“We’re in the back. You’re the last person we were waiting on,” Carl said. This time he frowned. Yep, she definitely felt uncomfortable.
When he opened the door to the back room, she was transported to another planet. The lights were dim, except where spotlights shone on two roulette wheels, two craps tables and a casino-grade poker table. There was a bar in the corner and beside it was a coat rack. When she took in the clientele, she realized most of them were male and they looked pretty disreputable. The air was thick with cigarette and cigar smoke.
Oh joy.
Finally, a woman came forward. “Can I take your coat, Miss Brooks?” Now Sam totally regretted buying the bold and sexy dress.
Courage. Think of Sharon and her kids.
Taking off the coat slowly, she handed it to the hostess and immediately felt eyes on her.
Own it.
She threw back her shoulders and smiled. She allowed the shoes to do their work, and she glided toward the table, a subtle swing in her hips. The dealer looked up and gave an appreciative smile, causing all the men standing around the table to turn around.
You wanted this, so suck it up.
“Looks like everyone’s here,” the dealer said. “Let’s draw for seats.”
The dealer fanned out the deck of cards on the table. “Ladies first.”
Samantha drew the queen of hearts. She laid it face up on the table. She heard one of the men suck in his breath. The dealer laughed. “That seems appropriate.”
He then went around the table. Only one person drew a higher card than her, and that was an ace. He got the one seat, so she sat next to him in the two seat. Phil pulled a deuce and threw it down in disgust. Silly man, he’d have the last spot on the table, the eight seat for the first hand, not a bad way to start the game.
As they were taking their seats, Carl walked over with a tall stool and placed it behind the dealer. As another man came behind the dealer, Samantha could swear the dealer’s smile went down a few notches as he felt the man’s presence behind him. Why did the dealer need two people looking over his shoulder?
“Okay, my friends. We’re playing Texas Holdem, just as advertised. Let’s start with your buy-ins, and then I can explain the rules.”
She went into her purse and took out the white envelope with her twenty-thousand in cash. She put her stack of hundred-dollar bills on the table with a queasy feeling. The most she had ever bought into a poker game before was a hundred dollars. Even that had made her feel nauseous; it didn’t matter that she had gone home with over six-hundred dollars that night. And this time she wasn’t playing with her college friends, she was playing with would-be or might-be professionals. Thank God she doubled-up on her deodorant.
“We know the rules,” the man beside her grumbled.
“The rules have changed,” the older, small man in back said gruffly.
Almost everybody sat up straighter. The dealer began pulling in the money and handing it to the older guy behind him. Then the dealer began to disperse chips.
“How have the rules changed?” the man in the middle asked belligerently.
“This will be a tournament,” the old man said as he placed the cash into a briefcase. “Play will continue until one person has all the chips in play. If you lose your starting twenty thousand, you’re out.”
“What the fuck?” Middle Guy damn near shouted. “That’s not what I agreed to when I signed up at Goldy’s.”
“Me neither,” the guy next to Phil said. But he didn’t say it with a lot of heat. Something seemed off about him.
“Fine, if that’s how you’re playing it, I want out now.” The man in the one seat said. “Give me my money back.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Leeman, that’s not possible. You’ve already agreed to play.”
Samantha had watched as the old man had gathered all of the money that the dealer had taken in. No, she wasn’t liking this at all. Time to try some honey.
“Carl?”
“Yes,” the big man behind the money man answered.
She bent forward ever so slightly. Not enough to show much of anything but a hint of her upper breasts, but still it was more than any of the men had to show off. “I’m not feeling comfortable about this either. Can any of you please explain to me why things have changed? I sure would appreciate y’all putting my mind at rest. Why has it changed to a tournament game instead of a cash game?” She’d heard the women in Virginia using ‘y’all’ to great effect.
“Let me explain,” the smaller man said with his first smile of the night. “As we’ve already said, we’re doing this for your security. As for the tournament, Goldy’s misinformed you, so that’s not my problem.”
“This isn’t security, you’re forcing us to play by rules we didn’t agree to,” Leeman griped.
“This is for your security. We want to make sure that we can escort you all home tonight. That means we need to do it at the same time. All of you will stay here after you have lost your chips.”
Bull hockey.
“Bullshit. What else is going on? What other rules are you going to spring on us?” This came from one of the previously silent men at the table. He had a beard so he must be Greg, because he was the only bearded one in the bunch.
Carl leaned forward on his stool as he unbuttoned his jacket. Ah bloody heck, he
