The Doctor Who Has No Closure (Soulless 10)

Daisy immediately took a big drink then licked her lips.

Mason eyed her with slight amusement.

I decided to do the talking to help out Dex. “How did you guys meet?”

Mason moved his arm back to her chair while his other hand held on to the scotch. “She kicked my ass in a poker match. Has the best poker face I’ve ever seen.”

“You’re the one who’s perpetually unpredictable.” She shook her glass as she gave him a side glance.

“Wait, you play poker?” I blurted.

“Damn right,” Daisy said proudly. “It’s how I make most of my money.”

“Like professionally?” I blurted again.

Mason nodded. “She joined the match, and I took one look at her and knew I was in deep trouble. Very distracting, to say the least.” His hand went to her back, slightly moving to rub her gently, wearing half a smirk. “I focused all my attention on her and forgot about the other guys at the table. That’s probably why I lost.”

“Psh, you lost because I’m better than you,” Daisy said, moving her hand toward him to grip his thigh under the table, being playful rather than competitive.

He smiled with his eyes as she leaned in close. “Yeah, maybe you’re right.”

“I’ve never played poker before,” I volunteered. “Now I can learn from the best if I ever need it.”

“You got it, girl.” Daisy turned back to me and raised her glass to clink it against mine.

Dex cleared his throat as he looked at Mason, like he was trying to think of something to say to the guy, and for someone who was good at conversation, he seemed to have forgotten the basics. “So, how long have you been doing that?”

Mason took a drink as he considered the question. “About ten years now. Really turned professional about five years ago. I have a place here in the city and another in Atlantic City where I play.”

“Why not just live there?” Dex blurted.

Mason shrugged. “Born and raised in Manhattan. It’s my home.”

Dex nodded like he understood.

“Daisy tells me you’re a heart surgeon.” Mason set down his glass and crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s pretty badass, man.”

“Cutting people open is badass?” Dex countered.

“Saving lives,” Mason said, not losing his confidence even though it was very obvious that Dex didn’t care for him. “At least I think so…”

Daisy stared at Dex and gave him an unmistakable glare.

That got Dex in check. “Yeah, thanks. It’s a very fulfilling profession.”

“Daisy tells me you’re the smartest one in the family,” Mason said. “Stanford, Harvard, Johns Hopkins…that’s really cool.”

Dex flicked his eyes back to his sister, like he was touched by what she said. “I wouldn’t say I’m the smartest one…”

“Come on, you so are,” Daisy said. “You skipped more grades than Derek and me, and when you took all those tests, you were classified as a genius when you were just four years old. So shut your mouth.” She took another drink.

That didn’t surprise me at all, because I saw Dex in action and saw how unbelievably smart he was, but more importantly, how well he could connect with people. “When I imagine a brilliant person, I always picture someone who’s kinda awkward, you know? Introverted, bookish, doesn’t like to be around people… You aren’t like that at all.”

“Our dad is,” Daisy said with a laugh. “Put him in a room full of strangers, and it’s like he’s never seen humans before. Derek is kinda like that too.”

“He seemed fine to me,” I said.

“Because he was with us,” Dex said. “And he’s gotten a lot better since he met Emerson and Lizzie.”

“We aren’t like that because our mom is awesome.” Daisy ran her fingers through her long hair, her lips candy-cane red, her feminine features hypnotic, even to me, a straight woman. “Thankfully.”

“Yeah,” Dex said. “Thankfully.”

“I’ve never met people so smart,” Mason said. “I mean, I consider myself to be pretty with it, but I’m nothing like the two of you. I’ve got street smarts, I know how to read people, but I failed biology in high school.”

“You couldn’t pass high school biology?” Dex asked incredulously.

Daisy looked stunned by the assholish thing Dex just said.

I couldn’t believe it either because Dex was not the type of person to judge anyone for anything. “I sucked at it too. I think I barely passed with a C.”

Mason never responded to Dex’s rude question. He drank from his glass and looked around the bar, like his confidence was unaffected.

Daisy lost it. “Wow, so that’s how it’s going to be?”

Dex dropped his gaze and stared at his beer. “Daisy—”

“You need to pull your misogynistic, sexist head out of your bitch ass.” She slammed down her drink. “You can go out with Derek and watch him pick up tail and the other way around, talk about the supermodels Derek has bedded on yachts and shit. But I bring a guy I like, and you can’t even try to be somewhat tolerable company?”