Blood Cruise: A Deep Sea Thriller (12 page)

22.

Ben checked his two cards again then mucked them, sighing heavily as he turned a harsh glare on Tony.

“I know you’re bluffing,” Ben grumbled.

“But you didn’t call,” Tony said as he raked in the chips. “If you were so sure, you should have called.”

Ben mumbled something and Tony stopped what he was doing. He turned his full attention on Ben and the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees.

“What was that?” Tony asked. “Did you just call me a cheater?”

“No,” Ben replied. “All I said was the last time someone took me like that, they’d been cheating off the deal.”

“I dealt,” Niya said, her eyes watching the two men carefully. “Are you saying I am in league with this man?”

“I have to say, Nicky,” Lane said as he held up his empty glass. “Your poker blogger isn’t exactly living up to his reputation.”

“You promised a top notch game, Nick,” Carlos added. “This is just another boring game on some spoiled brat’s boat.”

“Yacht,” Nick said, his face red. “And you guys know how cards can be. They turn on ya in a heartbeat.”

“So do I,” Tony said. “How about we talk less and play more?”

“You got somewhere to be, Tony?” Carlos asked.

“Yes, Mr. Giraldi, do you?” Niya asked. “You keep whispering to your men and checking your watch. Do you have a big date?”

“I’m a very important business man,” Tony said. “The world doesn’t stop because I’m playing cards.  If the world don’t stop then neither do I. Gotta keep the wheels greased and motor running.”

“We fixing an old Mustang or playing poker?” Ben snapped. “Who’s deal is it?”

“Yours, smart ass,” Tony said, grinning. “But maybe you should pass the deal until you calm down. I know how emotional this game can get when things aren’t going your way.”

“I’m cool,” Ben said as he shuffled and dealt. “You’ll see.”

It was Tony’s turn to bet. He looked at his two cards, fingered the small blind in front of him, then went back to his rows of chips and fished out a single black chip in addition to the two white chips needed to call the big blind.

“I raise twenty-five,” he said as he threw out the black chip. “Twenty-seven to you, sweetheart?”

“What was that?” Jessica growled. “Call me sweetheart again and you’ll be finding out what those cards taste like as I jam them down your throat.”

“Hey, hey, hey!” Nick exclaimed. “Everyone calm down! No one needs to get offended at a little trash talk.”

“Only talk he knows,” Jessica said as she grabbed two white chips and a black. She started to throw them in the pot then held back, looked at her cards, and instead threw her hand away, tucking the chips back into their rows. “Fold.”

“Fold,” Carlos said.

“Fold,” Nick said and held up his glass as Manny brought Lane his fresh cocktail. Manny took the glass from Nick and moved quickly to the bar. “Anyone else need a fresh drink?”

No one replied as they focused on the game.

Niya folded and stood up. “I need to use the restroom. Deal me out if I’m not back in time for the next hand.”

Ben watched her go then looked down at his cards. Eight and nine of clubs. Decent cards to make a play if the bet wasn’t twenty-seven thousand. A ten thousand raise would be worth chasing a straight flush for. Maybe even a straight. But twenty-seven? Stupid move with the dwindling rows of chips in front of him.

“Call,” he said as he threw his chips in the pot.

“You sure?” Tony grinned. “You hesitated there, Blogger Boy.”

“I’m sure,” Ben said. “I tossed in my chips, didn’t I?

“Raise,” Lane announced. “Another twenty-five.”

Tony bristled at the raise. He started to look at his hand, but held back, his thumb flicking at the corners of the cards. His entire body turned to regard Lane, not just his eyes.

“You trying to play me?” Tony asked. “Catch me off guard because I’ve been focusing on the weak one to your right?”

“Hey,” Ben said. “Not cool, man.”

“If you’ve got a strong hand then I can’t catch you off guard, can I, mate?” Lane asked. “Unless you’re full of shit and just trying to bully the table.”

“Guess we’ll find out,” Tony said. “Call.”

