“You have the 5 grand to enter?”
His head moved like a bobblehead. “Yes, sir. I can use that and get the rest back for you. Tonight. I swear.”
“And if you don’t? What then? You’ll still be collecting interest. That 5 would at least take you down some.”
Now he looked more like a fish, with the way his mouth opened and closed. Hell, even his forehead was sweating enough that he could have just stepped out of the water.
Keith leaned on the bar. I turned just enough to give him permission to speak. I turned more when I saw the gleam in his eyes. My friend had an idea.
“Carlos got sick. He couldn’t make it out tonight.”
I tilted my head to the side, taking in his meaning, and thinking about it.
“Wh…who’s Carlos?” Randy stuttered.
I tilted my head the other way, studying Randy more in-depth this time. “Didn’t you once say that you wrestled in college?”
He licked his lips and wiped his sweaty hands on his pants. “Y… yah. I, uh, won state in high school and got a scholarship to UCLA. Why?”
The dark chuckle slipped out. I stood up straight again and took the tablet from Keith. He anticipated my move and was already handing it to me.
“I like you, Randy. Always have. But it wouldn’t help my image any if it looked like I played favorites. We had a deal, you reneged on it. You are weeks late on paying off your debt to me.” He opened his mouth to argue, but I cut him off with a hand. “I will give you two hours to win back my money. If you don’t, I will help you win it another way. Do you understand?”
The color drained from his face. He probably already knew where I was going with this. He’d been around long enough. He was familiar with my various businesses. He’d placed bets on many of them, after all. He preferred cards, but a bet was a bet to a gambler.
“Okay.” His answer was little more than a squeak. He scurried back to the table looking like a little rat.
Keith laughed as he watched me enter Randy’s name in the docket for later tonight. “You know something I don’t?”
“Yep.” I handed him back the device. “Carlotta’s gotten a lot better at hiding her tells. He hasn’t played her in over a year. He’s got one big surprise headed his way.”
My friend tskd as he poured us both small shots of Coke on ice. “BoBo will be sad to hear it. You know how much he enjoys teaching lessons.”
“I’m sure we’ll find someone for him to teach soon. It’s not like Randy is our only client. Nor will he stay gone for long, even after this.”
“That’s true.”
I signaled for the dealer to come out and the game started. A couple of times a week we opened the room for poker games. Once a year, I hosted a tournament. The winning amount changed, based on how many people signed up. The buy-in was 5 grand. With our five players this year, the winnings were 25,000. We usually averaged 5-8 people playing. I could see why Randy wanted to win my money back this way.
Too bad it wouldn’t work.
As the game progressed, I strolled through the room, visiting the players at the other tables. I made sure every player felt wanted, like they were a friend, and I was glad to see them. It helped encourage them to come back more often.
The first player to run out of chips left around the half-hour mark. The next person, fifteen minutes later. By an hour and a half, they were down to Carlotta and Randy. He was holding together pretty well. Their stacks were nearly even.
Randy wasn’t so pale anymore. His confidence had returned. In his case, that wasn’t always a good thing.
“I meet your 2,000, and I raise you another 100.” Carlotta pushed her chips into the pile, her face blank of all expression. It had taken her a lot of work to overcome her need to bite her lip. Her nervous tick when she was trying to hide that she had a good hand. The stutter when bluffing hadn’t been nearly as hard for her.
