax, who was the dealer tonight. To Jason, Benny said, “So Romeo, what are you getting your girlfriend for Christmas?”

“I haven’t decided yet,” Jason said, but when he looked up from his cards, he glanced over at Brodie before his eyes landed on Benny.

Benny didn’t even notice. He focused on the new cards, and Brodie could tell he was pleased. These guys were awful at telegraphing their cards.

Brodie, on the other hand, had spent sixteen years learning to equate any emotional expression with pain and punishment. It was safer to hide her true emotions. She had gotten so good at it, she now struggled to show her feelings. Lately, she caught herself slipping. Even now, she tried not to look interested in what Jason was thinking about giving Taylor. She hoped Benny would continue to press him. She wanted to know the answer, too.

She’d already bought her gift for Jason. With Hannah’s help, she’d tracked down a first edition of To Kill a Mockingbird signed by Harper Lee. It was incredibly expensive, and Brodie would never have been able to afford it. But somehow Hannah’s grandmother, who had owned a bookstore many years ago, knew the book collector. All Brodie knew was that trades had been made, and the price for the special edition came down significantly.

The book was Jason’s favorite. He had a dog-eared paperback on his bookshelf that he’d read so many times pages were falling out. Even his dog Scout was named after Scout Finch. Brodie hoped he’d like it. Hannah said he would love it.

“What do you have, Brodie?” Benny asked.

She’d lost herself in thought, and they were waiting for her. All of their playing cards were displayed on the table. Benny smiled, and she realized his full house—three aces and a pair of fours—had distracted him from digging further into Jason’s gift for Taylor. Colfax had a pair of kings. Jason had three twos.

She put hers down and listened to their groans. It was a straight flush: five, six, seven, eight and nine and all hearts. Jason grinned at her from across the table even as he joined Benny and Colfax’s chorus of groans. She could tell he was proud of her.

Brodie couldn’t help but smile. Another slip, and she still couldn’t help wondering what it would cost her to feel joy and happiness. That’s when she noticed Jason picked up his cell phone again. He winced before he tucked it away. How could being in a relationship cause so much anxiety?

“Excuse me a minute.” Jason got up from the table and headed out the door.

“Are we dealing you in?” Colfax called before he disappeared.

“Sure. Yeah. Of course.”

The shuffling of cards amplified in the silence. Brodie’s eyes shifted from one man to the other. They exchanged a glance, but avoided looking her way.

“What?” she asked. “I’m not made of porcelain. I can handle it.” She’d just read that line in a book and thought it was perfect for how they all still tiptoed around her.

“She usually leaves him alone when he’s just with us,” Benny finally said, swinging a finger to indicate himself and Colfax like he expected her to fill in the blank.

“This has something to do with me?”

“Of course.” Colfax started dealing the cards. “You and Jason spend a lot of time together.”

“We work together.” Brodie was still baffled.