Page 94 of Against the Clock
“Of course it’s good, I made it.”
“I’m ready for poker!” one of the huge men says, dressed in jeans and a Hot Dam t-shirt.
“That’s Tyler, Ty, one of the Matthews brothers,” Daniel tells me. “He’s young, but he’s a good one. He’ll go places if he can get traded—” He clamps his mouth shut, then shoots me an apologetic look.
I squeeze his hand because I know he wants to tell me all about his friends, and I also know he doesn’t want to hurt any of their feelings or talk shit about their team.
“Is your girl ready to get her ass handed to her at the poker table?” Ty says, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
“Oh,” I say, making my own eyes as round as possible. “I’m terrible at poker.” I bat my eyelashes, suppressing an evil grin. “I always forget which is better, the one with all the same colors or the one with the same numbers.”
Ty laughs, and he sizes me up. I try to make myself look more innocent.
I’m going to win all the fucking candy tonight.
“Be careful with her,” Daniel says to Ty. “She plays dirty.”
“No,” I say, swatting at his elbow. “I promise I won’t get the cards sticky from the candy. Sheesh!”
Daniel snickers, then leans down and whispers. “Nice act. I’ll be watching you, Cole.”
“Well,” Darius says, “if everyone’s eaten enough, we can head to the poker tables. Let the games begin!”
The men and their dates, except Ty and a guy on crutches—the other Matthews brother, I remember—who seem to be alone, make their way out of the crowded kitchen. The next room is a two-story great room where a few tables have been set up, each with a couple decks of brand-new cards on them and a set of poker chips.
Well. Looks like they take their poker pretty seriously.
I have to say I approve. A pang goes through me, a bout of homesickness that takes me by surprise.
“What’s wrong?” Daniel asks, and I realize I’ve stopped as everyone takes a seat, frowning at nothing.
“My dad would love this,” I finally say. “It just… it made me miss him. It’s been too long since I’ve been home to see him and my mom.”
“Then go make him proud. You can send him a picture of all your ill-gotten candy gains at the end of the night.”
That makes me laugh, taking the edge off some of the residual guilt that slides through me whenever homesickness hits for moving so far away from them. Not that they’ve ever made me feel like they’re anything but immensely proud of my career and accomplishments, and me as a daughter… but sometimes I wish West Texas wasn’t so far away.
A kids’ movie plays on the TV, the sound turned down but the colors and cartoons still garish, and it’s such a funny mix of things, all the candy being used to buy chips, the huge football players sitting on small folding chairs, the groups of players’ kids running around happily between the tables, that I can’t help feeling… good. Like I could belong here, too.
It’s not fussy or fancy or any of the things I worried it would be.
It’s still a hell of a lot nicer than any poker game I’ve ever been to, but they’re all just people, all just families trying to have a good time together.
It’s really nice.
“Kelsey, come play at our table,” Ty Matthews calls out, a shark’s grin on his face as he pats a chair next to him.
“I’m going to play at Darius’ table,” Daniel tells me. “You can sit with me, or you can go show the Matthews brothers what a pair of rookie idiots they are.”
I rub my hands together as I square off with Daniel. “There’s nothing I love more than when someone underestimates me."
“I fucking love that about you, baby.” He kisses my forehead and I pivot, ready to take the Matthews brothers for all the sugar in the world. I yelp in surprise as he smacks my butt. “Go get ‘em, tiger.”
Shara catches my eye, laughing and shaking her head, and I grin at her before resuming my look of gullible innocence and taking my place between the massive Matthews brothers.
“Is this the one where I ask you what you have?” I say, sitting down carefully so as not to jostle the older brother’s wrapped up ankle.
The one with the lighter hair laughs, giving me an incredulous look. “Go Fish? No. This isn’t Go Fish.”