Chapter 19
HATCH
Dee—Tweetle Dee, I’m gathering from her mime costume matching her twin’s—pours me and X some hot tea in black porcelain mugs with golden rims. It smells delicious, like cinnamon and strawberries, but when X doesn’t make a move to do anything more than pretend to sip, I do the same.
Then she deals me and X in, her eyes flicking between us curiously.
There’s only one other place I’ve been where the dealers analyzed me like this, and it was McKennon Casinos the night I traded hopes and dreams for reality and nightmares.
It got me here, though, so I guess I can’t be too upset about that.
“You know Blackjack?” Dee asks, her voice husky but without a trace of sensuality, unlike her sister’s brighter, more carefree timbre.
She doesn’t meet Jabber’s unflinching stare as she deals to him. Her hand sets his cards down and pulls back fast.
“Refresh my memory.”
She goes through the rigmarole of explaining the stakes, explaining the goal is to beat the dealer with number values on the card. To win, your dealt cards should get closer to twenty-one than the dealer’s, without going over twenty-one each round.
I nod, taking in everyone else’s bored expressions as I pretend to listen. The rules are simple, though. So X and I fork over twenty bucks for her to quickly deal us in, and we begin.
And Castle, the bastard, talks the entire. Fucking. Time.
“This is Jabber, by the way.” He smiles to the bald giant who just juts his chin at me. “He’s been one of mine for twenty years. Picked him up off a corrupt general, that if you’d believe it, went missing and was never found. Isn’t that strange?”
“Yeah, super strange,” I answer idly, annoyed that I’m having trouble both clocking the convo and how many face cards were flipped the last round.
How many decks would he use in his shoe?
It’s a private game. So probably three or fewer.
People like the number three for whatever reason, I’d bet that.
That first round I got fifteen and lost to the house like everyone except Castle.
Now I’ve got a five of diamonds and queen of spades.
I glance toward Dorman when he talks about some stupid reality show.
There are more faces on the board than numbers, so I tap the table when it comes up to me and get a six of hearts.
“Twenty-One,” Dee says, giving me my winnings, and after dealing X his measly two of spades, adding him up to seventeen, she takes everyone else’s chips.
“Well done,” Castle beams, like the bastard taught me himself how to count to ten a few times. “Next round, Dee, dear.”
Dee deals again and so it goes, all the while Castle and Dorman providing useful and incredibly idiotic commentary, respectively.
Jabber, who from the very limited grunts he’s given us in an Eastern European or Russian accent, stays mean mugging.
Dorman might or might not be on a different plane of existence, smoking a joint that smells exactly like the berries and cotton candy blend outside, and X is as silent as a church mouse.
I’m guessing waiting to be spoken to. From how interested Castle is in me, though, I bet that won’t be for a good long while.
“So, Hatter, I like your style of clothing. It looks almost vintage, quite the appropriate outfit to go with the steampunk mask. I do love a good suit.”
I can almost feel the knowing smirk X wishes he could throw my way. I give up memorizing the amount of number cards I’ve clocked and nod.
“One of my friends has some real good old school style.”
Not just old school, Harry’s just plain old. He grumbled the entire time I raided his closet, then pushed me aside and came out with this banger, pocket watch included. I’ll need to buy him some good whiskey as my thanks, considering I’m already on Castle’s good side somehow.
“A friend? On the island? Maybe I know him.”
Fuck.
I wave away the dealer’s offer for a new card. Mine add up to sixteen, honestly a miserable hand to deal with. But I’d take a million of these just to be able to read this guy’s mind.
“Probably not,” I answer. “Met him on my way passing through Charleston.”
“Oh? Passing through where?”
X shifts beside me as we all lose except for Castle. The fucker got a king of hearts and an ace of diamonds, winning on the first flip.
I lean back, spreading myself wider. “I’m a wanderer, Castle. Been all sorts of places.”
He eyes me wearing a smile that’s a little brittle. “But from your accent you started in the Upstate, am I right? Maybe a little Western North Carolina?”
I chuckle easily as I lie through my teeth. “Midlands actually. My grandma was from there, though. We all got a hint of her accent.”
“And what was her name? I’m not familiar with the area, but maybe I’ve heard of her.” He smiles at Dee and taps the table, getting a two of diamonds to add up to nineteen.
I suck my teeth in frustration as I overcompensate a card flip of fifteen and lose the draw with a seven of clubs, busting out at twenty-two.
Castle’s gaze burns through my mask, so I try to make my eyes and jaw as relaxed as possible.
The “Who’s your family?” is a normal question in the South, usually asked right after “What’s your name?
