"But the question yeh really gotta ask yerself is, do I feel lucky," the older man muttered intensely. He leaned forward slightly. "Well, do yeh?"
"Aw, Ned. Knock it off with the Clint Eastwood impressions, would yeh?"
"Just havin' a bit o' fun," Ned grumbled. He pushed several chips towards the center of the table.
"Well, Jake, are you in or out?"
The young man sitting across from Ned furrowed his brow intently, staring at the cards in his hands. He glanced up at Ned, who smirked. Jake's eye twitched, and he pushed his chips toward the center of the table.
"All in," he said.
The men around the table whooped and cheered. The man who'd scoffed Ned frowned.
"Are you sure, Jake? That's two weeks' wages -"
"Sure," said Jake quickly.
Ned laughed and laid his cards out on the table.
"Four of a kind," he said triumphantly. Several of the men groaned. "Hand over the chips -"
But the corners of Jake's mouth twitched. He calmly set his own cards on the table.
"Royal flush," he muttered.
There was an eruption of cheers. Ned's face was frozen for a moment in his ridiculous toothy grin. This quickly melted away into fury as Jake swept chips into hi hand.
"You cheated!" Ned cried.
"He won fair and square," said the other man.
"Shut up, Ross!"
"If you can't pay all at once," said Jake, "I'll take installments."
"Why you -"
Several men had to grab Ned by the back of his shirt to hold him back from lunging across the table at Jake.
"I think you'd better turn in for the night," Ross said wisely to Jake. The younger man narrowed his eyes, but said nothing as he rose from his chair and exited the lounge.
Jake took a long inhale of the cool night air as he stepped outside. It had been very difficult for him not to lose his temper inside; he despised each and every one of those men. They were disgusting, vile excuses for human beings. Ned was the worst - the man, apart from being a complete slob, was dumb, greedy, and cruel. Yes, Jake hated him worst of all. But now he had leverage over the man. There was no way he was going to let Ned slide on a five hundred pound debt. Unless he cleaned Jake's stables for a month...
No. Jake definitely wanted the money.
Back at the stable, Jake did a quick check of each of the stalls to ensure they were locked tight. Most of the occupants were sound a sleep, though a few of the horses gave impatient huffs when he fiddled with the locks. Jake didn't have to look in on them - he was technically only responsible for one - but he enjoyed ogling the beautiful creatures nonetheless. Even in sleep they were majestic, like something out of a fantasy novel. Their coats shone brightly in the moonlight that trickled in through the windows. How could they be so peaceful on this night? Did they not realize that the biggest day of their lives was fast approaching? Jake knew several of the jockies were busy tossing and turning in their beds, or else drinking deeply at the local pub to settle their nerves.
Then he arrived at his stall, where his charge jerked awake and sniffed the air as he approached. Silver Blaze flicked his tail when he locked eyes with Jake. It was his form of salute.
"Hello, gorgeous," said Jake softly, unlocking the door. "Big day tomorrow."
It was indeed. The following morning, when the jockey ventured into the stall, he found Silver Blaze missing, and Jake lying on the ground facing up, his blank and lifeless eyes staring at the ceiling.