Chapter 6
HAYES
The bustle of the tournament starting soon is palpable. It’s a small private event, hosted by Conner Jenson. He’s a pretentious Alpha who thinks his designation makes him a king.
In reality the man is a complete asshole and the only women who spend time with him have ulterior motives. Not that I blame them, you have to do what you have to do. I just feel bad that they have to suffer in his company to get what they really want out of him—his money.
How completely pathetic that your only redeeming quality is your fortune? One the smug bastard didn’t even earn himself.
He slaps his big hand against my back.
“Don’t tell me you couldn’t find a date for tonight,” he says, faking sympathy.
He made this night all about bringing Omegas because he hates me. He hates that I beat him and that I’m a Beta. Scratch that, he hates that I’m a Beta people actually like.
I don’t need a knot or money to get people to like me.
“She’ll be down here soon,” I say, glancing at my text chain with Cherry.
“It’ll be nice to have some Betas sitting around the table,” he says.
I give him a smile as black cherry hair and scent fills the small area. Her black dress hits mid-calf, a tall slit showing off her toned calf. The gauzy fabric sparkles against her glowing skin. She smiles brightly as she grabs my arm.
“There you are,” she says sweetly, glancing over at Conner.
The Alpha clears his throat and glances at my date. I’m surprised he doesn’t have to wipe drool from his chin.
“Well, isn’t this a pleasant surprise? First deal starts in ten minutes,” Conner says in a pinched tone as he walks away.
Cherry’s face falls and she takes a deep breath.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” she says, all her bravado leaving from when she first entered the bar.
I tilt my head and look at all her pretty features. Her eyes are gray, fanned by long, dark eyelashes. Her lips are covered in darker lipstick making them look even more pouty against her sun-kissed skin.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, testing the limits and caressing her arm with my hand.
She looks almost shy as she glances at me, a far cry from the confident woman who gave me a lap dance a few days ago.
She wraps her arms around herself, pushing up her breasts. I quickly look back up at her face.
“Lavender Moon is different, I’m Cherry there. I’m not sure how to be her in a setting like this.”
“You don’t have to act any type of way. Just be yourself.”
Her dark brows pinch together and she shakes her head, almost like her being herself wouldn’t be enough.
“Listen, you don’t even have to talk. You’ll just sit on my lap while I play. I’ll handle everything.”
She bites her dark fingernail and nods.
“Okay, oh. Are they going to ask my name?”
“You can tell them your name’s Cherry.”
“Is it okay if I tell them my name is Hailey?”
I blink at her for a few moments. “Hailey?”
“Yeah, if that’s okay?”
There’s no way. There’s no fucking way this Hailey is Nate’s Hailey, right? He hasn’t stopped talking about her. This can’t be the same Omega that got a knot toy stuck in her and called 911, or the daughter of the biggest cunt in all of Las Vegas.
If this is Nate’s Hailey then this makes the stakes for tonight even higher.
“Whatever makes you comfortable,” I tell her.
“Can we get a drink first?” she asks and I smile, ordering our drinks as I slip my phone out of my pocket.
What color hair does Hailey have?
Nate
Like dark red/purplish…I don’t know.
Sterling
Burgundy.
About five-foot-eight? Gray eyes?
Nate
What’s going on?
I slip the phone back into my pocket and look at Hailey—Cherry, whatever she wants me to call her—in a new light.
The bartender slides over her cocktail as I take my beer.
“Is there anything else you want me to do besides sit on your lap and look pretty?” she asks, humming at the taste of her cocktail.
“You could act like I have a good hand when I actually don’t.”
“Oh, I don’t know anything about poker,” she says with a grimace.
“You don’t need to. How about we make a signal? If I squeeze your hip three times you act like I have a good hand.”
She smiles and nods. “I can do that. Especially if all the Alphas are like that guy from earlier.”
“Some are better, some are worse. I wouldn’t suspect you have an issue with Alphas.”
She scrunches her nose, and it’s adorable. “They’re on a case-by-case basis.”
I bark out a laugh and her smile widens.
“And Betas?” I ask.
“I actually thought I was one, up until about six months ago.”
I nod, wondering if I should tell her that I know this about her. I didn’t know who she was when I first met her or asked her to do this. The fact is, I was already interested at Lavender Moon, but knowing Nate has the hots for her, makes me like her even more.
“Late bloomer, huh?”
“It’s been like going through puberty for the second time, awkward, and…”
“And what?”
“Lonely,” she says, sipping her drink to hide her face.
I’d imagine loneliness is a common feeling for Hailey, if Nate’s experience with her parents is anything to go by.
I’m at a huge advantage, knowing more about her than she does me.
I should come clean, ask her about Nate, yet something tells me I need Hailey to draw her own conclusions about me first.
Nate doesn’t think she’d be interested given his history with Erin. But what if she was interested in more than just Nate?
The bell chimes overhead and I place my hand on her lower back and lead her to the table full of assholes I plan on wringing dry. I pull back my chair, legs wide like a king as I pat my thigh.