” and “Where’re you from?” So normally I wouldn’t mind, but I don’t get the sense this is a normal situation.
“Francine,” I answer, deciding to throw him a bone. Maybe if I give him something real, he’ll back off. There are plenty of octogenarian Francines where I’m from. I’m basically giving him the equivalent of “Robert.”
But X stills, and Castle’s only tell, for what it’s worth, is a mustache twitch.
“Blackjack! Whoo!” Dorman throws both arms up in the air, nearly knocking back his chair, and I could kiss the guy for getting the attention on him.
Castle sighs. “Congratulations. You managed not to lose money for once.”
“Damn right I did.” Dorman points at me with his beer. “Unlike pretty boy over here. What’ve you won, Hatter? Twenty bucks?”
“Ten,” Dee corrects flatly as she gathers the cards.
“See? Pathetic!”
I shrug and lean back in my chair. “Can’t all be card sharks like you, Dorman.”
Castle’s eyes flick between us, a hint of amusement at the corners.
Dorman puffs his chest out. “That’s right. Been playing cards my whole life.”
“Hm.” I glance at my next hand without reacting. Eight of clubs. Six of hearts. Dealer’s showing a five. “And how’s that workin’ out for you financially?”
Jabber huffs what might actually be a laugh. X’s shoulders tighten at the sound, barely perceptible.
“The hell’s that supposed to mean?” Dorman demands.
“It means,” I tap the table for another card, “you don’t exactly strike me as retired on a yacht somewhere.”
The dealer flips me a four, rounding me out to eighteen. Good enough for me.
Dorman squints at me through bloodshot eyes while Dee continues around the table. “You got a smart mouth for somebody losing.”
“Technically, I’m only down ten bucks.”
“Then how’s ‘bout we make this interesting, huh?” Dorman leans forward.
Alright bo, here we fucking go.
“‘Interesting’ how?” I ask casually.
No one else moves, but I feel Castle’s attention narrow on us.
“Next hand. Side bet.” Dorman grins. “Hundred bucks.”
X mutters, “Jesus Christ,” under his breath.
I snort and lean back farther in my chair. “Man, I just got hired. You think I got a hundred bucks to throw away?”
“You had enough money to dump all over Alice’s stage.” The second her name floats in the air, a hot poker pierces my chest, and the feet of my chair thud back on the floor. And fuck, of course Castle notices.
I know because his fingers thump idly against the poker chip he’s placed on the table.
Dorman mistakes my silence for hesitation and grins wider. “What’s wrong? Scared?”
Dee’s reshuffling the discard tray into the shoe, and I watch it out of the corner of my eye like it’s a flipbook animation, finally catching what I’ve been waiting on all damn night.
High cards. A lot of them.
Not enough faces have dropped for the last several rounds, and Dorman keeps hitting like he’s playing for high score. Statistically, the next few hands are about to get real favorable, real fast.
So I sigh and slouch in my chair. “Fine. But if we’re doing this, let’s actually make it fun.”
Castle’s gaze drifts to me as he rubs two chips together. “And what does the Hatter consider fun?”
“Double if I hit two face cards,” I answer. Then to sweeten Dorman’s pot, I add. “You get triple if you hit two lows first. But the money comes from us, not the house.”
I can practically see the dollar signs in his eyes. “You’re on.”
The next round is a forfeit on our side bet, although I do win with a nineteen. Round two, Dorman’s squirming in his seat as he gets handed a four of diamonds… and a Jack of hearts.
He huffs like a child, but when Dee deals me a Queen of hearts… and then a King of spades, he shouts.
“You son of a bitch, you cheated!”
“Nope.” I chuckle. “Won fair and square.” Kind of…
Dee continues the hand before paying out my winnings. Then she reaches for Dorman’s chips on the table to hand them to me, but he huddles over them, so she pauses, giving him a nasty look.
“If you didn’t cheat,” he sneers. “How the hell did you know you’d get two face cards?”
I roll my eyes. “It’s called gambling, jackass. Everything’s a bet.”
“Indeed,” Castle muses. “Pay it over, Dorman. A win is a win.”
Dorman groans as Dee counts out my earnings—which ends up being all his chips.
I grin at him as she pushes the chips in front of me and pick up ninety dollars’ worth of chips.
“Consider these ones as a refund for the stunt you pulled when I got here.” I rub them together, making a light clicking sound, before tossing them up and catching them. “Pleasure doing business with you.”
“You mother—” A low ding resounds from Dorman’s pocket, interrupting him. And he moans.
At the same time, X stiffens, and presses his hand to his ear. Castle’s eyes dart to him, then he nods, and X murmurs. “Jack of diamonds.”