Chapter 23

Faith

 

        Rushing back to the frat house, we found that Mason was still in the game!  He not only stayed in, but managed to slightly increase his pile of chips.

        “Holy shit, Mas!” exclaimed Logan.  “You’re actually making a comeback?!”

        “Yeah,” said Mason.  “But it’s a lot of folding.  Man, this game is boring.”

        “Yes, it is!” said Kyle annoyed, tapping the table with one hand.  “Especially when you keep doing that.”

        “Shut up, Kyle,” dismissed Logan.  “Don’t be a dildo.  He’s never even played before!”

        “Well, you’re here now,” noted Kyle.  “So sit your ass back down if you’re done fucking my ex.  Which one of you are even fucking her?  Or do you just take turns with that slut?”

        I kissed Logan.  Then I walked over and kissed Mason.

        “They’re both my men,” I announced.  “They don’t have a problem sharing me.  We’re in a loving relationship, something you wouldn’t understand.”

        “Oh, my God!” laughed Kyle, leaning back in his chair.  “That’s what you call a relationship?  A gangbang?!  What was foreplay for you guys?  A bukkake?”

        “Let me get in on some of that!” laughed one of the other frat brothers.

        “Woo-woo!  You want to ride a train, baby?”  Another joined in.

        “You guys wanna play poker or not?” snapped Logan, silencing the room.  “Your opinions on my girl mean very little to me.”

        Kyle gestured for Logan to sit and Mason got up.

        “I only stayed in when the cards were the same color,” he whispered.

        “That’s not how the game is played at all,” said Logan.  “You’ve just been extraordinarily lucky.”

        “Oh,” said Mason, realizing he had no idea what he was doing.  “Then you’d better finish this.”

        It was just Kyle, Logan and another frat brother named Ryan.  Ryan was actually the guy with the least amount of chips now, but Kyle had a tremendous lead.  As I understand the game, the players can bet “all in” and the guy with the lowest amount of chips will have to go all or nothing or let the pot go.

        Logan called an “all in” bet with two Aces.  Kyle had two tens and Ryan folded.  The rest of the cards included three 2’s, so Logan won the pot.  This effectively doubled his money.  Kyle was still winning, but Logan was back in the game.

        Several hands later, Ryan called “all-in”, but Kyle dropped out.  Logan held on.  Ryan had a pair of 8’s and Logan had a King and Queen of Clubs.  Ryan managed to pull another pair, but Logan got three more clubs, making his hand a Flush.  Ryan was now out of the game and Logan was almost tied with Kyle.

        Kyle was starting to get pissy, he shifted in his chair and threw empty plastic cups off the table.  He thought he had the game won.

        “All right,” he said, tossing another empty cup.  “I have to get a beer.  Five minute break.”

        “What?” objected Logan.

        “You just left your brother here for like a half hour while you fucked that slut!  I gotta get a beer.  I’m fucking thirsty.  I’m not dying of thirst in the middle of my fucking tournament, asshole. Five minute break!” snapped Kyle, standing up from his chair.

        “Jeez, Kyle, relax,” joked Logan, leaning back casually.  “It’s like you’re worried about losing or something.”

        “Oh, I win either way, shit bag,” snapped Kyle.  “Half your winnings go right into my pocket to cover your debt.  So good luck!”

        Kyle stormed off to the kitchen looking angry and uncomfortable.  The rest of the frat boys ignored us and also went to refill their drinks.

        “Can he do that?” I asked, putting my arms around Logan’s shoulders.

        “It’s fine,” assured Logan, patting my arm.  “It’s a tactic.  You see he felt the energy of the game shift against him, so he’s disrupting it hoping to stop my momentum and give him a chance to restart his.”

        “Do you think you can beat him?” I asked.

        “A lot of this game is just luck,” said Logan.  “But a lot more of the game is being able to read your opponent.  Since I’m relaxed again, I don’t think he can read me.  Reading him is a different thing altogether.”

        “I can read him,” I said.

        “How can you suddenly read him?” asked Mason.

        “It’s natural.  You know, you date someone for a while and you never see their faults because love is blind?  Well, when you break up with them, a lot of their faults become pretty obvious.  I can tell when Kyle is lying.”

        “Well, tell me what to look for,” said Logan.  “And I’ll look for it.”

        “It’s not one specific thing,” I said.  “It’s more of a vibe that I get from him in the moment.  Can’t I just tell you when I think he’s lying?”

        “He’ll accuse us of cheating.  Listen, if you think he’s bluffing touch my shoulder or something, casually so no one notices what is going on, okay?”

        “Got it.”

