HI EVERYONE!
SORRY AGAIN FOR THE DELAY. I HAD TROUBLE MAKING A DECISION ABOUT THIS CHAPTER.
I HOPE I MADE THE RIGHT ONE.
THINGS ARE ABOUT TO TAKE AN INTERESTING TURN...
THANKS FOR READING AND FOR ALL YOUR WONDERFUL COMMENTS
PLEASE LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS AND ENJOY. :-)
*************************************************************
CHAPTER 11:
By this point, Chase, Sophie, Danny and his friends Keith, Rich and John, had been playing poker for almost two hours.
And in that two hours, Sophie had managed to take a total of fifteen hundred dollars off of everyone else at the table, including Chase.
But Chase couldn't care less.
He was too busy enjoying himself.
Sophie was clearly in her element. Her concentration was unrelenting as she read right through Danny and his friends tells, taking one pot after another off the table, all the while wearing her little cool, serene half smile on her face.
In her years as a rounder, Sophie had always found that the nicer the guy, the worse the card player they were.
Danny's friends happened to be real sweethearts.
Despite the fact that Danny and his friends had caught on to Texas Hold 'Em quickly, none of them were even close to being decent poker players. Most of the time, they either folded too early, or wore their tells like signs around their necks.
Of which Sophie had taken full advantage.
After Chase's monster "lucky" first hand of trip Aces, Sophie knew that she wouldn't be able to use her mechanic's grip every time it was her turn to deal because it would be too obvious.
But every once in a while when the deck came her way, she'd throw Chase at least one Ace, just to give him a high card advantage. When she did, he'd stay in the hand, betting his way to a win most of the time.
At the moment, Sophie and Chase were the only ones left in the current hand. Danny and his friends had folded early on and were just watching the two of them face off.
It was quite obvious to Danny that both Sophie and Chase were getting off on playing against each other.
And it was making him sicker by the minute.
"I raise," Chase said confidently, tossing in a hundred dollars into the middle.
"Call," Sophie said, matching his bet.
As Chase was about to deal the River, or fifth and final card of the hand, Sophie interrupted him.
"If you're waiting to use that third six you've got in the hole, don't bother. I've got the boat," Sophie told Chase with a sparkle in her eyes and a simple smile.
"Pfft," Chase said with a sheepish laugh as he tossed his cards away from him.
Sophie then pulled the small pot of cash that was in the middle of the table towards her.
"What are you smiling about? Your girlfriend's kicking your arse," Danny muttered to Chase.
Chase shrugged. "Guess I like pain," Chase replied, giving Sophie a wink.
Sophie pressed her lips together to stifle a giggle that was threatening to escape.
"So how did you become a pro at sixteen, anyway? They give a poker class at your high school or something?" Danny asked as he watched Sophie organize her cash.
Sophie chuckled. "Not exactly," she said as she sorted the bills in front of her by denomination.
Chase, having never heard this story, popped his eyebrows up a bit with interest. "When I was seven, my brother taught me five card draw. We used to play for pennies. By the time I was ten, I could count cards… and I had a lot more pennies than he did," Sophie began.
Chase chuckled slightly, imagining Wilson losing a pile of change to his little sister.
"By the time I was sixteen, while most of my classmates were making out with each other, I had read every book on poker I could find and I had learned every variation on stud, draw, hi/ lo and Hold 'Em," she continued.
"Wow. So you started playing in casinos with a fake ID?" Danny's friend John asked with interest.
"No. I went to underground card clubs with some of my friends on Saturday nights," she replied.
Chase was shocked. "At SIXTEEN?" he clarified, his eyes wide.
"Yep," she said simply.
The rest of the table was just as shocked as Chase was.
Chase wanted to ask her how her parents felt about their teenage daughter going to seedy underground card clubs in Manhattan, but he didn't want to ask her that in front of the other guys.
"…How'd you do?" Danny finally asked her as he took the cards to reshuffle them.
"Pretty lousy at first. But I learned quickly. Only took me about three months to start building a bankroll," she told him.
Danny turned down his lower lip, impressed.
After the blind bets were placed for the next hand, Danny dealt each player at the table two cards. Sophie watched every player carefully as they looked at their hole cards.
As each of their turns came around to make a move, John and Keith folded immediately. Chase, Rich, Sophie and Danny raised and called.
"You must really rake in the dough online," Keith commented.
"She doesn't play poker online," Chase answered for her.
Sophie nodded in agreement.
"Why not?" Keith asked.
"She can't see the other players," Chase explained with a smug little grin.
