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“Four of a kind,” I say to Grant.
His smile drops as he flips over two aces, giving him three of a kind.
“I win,” I say shyly. “I’ll try to use your advice for the next hand though.”
Marvin pushes the chips to me while Killian chuckles softly next to me.
“Did your father teach you how to play poker, too?” he asks in my ear so that only I can hear.
I shrug and blush, and he chuckles again.
We play for another hour or so until the only players remaining are Killian, me, and Grant. I stay out of the conversation to my relief as the boys talk about sports and cars. I glance over at Killian. He won’t stay in the game for much longer though. He’s down to his last chips.
“How did you two meet?” Stephen asks as he brings me another beer.
I taste it, but it doesn’t taste as good as the one Killian ordered earlier.
I glance nervously at Killian. I’m not ready to share our story, but I suck at lying and don’t want to lie to a member of his family.
“We met three years ago.”
I choke on my beer when he says that. God, I’ve got to stop doing that. I turn to face him, trying to decide if he’s lying or telling the truth, but Killian has the best poker face I have ever seen.
“I was giving a speech to a business class at Yale. While I was there, I paid a visit to an old friend.” He doesn’t look at me when he says the next words, “Eli Stratford. You remember him, Grant. He was Charlie’s younger brother.”
“Yeah, I remember Charlie. I didn’t know Eli that well though. I didn’t know you were friends,” Grant says.
Killian shakes his head. “We weren’t really, but like I said, I presented in front of a business class, and Eli was there. He introduced himself afterward, and I agreed to meet him for lunch.
“Anyway, we were at lunch, and the most beautiful girl I had seen came walking into the restaurant. I considered leaving Eli alone right there, so I could go after the girl, but to my surprise, she walked over to our table and kissed Eli on the lips. Then, she asked for the keys to his apartment, so she could study there instead of walking back to hers across campus. And she left. That girl was Kinsley. She recently moved back into town after graduating, and I asked her out. And here we are.”
Killian still won’t look at me. Grant puts his arm around me, and I force a smile on my face.
“Too bad the old man here snatched you up, but if you want to have a good time, you’ll go out with me sometime,” Grant says, winking.
I smile. “I don’t know if I can go out with someone who loses to me in poker.”
“I haven’t lost yet—unlike Killian who is about to get slaughtered.”
Grant begins dealing the cards again, drawing his attention away from me. My thoughts stay on Killian though, even as the cards are dealt. I don’t remember that story. I don’t remember that happening, and it’s quite an extravagant lie just to keep Grant away from the truth—that we are basically having an arranged marriage.
I glance at my cards. I call on my turn. I’m giving half of my attention to what Killian just said and the other half to the game at hand.
After we have all called, Grant flops the first three cards.
I quickly count my outs and then calculate my odds—fifty-five percent. It’s greater than the pot odds. I double the bet on my turn.
Why in the hell did Killian tell that story? How did he know I was dating Eli?
Another card is turned over. My odds increase to sixty percent.
I look at Killian. I notice a tiny bead of sweat forming on his face. His leg is shaking under the table. He increases the bet again. He’s lying.
But just moments ago, the only sign was him avoiding my gaze. That was the truth. Suddenly, I remember. I remember seeing a strange, hot man having lunch with Eli. I remember going back to Eli’s apartment and studying before waiting for him to walk me to my afternoon class, like he always did—except, that day, I never made it to class. When Eli got home from that lunch, we got in the worst fight we had ever been in. Eli seemed to think I was already engaged to another man. That it would never work out with us. He broke up with me that night. Killian was the one that told him I was engaged. Killian broke us up.
“All in,” I say, pushing the chips into the middle of the table.
I can’t stay here any longer. I don’t care about winning or losing anymore. I don’t care about flirting with Killian anymore. I just want to get out of here.
