Page 42 of Holiday Home 3
“You’re pretty good,” Liam casually observed, hoping to diminish the conflict between roommates with some small talk.
“I’m great,” Avril corrected, card stock buzzing rhythmically as she bridged them on the coffee table.
“I don’t know if you’d quite get a job in Vegas,” he teased.
She snorted. “Look at me. They’d give me a signing bonus if I were willing to be one of their dealers. Their customers would fight for a chance to play at my table.”
“Guess we’ll see in a few more days,” he said, shrugging. “Assuming you’re dressing for the part.”
“I am. I’m going to be as fucking professional as they come. You better show up dressed to the nines like everyone else.”
“Don’t worry, Anna saw to that,” he said, smiling at the raven-haired fashionista.
“It’ll be ready for you tomorrow,” she reminded him.
“Yep, I haven’t forgotten.”
“Did you get him something good?” Avril asked, spinning her attention to her right.
“Yes, I did,” Anna said, sniffing as if mildly affronted by the question. “He’ll look very handsome on New Year’s Eve.”
“I’ll know who to blame if it’s a bad fit.”
“Or who to thank.”
Well, so much for that,Liam thought, withholding a sigh.
Into the next round they went, with him starting with three aces—complete bullshit, but he wanted to get the room reoriented onto the game.
“Yeah, no,” Avril said, glaring at him. “Bullshit.”
Grinning without regret, he turned over the Ace of Spades, Diamonds, and a Queen of Hearts he’d tossed into the mix.
That, and the aggressive manner in which he played for the rest of the round, put them both slightly on notice. Losing strategy though it was, he did everything he could to keep their attention fixed on him, which somewhat soothed the tension between them. Especially from Avril, who merrily crowed each time his hand size ballooned.
By the time Avril won the round, he had a hand consisting of half the deck.
“I should have picked this game for New Year’s Eve,” Avril smugly announced. “Would have gotten me more chances to see you lose.”
“Can’t think of any casinos where you’d see this game,” he retorted, unceremoniously dumping his hand onto the stack. The cards spilled all over the table.
“Ass,” Avril snorted as she began scooping the cards up so she could shuffle for the next round, though her triumph wasn’t so easily doused—not that he’d intended to do so.
However, midway through the third round, he noticed Avril’s attention was elsewhere. He couldn’t quite detect if it was a devious idea that prevented her from noticing Anna’s blatant lie about having three nines, but knowing her, he suspected it was. As the third round narrowly went his way, she confirmed it.
“So, how about some stakes?”
Chapter Fifteen
Extra Spice
Liam and Anna shared a look. How could they not? He might have only known Avril for a fraction of the time that Anna had, but they both knew her well enough by now to realize when she was up to something—and the danger that put them in. Flashbacks of yesterday’s theatrics surely flashed within both their minds.
“What, you want to bet money?” Liam said, which was his meager attempt to curtail her more likely aim.
Avril snorted. “So I can go from filthy rich to filthy rich plus forty dollars? No, let’s give things a bit more spice. Truth or Dare spice. The losers in a round have to pick one, and the winner gets to ask the question or give the dare.”
Of the two of them, he would have expected Anna to be the first to shut down Avril’s ploy. And yet, as he glanced in Anna’s direction, he found her only staring at Avril, not voicing her disagreement. When she finally did make her voice heard, it wasn’t to be the yin to Avril’s yang.