The Boss Project(40)
CHAPTER 13
Merrick
Nine years ago
“Hey, wait up!” I jogged to catch up to Amelia. I’d been looking for her all over campus for a week.
Her stride never broke as I fell in step. “You?” she said. “Are you back to invite me for another card game or just to watch my ass as I walk?”
I shrugged. “Both?”
She snickered. “Now why would you want to play cards with me when you know I’ll kick your ass and take all your money again?”
“Will you go out with me instead?”
She shook her head.
“Welp, then cards it is for now.”
“For now, huh?” She rolled her eyes, but there was an unmistakable twinkle in them. “When’s the game?”
“Tonight. Seven o’clock.”
“Where?”
“My apartment.”
She stopped short. “If I show up at your apartment and you’re the only one there and there isn’t really a card game…” She shook her head. “I carry a Taser in my purse. I’ll have it ready.”
“There’ll be a card game.”
“Fine.” She started walking again. “Where do you live?”
I rattled off my address. When I was done, she again stopped, this time holding up her hand. “This is where my next class is. You stay here and enjoy the view.”
My forehead wrinkled. But I quickly figured out what she meant as I watched her ass sway from side to side climbing the stairs to the Lincoln Building. I waited until she disappeared inside to take out my cell and text my buddies:
Emergency card game tonight. Who’s in?
? ? ?
“I can’t believe you’re making me do this.” I peeled two twenties and a ten off the wad of cash I’d taken out of my pocket and slapped them into Travis’s hand.
He shrugged. “I don’t have the money to lose again so soon. If you need me to play cards so badly, it’s your dime.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe this girl’s got you handing out cash.”
“She won’t go out with me. The only way to see her was to invite her to play cards again.”
“Did you ever think the reason she won’t go out with you is because she emasculated you playing cards? Maybe doing it a second time is just going to turn her off more.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to kick her ass and show her who’s boss.”
Amelia’s voice came from behind me. “Umm…whose ass are you going to kick?”
I looked at the door, now closed behind her. I hadn’t heard a knock.
She smiled. “It was open, so I let myself in. I figured if I needed to Tase you, I was better off with the element of surprise.” Amelia looked at Travis and the card table. “I’m glad there’s an actual poker game.”
Travis shook his thumb toward me. “I’m playing with his money. I didn’t have the cash to ante, so he gave it to me just so I’d come. He’s pretty desperate to hang out with you.”
Amelia looked to me with a smug smile. I shut my eyes. “Thanks, buddy. I appreciate you sharing.”
Travis laughed. “No problem. You want a beer, Amelia?”
“Sure. That would be great. Thanks.”
A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door before Will let himself in. He was always the last to show up for anything. He grabbed a beer, and we all settled in around my kitchen table. Travis tossed the cash I’d given him across the table to exchange for chips, and Will reached into his pocket. But Amelia stopped him before he could pass cash my way.
She pointed to me. “Your game is on Merrick tonight, Will.”
“Uh, no it’s not,” I said.
“Why not? You paid your other friend to play.”
Will looked back and forth between Amelia and me. “Is she serious?”
“Travis didn’t have any cash,” I said.
“Playing cards is the only way he could get me to hang out with him.” Amelia shrugged. “If we don’t have four people we can’t play, and I’m leaving.”
Will stuffed his cash back into his pocket. “Thank you for letting me know.” He lifted his chin to me. “I’ll take whatever you kicked in for Trav. Or I guess we don’t have a game, and Amelia here will be on her merry way.”
I narrowed my eyes at Amelia, who looked damn proud of herself. But I knew Will. He’d probably made two grand day-trading between classes today, yet he wasn’t about to put out cash now that he knew I was stuck. Groaning, I pulled out fifty dollars more and tossed it into the pile.
“Thanks, guys. I can’t wait for one of you to need a wingman.”
? ? ?
A few hours later, I hadn’t lost all my money. I’d lost all mine plus the cash I’d kicked in for Travis and Will. Once again, Amelia had kicked our asses.
I leaned back in my seat, still shaking my head. I was a damn good card player. It was rare that I took a beating. But Amelia had won at least seventy percent of the hands. “I don’t get it. You said you count cards, but I looked it up. You can’t count cards in poker the way you can in blackjack. You’d have to memorize the likelihood of winning with all the different combinations of hands and then compare that to what you see face up on the table from every other player.”