Smiling, I shook my head. “Nope. I got this.”
I paid for my own and walked to one of the Texas Hold’em tables. It was my favorite style of poker. There were a few men at the table, so I sat down and grinned. They looked at me like I was easy prey. Jason took the last seat.
“What are you doing? You’re not supposed to play against me,” I whispered low.
He smirked. “I couldn’t resist. Let’s see what you got.”
The dealer passed out our cards and I gently lifted the corners to see what I had. Not bad. I had a queen of spades and a six of hearts. Jason winked at me and I rolled my eyes. Two of the men folded, which brought us down to seven players. The dealer laid out the flop which happened to be a two of diamonds, four of clubs, and a six of diamonds. A pair of sixes wasn’t the best hand, but it was still something. Having my queen helped. The bid started out at a hundred dollars and Jason raised to two hundred. Keeping a straight face, I tossed in two hundred.
Jason’s gaze focused on something across the room and he tensed, knocking my knee with his. “Incoming,” he warned.
I looked over to see Will walk in with a group of men in tow, which seemed to be made up of the entire pool of suspects we were investigating, minus Drake Blackwell. Will found us and directed his friends to another table before coming to ours.
“Good evening, Mr. Randall,” the dealer announced.
“Same to you, my friend.” The energy in the room lifted and the men all sitting at our table sat straighter, puffing out their chests. It was funny how people liked to be intimidating. Will didn’t seem to be effected at all. Instead, he watched the game in amusement.
After the last card was thrown down by the dealer, everyone checked except Jason, who tossed in three hundred more. Knowing he was either bluffing or just lucky, I called, determined not to back down. Four of the other players folded, leaving one other player in the game. Turning over his cards, he revealed a pair of fours. Judging by the look on his face, he knew he was grasping for straws.
“What ya got, firecracker?” Jason said, grinning slyly.
“Together?” When he nodded, we both turned our cards over at the same time. Eyes wide, I glared down at his cards and both Jason and Will bellowed. “You have got to be kidding me. How the hell is that possible?”
Jason stood triumphantly as the dealer split the pot. We both had a six and a queen, which left us even. “At least you didn’t lose.” Taking my hand, he helped me up and smacked my ass. “You can earn some of that money back tonight.” I gritted my teeth and smiled. Putting his arm around my waist, he handed me my chips and winked.
“All right, you two, it’s time to play,” Will called, nodding toward his table. His wife wasn’t in sight, which sucked monkey balls because I wanted to talk to her again. I planned to grill her about Madame Chatfield to see if she’d admit they were sisters. For all I knew, she could be embarrassed by her sister’s profession.
“Surely, you don’t expect me to play,” I commented.
Will looked back at me and winked. “Why not? You seem to know what you’re doing. It’ll be refreshing to play against a woman.”
His friends stood when we arrived, along with Will’s two bodyguards. Will placed a hand on Jason’s shoulder and went down the line. “You already met my security, Butch and Tom. This right here,” he said, pointing to the blond-haired, green-eyed pretty boy, “is Chazz Davies. He’s head of the music department at Randall Industries. He finds the talent.”
Jason and I shook his hand, but his gaze lingered a little too long on my body for my liking. I felt like a piece of meat being waggled in front of a pit bull.
“And this handsome man,” Will continued, pointing to the serious man with dark hair and brown eyes, “is Mark Chamberlain. He does all of my team scouting. I think I’m up to ten teams already.”
“Eleven now,” Mark said, smirking.