Saving Dallas Forever (17 page)

“Katelyn I really want you to play.” She started to open her mouth, but I shut her up by continuing. “It’s no secret that I come from money, but know that is not what this is. I’m not here to hurt your pride or make you feel like you owe me something, I’m offering my help because I wish someone had offered it to me.” Her face became puzzled, as she tried to process what I said. I took a seat on the bed, patting the spot next to me, indicating that she should join me. She sat down, and I looked into her big, blue eyes as they appraised me with caution. “I didn’t have the same opportunity you do. I was thrown into this life without the chance to get to know anyone. I felt like an outsider for the longest time, and I am just now finding my niche. As you can see, Chi Chi and I are still on the outs, and I haven’t had the time to really connect with anyone other than Maddie, Red, and Brooklyn. Chris is making sacrifices, as are you, so that one day you will gain so much more than you have put in. But remember, you are forfeiting a lot too, and deserve to let your hair down every once in a while. If you don’t
connect with these women, his whole prospect period will be a waste. Trust me. You will find yourself hating the club and this life. You will start to see Chris in a different light as one of
them
instead of your husband. To be a part of this club, you have to participate with the club. And besides, you don’t want to miss out on all the fun shit.” She dropped her head and smiled, considering my words. Finally, she let out a long breath, and nodded.

“Okay, Dallas. I’ll play.” I wanted to hand her some money, but she stood, pulling a twenty from her pocket. “But I’m only buying in once.”

“Deal. Oh, and Katelyn,” she stopped and turned, looking over her shoulder at me. I fidgeted with my hands, trying to muster up the courage to beg for her silence.

“Don’t worry. I won’t say anything. We have to look out for each other, right?” She gave me a wink, and I smiled gratefully. My embarrassing moment of not knowing how to introduce myself would remain a secret.

Chapter 16

Dallas

The game had started and Red dealt the cards like a pro, slinging them around the table, so that they landed perfectly in front of each of us. Even though she held the title as dealer and wore that hideous green visor, she dealt to herself and I, as well as everyone else, eyed her when she won the first nine dollar pot, as a result of a king high flush-one of the best hands you could get in three card poker.

“You’re fucking cheatin’,” Mary accused, matching the nine dollar pot along with Katina, Brooklyn, and myself.

“Well, I didn’t have shit, so I don’t care if you cheated or not.” Punkin chimed in, throwing her cards on the table.

“I didn’t cheat. It was just a lucky hand,” Red said in defense, while piling up her nine dollar win. It wasn’t the amount of money on the table, it was the title of poker queen that really mattered. I wanted to win.

“I say everyone deals their turn. Throw that little plastic dealer chip you got there in the trash and pass the cards to the person on your left.” Brooklyn said, not accusing Red, but not happy about losing almost half her chips on the first hand. Everyone agreed, and Red passed the cards to Chi Chi, who sat on her left, with an eye-roll. The pot was now thirty-six dollars, and whoever lost would be going to the infamous ATM, or taking off some earrings; everyone except Red, of course. I was dealt a low straight and stayed. Everyone had folded except me, and now the decision was left up to the dealer. If Chi Chi folded, I would win, and everyone would ante up another dollar. If she stayed and lost, she would owe thirty-six dollars, as would I if it was me who lost. I kept my face blank, as Chi Chi stared at me from across the table. There was more to this particular stand-off, than there would have been to any other. One of us was going to lose and whoever that was, would rather lose to anyone at the table than to each other.

“I’m considering staying with cowboys, because there’s not too much that can beat them.” I knew what she was doing. First, she used slang terminology like “cowboys” instead of “kings” to see if she could throw me off, hoping that I didn’t know what that meant. Second, she never mentioned they were a pair, so she was trying to convince me that she had three of a kind, which was the best hand you could get in our house rules of three-card poker. Third, she was trying to get a reaction out of me, which she didn’t. According to the house rules, if you and the dealer are the only two who stay, you have the option of folding. Yeah, that wasn’t gonna happen. I would lose to her before I folded.

“Three little ol’ kings don’t scare me. If that is in fact what you’re holding. I’m in.” Everyone was quiet as they waited for Chi Chi, who had yet to determine whether she was in or not. I just wanted to let her know that I wasn’t going anywhere, no matter her decision.

“I never fold a winning hand.” Chi Chi said, with a smirk, as she laid her cards down for me to see. I looked at her two, three, four off-suited hand, and couldn’t help laughing.

“It’s got to be divine intervention,” I said, with a smile, as I laid out my two, three, four off-suit for everyone to see. Laughter filled the room as everyone bore witness to the two identical hands that fate had dealt us.

