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I purse my lips, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of being right. “Might be.”
“Nah, it’s not,” Ash says. He narrows his eyes at me and hovers his hand over the cards on the table like he’s thinking very hard. “This one’s more you, I bet.” With deft fingers, he flips over the last card on the right.
Ace of diamonds.
“Hmm, closer, but not quite.”
This time he reaches for me, and before I can jerk back, he’s pulling another card out of nowhere like it came from behind my ear.
The queen of spades.
Ash nods, like he’s satisfied. “See, we got there in the end.”
I can’t help but smile at the show. His natural flair for being dramatic and charming definitely helps the little act, and he’s actually damn good at it from what I can tell. I’m entertained by it, and actually a bit impressed, too.
I give him a little golf clap for his trouble.
“He’d fit right in at a circus,” Priest deadpans, shoving his plate away in a sharp gesture. “He’s already a clown.”
“Aww, come on, Priest, that’s mean,” Knox protests. “He’s not a clown. He’s the con man outside trying to scam you out of your money with weighted dice or offering to tell your future with his cards.”
“I don’t hear either of you talking shit when I’m using my skills for your benefit,” Ash shoots back. “Like picking pockets and appropriating things that don’t strictly belong to me.”
“You can’t do that with cards,” Gage says. “The cards are just for the trick of it. For the show. And you know it.”
“It’s not his fault he’s hungry for the attention, I guess,” Knox says.
“It’s absolutely his fault,” Priest returns.
While they give each other shit, I go get my toast and spread butter and jam on the slices, biting into one with a satisfied crunch. Clearly none of their shit talking is meant to hurt Ash’s feelings, and it’s all the good natured kind of hazing that comes from knowing each other really well, I guess.
Ash defends himself by saying he can take Priest’s wallet if he needs a demonstration of how useful his hands can be, and Gage cuts in to tell him to save his ‘useful hands’ for the women at the club. That sets Knox off laughing, and Ash just makes a lewd gesture and goes back to shuffling.
“It’s not all card tricks, you know,” he says.
“No, that’s true,” Gage allows. “You could also join the circus with your knife throwing act.”
That catches my attention as I lick butter and strawberry jam from my fingers. “You can throw knives?” I ask him.
Ash looks up and grins at me. “With the best of them.”
“This, I have to see to believe.”
“Is that a challenge?”
“Sure. Because otherwise I don’t know if I believe it.”
He raises one eyebrow. “Okay. What’ll you give me if I manage to throw five knives and not nick you?”
“If you can do that, I’ll give you a kiss.”
His eyes immediately flare with heat, and warmth spreads through me as if there’s an open flame burning between us. Our eye contact holds for a long moment, and then Ash smiles slowly, making a show of licking his lips.
“Deal,” he says in a low, husky tone.
“Don’t use the fucking kitchen knives again,” Gage gripes.
“I know, I know.” Ash gets up and runs upstairs for a bit, coming back with a wooden box with knives laid out inside. They’re not special, and he lets me handle one to prove they aren’t trick knives or anything and that they are sharp.
