Page 75 of Maverick
A murmur fell over the table, and Hardy looked back at me, his head cocking to the side. He wanted me to say something. He wanted my reaction.
He wasn’t getting it.
I was this close. I had to play the game. I had to win her, or I’d lose her forever.
And that wasn’t an option.
“Shall we start?” Vegas asked, taking Hardy’s attention away from me. I settled my nerves by looking over at her, eyes glancing off into the distance, her body posture tight, controlled, like she was being held up by a stand rather than standing on her ridiculous heels.
The cards were dealt, as I kept my eyes on the other players. These men wouldn’t be easy to read, seasoned players, corruption in their veins. They knew how to tell a story to those who looked too close to the surface.
But I’d been doing this a long time.
Picking up my cards, I looked over my combination. Not a bad hand for the first deal, but I couldn’t give too much of thataway. My anger was simmering away as I looked over at Tavi every now and then to see her shifting her weight from one foot to the other, her eyes on the wall ahead. When she shifted to the other foot, I saw a wince in her expression, and the darker purple bruising on the sides of her throat from where he had obviously strangled her.
She needs you. Push it back. Push the anger aside, and win.
It pained me that she hadn’t looked at me yet. She hadn’t noticed I was here, for her. She was either drugged or she was in a disassociative state.
I needed to help her. I needed her in my arms, in my bed.
I needed her safe.
I placed my card down and had one more dealt to me. My new hand was dull, it was a winning hand if none else had any higher, but I couldn’t risk it all for a low winning hand. My eyes drifted over the others, keeping an eye on tells and behaviours as I was accustomed to. Vegas and I had our own language simply with a look. It was why we worked so well in Brisbane.
Fold.
Hardy’s face lifted in a smirk. I hid mine, because I didn’t want him to know I was figuring his tells, or the others’.
Again, another deal. Slowly, with every game, we lost more and more at the table until it was just me, Vegas and the seedy politician who I knew had his hands in shit I didn’t want my Tavi being involved in.
“Double or nothin’,” I announced, drawing everyone’s attention to me. “I win this hand and she goes with me. I lose, and I’m out.”
Vegas looked at me, his eyes giving away that he had no idea what I was doing and he was worried. Hardy pondered it, and when the politician gave a shrug, he turned to me again. “Even before you see your cards?”
“Did I stutter?”
Hardy’s face twisted up in an evil smirk. “Okay.”
My heart beat so fast, I couldn’t hear anything but the blood rushing through my veins in my ears. I could see my girl was struggling to stay upright, even though her eyes were still cast to the wall behind us.
The cards were dealt. I put my hands on the backs of my cards, praying for a miracle. Suddenly, I saw movement to the side of Hardy. Tavi had fallen to her knees after hours of standing on stilettos.
“Perfect,” Hardy remarked, laughing out loud. “She’s showing you how good she can be on her knees. Her favourite place—if you’re wondering.”
I held onto my cards tighter than necessary. It would have been noticeable.
That’s when she looked at me. A spark of recognition lit her eyes before the glaze from before landed over her gaze. It was almost like a shutter on her eyes. Had she seen me or was she too out of it?
I couldn’t get a read on her. My heart broke without being able to do a damn thing to help her. All I knew, I wasn’t leaving her without her. I didn’t care how this hand went.
Looking down at my cards, I felt my chest tighten.Don’t reveal your hand, my old training repeated in my head as I took in my cards. Vegas was giving nothing away, but I could tell he had nothing. He placed two cards down, and then looked at his new cards.
I choose to put my lowest card down, and risk it. I could have probably won with my hand, but I didn’t want to show Hardy how confident I was. Tavi’s breathing was heavy, I could feel it in the way she was wincing with pain at being on her knees on the hard floor, but to her credit, she didn’t crack. She didn’t try to move.
My mind kept going to all the ways I could prolong Hardy’s death after this. How I could elicit the worst kind of fear from him, to make him piss his pants and embarrass himself. How I could send a message to his friends who protected him from his crimes.
I had made up my mind. He was going to be made an example of.