Danny dealt the flop, the first three community cards as he contemplated this.
"Lots of people make plenty of money at online poker," Danny said as he peeked at his hole cards once more.
After another round of bets, Rich and Chase folded their hands while Danny raised fifty dollars.
"Faces and body language reveal everything," she said as she placed her own fifty into the pot, matching his bet.
Danny immediately re- raised the bet with fifty dollars more. Sophie only paused for a second before matching it once more.
As Danny revealed the Turn, or the fourth card, he sat up a bit straighter, squaring off his shoulders and leaned slightly forward, staring intently at Sophie.
"Ok, then what does my face and body language reveal to you right now?" he asked her with a self- righteous and condescending smirk.
Sophie gave him an exaggerated once- over with her eyes while everyone else waited impatiently for her answer. Chase could feel his excitement growing inside him.
She then stared right back at Danny with an intense, yet completely cool gaze.
"That you've got a Jack in the hole which gives you three of a kind," she stated confidently.
Chase grinned at how Danny's face fell so dramatically.
"And now you have to decide if I at least flopped the nut straight, because that would be the only hand that would keep me in," she added, never breaking her stare.
Danny licked his lip nervously, his eyes darting from the community cards, to her face- down hole cards and then back up to her face.
She was wearing the same calm expression.
"Or would it?" she asked calmly, her face not changing in the slightest.
Danny grunted, tossing his cards into the middle of the table.
"Take it down," he muttered.
Chase grinned again as he as took his bottle of Ultram out of his pocket and popped his last dose of Ultram for the night into his mouth while Sophie collected her winnings once again.
"So Dr. Chase, I hear you're an avid snowboarder," Danny suddenly said out of nowhere, turning towards him as he spoke.
Chase narrowed his brow in confusion, flitting his eyes towards Sophie, who was also bewildered at the randomness at his question.
"… Yeah. How'd you hear that?" Chase asked, somewhat guardedly.
"Dr. Cameron told me. She says you never miss a chance to go," Danny replied.
"Cameron doesn't work at PPTH anymore," he said, now becoming suspicious.
"She was my boss in the ER last year for a few months before she left," Danny explained off- handedly.
Chase nodded slowly. "Oh… Well, I haven't been boarding in a while."
"Because of your leg?" Danny pressed.
Chase nodded once, avoiding Danny as he counted his winnings in front of him.
By now, Danny's friends were exchanging curious, yet somewhat amused glances.
Sophie inhaled through her nose as she noticed the other guys' faces, having an uneasy feeling that these questions weren't as innocent as they appeared to be.
"What happened if you don't mind me asking?" Danny probed.
Chase looked up from his cash and glared at Danny, knowing for sure that Danny had no real interest in his leg and was just trying to embarrass him.
"I fell and broke my ankle during Christmas," Chase replied curtly.
"That was six months ago. Shouldn't a broken ankle have healed by now?" Danny asked, arching his eyebrow.
Chase sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest defensively.
"Didn't realize I asked you for a second opinion, doctor," Chase snarked at him.
Danny shrugged. "No, I'm just saying, it really sucks that you need a cane…" Danny said, pausing for effect.
Sophie could feel the anger rising in Chase from her seat across from him at the table.
She had broken up enough fights at poker tables between Joey and other players to know when one was about to start.
"Robbie…" she began gently.
"And why is that?" Chase demanded, tightening his jaw and trying to keep his anger in check.
"Well, I don't know about you, dude, but I've never seen boarders on the slopes doing an Ollie with a cane in one hand while they grab the board with their other hand," Danny said with an arrogant chuckle as he looked at his friends for confirmation.
As Chase stood up out of his chair, ready to punch Danny in the face across the table, Sophie rushed over to him and grabbed his arm.
"Robbie, DON'T," she stated firmly, his bicep flexed under her hand.
As Chase's eyes blazed furiously at Danny, Danny remained in his seat and cocked his head, returning his stare with obvious amusement.
His friends had all moved back in their chairs, eagerly anticipating Chase's next move.
"He's not worth it," Sophie added in the same firm voice, trying to remain calm and hoping that she'd be able to hold him back.
After what seemed like an eternity, Chase finally unclenched and turned to face her. He glanced at her hand on his arm and then up at her face.
"Let's just go," she said to him in a soft, almost pleading voice.
Chase finally nodded, grabbed his cane off the back of his chair, took her hand and left the table with her.
"Wait! You forgot your winnings!" Danny called out after them, thoroughly enjoying how he had rattled Chase.
