AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Thank you to all my readers and reviewers for my first chapter, much appreciated. Hope you enjoy this next chapter. :)
Chapter 2
The balding man tossed the deck of cards onto the table along with a starting bet of fifty dollars, the remaining men followed suit and tossed in their fifty dollars.
"You in?" he pushed, raising his eyebrow towards Kyle.
"Yeah," Kyle replied and placed down his money.
"What brings you to town?" the bald man asked, dealing everyone at the table two cards and placing the first card face up on the table.
"I just had to get away from home for awhile," Kyle replied.
Kyle was left with chuckles and mumbled 'humph's' from the others.
"Yeah life gets ya sometimes. I speak for me-self when I say I had my fair share of trouble with family; girl trouble or relatives?" the bald man questioned, not taking his eyes off the cards as he laid the second and third card face up in the middle of the table.
The guys continued to place their bets, tossing in more wads of paper notes.
"A bit of both," Kyle explained and tossed away his unwanted card.
Kyle was handed a new card, leaving him with a good hand. On the table lay an ace, jack and ten and Kyle was left with a ten and ace; two strong pairs.
"I lost the love of my life; she left me for some dead-beat guy," Kyle mumbled.
Two of the larger men folded and called out, leaving only Kyle, the balding man and the biker guy playing.
"Hard luck, mate," the bald man replied.
"Yeah, well I lost two of my brothers too," Kyle whispered.
The bald man raised his brow and gave an unnoticeable smirk towards his mates.
"Ah well; ya got us now. That is, if you can stay playing in the game."
Kyle glanced up at the bald man and turned his gaze to each of the gang members in turn.
"Yeah: of course."
The gang snickered, knowing exactly what they were drawing Kyle into; he was the perfect target: vulnerable and had cash.
"I'll raise you a thousand," the balding man challenged, tossing his money into the center of the table.
"I'm out," the biker guy called.
All eyes were now on Kyle to place his bet. Kyle set down a thousand cash on the table, in which the balding man tossed in another thousand.
"I'll see you."
Kyle stared at the guys around him, starting to feel intimidated now. Kyle laid out his two cards on the table, and the group laughed.
"Hard luck; you had a good hand but it can't beat a straight," the bald man stated and laid down his cards, showing a queen and king.
Kyle sighed in defeat as he'd just lost two thousand dollars of his money.
The poker game played again, and for a second time Kyle lost out another two thousand dollars, leaving him with nothing. The bald man placed five hundred dollars in the middle of the table, having well over ten thousand to his side to begin the third round.
The others followed, still having some money themselves then all eyes turned to Kyle.
"Come on, place your bet, we ain't got all day," the biker one pushed Kyle; giving him a slight punch.
Kyle sipped the last of his beer and shook his head. "I can't, I'm out. I got nothing to bet."
The bald man smirked at Kyle. "Just 'cause I won the last two rounds don't mean nothing. Seeing as you've been havin' a tough trot, I'll be nice to ya and you can borrow from me; win some of ya money back this time," he egged on.
Kyle looked at the money that was pressed down on the table in front of him, skeptical to go on.
"Well, go on, take it."
Kyle slid the money over to his side and the guys cheered.
"'ey here we go fellas; another game's a rollin'."
The bald man rolled his eyes up to stare at Kyle from across the table; his head firmly facing down. Their new recruit was firmly sucked into their scheme of hard gambling, but what Kyle didn't know was that when these guys played hard, one had better not cross them.
"I raise a thousand," one of the larger men called.
"Nah, it's gotta be better than that; three thousand," the bald man challenged.
Kyle stared at his cards and knew if he didn't play on he'd lose either way; he had to try and win this time; the pot in the middle was just far too high to let go.
Three of the group tossed down their cards, again leaving the bald man and Kyle.
"What's it gonna be, newbie?"
Kyle sighed and glanced at the seven of hearts, six of hearts and four of hearts that lay on the table. They were low numbers but Kyle was certain he had this round for sure, holding in his hand the king of hearts and ace of hearts.
"Come on, mate," the bald man pressured.
Kyle took the chance and grabbed his money. "All in," Kyle pushed his remaining two thousand into the center.
The bald man smirked and placed another thousand.
"I'll see you," he ordered, to which Kyle reluctantly placed down his cards, adrenaline rushing through him in the hopes he would win.
"Aw! He's got a flush!" one yelled.
The bald man hesitated and Kyle reached over for the money, assuming by the reaction that he'd won.
"Ah uh, I win, with a straight flush."
He placed down the rare cards of a five and eight of hearts; Kyle had been pipped again. The bald man laughed and pulled the money away.
"Well now I guess cause I won that round you owe me, what was it boys; five thousand?"
Kyle gulped and shifted in his seat, his hands became sweaty as his nerves ran through his body.
"I...I can't pay that," Kyle stuttered out, glancing briefly at the guys surrounding him.
"Nah that's alright, I'll be kind and give ya till tomorrow," the bald man stated.
Kyle shifted his hands in front of him. "I can't pay then either, but I promise I'll pay you back as soon as I can," Kyle pleaded.
The group snickered.
"I thought you said you wanted to play the big guns? What'd ya keep playing for if ya couldn't pay the money back?" The tone in the man's voice was threatening.
"You gave me..." Kyle was cut off as the bald man stood up.
"Nup you said you had the money to play; now we don't like it when people try to fool us."
"I'm not, I just need time to get the money," Kyle pleaded.
The man shook his head and wore an evil smirk on his face. "That's not the way we play this game, now is it boys?"
The remaining three snickered and laughed until they were dismissed with a hand gesture. Kyle watched the group stand up as the bald man circled around the nervous man.
"Leave us and get Bambi," the man instructed firmly.
Kyle swallowed hard; thoughts ran through his head as he felt uneasy, as he realized that he'd indeed gotten himself in too deep. Kyle shifted in his seat considering a means of escape but he had no chance when a large muscular man with dark hair and a permanent frown stalked into the small room with his arms firmly crossed over his chest.
The bald man glared at Kyle and took a seat back on the couch, sipping his drink, ready to watch the action take place.
Outside the room, the bloke in the black attire was still waiting to see sight of Kyle. He took note of three out of the four blokes who Kyle had gone into the room with had now come out and a strong Caucasian looking man walked in.
"Game finished already fellas, or just another round of drinks?" the bar attendant asked.
"Nah, just having some trouble with the newbie, but Mick's gotten Bambi to sort it out, but we sure as hell could use another round when they're done," one of the overweight men scoffed, while the others cheered and laughed.
The black suited man couldn't quite hear what was going on but just by observing the guy's appearances he knew it wasn't something good. He tried inching closer to eavesdrop in on the conversation but heard nothing.
"I'd like you to fix a little problem we have here: it seems our new player thinks he can get away from our game without paying up like he promised," Mick, the bald man announced.
"I said I would pay!" Kyle stated quickly, his heart beating fast in his chest as his flight or fight mode started up, wishing he could just get the hell out of there.
The big macho bloke they called Bambi gave a satisfactory nod and walked towards a cupboard in the room. Kyle kept his eyes plastered on the guy and all fight was lost when he saw him pull a thick baseball bat out of the cupboard. Kyle shifted his seat back and wanted to run but seemed frozen to his spot; he knew how to fight tough but he was no match for this muscular guy.
The bald man smirked and took another sip of his drink; this was the way he liked to show those who played his games to pay up. He loved seeing the revenge of those that double cross him, and very rarely do they make it out alive, or without being permanently damaged.