Twisted Fate Chapter 10

“No railbirds. You play or you leave.” Kazamir has a slight smirk as he spits out his ultimatum. “Do you play?’

“Not often, but yes.”

Kazamir slaps his knee and says, “Wonderful! We have new patsy!” The Hispanic man glares at Kazamir, though he doesn’t notice. He extends his hand and says, “I am Kazamir, but my friends call me Kazi.”

“Damien. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Kazamir.”

His eyes widen as he shakes my hand. His grip is firm as he says, “We have a smart one here, boys. Just might give us a run for our money, this one.”

I take a seat to the right of Kazamir. “What’s the blind?”

“Big blind is twenty, ante is five.”

I blow out an exasperating whistle. “You guys don’t fool around!” I reach into my wallet and fan out a few bills. “Five hundred should hold me for a while.” Kazamir pushes a stack of chips toward me and snatches the money from my hand.

The dark-skinned man smacks his hands together. “Let’s get on with it! You’re killin’ my mojo!”

“Mojo, schmojo!” the oriental man says, rolling his eyes.

The pot is splashed with five dollar chips as Kazamir shuffles the cards. The cards are dealt and I glance at my hole cards. Five of hearts, ten of clubs. I guess I’ll be sitting this one out. The Chinaman limps in with four five dollar chips. I muck my hand immediately.

“Figures,” the Hispanic man mumbles under his breath.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite hear you,” I say snidely.

“Fig-ures!” I can see Kazamir’s reaction from the corner of my eye. He is visibly annoyed with this guy, but he says nothing. “I knew I smelled p***y. The second you walked in here, the room reeked of it!”

I breathe into my hand and inhale deeply through my nose. “How rude of me. I forgot to tell you your Mom says hello.” The man jumps up and reaches into his pocket. “You really should visit her more often.” I hear the click of the switchblade just before he leans over the table and points the blade at my throat.

“Niet!” Kazamir shouts. The man doesn’t flinch nor do I.

“You wanna die, Ese?”

This shithead is damn lucky I’m in such a good mood right now. I grab his wrist, twisting the knife free. He falls back into his chair and moans, clutching his aching wrist. I hold the knife loosely, admiring the intricate carving and inscription of the name Pedro that spans the shaft. “This is a fine blade.” I press my finger against the tip. “You know, you could really hurt someone with this thing.” I nonchalantly close the knife and slide it to him. “Here you go, Pedro.”

He lets go of his wrist and says, “Pedro is my father!” He traces an invisible cross, up, down, side to side across his body, then retrieves his blade, putting it back into his pocket.

“Okay. Now, we can play, yes?”  Kazamir says with a trace of aggravation. When he doesn’t hear an answer, Kazamir flies off of the handle. He stands up and kicks his chair away from the table. “Carlos, play or get da f**k out of here! I do not put up with dis bullshit!” He eyes the other two men. “Evan, Johnny, if you have beef with dis man, you all get da f**k out!” None of them utter a word. The silence is more unnerving than Kazamir’s ranting. He grabs his chair and plops down with a wide grin. “Okay. So we play.”

The scent of fear hangs like an ominous cloud, looming over the card table. Evan bites his lip, stacking his chips into smaller groups. Johnny just stares at Carlos, then at me, then at Carlos again. He seems dumbfounded by what has happened. What? Hasn’t anyone ever stood up to this a*****e before? As Kazamir matches the blind, the tense feeling recesses a bit. Carlos matches the big blind and Evan checks.

The flop is revealed. Seven of clubs, King of clubs, and two of diamonds. I try to gauge their reactions. Carlos checks. He seems nervous, but it may just be leftover from our little incident.

“Twenty,” Evan says calmly as he slides his chips toward the pot. He has something, I can feel it. Not the nuts, but promising nonetheless.

Johnny slides his cards away. “Too rich for my blood,” he says.

Evan huffs. “It’s twenty dollars! What the f**k? Too rich for my blood, ha!”

“Sorry. I am trying to learn your slang.”

“You want a lesson? You need to get a hold of Dee.”

“Who’s Dee?”

“Dees nuts, b***h!” Evan grabs his junk and shakes it.

“Aw, man! That’s not cool!”

Kazamir says, “I see your twenty and I raise you twenty.” He pushes two stacks of chips toward the center. He is calm and nearly unreadable, but I sense a trace of bitterness. The way he eyeballs Carlos makes me think he’s trying to bleed him dry.

Carlos has the least amount of chips out of everyone. He folds silently.

“I’ll dance with you,” Evan says as he calls Kazamir’s raise.

The turn is the King of spades. I can tell by Evan’s heart rate that he has improved his hand. He must have pocket Kings. “Forty,” Evan says.

Kazamir’s heart rate is steady as he twirls a chip between his fingers. “Take it,” he groans, tossing his cards away. Evan scoops up the chips and stacks them.

