There was no quicker way to find that hard line in a situation like this then when a lot of money was at stake. One way or another, this would be the last game of poker tonight.
“Call,” Jerry barked through his cigar. With a big shit-eating grin, he slapped down three queens. A high three-of-a-kind was such a good hand that he hadn't even bothered flipping over his other two cards.
“Goddammit!” Wrex shouted before going ghostly quiet. Hushed tones and furtive glances from the remaining patrons cautiously darted Wrex's way. He palmed his cards into his forehead in frustration, then abruptly whipped them at Jerry. His voice, cool enough at first, escalated in both momentum and volume until by the end he was standing up and spit-screaming the words. “I hope you fucking choke on them and you die you dirty, fucking, son of a bitch!”
Wrex was out, he'd just lost a lot of money.
“What about you, kid? You got something with teeth?” Jerry addressed me, leaning back on his chair, basking in his victory. His big, dumb grin gleamed through that ridiculous unkempt beaver he kept on his upper lip.
Tash came back with beers and divvied them out. I winked at her when she put mine down. “And what if I do?” I asked, taking a slow sip. I lightly tapped my fingers on my face down cards, shifting my gaze to stare directly at Jerry.
His smile dimmed, doubt crept along his face. It was beautifully tense. I set my beer down and laid the cards out one by one. Each card I revealed carved another set of lines into the old man's already wrinkled face. A pair of fours were flipped first, then, like nails in a coffin, my three sixes hit the table. It was a full house and that trumped his three of a kind.
I had won.
There was a cutting silence at the table and throughout the entire bar. I scanned each biker to see who was twitchy. There was always at least one, someone that couldn't let a stranger come into their house and walk out with everything. I was fairly certain it would be Jerry.
“Were you sandbagging me, you motherfucker?” Jerry fumed, his entire face seeming to crumple into his flared mustache.
He wasn't wrong. I'd been soft-playing those last few hands, betting small and folding early. The other guys had won some money and begun to feel overconfident, thus betting more. The more they bet, the larger the pot was each game, and the bigger the overall score for me at the end of the night.
I'd also been counting cards, a practice that wasn't technically illegal but heavily frowned upon. It would get your ass kicked out of a casino, but this wasn't a casino.
They'd just kill me here.
Tash's eyes went wide, she was enraptured by what might happen. I tossed her a half smile and cocked my head for her to leave. She licked and bit her bottom lip, then dragged a hand around Wrex's shoulder as she made her way towards the bathroom. Wrex hardly noticed. He seemed to treat Tash like furniture that he could stick his dick into occasionally.
“Looks like the Devil lives in a full house, after all,” I remarked casually, eying Jerry.
Over two thousand dollars sat in the middle of that table. All I had to do was take it.
I stood up and reached out with my off hand. Jerry was quicker than I thought with his knife, but I pulled my hand back in time. He'd only managed to impale the money and the table.
Before he could even begin to threaten me, I had my gun out and pointed at him.
Everyone else followed suit. Before long I had three other guns aimed right at my head. The corner of my mouth curled into a smile. Now we were having some fun!
“You put that shit away before I litter my bar with your fucking brains,” Wrex growled at me.
“Kindly remove your toothpick from my money, Jerry,” I requested.
“Fuck you,” he replied.
“I'm down for a mustache ride, but I gotta know, does it tickle the cock?” I asked thoughtfully.
“I'll fucking kill you!” Jerry jerked the knife from the table and slashed at me. I leaned back, safely out of his reach, putting my hands up. I let my gun swivel harmlessly on one fingertip, making sure I wasn't perceived as a threat to those with itchier trigger fingers.
I shook my head and appealed to Wrex and the others. “Is he always so temperamental?” They still had their guns trained on me. “First he wants to fuck me, then he wants to kill me. How bout this?” I slowly placed my gun on the table, removing my leather jacket. Finally, I revealed my vest that had been hidden up to this point.
A series of resigned groans went around the table as each biker read the patches sewn into the leather, seeing the colors I was flying. They began to lower their guns.
“How about I take my money, and a rain check on you sucking my fat cock?” I winked at Jerry, who scowled at me. The joviality bled from my demeanor as I turned to face each other man in turn. “And maybe I don't tell my club, one of the biggest MCs in the country, that the Road Devils are getting a little long in the tooth and might just need to be put down. Yeah?”