Sinful Protector (Roughshod Rollers MC 2)

I wink at her. I’ve had a bit to drink by this point, and the alcohol has made me a little bolder as I lean into Kyle’s side. He clears his throat, a faint flush on his face.

“No reason,” I say with a laugh.

“Come on, let’s deal,” Jake says as he finishes shuffling the deck.

It turns out that Kyle is very good at poker. He’s got an eye for when to fold and when to keep playing. He also has an amazing poker face; it’s difficult to do anything other than fold when he sets his intent, expressionless eyes on us, just waiting for the next move that we make. Between his luck and his amazing bluffs, he wins more rounds than he loses, and, soon, it comes down to Kyle and Jonathan.

Kyle is definitely going to win. Jonathan only has two hundred worth of chips left, and Kyle has the rest of them. Rolling his eyes, Jonathan puts everything he has left into the pot, and it isn’t a surprise when Kyle’s three of a kind beats his doubles.

“You have the luck of the devil,” I say to Kyle.

“Just a lot of experience,” Kyle laughs. “I had a friend who used to love organizing poker nights. It’s been a while since then, but we still organize them in his memory every now and then.”

“What happened to him?” Susie asks, her tongue loose.

Kyle goes quiet. “He passed away in an accident a few years ago.”

The confession sucks the air out of the room. My chest feels tight. Did Kyle also lose someone to a motorcycle accident? If so, then how could he bear riding his own death trap all the time?

“Sorry,” Susie says.

“It’s fine,” Kyle says with a shrug. “It happened a long time ago.” Restlessly, he picks up the cards and offers them to Susie, who is sitting to Jonathan’s left. “Another round?”

My friends jump at the chance to play again, wanting to break the serious air that has fallen over us. I bump Kyle’s arm with my shoulder and he smiles down at me.

“It’s fine,” he repeats, bumping my shoulder back.

His eyes are clear and there’s a genuine smile on his face. He’s not like me, who still can’t talk about my father’s tragic death without cringing. He’s made his peace with his loss.

I wonder if I should take some pointers from him.

“Good,” I say.

Something changes after that. Paige, Jonathan, Susie and Jake, who had all still been a little tense because of the tall, rough stranger among us, suddenly begin to relax. As the second game winds to a close, Jake throws an arm around Kyle’s shoulders, looking ridiculous because Kyle is so much taller, even while sitting, and laughs at something he said. Paige and Susie seem to be competing to see who can make Kyle blush the most, and even Jonathan is calming down, though he doesn’t seem too pleased by his girlfriend’s antics.

Somehow, impossibly, Kyle is fitting in with my friends, and I watch it happen, both stunned and a little relieved by it. I

t’s nice to see them all getting along so well, though I’m not sure why this is so important to me.

In the third game, I ended up out very quickly. Foolishly, driven by recklessness as the alcohol flushes my system, I threw everything I had into a single bet and ended up losing it all to Susie, much to everyone’s amusement. I laugh with them and lean back on my hands, watching them all play with fond eyes.

This is nice.

Jacqui is out next, and she leans back next to me, grinning at the group.

“Looks like Kyle is relaxing,” she says.

I glance at the man. He’s laughing and joking with everyone. I smile, pleased.

“Yeah,” I say.

I see Jacqui glance at me. It looks like there’s something she wants to see, but a mischievous gleam enters her eyes and she turns away, watching as the game draws to a close. When Jake, this time, manages to win the pot, she sits up quickly and snatches the cards before anyone else can.

“Let’s raise the stakes!” she announces, grinning wildly. “Strip poker!”

Normally, it’s not something me and my group of friends would go for. But we’ve been drinking for hours by this point, and we’re all flushed with giddiness and excitement.

“Yeah!” Paige says, punching the air. “How do we play?”