“Fair enough, Dallas. Fair enough,” Chi Chi said, dividing the chips, and pushing mine to me with a nod of truce, and for the first time, I finally saw a glimmer of light at the end of our friendship tunnel.

It was after midnight, everyone was drunk, and we were all half-naked. After finding the ATM machine empty, and realizing that none of us
wore any jewelry, we had succumbed to gambling with our clothes. Many of us had bought in twice, and a couple three times, bringing the chip total to almost three hundred and sixty dollars. Everyone was out except me, Chi Chi, and Katelyn. All of my chips were on the table, along with Luke’s black Nike shirt and my favorite Victoria’s Secret silk pajama pants, leaving me in my bra and panties, which had gained compliments from everyone-including Chi Chi. Katelyn was the chip leader, leaving her with only her shirt left to remove, which read “Support Your Local Devil’s Renegades”, making it a pretty valuable bargaining item. Chi-Chi sat in nothing but panties, giving up her the rest of her chips, along with a pair of flannel pajama pants, a white t-shirt and her “favorite motherfucking bra”, or so she claimed. Now we were all subject to her firm breasts, which she didn’t even try to hide. I shuffled my cards in my hand, looking around the table as I did. Not a soul, other than Katelyn, wore a shirt. Mary had even lost her underwear, which was now hanging from the light over the table, a donation from Brooklyn for all to see. Mary had expressed how happy she was that at least they were cute, and we had all agreed. Katina had passed out, in the chair, lucky enough to still have her pants, but I was now the proud owner of her shirt. Punkin sat with her arms across her chest as if she were cold, but refused to be a ‘pussy’ and put her shirt back on. That gained her a cheer of laughter, and a shot of tequila, which led to all of us taking shots, hence the drunkenness. Red, like Katina, had only lost her shirt, which was now tied around Punkin’s head. She said it was to keep her ears warm, but we knew it was a show of victory. Maddie and Brooklyn were both out of the game, but both had been wearing pants, until Brooklyn took hers off for a side bet that Maddie’s final hand would win. When Maddie had lost, Brooklyn had demanded that she remove her pants too, due to the fact that she had a shitty hand and had led her on to believe it was actually a flush, when in reality there was a diamond fucking up the heart trio. Now they waited in bras and panties in anticipation of how the game would end. Katelyn was the dealer, and had agreed to stay. Since two of us had stayed with the dealer, we were not given the option of folding.

“Well, ladies. What’s it gonna be?” Katelyn asked, slurring, oblivious to the house rules. She had never been in a situation in which she had to be reminded of them. Chi Chi looked across the table at me, with inquiring eyes. She had been in Katelyn’s shoes at one time too. She knew the struggles and hardships that came with prospecting, and I knew that she had a plan once she knew Katelyn wasn’t aware that we were not allowed to fold. I held an ace high flush in my hand. By the way Chi Chi had been playing cards all night, I knew she had to have something similar to be so confident in such a large wager. Katelyn, on the other hand, was completely unpredictable. She would stay on a pair of twos or a straight flush, no matter the cost. If she had a pair or better, she was playing. So far, she had gotten lucky, and it wasn’t because we were cutting her any slack. I wanted Katelyn to play, so she could socialize and interact, but I wanted to walk away the winner, as did Chi Chi. But this was an opportunity for me to not only help Katelyn financially, but also to give her the spotlight, even if it was for just one night. My pride would suffer, but I was beginning to care less about my pride, and more about the people I liked, and she fell into that category.

“Katelyn,” I said, turning my eyes from Chi Chi’s to Katelyn’s, which were glassed over in her alcohol-induced state. “There ain’t no fucking telling what you have in your hand, and I would rather fold than lose to you. I’m gonna let you and tits over here battle it out.” I threw my hand down, making sure they were lost in the discarded pile, and grabbed my beer, downing the last swallow.

“There’s one down. Chi Chi, you gonna stay or you gonna fold? It’s up to you.” Brooklyn said, lighting a cigarette and leaning up, putting her arms on the table.

“I want to stay, but,” she said quickly, leaning up and glaring at Katelyn. “I’m like Dallas, but I’m not gonna be so nice about it. I ain’t gonna lose to no PROSPECT’s wife and have to walk out of here without my balls. I would rather fucking fold.” Chi Chi threw her hand down, and sat back with her arms crossed.

“Well, all I got to say is that this PROPSPECT’S wife is the proud owner of your favorite mother-effin bra.” Katelyn threw her hands up in a happy dance, giving Brooklyn a high five, and soon she was joining Katelyn in her celebration dance, while the rest of us wondered if Katelyn had really just said ‘mother-effin.’

