The Gamble

♠️ACE♦️

"It's your move," the giggler across the table, Janice, cooed as she touched Danny's forearm.

Blue eyes shifted from the cards in his hand to her eager face. "You're not trying to sneak a peek, I hope." He gave her a slow smile, his gaze dropping down to the tight tank top and ample cleavage when she let out another one of her full-body cackles.

Guess you could call her the jiggler, too.

They made a cute couple, except for the fact that Danny was my boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend, depending on how the rest of the evening went. We'd been dating for six months. Six months of hanging out with his friends. Six months of Friday nights just like this one, playing poker and drinking beer and putting up with his shit. Maybe it was time to go cold turkey on the gambling and the alcohol.

And the relationship.

Ironically, this was how we'd met. I was once Janice. Pretty pathetic really.

With the sudden feeling of being watched, I shifted my gaze three people over. Figures. Jamie was Danny's best friend and devoted lackey, a star poker player who hosted most of these games, and to be brutally honest, the only reason I still came to these money-sucking shindigs. I had a crush. Foolish, I know.

He winked, and I wasn't sure if it was due to his friend's blatant flirting or the fact that most of my savings account was now in his. The crappy clunker parked outside was going to have to get me through my final year of college.

The play had made its way around to me, but the pair of fives I was holding weren't going to pull down a pot. "Fold." Tossing my cards, I stood and went on a search for water. Nothing like the present to start in on those resolutions.

The kitchen was big and modern, but I had never seen it tidy, without the litterscape of bottles and chip bags covering every surface. There was only one clean glass in the cupboard, and outside of liquor, the top shelf was never a good thing, especially when you are only five-one. "Seriously?"

"Why do you let him do that to you?"

His voice in my ear had me spinning around. I stepped back. With all his height and muscle, Jamie could crowd me from across a room never mind from two feet away. The glass was an easy reach for him, and it was placed on the counter as I muttered a, "Thank you."

"You deserve better."

I frowned up at him. "Isn't there some unwritten bro code about this kind of stuff? You're his best friend."

"Exactly my point. After five months of dating, you should be his best friend."

"Six."

He cocked an eyebrow.

No way was I telling him my real motive for staying with Danny. I turned on the faucet and let it run, testing the temperature with my finger. "How come you never bring a girl to these parties, Jamie? Afraid Danny will flirt with her?"

He chuckled, but it was more of a deep rumble coming from way down in his chest. "No. That's not it."

After filling my glass, I met his dark eyes as I took a sip, noticing for the first time the laugh lines bookending them. It made sense since he was a pretty happy guy—whenever he wasn't looking at me, that is.

"Here," he said, pulling a paper from the pocket of his denim shirt. "This is for you."

The skeptic in me told me to refuse, but I was too curious to listen. I took the folded note and opened it, only to realize it was a check. Made out to me. For two thousand dollars. What the heck?

He tapped it with his finger. "That's what you've lost, to me anyway."

"I . . . I don't understand."

"I kept track of it, and I'm giving it back."

That had to be the nicest thing anyone had ever done for me, but my skeptical side was not easily convinced. "Why?" I whispered, raising the glass for another drink.

He shrugged, looking like a young boy. "I . . . care about you."

I choked on the water hitting the back of my throat. Turning, I leaned over the sink while Jamie started a soft pounding that worked its way into a gentle rub up and down my spine. The feel of his hand on me was . . . God, it felt good. How long had it been since I'd been simply touched, without it leading up to sex. More than six months, that's for sure.

Keeping his voice low, he went on, "I liked you from the moment I first saw you, but I made the mistake of telling that to Danny, who took it as a challenge. Every week I count the days 'till Friday, knowing you'll be here. Watching him treat you like crap for months has been sheer torture."

I couldn't move. I could barely breathe. And it had nothing to do with the water. 

"Abbie," he said softly, drawing my head up. He was so close. If it weren't for the height difference, I'd say kissable close. He must have been thinking the same because his gaze went to my lips.

Desire washed over me as I fantasized about what it would feel like to be kissed by Jamie, but the goddamned skeptic in me ruined the moment, wondering if this was some kind of sick test the two of them had concocted.

"I'm his girlfriend," I said roughly, because saying it aloud was the only thing that was going to stop me.

Jamie's body curled in on itself, the guilt inside of him, too. If he was acting, he was damn good at it.

"What the hell is going on?"

We jumped apart before I turned to see Danny standing in the doorway. Shit. "I was . . ."

"Choking," Jamie threw out just as I added my own, "Thirsty." I cringed. That didn't sound credible at all.

Danny crossed his arms over his chest, his glare shifting between Jamie and me. Then he tilted his head back to stare down his nose at us, and I knew him well enough to sense what was coming. He had a narcissistic fear of being played for a fool. "Have at her. She's a terrible lay anyway."

I watched him leave, but his words lingered, stabbing into my heart like a knife. Before I could react to anything, Jamie had left my side, chasing after Danny with lightning speed.

This was all my fault. I should never have stayed with Danny, only to come between friends. I reached for my cell in the back pocket of my jeans, realizing the check was still in my other hand. Moving like a zombie, I turned, placed it on the counter, and left as fast as my legs would carry me.