He threw in another black chip and all eyes turned to Ben.

“Might as well,” Ben said and added his second black chip to the pile.

“Good strategy,” Carlos laughed. “Might as well.”

Ben burned three cards then dealt out the flop in the middle of the table. Seven of clubs, ten of clubs, ace of hearts.

Ben kept himself calm. His hopes of a straight flush increased exponentially with the arrival of the two clubs. If he wasn’t forced out of the hand by huge bets then he had two chances to draw to an outside straight flush. He’d even take a regular flush, but the odds of someone having a higher club than him were pretty good, so that would be a risky hand to play.

Unless he didn’t play the hand at all and let the cards decide the risk for him…

“All in,” he said and counted out his remaining chips. “Eighty-four thousand.”

“Only eighty-four?” Tony asked. “Kinda sad. I guess I’ll have to—”

“My bet, Guido,” Lane said.

Tony’s chair hit the ground hard as the man leapt to his feet, his right fist connecting with Lane’s jaw before the man knew what was happening.

“Whoa! Hold on!” Nick yelled as he got up.

Everyone was up on their feet and yelling as Ben got between Tony and Lane.

“Chill, man!” Ben shouted in Tony’s face. “He’s just messing with you to see if you’re gonna break! Pushing buttons just like you do, okay? No need to get all gangster on him!”

“Gangster? Guido? That what all of you think?” Tony asked, his fists shaking with rage as he held them to his sides. “The Italian guy is here so he must be some pasta eating, Chianti drinking, tracksuit wearing stereotype, right? You think I’m some stupid wap right out of The Godfather?”

“Are we back on The Godfather again?” Jessica sighed.

“Love that movie!” Maggie announced from the bar. She raised her drink over her head and Manny took it from her before she could spill it. She gave him a wet raspberry then laughed.

“Nice right hook,” Lane said to Tony, picking himself up off the floor. “And I was just fucking with you, mate. All good.” He took his seat and counted out eighty-four thousand in chips. “Call.”

Tony looked around the room as the others turned their attention from him to Lane, back and forth, until they all sat down. Ben was the last to sit and he glanced over at Nick, but the man wouldn’t meet his gaze.

“I call,” Tony said before he was fully back in his seat. “Never say this guido hesitates.”

“Alright,” Ben said as he burned a card and turned the next one over.

Jack of clubs.

Ben barely glanced at the card before turning to Lane.

“Your bet,” he said.

“Check,” Lane said.

“Check,” Tony echoed.

“Last card,” Ben responded.

He burned and flipped. Ace of spades.

“Check,” Lane said automatically.

“All in,” Tony said, his eyes locked onto Lane.

“Yeah,” Lane nodded. “I had a feeling.” He threw his two cards into the muck and leaned back. “You two have fun.”

Ben turned over his hand to show the straight flush he’d drawn to. Tony stared at the eight and nine of clubs for a while before he threw his own hand into the muck.

“Let’s see them,” Jessica said.

“I lost,” Tony replied. “That’s all you need to know.”

“Actually, we need to see your cards,” Jessica insisted. “As soon as Lane folded both of you should have shown your hands, not just Ben. You flip ‘em over in a showdown.”

“That so?” Tony asked. He turned his attention to Nick. “What’s the ruling on that, Sheeran? What does the house have to say?”

“Uh, well, you know how it is, Tony,” Nick sputtered. “That’s the way the game is played.”

“Not much of an answer,” Tony said.

“Show them,” Ben said as he raked in his chips. “That’s how the game is played.”

“Fine,” Tony said without any more of a fight. “You want to see what I had? Here ya go.”

He fished his cards out of the muck and flipped them over. Pair of aces.

“Damn,” Nick said. “Ouch.”

“Lucky bastard caught his straight flush,” Tony said. “Ain’t a damn thing I can do about that.”

“No, there isn’t,” Ben said. “Good hand. You played that perfectly. Good show of strength and nice effort trying to push everyone out. If I hadn’t been short stacked, you would have taken that one.”