“So, what did you have?” Maddie asked, walking up behind Katelyn and giving her a congratulatory kiss.

“Not shit. I bluffed ‘em with an Ace high!” Katelyn squealed, still dancing in her seat.

“Well ain’t you happier than a pig in shit. Hell, I could have beat that and I wasn’t even playin’,” Punkin added, passing out beer to everyone at the table.

“I’m proud of you,” Brooklyn said in my ear, coming up behind me and wrapping her arms around my neck. I arched my head so she could see my questioning look. “Maddie told us she explained to you about Katelyn and why she was so hesitant to play.” I had never been so happy that Maddie had opened her mouth.

“Thanks Brooklyn. That means a lot coming from you.” Chi Chi came to sit beside me, and nudged her shoulder with mine.

“I had an ace high flush,” she said, with a smile. I grinned at her.

“So did I.” She threw her head back and laughed. “You know,” she said, gaining her composure, and turning serious, “Shark and I had it rough when he prospected. It nearly ripped us apart because I refused to give these girls a chance. I’m glad I did, and I’m glad you’re here. Thank you for what you did for Katelyn. I know it took a lot.” I knew she was referring to my stubborn pride, and not the money and clothes that were on the table.

“Not as much as it once did,” I said honestly, enjoying the feeling of elation that had overwhelmed me when I saw how happy Katelyn had been to win.

“That’s good, Dallas. That means this club actually means something to you.”

“So I have been told,” I responded, happy that Chi Chi and I were now working with a fully lit tunnel. In the words of Lindsey, our friendship flower was starting to bloom, but the light in our tunnel was busted and our friendship flower wilted, as the sounds of bikes approaching rang loudly in our ears.

“Oh, fuck.” Punkin said, jumping from the chair and scrambling around for her shirt. We were all in a drunk, naked frenzy as we ran around the table trying to find clothes.

“Punkin, give me my fucking shirt!” Red yelled, chasing Punkin around the pool table.

“Not till you find mine!” she replied, holding Red’s shirt securely on top of her head. I stopped my run to hold my side, which was in pain due to my laughter. Mary shook Katina, scaring the shit out of her, and causing her to flip over the poker table and scatter beer bottles everywhere, when she jumped up in a panic.

“Shit, fuck, dammit!” Maddie squealed with a laugh, as she jumped over the rolling bottles. As they rolled around the floor, I watched as Punkin stopped dead in her tracks, her look serious and almost angry.

“I just about pulled my fucking back out dragging that trash can over here and y’all didn’t even use it,” Punkin said, pointing to the empty trash can.

“Punkin, you carried the fucking cooler,” Maddie informed her, as I hit my knees trying to see through my tears of laughter to gather the beer bottles.

“No shit? Well hell, y’all know I be forgetting,” Punkin said, as she dropped to her knees with Red’s shirt still securely wrapped around her head.

“What in the hell is goin’ on?” Silence descended, as we all stopped and looked to Ronnie standing in the doorway. Here we were, half-naked, on our knees in a destroyed clubhouse, trying to clean up the havoc that we had wreaked. I was expecting Brooklyn to come to our defense and placate a very confused and amused Ronnie, but it was Punkin who spoke.

“I didn’t do shit, Ronnie. It was all them.” 

We were ushered to bed, leaving the mess for poor Chris to clean up. Once Luke had me alone in the bedroom, I attempted a sexy strip tease that had him laughing and shaking his head.

“Are you gonna take advantage of me?” I slurred, hoping like hell that he would. Every drunk girl’s fantasy was to be fucked senseless by a sexy biker until she feel into a restful sleep, as a result of her orgasmic oblivion.

“No, babe. Not tonight.” Luke was lying in bed on his back, his arms behind his head, enjoying the show.

“What in the hell do you mean? You promised you were gonna fuck me like forty times.” Luke laughed, patting my spot beside him in the bed, trying to encourage me to lie down. I collapsed next to him, completely naked as my head spun, and I laughed out loud, remembering the events of the night. “Ya know, Chi Chi ain’t so bad once you get to know her.”

“Is that so?” Luke asked, pulling me across his chest, so he could stroke my back.

“Mmm hmm,” I said, my eyes fluttering closed as Luke rubbed me, the feel of his fingers rubbing circles on my back was so relaxing that I found myself drifting.

“I’m glad you had fun tonight. You still up for forty rounds of sex?” I ignored his comment, wishing I had the strength to tell him to fuck off. He took my silence as all the answer he needed. “That’s what I thought.”