Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Janet Evanovich. I am just borrowing.
Spoilers: Possibly all the books but probably none.
Content: Strictly a Language Issue (but not harsh)
This is my first try at fanfic so please be kind.
Thanks to Kate (My Mini Obsession) for her support and editorial powers!
Thanks to Jaime (She's Got High Hopes) for creating the poker game! This story could never have been written without you!
Stephanie's Gamble
Chapter 2 The Poker GameI watched in trepidation as Ranger pulled a dealer button out of nowhere and set it down in front of him.
"The name of the game is Texas Hold 'Em," he announced, shuffling a new deck of cards. I swallowed hard. Jeeze Louise, where in the world did that deck of cards come from? In the past I had thought of Ranger as being "magic" but was he literally pulling things out of his ass now?
"Does everybody know the rules?" He asked, his eyes boring holes into me. I could barely manage to nod as the Merry Men all in unison muttered that they understood.
"Good," Ranger began dealing cards until everybody had two. "The specialty rules are as follows. Each penny equals one point. All of us will start out with 100 points. A player will be eliminated when he or she is out of points. The last two players will play for the remaining points. The last player to lose is the biggest loser, since they lost their points and the points accumulated from the previous players, and therefore will have to follow through with the requests that were written earlier. Any questions?"
Oh Good Lord! I thought, swallowing harder than before. Since when did Ranger become a casino pit boss? Joe could look like a casino pit boss when he dressed up, but I never thought of Ranger this way. Crap. The sudden change in Ranger was unnerving.
"Big blinds start at two points," Ranger added. We all nodded.
Bobby was sitting at Ranger's left. He threw in one penny, since he had the small blind. Everybody else threw in two pennies. I remember looking at my cards. A two of clubs and a three of spades. With my best blank face, I threw in my two cents.
Ranger added his bet and dealt the Flop: a two of hearts, an Ace of diamonds, and a nine of clubs. Bobby checked and beside him, Tank bet two cents. Everybody else put in two pennies except for Hector, who folded. When Bobby matched the bet, Ranger dealt the "Turn". A three of clubs. I bit my lip and tried to keep blank face. So far, I had two pair. If Ranger dealt a two or a three on the River, I would have a Full House. Bobby and Tank both checked and Lester raised the bet by three pennies. I matched the bet and raised two more pennies. Ranger met my bet and Bobby and Tank both folded. Lester met the bet and raised it by another penny. Ranger and I had both matched the bet before Ranger dealt the River.
Holy hell! I fought to maintain blank face. A two of spades. I had a Full House!
Lester bet two pennies. I raised Lester five pennies. Ranger just stared at my face for a second, his gaze intense. His lips twitched slightly and he threw down his cards.
"I fold," he said.
Now it was Lester's turn to study my face. I did my best in the fight for control, I gave him my best bored look, but inside, my heart was pounding so hard I was surprised he couldn't see it through my shirt. Lester raised an eyebrow and gave me his sexiest grin.
"I raise you five points," he said, tossing five pennies into the pot.
I returned the grin. "I call your five and raise you ten."
A chorus of "Aww hell" and "Don't do it, man" sounded but I managed to keep my bored face intact. Lester's eyes narrowed as he tried to figure out if was bluffing. After a minute, he shrugged and tossed the pennies into the pot.
"Call," he said in his sexiest voice.
I proudly laid out my cards. A flash of surprise crossed Lester's face and was quickly replaced with a pained look.
"Damn, Bombshell," he groaned, setting his own cards down. Two pair. The guys began to laugh. I eagerly reached out and proudly collected my winnings.
For me, the rest of the night went fairly well. I was playing better than ever before. Before long, Lester was eliminated, you know what they say about false pride, hmmmm wonder what else Lester is bluffing about? The next eliminated were Hector and Bobby. The pennies were equally distributed between Ranger and me, except for a tiny pile in front of Tank. Soon, Tank was eliminated.
Yes, another one bites the dust! I thought to myself. It was all I could do not to dance in my seat when Tank "hit the road Jack!" This game was turning into more fun than I ever would have guessed!
"I'm impressed, Babe," Ranger said, his eyes sparkling with amusement.
"Never underestimate me," I said bravely. Thinking back, maybe that fourth beer hadn't been such a good idea. Maybe I was getting too cocky. Nah, my luck was going to hold. Right?