Tony watched Ben for a few seconds then laughed. “I think that was a real compliment,” Tony said. “No BS, right?”

“Right,” Ben said. “No BS. Pretty sure you can find me talking about a hand just like that on my blog. You checked when you only had three aces then went in hard when you caught your fourth. At that point, I was irrelevant and you were playing Lane. Which was the only mistake you made in the hand. If he’d called you then you’d have made a nice chunk, but he folded and it all came down to the two of us.”

“You think I should have bet less?” Tony asked. “Kept Lane in?”

“Maybe,” Ben said. “You had four bullets, so it would have been near impossible for him to beat you. If he had his own straight flush then you were dead whether you bet big or bet small. But, at least by betting small you may have squeezed some chips out of the loss to me with the side bet.”

“Good to know,” Tony said and started laughing. “Very good to know!” He pointed at Nick. “This guy of yours ain’t half bad. I think I’ll let him live a while longer as long as he keeps giving advice like that.”

Ben bristled and almost lost the cool he had been working so hard to build up. All he wanted to do was grab the man’s drink glass, crack it on the side of the table, and stab the shards into the son of a bitch’s throat. But, instead, he sat back and pushed the image of the Guillotine staring at Tanni out of his mind and gave Tony a huge grin.

“You’re a giver,” Ben laughed. “I appreciate the gift of life.”

“Never say I ain’t got a soft side,” Tony said, laughing as well.

Tony’s guard cocked his head and nodded, moving quickly to the table. A quick whisper in Tony’s ear and the man was up on his feet.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m afraid my time at the table is over,” Tony said. He hooked a thumb over his shoulder at his guard. “Feel free to keep playing. In fact, I insist on it. My man here will make sure you remain in the game room while I conduct some business.”

“What?” Carlos exclaimed.

“Hold the hell on!” Lane snapped.

Jessica slid away from the table, her hand halfway up her dress. Ben caught her eye and shook his head. Jessica frowned then glared at him. Ben shook his head harder. Jessica pulled her hand out of her dress and turned her glare onto Tony.

“What you got tucked up there?” Tony laughed. He motioned with his head to his guard. “Have a look.”

The guard took one step and Jessica stood up.

“I don’t need my .32 to put you down,” Jessica said to the huge man with the big gun pointed at her. “I’ll cram your own gun up your ass and empty it before you know what’s happening if you take one more step towards me.”

“Let her be,” Tony said to his guard. “But you keep an eye on her. She goes to scratch her snatch and you put two between her eyes.”

“Tony, man, this is so not cool,” Nick said. “What the hell are you doing? This is not the time for business. I made that clear when you were invited. Friendly game of poker so everyone can see the yacht and—”

“I’ll take the yacht,” Tony said. “Full asking price. How does that work for you, Sheeran? You think I’m being cool now?”

“You’ll take it,” Nick said. “Uh, well, awesome.”

“Is it? Because you don’t sound too thrilled,” Tony said. “Why is that?”

“What? No, I’m stoked, man,” Nick replied, clapping his hands together. “It’s just that you’re kind of threatening everyone and it puts a damper on my excitement. Hard to celebrate the sale of my yacht when someone could be getting shot on it any second now. You know what I mean?”

“I’ve had the money wired to you already,” Tony said. “I assume you have the ownership paperwork ready to go?”

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” Nick said.

“Good,” Tony said. “Let me handle my business while you get that together. I’ll sign it all once I know my other endeavor is handled. Then we can sit down and finish our game. On my new yacht.”

“Nope,” Lane said. “Nicky may be cool with this, but I am not.”

“Me neither,” Carlos said.

“Want to guess my answer?” Jessica asked as she held up two middle fingers. “Can you read between the lines?”

“Let the guy do his thing,” Maggie said from the bar and all eyes turned on her. Everyone looked completely surprised since most of them had assumed she’d passed out. “The sooner he does whatever he’s going to do then the sooner this game can be over and we all go back home and forget any of this crap happened.”