Chapter 13

*Ace's POV*

We jump as a knock on the door downstairs echoes throughout the Lodging House. The commotion from the boys in the main room quiets down and someone opens the door. The usual insults are thrown out between the two boroughs.
Race looks at me, "Brooklyn's here."
Jack peeks his head into the bunk room, "Youse ready?"
I sigh, "As I'll ever be."

We both stand up and head downstairs, Ducky following us the whole way. Race suddenly stops and turns, "I gots an idea."
I smirk, "Oh no, you've been thinking."
"Shut up," he reaches for the top button of my shirt.
I swat his hand away, "What exactly do you think you're doing?"
He ignores my slap and unfastens the first two buttons, "Red says Spot can't take his eyes off a pretty goil. This'll help youse out."
I go to hit him again, but stop myself when I realize the slight advantage. "Alright. How do I look?"
Race acts as if he's closely inspecting me before finally nodding, "Youse look great, dollface." He winks and, almost as an after thought, adds in, "And for good luck..." He leans over and kisses my cheek.

My face burns as we go downstairs. I pray that the red in my cheeks doesn't look too bad, but by Jack's curious expression, it's obvious I'm flustered.
"Youse alright there, Ace?" Jack asks.
"Just peachy, Cowboy," I give him a reassuring smile but he doesn't buy it. Race lets out a short laugh at seeing my blush.
Jack looks between the two of us, "What's ol' Racetrack done now?"
"Don't worry about it," I pull Race's hat down over his eyes, "Now where's Brooklyn?"
"In the basement," Jack says, "waitin' on youse two."
"Well then we best not keep him waiting any longer," I head for the basement with Race and Jack following me.

Everyone is crowded around the card table. Two chairs are positioned opposite each other. Spot's sitting at the card table with Red to one side of him. The Manhattan boys, even David and Les, stand at the other end of the table. They all turn when the three of us join them. Spot stands when we get down there and comes over to us.
"Good ta see youse again, Spot," Jack spits in his hand.
"Same ta youse, Jackie boy," Spot does the same and they shake. Spot turns to me then, "Hello again."
"Same to you," I smirk as Spot's gaze drifts to my shirt, "Eyes up here, Conlon."
Spot, ignoring my comment, gestures to the card table, "Ladies foist."

I smirk and take a seat, "Who's got the cards?"
Jack holds up a pack, "Manhattan supplies, Brooklyn deals." He motions to Red and she steps forward, taking the cards from Jack.
"First thing's first," she says almost bored-like, "what youse got ta deal?"
I reach up and unfasten my barrette, shaking out my blonde hair from the bun on top of my head, "How's this?" I place the barrette on the table and everyone leans in to inspect it.
Spot nods, "Fair enough." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a palm-sized golden pocket watch with a long chain.
I glance at Race to see if that's the right one. He nods and gives me a slight smile. Red deals the cards one by one until the two of us each have five cards.

Spot looks at his cards then to me, "Dis is yer last chance ta back out, sugar."
"Shut your trap, Conlon," I keep my face straight, "and play." Some of the boys laugh and even Red lets out a smile.
A slightly amused look comes across Spot's face, but he covers it by narrowing his eyes, "No one tells Spot Conlon to shut up."
I raise an eyebrow, "I believe I just did."
A chorus of "oohs" and "youse tell him, Ace!" rings through the recreation room, but those are the last words said throughout the game.

We play for what seems like hours when I'm sure it was really only half of one. Hardly anyone speaks or moves during the game. Race sits behind me, nervously bouncing a knee up and down or fiddling with a cigar. I catch Crutchie and Red making faces at each other. I do my best to ignore everything and focus on only the cards in front of me.
I glance at Spot. He sighs, "Ready to reveal?"
"Guests first," I keep a straight face.
Spot smirks and lays his hand down. I lean forward to observe it, as does the rest of the room. A straight flush, starting with a king, lies before me.
"Shit," Race mutters behind me, knowing full well that a king flush is hard to achieve, let alone beat.
"Well Spot," my face falls as I examine my cards one last time, "you may have actually beat me. But they don't call me Ace for nothing." I lay down my hand, revealing a royal flush, one step above Spot's hand.

