Dead Man's Hand by Cindy Dees

Author:Cindy Dees [Dees, Cindy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance
ISBN: 978-1-64405-239-6
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2020-04-19T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

COLLIN WOKE slowly, disoriented. Something was strange about where he was. Gibraltar. Poker tournament. And then it hit him. He was not alone in bed. An arm was thrown across his stomach and a leg trapped one of his. Oliver.

Smiling lazily, he reveled in waking up with his lover. It had been his favorite part of his relationship with Steve: that feeling of belonging to another person and having them belong to him. They’d always maintained their own apartments for appearances’ sake, and they’d been cautious about being seen too often staying over at each other’s places. But a couple of times a month, they’d risked spending the night together and having a lazy morning wake-up like this.

It felt wholly right to wake up with Oliver the same way he used to with Steve. It was also nice being able to remember a good moment with Steve fondly and not have it overwhelmed by profound sadness. Maybe he was finally beginning to get the distance from his loss and grief that the counselor had assured him would come one day.

It wasn’t that he would ever stop loving Steve or stop missing him. But the grief counselor swore that he would make room in his life for a new love and for happiness when the time was right.

Turned out it hadn’t been the right time he’d been waiting for. It had been the right man he’d been waiting for. He felt settled, way down in his gut where he hid his deepest feelings.

Oliver stirred beside him, smiling lazily. And it melted his bloody heart.

“We’ve got a while before play begins,” Collin murmured. “Any idea how we should spend the afternoon?”

“I’m going to teach you how to play poker.”

“I know how.”

“No. How to really play.”

“Why?”

“I need you to be here with me until the end,” Oliver answered. “If you bust out of the tournament, they’ll cart you off to the airport within the hour. And I need James Bond here to look out for me.”

“What you need is to leave. We both know this tournament isn’t what it seems, and players are being allowed to kill each other in the name of winning.”

“Which makes it all the more important that both of us stick around till the end of this madness to have each other’s backs while we find out exactly what’s going on,” Oliver retorted.

“I am not willing to risk your life just to get answers,” Collin declared.

“I’m okay with dying.”

Collin sat up sharply. “Why do you value your life so little? You have a great deal to offer the world. Minds like yours don’t grow on trees.”

“Surfers like me do. And that’s all I am now.”

“You’re in the top five of what’s potentially the best group of poker players ever assembled. That’s pretty rarified air, my friend.”

Oliver shrugged. “Eventually computers will learn to read body language and outplay every human on earth.”

“Yeah, and you’ll be the guy programming and teaching that computer.”

Oliver shook his head in the negative. “Artificial intelligence is not my gig.

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