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It was lower than mine.
I flipped over my higher straight, smirking at him.
Serenity grasped behind him as she read the cards, her eyes flickering to her father with just a little bit of fear as he slammed his fist down on the table.
“Son of a bitch,” Doyle snapped, glaring at me. He pushed away from the table. “You never bet first. How the fuck did you not bet on those cards? I could’ve had the ace-high straight.”
“You didn’t,” I said.
“Whatever,” he grumbled. “You're doing me a favor. Bangor is the worst NHL team in the league, and everybody knows it. Good luck with that. I need a fucking drink.” He stormed out of the room, snapping at Serenity to follow him when he made it to the door and she hadn't moved. His daughter quickly jumped out of her chair and hurried after him, the two of them disappearing.
Asher pushed the chips toward me, and while I was ecstatic to have won the hand, the one person I wanted to tell was Aspen, and no matter how many times I looked at that space by the girls where sheshouldbe, she wasn't there.
“Jesus,” Weston said. “That was close.”
“And reckless,” Ethan said. “I thought you learned not to bet things you weren't willing to lose?”
I shrugged. “I knew I had him.”
“And now you have two in NHL teams to deal with,” Asher said, shuffling the cards. “Want to talk about it?”
“There's nothing to talk about,” I said. “I know how to handle an NHL team, even one as poorly trained as Bangor. Same shit, different day.”
Ethan whistled. “Now I know you're lying. You love your Calgary team, and I know that you're already calculating how to fix Bangor. But you're brushing it off?”
Another shrug.
“You need to talk to her,” Wes finally said.
“I've tried. I can't make her think differently of herself. I've told you all this. She blames herself for what happened, and maybe I handled the situation poorly, but she doesn't want to hear from me.”
“Shit happens,” Ethan said. “I'll be the first one to say that. We make mistakes. It doesn't mean that you get an excuse to tap out, unless that's what you're looking for?”
I fastened him with a glare that screamed he knew better.
“Then tell her.”
“Tell her what?” I snapped. “Tell her that I never wanted her to question herself in my world? Tell her that I'm having a hard time breathing when she's not around? Tell her that I don't care who her parents are or how many times they try to crash our events, I just want her with me? Every time I reach out, she tells me to give her space. And that tells me everything I need to know. She doesn't feel the same way about me as I do her. If she did, she wouldn't have bailed.”
“Did it ever occur to you that she bailed because she didn't want her family to continue to bring you down?” Daisy asked, inserting herself into the conversation from where she sat with the other girls behind us.
“That's ridiculous,” I said.
“Is it?” Daisy challenged. “What would you do if you felt like you were putting her in positions to be publicly embarrassed or at the very least, situations that create emotional danger? Would you continue to be around her? Would you continue to let your environment hurt her?”
“I...” I couldn't answer that question, not honestly. Because I would do anything to keep her from hurting.
Was that what she was doing?
Did she think that by keeping her distance from me, her parents would leave me alone?
Did she honestly think that I would care?
I replayed the after aftermath of the scene at the hospital, my memory serving me with a crystal-clear vent-session on my end. One that could easily be interpreted the wrong way. One that could make the scene look like it affected me more than it should have.
Damn.
“Either way,” Asher said when I’d been quiet too long. “You won't know until you have an honest conversation with her. She needs to know the stakes.”
