Chapter 3
While Cillian and Kingston would’ve just snatched the girl off the streets, I acted in a different manner than they did.
While I also possessed the Brannington caveman tendencies, I also understood things were different now than even a decade or two ago.
There were a lot more factors to consider, so I decided to get to Aurora through her lowlife boyfriend.
The trust fund jock turned wannabe doctor was a fucking menace and a damn loser.
He couldn’t play poker to save his fucking life, but still played it anyway.
It was the reason he had been able to accrue a sizeable debt that tonight he would pay back not with his life, but with the woman he wanted to one day make his wife.
I’d had my eyes on him for several days now and had seen how he’d paraded her around on Halloween night.
It would’ve been so easy to just pluck her up then, but I had bided my time.
I couldn’t do it anymore because he had also begun checking out jewelry shops for engagement rings.
My time was running out, and it would be easier to bend the beauty to my will without having to shed the fiancée title from her.
That was what led me to this particular game tonight.
While I occasionally played cards, I preferred to frequent fight clubs instead.
Mental warfare was one thing, but it didn’t trump the physical kind.
I got such a rush of endorphins when bashing another’s head in, and Drake Smythe was the most arrogant of men I had ever met, and his face could certainly use some rearranging.
Alas, I would get the girl another way. As I took my seat across from him at the table where two others also sat, I placed a stack of cash down in front of me.
Drake gulped at the height of it, but also placed a stack in front of himself.
The other two wasted no time doing the same, and the cards were dealt.
Never one to give anything away, inside I was smirking at the two aces I had in my palm. I had the spade and diamond, and even as Drake smirked at his own, I knew nothing he had would beat mine. I glanced to my left and to my right at the other men. I placed my bet, then Drake did the same.
Justin looked down at his. “I call,” he said.
Antoine glanced at his own. “Me too!”
“I raise,” I said.
“I call,” Drake responded right after.
The community cards were revealed, and I kept my face expressionless as I stared down at the Queen of spades, five of hearts, and two of clubs.
Justin and Antoine checked, while Drake raised.
I studied him for a moment, and while he seemed extremely pleased with his hand, I called.
Justin and Antoine then folded, leaving just the two of us.
Again, I called. Drake grew cautious at that point.
More community cards were revealed, and my facial expressions remained the same as I stared down at the nine of diamonds. I checked and Drake raised. The next community card was revealed, which happened to be the three of hearts. I placed a bet as Drake called.
I started to wonder if he would forfeit, but looking at the cash he had already wagered, I doubted he could so easily discard it.
In addition to losing that, he still owed my family a hefty sum from a previous weekend of gambling.
It had been just before Halloween when I’d first put my plan into motion.
“He’s fucking with you,” Justin whispered to Drake, who smirked at me.
“Yeah, I bet he hasn’t got shit,” he responded in a half-whisper.
I shrugged, but gave nothing away. Drake went back to his heavy state of concentration. The pot was already close to twenty grand. For someone up to his ears in debt, and soon to be saddled with student loans, I finally cleared my throat.
“What about if we make this wager more interesting?” I asked.
“Interesting, how?” Drake responded suspiciously.
“You already owe me twenty grand from a few weeks ago. Tonight’s pot will be around thirty. How about you wager something other than money, and if you win, you keep that wager, along with tonight’s pot and what you lost to me last time.”
His eyes narrowed more. “And what do you suggest I wager?”
I leaned in toward him. “That blonde you’re dating.”
“Rory?” he asked. His head flipped back as if I had struck him. “Like a night with her or something?”
I grinned and ignored the looks on both Justin’s and Antoine’s faces. “No. I want her until she no longer makes my dick hard.”
I doubted that would be anytime soon. All I needed was the in. She would then be at my mercy, and kept that way until it was beneficial to make her disappear as I’d promised Kingston and Cillian I’d do. I had always followed my orders, mostly because I needed to prove myself to them.
“No fucking way,” Drake said.
“You had your dick balls deep inside that ginger socialite a few nights ago, so don’t insult me or my intelligence by pretending as if you only have eyes for the blonde.”
“That was different. She was—”
“She’s the reason you’re able to sit across from me tonight. If you’d rather lose every cent you came here with and be forced to pay up on your existing debt, then fine. Let’s play.”
“S-so if I win tonight, you erase my existing debt plus I get this pot, and I get to keep my girl?”
“Absolutely,” I said before leaning back and crossing my legs at the ankles. “Study long, study wrong.”
“He’s bluffing you, Drake. Don’t let him psyche you out. He doesn’t have shit, and he doesn’t need this money,” Antoine told him.
And while he was right about the money, I did need the girl. “So, what’s it going to be?”
“I’m in,” Drake said before throwing down his cards.
I smirked at the sight of his King and Queen of clubs. “Impressive, but not enough,” I replied as I threw down my two aces.
The color drained from his face, and the other two were stunned into collective silence. I slid the stack of cash in the center of the table toward me, then piled it atop what was left of mine. Drake remained quiet, at least until I stood up.
“That other twenty grand is due to me by this time next weekend, or you’ll lose a few fingers, which won’t help with your medical career.
The girl, however, is due to me tonight, or you’ll lose the only thing you have to offer her.
” Anger filled his face, and he rose quickly to his feet.
Conor and Liam, two of my men, rose just as quickly, and when Drake noticed their weapons, he gulped slightly.
“Surely, there’s something we can work out,” Drake finally said.
“I’m not completely unreasonable. Get me the girl tonight, and you can keep not only the twenty grand you owe, but the use of your fingers.”
“Why are you doing this? And how do you know about Rory?”
“I make it my business to know everything about everyone I do business with, whether professional or recreational. Your girl could do a hell of a lot worse than me. After all, she’s with you.”
He lunged toward me, but Conor was able to get to him first. I didn’t need protection from this fucking dweeb, but I let my man do his job.
Crossing my arms, I stared at Drake. “Don’t act like you’re madly in love with this ‘Rory’ because you wouldn’t be fucking everything with two legs if you did. ”
“I love her,” he seethed.
“With a lover like you, she sure as fuck doesn’t need enemies.”
“You know nothing about her and me. I’m going to marry—”
“Are you?” I asked. “I doubt she’d want to jump into holy matrimony with an adulterous loser like you.”
“Rory isn’t for sale,” he said in response.
“Actually, she was because we had a valid bet.”
“Do you know who you’re messing with? My family name is Smythe, and we—”
I moved in close. “And mine is Brannington.” At the mention of my surname, his face paled to a pasty shade of white.
“B-Brannington?” he stammered in question.
I grinned. “Zarren Brannington. And I expect the girl in my possession by midnight, or you’re going to lose more than your fingers and tiny dick. I’ll end your worthless life and be a shoulder for Aurora to cry on afterward.”
“You bastard,” he said to me, but when I remained firm with my promise, his deflation became obvious. “How am I supposed to get her to you?”