        Kyle finally came back from the keg.  I took my arms off Logan’s shoulders and casually stood behind his chair.

        “OK,” Kyle grinned, sipping his beer.  “I’m ready to play.”

        “Deal,” said Logan.

        Kyle’s frat brother was now dealing the cards.

        “Whoa-whoa-whoa,” objected Logan.  “Why is he dealing the cards now?  Me and you were switching deals.”

        “It’s just easier,” dismissed Kyle.

        I put my hand Logan’s left shoulder, just to look like I was supporting his argument.  Kyle was lying.  Logan grabbed the dealer’s hand and flipped the deck over.  He spread the cards underneath.

        “Look at that,” he said.  “All the Aces are on the bottom.  You’re dealing off the bottom of the deck!”

        “Hey, I didn’t ask him to do that!” insisted Kyle.

        I squeezed Logan’s shoulder.  Kyle was lying again.

        “Bullshit!” Logan snapped.

        “Whatever, Cooper.  Can we play or are you done?”

        “Misdeal!  We continued as we started!” Logan insisted, mixing up the cards.

        Kyle reluctantly agreed and the game resumed.  The balance of power shifted.  I steadily informed Logan of Kyle’s honesty or dishonesty.  In about an hour, Logan was ahead and now Kyle was sweating a possible loss.  After a particularly bad hand, he threw his cards down and got up again.

        “Now where are you going?” demanded Logan impatiently.

        “I’m thirsty again!” insisted Kyle.  “I’m out of beer.”

        “This is bullshit!” said Logan.  “Just finish the game, you pussy!”

        “Don’t call me a pussy in my own frat house, Cooper!” snapped Kyle.  “You want discretion with our arrangement, you’d better shut the hell up!”

        And with that, Kyle stormed back into the kitchen for a while.  Logan turned back to me and Mason and laughed.

        “He’s rattled,” he said quietly.  “I got him.  I just have to get him back out here.  A couple more hands and this will be over.”

        “Something’s weird about this,” said Mason, rubbing his chin.  “Why doesn’t he just finish the game?”

        “I told you, he’s rattled,” said Logan.

        Mason got up and ran to the kitchen.  I followed.  Kyle wasn’t in there.  We followed through to another door and walked through the frat house to the other side.  We found Kyle on the back porch partying it up with his bros.

        “Kyle are you going to finish this game or what?” demanded Mason, glaring at Kyle.

        “I don’t have to finish anything,” explained Kyle.  “We make the rules and if I decide me and your brother split the pot, then that’s what we do.”

        “So you’re just going to sit out here and drink and not finish this thing?” I said.

        “Yeah, that way, Logan still owes me money,” laughed Kyle.  “It’s a win-win where I make up all the rules.”

        “Can he do that?” I asked Mason.

        “We’re not supposed to be gambling,” said Mason.  “He can pretty much do whatever he wants.”

        “I got an idea, Kyle,” I said.  “Play against me for the end of the tournament.”

        “Play you?  In what?  Who can be a bigger slut?” laughed Kyle.

        “No, in poker.”

        “Poke her,” laughed one of his frat brothers.

        “If you’re too much of a pussy,” I said, getting into his face.  “A limp dick like you couldn’t get it up very good.  Guess you’re too afraid of a real woman.”

        The other frat brothers were now laughing at Kyle.  He couldn’t let the humiliation stand.

        “All right dumb slut!” he said, throwing aside his beer.  “Let’s go!”

        Kyle marched back inside and we followed.

        “Are you sure this is a good idea?” asked Mason.  “How much poker have you played?”

        “Slightly more than you,” I explained.  “My dad taught me.  Plus I’ve been watching Logan over the last several hours.  I think I can do this.”

        “That’s going to be a lot of money if you can’t!” noted Mason.

        “Believe in me, babe,” I said.

        Mason looked at me.  Asking him to do this was really a leap of faith.  His whole life he had been afraid to do such things.  But now was different.  We were different together.  He looked me in the eye and got the message.  He believed.

        “I believe in you, babe,” he said, kissing the top of my head.

        We went back into the poker room.  Logan was waiting.

        “What the hell Kyle, you pussy out?” he asked.

        “Get up, Cooper, your stupid slut girlfriend is playing,” he announced.

        “What?!”

        “I got this,” I insisted, taking Logan’s chair.  “Here are the stakes.”

        “You don’t get to dictate the stakes!” objected Kyle.

        “Don’t I?  Are you afraid, little Kyle or would you rather finish the game with Logan?”

        “What are your terms?” asked Kyle warily rubbing his eyes.

“If I beat you, you wipe out their debt and give us all the money we won tonight.”

