Chapter 6 #2
“If you’re not betting, you have to sit with me. Only players get a seat,” East stated with his eyes on the table as he watched the dealer pull cards from the stack one by one and issue them around the table.
“Sit with you?” Joi questioned with a slight frown.
East lifted the corner of the card, which was face down, then gave her his attention. He tapped her thigh and motioned his head toward his lap.
“Uh, no. I’ll just go over there with Ny.”
“And sit in her lap? Because the same rules apply over there. If you aren’t betting, you don’t get a seat at the table.”
Joi gritted her teeth and looked around.
She noticed a makeshift bar in the corner, and when East realized what she was thinking, he gripped her waist and pulled her into his lap.
She fell against him hard, so it took a minute to steady herself.
In the process, Joi’s hand pressed right against something solid. When she snatched it away, East smiled.
“That’s about all this skin you have on display, Grinch. Don’t be offended.” He brushed a finger across the small of her back.
Joi shivered from the sensual touch but didn’t get to embrace it long before East used both hands to position her better. Once he was comfortable with her in his lap, he placed one hand on the side of her thigh and glanced at the second card that had just been dealt.
“You play Blackjack?”
“I know how, but I don’t really play cards. I don’t have time for games.” She issued the statement with sort of a double meaning, and because East was smart, he immediately picked up on it. He pushed out a smile.
“Should I take a hit?” he asked, looking up at Joi then down at his cards. He already knew what he wanted to do but was going to allow her to make the call.
“It’s your money. You decide.” East gripped her thigh, causing Joi to adjust in his lap just a little more.
In doing so, she felt something else hard, but it was on his side.
A gun. She was antsy while he was in total control, unbothered in a sense, other than the solid mass that sat beneath her.
East dealt with a lot of women. Most of which the average man would be intimidated to approach, but women who produced a hard dick didn’t mean shit to East. He had experienced enough in his life that he could be around them without losing his cool.
Joi was fine as hell and seated in his lap, which caused a physical reaction, but East was still very much in control.
Something he learned at a young age. Women used sex as a way to get what they wanted and East had never been a fan of manipulation.
For that reason, he practiced patience regardless of how his body reacted to a woman.
Thinking with the wrong head could get you fucked up.
“Nah, you tell me what you think.”
Joi rolled her eyes and checked out the cards. An eight of hearts was showing, so she peeked at the card that was face down, which was an eight of clubs. Sixteen. She glanced around the table and all eyes were on her. The four other men, the dealer, and East.
“Yeah, take one more,” she instructed. The odds of getting a card five or less was good.
East chuckled. He hadn’t planned to take a hit, but he went with it. The dealer watched with his eyes until East nodded at Joi.
“You heard her. Let me get one more.”
The guy next to East was sitting at fifteen, while the two other men had busted. They all waited, watching like hawks until the dealer placed the seven of clubs down in front of East.
“That’s ten grand you just cost me, Grinch.”
“Ten grand?” Joi’s eyes stretched widely as the rest of the cards from the other players were revealed, and the man next to them smiled, sliding the chips from the pot his way.
East lifted a brown chip from the stack in front of him, flipped it in his fingers, then placed it down in front of Joi. She looked at it with a light pout, not realizing he had bet so much.
“Ten grand,” East repeated before he moved his finger from each stack of chips one by one, calling out their value. “Ten, five, two, five hundred.”
“Shit, my bad.”
East’s smile was infectious as Joi surveyed his handsome face.
He didn’t seem bothered by the loss, which was good.
She hoped he wasn’t about to trip and expected her to recoup the money.
This betting thing was his idea, not hers, and even though she delivered her answer about money for bets with confidence when East inquired, she damn sure didn’t have it like that.
“It’s cool. Let’s just get it back. Place a bet.” He nodded to the chips and Joi bit her lip. She eventually lifted one of the five hundred dollar chips and pushed it forward. The man next to her giggled like a bitch and it caused East to address him.
“Check that giggling shit or go find another table, pussy ass.” Not raising his voice even one octave, the threat was still present.
East followed it up with a look that had Booker straightening in his seat while he kept his eyes forward.
Being the focus of a man like East wasn’t something most looked forward to.