A cheer goes up as everyone realizes I've beat Spot. Crutchie applauds me before joining Red, who's smiling at my win, on the other side of the room.
Jack pats me on the back, "Always good ta have youse around."
I grab my barrette and the pocket watch off the table and turn to face Race behind me. He's grinning ear-to-ear and cheering along with the others.
Then in what could only be spurred on by adrenaline and victory, his hands cup my face and he kisses me full on the mouth. We stay there for only a few moments before the rest of the room notices and all falls silent. We both pull away as we realize what's happening. Race's face is bright red and my eyes are wide.

Red looks around before finally nudging Spot and winking, "Looks like youse ain't the king of New York no more."

I sit in the shadows of the Lodging House stairs, exhausted from the game and holding a coke from Kloppman's not-so-secret ice box. The boys downstairs still whoop and holler at my win, even though they've all moved onto their own card or dartboard games. I chuckle at their ongoing excitement and push my hair back, thinking over what happened right after I won.

Someone coughs and I see that Spot's standing at the bottom of the stairs with his hands dug deep in his pockets, "Mind if I join youse?"
I shrug, "I still can't believe you actually want to talk to me. Isn't a tough guy like you supposed to be ashamed he lost to a girl?"
Spot laughs and sits next to me, "Eh, I ain't no sore loser. Plus, youse play good. Youse got one hell of a poker face, I'll gives youse that."
"Thanks?" I say more like a question than an actual statement, "You don't play too bad yourself. So are we good? No hard feelings?"
Spot waves it off, "None at all."

A laugh from around the corner interrupts us and we quiet down. Crutchie and Red emerge from the basement with their arms linked.
Spot stands and says goodbye to me before heading towards the bottom of the stairs, "Ready ta head back, Red?"
She nods, "Yeah. Gimme one sec though." Spot tips his hat to Crutchie and heads out the door.
Crutchie walks Red to the door, "I'm glad youse came tanight, Miss Red," he shyly says, looking down at his feet but stealing glances up at her.
Red smiles, "I'm glad I did, too. Good night, Crutchie."
"Sweet dreams, Miss Red," Crutchie whispers. As an afterthought, he leans into her and places a chaste kiss on her cheek.

A grinning newsgirl quickly says goodnight to me and heads out the door behind Spot.
"Smooth," I compliment Crutchie.
He grins, "I took the cue from Race."
I let out a weak smile, "Yeah."
Crutchie raises an eyebrow, "Youse okay?"
I nod a little too fast, "Just peachy."
"Hey," Crutchie quietly says, "don't be too hard on him. He'll kill me if he knew I was sayin' this but," he looks towards the basement where the rest of the boys are, "he really likes youse."
I laugh, "Thanks Crutchie. Now go have some fun."
He limps off and joins the others, leaving me alone once again.

Race kissed me, that much I knew. I don't know if it was purely out of the rush and it was only a spur-of-the-moment kind of deal, or if Race had actually kissed me because of reasons I couldn't explain.

"Hey stranger," I hear someone say and I look up. Race walks up to the step I'm sitting on and sits where Spot was just a few minutes ago.
"Hey," I say.
"Youse sure bolted outta there fast," Race notes and looks at me out the corner of his eye.
I sigh, cutting right to the chase, "I can't believe you kissed me like that."
"Yeah, neither can I," he mutters, "Youse embarrassed?"
I let out a small laugh, "Only a little."
Race smirks, "So you didn't like it?"
I eye him and fail at holding back a smile, "I never said that."
"So youse did like it," he puts his face closer to mine.
"I never said that either," I say a little too breathy for my liking.
"Well then maybe we should sort it out for youse," Race quietly says before leaning in.

I can't help it; I meet him halfway. I instinctively close my eyes, leaning into it and kissing him back. He tastes like alcohol and tobacco, but nothing like the alcohol and tobacco taste Oscar was. No, don't think about that, I push all thoughts of anything else but Race out of my head.
After a few seconds, I pull away and subtly smile, "I definitely think I liked it."

A/N: My favorite chapter by far. I can't even handle it. FIRST KISS YEEEAH! Wow. Okay.

SOOOOO please review this. I would greatly appreciate it.