Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 85453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
I’m still confident she’s bluffing, but what would I know? I’ve interacted with more people my age the past month than I have the past twenty-one years.
I’m a fish out of water, and it is even more obvious when half the party merges to Vivienne’s side of the table to cheer her on.
Her cards are facing down, so their expressions only alter when Vivienne continues badgering me as she has the past three hands. “You can continue bluffing, McKayla, but everyone knows you’re going to lose.” Her comment seems more about Cash and me than the game. “So why don’t you quit while you’re ahead, then I won’t need to make a fool out of you.” Her tone is threatening, but it exposes her first flaw of the night.
She’s badgering me because she doesn’t have a winning hand.
I’m confident in my assumption.
So much so I push all my chips into the middle of the felt table.
“Are you sure, McKayla?” Kamil checks, his brows high. “You have more than three times her chips. You only need to match her bet. You don’t need to raise it.”
“I’m sure,” I reply, my voice not as confident as I’m hoping.
I know I have a winning hand. I’m merely on the fence regarding Vivienne’s insinuation that I’m not good enough for Cash. We’re not a real couple, so she has no reason to fret, but the way she’s speaking and the confidence she holds while doing it, makes it seem as if she is aware of that.
If that’s the case, how did she discover our arrangement? Cash said we shouldn’t tell a soul. I don’t even think Kamil knows we’re faking it.
I drift my dilated eyes to Kamil when he says, “Okay. Let’s see who’s eating fake ramen noodles for the next week.”
The crowd hovers in so close, the heat of so many bodies in the one space is stifling. A bead of sweat rolls down my neck when Vivienne requests that I show my hand first.
It is against protocol, but the suspense is killing me, so I do as asked.
The crowd ‘wows’ in sync when I place down my hand. Two queens and a pair of jacks. A respectful and hopefully winning hand when paired with the two kings on the table.
My mouth gapes along with several people surrounding me when Vivienne snarls in victory while placing down her hand. She has three of a kind, and she only needs to use one of the cards in her hand to achieve it. The king.
Incapable of being a sore loser, I congratulate her on her win.
I wish I weren’t so nondiplomatic when she snaps out, “Leave, McKayla. This table is only for people who belong here.” Her lashes flutter when Cash moves in. “Like him.”
Cash misses her comment since Kamil builds the tension by announcing that it’s time for the undefeated champion to take his seat. But no matter how much commotion there is, he couldn’t miss Vivienne’s loud declaration about the king and queen commanding the head of the table. His jaw tightens as firmly as it does the knot in my stomach, but he still slips onto my seat when I vacate it.
“No,” Vivienne barks out when I move for the chair next to Cash. It’s vacant since our opponents lost all their chips in the first three rounds. “That chair is for players.” She appears nowhere near as attractive as her flawless skin and faultless locks when she says with a sneer, “Not losers like you.”
Her bitchy friends behind her hiss while pretending to lick their thumbs, my scold supposedly hot enough to burn.
The only thing heating up my body temperature is Cash when he says, “That chair is for players, but this one most certainly isn’t,” while pulling me down to sit on his lap.
As his lips press to a portion of skin on my neck like this type of intimacy is nothing new for us, Vivienne’s eyes shoot to Kamil. “That isn’t allowed. He can’t play while she’s sitting on his lap. That’s cheating.”
After peppering my neck with enough kisses my head can’t help but slant to give him easier access, Cash says, “Then we’re even.” I press my thighs together when he tugs on my ear with his teeth before talking around the shudder erupting through my body. “Since you’ve been cheating from the first round.” For how hot his lips make me, his words should be nowhere near as cool as they are when he whispers, “And for months prior.”
“I didn’t cheat.” I can’t see Cash’s eyes since mine are on the verge of closing, but his scorn must be scalding because it has Vivienne backpedaling in under a nanosecond. “This time.”
Now Cash’s dislike of cheaters makes sense.
He’s been cheated on.
I am as confident in my assumption as I was when I thought I had the winning hand.