East, however, had spoken his piece and moved on.
“Minimum bet is one thousand. You have to do better than that.”
Joi sucked her teeth and looked at the chips, surveying each one.
Between the neatly stacked columns and the pile next to them, she surmised there was no less than two, possibly three hundred grand.
Since East wanted to be a big shot, she removed the chip for five hundred and replaced it with two that were ten grand each.
All eyes were on Joi again while East moved his hand across his curls. The money wasn’t shit to him. He had set aside five hundred grand for the night, and even if he hadn’t planned to lose it all, if he did, he wouldn’t so much as flinch behind it.
“Twenty large?”
He looked up at Joi, who simply shrugged with a smug grin creasing her lips. He read right through her casual demeanor and offered a slight nod.
“Aight, bet.” He then gave confirmation to the dealer that he was going with Joi’s decision.
Two of the other men groaned at the amount Joi had placed for East. Their pockets were straight, but nothing compared to East, and placing a small bet against his twenty made them look bad.
They pushed their chips in, one at five, one at ten, while Dodge, who was pretty solid in the streets, tossed twenty to match East. He was also unbothered by the money.
Joi watched intently as the cards went down one by one. She was anxious. As confident as she tried to be, she didn’t want to be the reason behind East losing more money. The way her finances were set up at the moment, she damn sure didn’t have it to reimburse if he expected her to.
Moments later, cards were down in front of each player, but East didn’t move. Joi looked back at him and he nudged her slightly.
“Your bet, your decision. What we working with?”
“No, you’re not about to put that on me.”
“Your scary ass. Lift the card and see what we have. This is your bet.”
“I’m not scary. I’m just not crazy. This is your money.”
“True, but your bet, with my money. Lift the card.”
Joi’s heart seemed to be pumping harder as she timidly peeked at the card that was face down. Queen of spades. The one face-up was a king of diamonds. Twenty.
She smiled, feeling a little more confident.
East chuckled when Dodge mumbled “shit” after watching Joi.
“You just gave away our hand, pretty.”
“How?” She frowned at East, causing his smile to grow wider.
“That cute ass smile of yours. It only showed for a second, but a second too long in a game that’s based on body language and facial expressions. They know we’re sitting nice over here.”
Joi surveyed the table and the looks on everyone’s faces while they waited for the dealer to turn one more card for himself. He was out. East tapped the table and the other two men pushed their cards forward while Dodge chuckled.
“Get our money.” East nodded at the pile of chips and Joi smiled harder than she had before. “I won?”
“We won. My money, your bet.”
“Ay, can I get next?” Joi looked up at the face of a man she knew played for the Hawks. He was familiar, but she didn’t know his name.
“You can have my seat. I’m done. Let me go see what this poker table is talking about.” Dodge pushed his chair back and the player filled it after he collected his chips and left.
“You over here taking everybody’s money, East?” he stated while getting situated.
“Hell yeah and I’m about to take yours too. Ante up.” East spoke casually, with a sense of amusement that caused the player to smirk.
Joi listened to the two men go back and forth for a few more minutes, laughing and smiling as they engaged in a friendly repartee with each other. She could tell the men at this table respected East. She had a feeling it extended far beyond the table to the rest of the room.
For the next hour, she placed bets while East made decisions about the hand he was dealt.
Their streak was up and down, winning most hands but still losing a few.
When East finally bailed out, he was down sixty grand of his personal money but didn’t care.
The money wasn’t an issue, so he collected what he had left and asked Joi to join him at the bar.
Tonight was about business for East, so he had a beer while Joi had two shots of C?roc, which had her a little more relaxed.
East noticed the hazy look in her eyes and enjoyed the way her face softened after the second one, but he wanted to make sure she was straight.
“You good over there?” He kept his eyes on her, noticing the subtle changes as her smile surfaced.
There was a slight crease next to her lips on the left side and her eyes closed a little more, giving them a semi-slanted type of feel.
“Are you?” Joi wasn’t sure why that was the only thought she could come up with.
She wasn’t drunk, but she was indeed buzzed. However, it wasn’t the alcohol that had her mind stuttering. It was the man next to her.