Ranger just grinned and dealt the cards, it wasn't the standard issue wolf grin, but it was predatory all the same. I remember looking down. An eight and a nine, both spades. I was hoping for at least a flush, I put in the big blind, which was up to ten pennies by this time. Ranger threw in the small blind and dealt the Flop. A four of spades, a ten of hearts, and a Queen of hearts. I checked and Ranger bet twenty five pennies. Giving him my best bored look, I called his bet. With a grin, Ranger dealt the Turn. A two of spades. I checked again and Ranger bet fifty pennies. Thinking he was just bluffing, I called his bet and raised him a hundred pennies. Ranger called MY bet without batting an eyelash.
It could go two ways for me. If he dealt a spade on the River, I would have a Flush. If he dealt a Jack, I would have a Straight. In my terms, this was a sure thing! I was privately getting ready to do the Snoopy Dance.
Ranger dealt the Jack of Hearts on the River. I was ready to fly out of my seat, but managed to stay grounded. It was not time to dance yet. I forced my bored face, and bet another hundred. Ranger grinned, and he called my bet and raising me fifteen more. Calling his bet put me all in and I did it gladly, thinking about how great it would be to watch Ranger painting my parents' house and fending off a hormonal Grandma Mazur. I could just picture it now.
"Call," I said smugly. Ranger just grinned and set down his hand. The smug look melted off of my face as I got a good look at his cards.
Shit.
An Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and a ten. All hearts.
He had a Royal Flush.
I was the biggest loser…
Crap. Thoughts of Ranger in house painting duds were rapidly fading from my mind being replaced with uncertainty.
Ranger rose from the table effectively concluding the night's festivities. Nuts, his predatory smile was growing. It isn't a smile I had seen much, but I was beginning to feel like I was a caged animal and I knew this wasn't going to be good.
"Gentlemen and lady," Ranger intoned smugly, "due to the lateness of the hour, the subject of the debt will be handled on the next business day during a private lunch. Lunch will be catered in house, nothing fancy. At the conclusion of lunch, we will finalize this evening's business."
The rest of us took our cue from the host and also rose. The guys were whispering to themselves and looked pretty danged serious about it. Then they approached me one at a time.
"Steph," Hector whispered, "I promise, it won't be that bad." Then he kissed me on the cheek.
"Patron, I am going to go. Thanks for the game." Hector directed to Ranger.
"Hector, we'll see you morning after next. Thanks for coming. All of you, thanks for coming. I can't remember a more satisfying New Year's Eve for a long, long time," Ranger said smiling from ear to ear.
"Beautiful, you did well. See ya soon," Lester said as he kissed my cheek.
"Bye handsome, see you later," I said to Lester.
"Bomber, never knew you had it in you. Remind me not to play against you unless I know if the cards are marked," Bobby said quietly.
"We both know the decks weren't marked, don't we? Besides, it was just friendly betting. Thanks for letting me play," I said. Bobby kissed me on the cheek in reply.
"Most interesting game I've played in a long time, Steph. I am really glad you came. As far as I'm concerned, we should do this on a regular basis. I had forgotten how much fun a friendly card game could be," Tank said as he leaned in to deposit a kiss on my cheek.
One by one, each Merry Man headed to the fourth floor to his own apartment.
When it was just the two of us, Ranger said, "Babe, as usual you don't disappoint. I have never had a more interesting game of poker. Maybe Tank is right and we should make this at least a monthly thing so we can all keep our skills sharp."
"Same players and same rules, Batman?" I asked.
"Most likely same players, probably same rules, definitely not the same pot at the end. We will go back to the penny pots, less to worry about the next day."
"Worry about, worry about? What are you talking about, Ranger?" I whined.
"It isn't what you think, I just know that this was a special game and had to have a special pot. From here on in, it will just be pennies and the joy of rolling pennies. I promise. Hey, don't I get my New Year's kiss? Looks like you stocked up from the guys."
"I am sure any of them would have kissed you on the cheek if you had just asked them, Ranger. But if you'd really like …"
Before I could finish the sentence, he snatched me into his arms and kissed me with one of those kisses you see in the movies. You know the kind, soft and slow to begin with and steadily picking up passion and promising a lack of clothing sooner than later. We never did get to the lack of clothing part of the kiss because Ranger's cell phone went off.
In under five words he was headed to the comm. room to save society from something or another and I was headed off to the 4th floor apartment that was held in reserves for me. It was time for my beauty sleep anyway.