“Ah, there’s th
e other aces. Too bad a full house always beats a pair. Indy is still winning.” Gambler nodded to Gwen. “Show me what you got.”
Gwen shrugged and laid her cards down one by one.
Two, king, king, king, king.
“Hot damn,” Gambler hooted. “You fucking did it.”
“Aw, man,” Indiana laughed. “I really thought I had a good chance.”
Gwen reached and swept all the tootsie rolls in front of her. “It was a good try, sweetie.”
Rigid walked over with two drinks in his hands and set one in front of Cyn. “Drink this, and let’s kick some poker ass.”
“You in?” Gambler asked Indiana.
She shrugged and pushed her cards toward Gambler. “Nothing else to do while I wait for Royal.”
I laughed and handed Gambler my cards. There were plenty of other things we could be doing, but Indiana was having a good time, and it was distracting her from constantly wondering when Royal was going to get here.
“Deal us in.”
*
Chapter Seventeen
Indiana
“How does one get to be in the mob?” I drawled. “Does schooling help your chances?”
“Mob school?” Fayth laughed. “I’ll have to tell that one to Leo.”
“No, no.” I finished the last of my drink and set it on the bar. “I meant like being an accountant or something. Does that help make it more likely to happen.” I lifted my leg. “Leg up.”
Fayth grabbed my glass and slid it over to Meg. “I think she’s cutoff. I can’t even follow her reasoning anymore.”
Meg grabbed the glass and dropped it in the sink. “That is usually the right time to switch to water.”
“If you know that, then why don’t you do it?” King called. “You and Ethel got so drunk in Arizona that you were in their front yard hooting like a damn owl ‘til the sun came up.”
Meg shook her head. “I have no recollection of what you’re speaking of. I think you’re just making things up now, King.”
“Right,” King drawled.
After more than ten hands of poker and losing all of my tootsie rolls to Gwen, I was fully drunk and still waiting for Royal to arrive.
“Do you know it is eleventy twelve?” I blinked rapidly and gulped. “Did you?”
Fayth patted my arm. “Yeah, babe. It’s eleventy twelve.”
“I should have stopped drinking three drinks ago. Sight hind is twenty-twenty.” Oh, Lord. Even I knew I was babbling like an idiot, but I couldn’t stop it. It was like I was standing outside of my body, watching myself act like a fool.
“Maybe you should hit the hay, and when you wake up, your friend will be here,” Fayth suggested.
Sleep sounded amazing, but there was no way I was sleeping until Royal was here.
I wagged my finger in her face. “Nope. Not until Royal gets here right now.”