Hailey takes a moment, but situates herself on my upper thigh, her legs squeezed tightly together between my own. I keep a possessive hand on her hip, attempting to keep my fingers above the hem of her underwear that I can feel through her dress.
“Okay?” I ask her, giving her a squeeze.
She throws back the drink and glances at me. “Can I get another drink?”
“You can have whatever you want, baby.”
She licks her lips as her sweet scent fills my nose. I keep my composure, but I can tell the other Alphas piling in at the table smell it.
It’s a twisted feeling. I enjoy them scenting her, knowing that she’s mine.
That it’s not my pheromones driving her crazy, she likes me for me, the Beta they underestimate constantly.
Then another part of me wants to punch each of them in the nose so they can’t enjoy her scent at all. Like I said, twisted.
“Look at you, bringing an Omega,” Zach says as the woman on his lap giggles and runs her hand over his chest.
“Look at you, still alive despite your coke problem,” I retort.
His face falls flat as the other Alphas in the room laugh. When I glance over at Hailey, her mouth is agape before she laughs.
“Did you have to pay her to come?” Zach retorts.
Alright, damn, that was a right on the nose comeback.
“No. He has no problem making me come,” Hailey says, running her fingers through the hair sticking out of my hat.
A few of the Omegas laugh along with the Alphas and Zach looks pissed. I squeeze her tighter into my lap as I grin wickedly at Zach.
“Any further questions?” I ask.
Conner laughs. “Always glad to have a Beta around to keep these games interesting, and to bring such a feisty companion for the evening. One has to wonder if you’re overcompensating…”
I rub my thumb against her hip, hoping my touch reassures her that I don’t feel that way. She isn’t some feral animal, or thing, looking to be tamed. She’s a person, and that’s part of why I can’t stand the pompous pricks around me.
It’s nice not feeling guilty about taking their money, especially considering it’s going to fund whatever vehicle Hailey desires.
Hailey glares daggers at Conner. Instead of responding, she places her hand around the side of my neck, her thumb stroking the short beard covering my chin.
“How long is this going to take, baby? I want to do that thing again,” she says with a mischievous sparkle in her eye.
I’ve always believed in some degree of luck in my life.
I was lucky my mom married a good man and he taught me Texas hold ’em when I was eight.
I was lucky when I won my first tournament in Atlantic City.
Even luckier when I moved to Vegas and made this my whole life.
My latest stroke of luck was going into a dive bar and meeting a firefighter who was the kind of Alpha I knew I could build a life with.
I know most Betas don’t dream of having a pack, but I always have.
But something tells me the woman sitting on my lap may be my luckiest brush of fate yet.
“Soon. Be patient, baby” I tell her.
I swear I can see the jealousy in some of the Omegas’ glances. Hailey must feel it too, because she leans down and places the tenderest kiss against my lips. It’s chaste, but feels like we’re putting on a complete show for these Alphas.
Is it a show? Or is it something more?
She tastes tart and sweet as I lick my lips and the first deal happens.
Poker is a mix of a few things: luck, reading your opponent, and knowing your odds. Any asshole can have a few good rounds, it's luck of the draw. But the best players? They use psychology to get in their opponents’ heads, to know who’s going to fold and who has a better hand.
You don’t always need to have the best hand, but you do need to have the best strategy.
A few rounds in and my hand is absolute shit. Zach and Conner have been calling bluffs left and right. I think it’s time to use my secret weapon.
I squeeze her hip three times, loving the feel of her body pressed against mine. She’s gotten more comfortable as the night progresses. It could be from her continuous cocktails, but I’d like to think I have a little something to do with it as well.
Hailey looks down at my cards and gives a little smirk, before rubbing my chest. It’s simple, and obvious without being too obvious.
For the first time, Zach and Conner fold, and I win the round with a shitty hand that makes them all grumble. They eye Hailey suspiciously and I smirk to myself.
The next hand that I have that’s actually good, I do the same thing. Squeezing her hip three times.
This time no one folds, thinking it’s a tell and I win with a straight.
“Grab my chips, baby,” I tell Hailey.
She leans over the table, her ass right in front of my sight line. It takes everything in me to not push up her dress and eat her out from behind. But somehow, I manage, as she collects the chips and stacks them in neat little rows before sitting on my lap.
“You’re such a fucking joke, Paxton,” Zach says.
I breathe through my nose, hating my first name and every prick here knows it.
I swear Hailey’s scent sours as soon as the man speaks. It’s almost like she feels like she needs to protect me. Usually I would hate it. Nate and Sterling are overbearing as it is, but an Omega defending me feels completely different. Especially one as beautiful as Hailey.
I’m not sure where her timidness from earlier went, but I can tell you it’s completely fucking gone as she kisses my throat and licks a trail from my collarbone to my ear, so only she can whisper in my ear.
“Take the rest of their money and let’s get out of here.”
She pulls back and looks at me, her pretty eyes searching mine as I give her a smile.
She’s absolutely the one.
Now I have to figure out how to keep her.