Living in Sin (The Escort Series) by Isabel Lucero Page B

shit. Who knows what you just threw together. Gonna have us throwing up in here,” Nico says, taking a swig of his beer.
    “Why don’t you stop being a bitch, drinking beer all the time, and move to a man’s drink?” Marc responds.
    Troy starts cracking up. “He’s right. You do drink bitch drinks. I think I saw you drink something that was pink and had fruit in it.”
    “Man, fuck y’all. That fruity shit was delicious.”
    “Anyway, just drink it. It’s liquor. It’s what grown-ups drink,” Marc says, passing them out.
    I grab the glass and smell it on instinct. “Fuck, that’s strong.”
    Marc smiles. “Yeah.”
    While Nico and Kade inspect their glasses, Troy, Marc and I clink our glasses together and drink.
    The liquid trickles down my throat, leaving a trail of warmth. Troy must have taken a big gulp because half of his drink is gone and he’s got his eyes squinted close while he shakes his head.
    “Whoo! Fuck. That’s a serious mother fucking drink right there,” Troy says.
    I take another drink, and if possible, it seems even stronger. It’s not a bad taste, just strong as hell. It’s got some sort of flavoring in it, but it’s mostly liquor.
    “What’s in it?” Nico ask, still holding the full glass of liquor.
    “Oh it’s a little bit of stop asking questions and fucking drink it,” Marc replies.
    Nico shoots us all a glare as we all laugh. Kade shrugs his shoulders and takes a drink.
    “Damn, new kid is showing you up,” I say as I take another drink.
    Nico looks around the table at each of us, then quickly downs almost the whole drink.
    “Aaaah! Fuck. Oh God, that’s gross.” He starts coughing and holding his chest. He rushes into the kitchen and when he returns he’s got a water bottle attached to his mouth.
    We all laugh. “Peer pressure’s a bitch,” I say.
    Marc finally looks at his cards and throws in his chips. When the flop comes out, it’s two tens and a two. I’ve got three of a kind and my ace kicker. I throw in a stack of chips, raising the blind. Everybody folds except Troy.
    “Take your time, baby boy,” Troy says to Nico. “You gotta enjoy it, savor it, taste it…”
    “Are we still talking about liquor?” Nico asks.
    “If you fuck the way you drank that, I feel sorry for your clients,” Troy says. “Just rushing to get it over with, not taking the time to enjoy the taste and feeling of it.” He shakes his head in disgust.
    “Oh whatever. You don’t know how I do things. I’m a beast in the sheets.”
    Troy ignores Nico’s last comment and we wait for Marc to reveal the next card. It’s a six. I check and Troy looks at me suspiciously before raising. I quickly throw in the chips to match and we wait for the river card.
    The card is flipped and revealed to be an ace. Fuck yeah. That’s why this is my favorite hand. I always get lucky with it. I wait a few moments before raising, making it seem like I’m really contemplating on what to do.
    Troy sits back and stares at me. “What you got, man?” he asks. But it’s not really a question he expects me to answer. He’s trying to figure out if he wants to fold or not.
    “You’ve already come this far. Might as well,” I say, knowing Troy is very competitive.
    The only way he could beat me is if he has a four of a kind or straight flush. With the cards on the board, there’s no way in hell he can have a straight flush. The pair on the board are the tens and since I have the other one, he can’t have a four of a kind either.
    I take another sip of my potent drink and wait to see what he’s gonna do. He keeps looking at the cards, then to me, trying to figure out if I can beat his hand or not.
    “Fuck it.” He throws the chips in, and tosses his cards, face up onto the table. I see that he has a pocket pair of kings, so he has two pair. Good, but not good enough.
    I place my ten next to the other two on the table and my ace by its pair. “Full mother fucking house, baby!”
    “Goddammit!”