        “You want me to double their bet?  They already can’t pay,” laughed Kyle.  “What am I getting here?”

        That was true.  I didn’t have any other way to sweeten the pot, unless…

        “I’ll have sex with you,” I offered.

        “What?  Faith, no!” objected Logan.

        “It’s fine,” I said.  “I already had sex with him once.  What’s one more time?”

        “Not good enough,” said Kyle.  “This time, I get to video tape it.  I want a trophy to remind me of what I won.”

        “Don’t do it, Faith,” advised Logan.

        “Fine,” I agreed.

        “I just said!” said Logan.

        “It’s okay,” I assured him, gently pushing him behind me.  “Trust me.”

        “I’m going to have a screening of that video right against the side of the frat house,” Kyle laughed.  “There will be free popcorn.”

        Kyle dealt the cards.  We went back and forth.  It took a while for each player to get a hand worthy of a big bet.  I had an Ace and King of Hearts.  Kyle stayed in.  The cards got flipped.  Ace of Clubs, Ten of Hearts, Jack of Hearts and Queen of Hearts.  I had a Royal Flush.  If I could get Kyle to go all in, the game would be over.  I pretended to get flustered and turned to Logan.

        “We get one more card, right?” I asked.

        Logan, who hadn’t seen my cards, threw up his hands in frustration.  Kyle laughed.  He thought he had the game won and I knew I had him.

        “All in,” he smiled.

        I suddenly dropped the act.

        “Call,” I said confidently.

        Kyle blinked at me.  He broke out in a sweat.  I think, deep down, he knew he was beat.  He looked at his cards.  There was nothing he could do that would allow him to win at this point, although he did have a great hand.

        “Two pair,” announced Kyle.  “Aces and Jacks.”

        “Royal flush,” I said.  “You lose, Kyle.  So will that be cash or wire transfer?”

        “Holy shit,” gasped Ryan.  “I can’t believe she beat you, bro!”

        “Shut up,” snapped Kyle, throwing his arm through his piles of chips, spilling them everywhere.  “Do you think I care?  Your winnings are a pittance to me.  A pittance.”

        “Good, great,” said Logan, suddenly relaxed.  “Then cash?”

“Oh, I have to send it to you?  Do I?” said Kyle, standing up.  “You didn’t seem too anxious to pay me, Cooper.  Maybe I won’t be so anxious to pay you!  Maybe I’ll just wait around and find a way to get you to bet again!”

“I just got jammed up, I was going to pay.”  Logan explained.

“Yeah, I’m gonna pay too, Logan,” laughed Kyle.  “Sometime in the distant nebulous future!  And there’s nothing you can do about it because if you say one word, I’ll get you kicked off the team for gambling!”

Suddenly, I heard big guys clomping into the frat house.  The football players, who had been drinking and enjoying the party around us, now  suddenly moved over to the poker table and surrounded it.  Kyle and his frat brothers backed away, but they were completely surrounded.  The entire team was in the room and they were big and intimidating.

“Now, I’m now law expert,” said Dinkins.  “But what I am is a man that can bench 225 pounds, fifteen times.  And I’m not even the strongest dude on this team.  This team, by the way, that just found a new quarterback.  We don’t have any other quarterbacks left, dumbass.”

“Yeah, I was just, uh…” Kyle stammered.

“You were just gonna pay my teammate,” insisted Dinkins.  “Or I can’t be responsible for what happens to you and your brothers and your frat house if you attempt to destroy our team.  Because like you’re brothers, we’re brothers.  So, do we have a problem here?”

Kyle looked around the room.  The football team was literally made up of guys with the strength to destroy everything in the frat house.  I’m not sure if Dinkins was serious with his threat, but getting Mason and Kyle kicked off the team would be a serious blow to Highwater College football.  Even the college might look the other way to protect its players.  It had in the past.

“I’ll send it to you online,” said Kyle.  “I’m not fucking Richie Rich with a vault in here.  Now get the fuck out of my house.”

        “So weird,” I said, teasing him further.  “You getting beat by a dumb slut.  What’s that make you Kyle?  I guess, dumber and sluttier.”

        “I think you used too many words in that sentence,” said Mason.  “He looks very confused.”

        “It’s fine,” assured Logan.  “People like Kyle have very short memories.  Like dogs or worms or pieces of shit.”

        “Get out!” screamed Kyle, his face red and his eyes wide.

        When we got outside, Mason and Logan thanked Dinkins and the rest of the football team.  It was like we had just won a game.  They shook the hand or fist bumped every player.  At least amongst this group, the three of us were completely accepted for who we are.