Carlos shuffles the cards and deals the next hand. Queen of spades, ten of spades. This one’s a keeper. I slide forty dollars worth of chips into play. Kazamir folds.

Carlos glares at me and says, “I raise you forty.” Carlos pushes the stack of chips into the pot.

“F**k this! You guys can have at it!” Evan mucks his hand.

Johnny grimaces as he also mucks his hand.

“How much you got there, Carlos?” I count his stacks and he has two hundred and eighty dollars left. “I raise you two eighty.” I can taste his adrenaline on the tip of my tongue. He’s got something, likely better than my hole cards, but I don’t give a s**t. It’s time to go head to head.

Carlos doesn’t hesitate. He shoves the rest of his chips recklessly into the pile and stands up. “It’s on!”

“It’s on like Donkey Kong!” Johnny shouts. Evan shakes his head. “I heard that somewhere. It’s a saying, right?”

Evan chuckles. “That doesn’t mean you should say it, a*s clown!”

“Enough. We have head to head showdown,” Kazamir says. His face is laced with excitement. As Kazamir glances at me, I feel as though I can read him like a book. Damien, take this f****r down!

I stand up and reveal my hole cards. Carlos flips his over, revealing the King and Ace of hearts. He has the advantage over my Queen and ten of spades.

 “Okay, here comes da flop,” Kasamir says.

Carlos turns over the Ace of spades, Jack of diamonds, and the two of hearts.

Carlos smirks. “Not much help for you, is it?”

I stay silent. If I agitate him, he’s liable to end up with that pretty little blade of his lodged into his gullet. That would be a shame.

Carlos reveals the turn, the five of hearts. Damn! He has a flush draw. My chance of winning is circling down the drain. I can barely hear Carlos gloating. His adrenaline and rapid pulse are making me lightheaded.

“Here’s da river, boys.” Kazamir rubs his hands together in anticipation/

Carlos flips over the final card.

“Oh, snap!” Evan shouts boisterously. He wriggles around in his chair, laughing like a maniac.

Carlos picks up his chair, launching it across the room. “Mother f****n’ King of clubs! No f****n’ way!” Carlos paces back and forth, muttering a string of Spanish obscenities. “¡Ah, dios mío!”

“That was a bad beat, brother!” Evan says, still laughing his a*s off.

“Yeah, no s**t that was a bad beat!” Carlos screams. “It’s bullshit. Bullshit!”

Caleb walks over casually. “What’d I miss?”

Kazamir says, “Upset of da century.” He rises from his chair and greets Caleb. “You must be Caleb. My dear sister says good things.”

Evan says, “Caleb’s good people.”

“Come, play,” Kazamir says playfully.

“We really need to be going. Some other time.”

He pats Damien on the shoulder and says, “Do not bring card shark next time.” His deep, belly-rolling laughter seems strange coming from such a hard a*s. “Okay, I cash you out.”

I wave my hand and say, “No need. For your hospitality.”

Carlos’ eyes narrow and the veins in his neck start to bulge. “You’re just gonna give him my money!”

Kazamir shouts, “Is his money now! He can do whatever da f**k he wants!” then mumbles, “Whiny little b***h.” He turns to me and grins. “You’re a good man, Charlie Brown. You are welcome anytime.”

I glance at Carlos out of the corner of my eye. “Thank you, Kazi.” I relish pouring salt in his wounds.

Kazamir makes a phone call. “Is all clear? Two are coming up.”

The floor rises and Caleb and I head up the stairs. Once outside, Caleb exchanges a ghetto handshake with the watchdog. “Later, brother.”

“See you on the flipside.”

Caleb takes the driver’s seat. “What the hell happened in there?”

My eyes narrow. “As if you don’t know.”

“What?”

“Come on! I know you heard everything. S**t! I had to cause a ruckus just to keep from hearing what you were doing!”

Caleb chuckles. “Yeah, I know.” Caleb starts the car, turning my way, leaving the car idle. “Our next lesson should deal with people skills.”

“Hey, I made friends. A couple of ‘em.”

“And one big enemy,” Caleb says.

“That idiot, Carlos! Big deal!” I lean back and say, “Can we get outta here, please?”

Caleb drives like a bat out of hell. I recline the seat and stare at the roof, hoping that tomorrow I can maintain the restraint I possessed tonight. One day at a time, I tell myself. One day at a time.

Reviews

[EurasianFlavour]

I wish I knew how to play poker...it sounds exciting lol. This was a good chapter. Lots of good tension, and I lold at the dees nuts joke. Its also nice to see damien as more than a scared and confused baby vamp. he finally had a chances to show off a bit, but I have a feeling we'll be hearing from Carlos again.

[Kate Whitaker]

Alrighty, poker! I miss playing poker.
And my plot senses are tingling. The question is whether or not Carlos gets killed off right away or teams up with someone...

[easybreezy]

I will say this...we will hear from Carlos again. But I guarantee it's not what you think will happen. God, I love a good mystery! LOL