Sophie turned around, walked the few steps back to the table, took the cash she had left on the table, folded it into a roll and stuffed it into her front pocket.
She then turned back around and followed Chase out the door, closing it softly behind her.
As they approached the long and winding staircase once again that led back down from Danny's third floor apartment to the ground floor, Sophie touched Chase's shoulder once more.
"You want me to help you?" she asked.
Chase shook her hand off him a bit more roughly than he had intended to.
"I can do it," he answered gruffly as he began to make his way slowly down the stairs.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
As Sophie and Chase were driving home in silence from Danny's apartment, Sophie's cell phone beeped indicating a voicemail.
Chase glanced at her briefly as she opened her phone and listened to the message.
"Who was that?" he asked.
"My mom. She wants to know if this weekend would be all right for her and my dad to come out and see the house," Sophie replied.
Chase shrugged. "That's fine," he said in a noncommittal tone.
"…Would you rather them stay in a hotel than in our place?" Sophie asked.
"I don't care," Chase mumbled, keeping his eyes on the road.
"Because… I can book a hotel for them," she continued. "There's the campus Marriott—"
"I said I didn't care," Chase repeated, spacing out each word a bit in his sentence, his voice tight with anger that was just seething beneath the surface.
"Why are you so angry?" Sophie asked.
"I'm not angry," he muttered.
Sophie paused, knowing that Chase was lying.
"Ok," she said, looking out the window into the darkness.
There was a long silence between them before Chase finally broke it.
"Why'd you take the money?" Chase demanded.
"Because I EARNED the money," she shot back.
Chase clenched his jaw once more. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white in the process.
He could feel uncontrollable rage rising inside of him.
"And that's not why you're angry. You're angry because I stopped you from punching him in the face—" she began.
"I'M ANGRY BECAUSE YOU WANTED TO HELP ME DOWN THE FUCKING STAIRS!!" Chase shouted at her, lifting his hand up and slamming it back down onto the steering wheel.
Sophie gasped out loud, flinching in the passenger seat, completely startled by his incredibly angry outburst.
He gripped the steering wheel once more, took a deep breath and exhaled, willing himself to calm down.
"I'm not an invalid," he stated in a softer, more controlled tone.
Sophie's heart was hammering nervously in her chest, suddenly feeling trapped inside the car.
Chase rarely raised her voice to her.
And he had NEVER raised his hands.
"…I- I know you're not an invalid. I never said you were," she said as gently as she could, her voice quivering.
Chase was still breathing a bit heavy, trying to get his anger under control.
"I just… c-care about you and… he was being an asshole—" she continued.
"That doesn't mean I can't walk down a flight of stairs," he snapped curtly.
She nodded. "I- I know that. I'm sorry," she said quickly, her voice full of anxiety.
Chase glanced at her once more as he continued to drive.
In the semi- darkness of the car, he could see that she was trembling a bit.
Chase exhaled deeply. Feeling guilty that he had lashed out at her like that, he took one hand off the steering wheel and reached over to take her hand in his in an apology.
"Sweetie, I'm sorry—" he began with remorse.
As he did, Sophie immediately pulled her body back a bit in the seat away from him.
Chase stopped his hand in mid air before he could reach hers.
He then realized that she wasn't upset by his outburst.
She was scared.
He placed his hand back on the steering wheel, pulled over onto the side of the road and put the car in park.
Still shaking a bit, Sophie averted her eyes away from him.
"Baby?" he said as gently as he possibly could.
She kept her eyes on the floor of the car.
She was still trembling.
He unbuckled his seat belt and leaned over to her. As he reached up to touch her cheek, she jerked her face away from him once more, out of his reach. But he tried once more, this time putting both his hands on her face.
"Baby, please look at me," he said softly as she attempted to look away from him.
She finally relented and turned towards him. The ambient light from outside the car reflected the fear in her eyes.
He stroked her cheek delicately with his thumb, a horrible feeling spreading throughout his chest.
"… I'm so sorry I scared you," Chase said sincerely, keeping his voice soft and gentle.
Sophie nodded nervously, saying nothing.
"I should have never yelled at you like that," he continued.
"And I'd never raise my hands you," he added sincerely.
Sophie exhaled a bit, and nodded again, trying to calm down.
He leaned over as far as he could and wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her back to reassure her.
She eventually hugged him back, burying her face in his neck, taking a few deep breaths to calm down in his embrace.
"… I'd never hurt you, baby," Chase whispered, still having no idea where his anger had come from.
TBC…