Page 97 of Against the Clock

Jacob snorts, gives me one look, and folds. He’s onto me. Whatever. It’s still fun.

Rhett calls, Ty calls.

Last card.

Ty and Rhett bet. I glance at my cards.

“Bet?” I ask, then push a stack of chips into the center.

“That’s a raise, Kelsey,” Ty says slowly.

“Oh. Okay. Raise.”

Jacob’s smirking at me, and I know for sure now he knows I’m messing with them. He nods at me as if to say, go on then, and I wink at him before turning back to the other two. It would be a better play to lose the first hand, make them think the worst about my skills, but winning outright is fun too.

Besides, I don’t want to make them hate me. Just keep them on their toes.

“I feel good about this.” I grin.

Rhett sighs, then calls, and Ty narrows his eyes at me, then calls too, pushing his chips into the middle.

“What have you got?” Ty asks, and he has a pretty good hand, two pair, tens and jacks. Rhett’s got jack shit, a pair of queens, a lucky one on the river. Hm.

“Oh, you had queens too?” I make myself ask. “Girl power.”

I flip my cards over. Pair of queens, and a jack.

On the table, a jack, a queen and a couple of lower number cards.

Rhett curses. Ty laughs, his eyebrows high on his forehead.

“Did I win?” I sip my Darius cocktail, only wincing slightly as it burns down my throat. Probably a bad sign that I’m no longer choking on the alcohol content.

“Full house,” Jacob says.

I set my drink down and pull the chips in towards me, then stack them neatly.

“Well, sweetheart,” I say to Ty. “That was like taking candy from a baby.”

He laughs, shaking his head. “You could have just told us you knew how to play.”

“Nah, this was way more fun, wasn’t it, Rhett?”

Rhett’s glaring at me from over his beer and I wink at him, which simply intensifies the glower.

“I had a feeling you were sandbagging,” Jacob says. “That was pretty fun to watch, though.”

“What gave it away?” I ask, putting in the ante as Ty shuffles up for the next round.

“Go Fish,” he says, laughing. “No way would Daniel date a girl who confused Go Fish and poker.”

“That’s fair,” I say, laughing.

“You could’ve told your own brother,” Ty grumps at him, dealing us in for the next hand.

Rhett grunts again.

“Dude, use your words,” Ty tells him, clearly annoyed. “If you’re going to be part of the team then don’t act like we all forced you to come out here.”