Monthly Bonus Content #1 (Patreon)

Word Prompts:

- Reset

- Whisky

- Deft

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It glints like smooth amber in the dim light, but it burns like liquid fire.

I wheeze out a breath. “How old is this stuff?”

“Not as old as us,” Nate remarks with a smile, placing the aged whisky bottle down on the table beside him.

Holding up the glass, I appreciate the beauty of the colour once again but don’t risk another sip quite so soon after the last.

“So, are we playing?” Morgan asks, shuffling the deck of cards with one hand. It’s difficult not to be impressed at the skill of her deft fingers.

“That’s why we’re all here, isn’t it?” Farah says, leaning against the green velvet table with her fingers spread across it and an eager grin on her face.

The card table in the games room is small but sizable enough to comfortably seat the five of us around its hexagonal edges. A dull lamp overhead sheds a pool of warm light that means I can just about see the cards. I’m assuming the light is more for my benefit than theirs, as none of them seem to be struggling at all to work out the numbers on the cards.

“Are we betting?” Nate’s nose wrinkles as he asks the question.

Adam shifts in his seat with a shrug. “What is the point to the game if we’re not?”

Nate raises a brow. “To have fun, Adam. That’s the point of a game, as well as spending time together.”

Adam quirks a dismissive brow.

“Aw, don’t tease the poor man, Natey,” Farah comments, slapping a hand down on the commanding agent’s broad shoulder. “You know he can’t play anything without a little competition to get his blood pumping.”

Adam doesn’t deny the statement.

Morgan places the deck of cards in the center of the table before setting another identical pile besides it.

“Remember the rules,” she states like a referee. “First one with their hand on the pile wins the pool, no slapping, no taunting—” She throws a meaningful look over at Farah. “And no cheating…unless you can guarantee you won’t get caught.”

“No, not even then,” Nate adds.

She shrugs. “It’s not like you’d know.”

He releases a sigh and shakes his head. “Just draw the cards.”

We all hunch forwards in our seats as Morgan draws the first two cards from the deck and slaps them down on the table.

The prickle of tension tightens around us all as the pair don’t match.

Neither does the next pair.

Or the next.

When this continues on, the anticipation begins to die down, some of the others even taking the moment to take a sip of their drinks.

Then—

“SNAP!”

I shout it at the same time as Adam, slamming my hand down on the pile before he’s even managed to put down his wine glass in order to reach out.

His glare snaps to mine. “I shouted it first!”

“Doesn’t matter,” I say with a shrug, wrapping my arms around my bounty and drawing it closer as though hugging it. “Rules are rules. My hand was on it first.”

“They’re right. But I’m sure you’ll get some next time.” Farah adopts a grin and tilts her head. “Probably.”

I can almost see the steam rush out of his ears as his lips thin to a white line.

I simply give a triumphant smile in return.

“You know, we could be playing a real game, like poker,” Morgan offers as she fiddles with a cigarette and resets the decks.

Nate almost chokes on a breath. “You see how competitive he gets at snap. I think we should work our way up to poker after he’s let off some energy.” Although he leans close to Morgan to whisper the words, they find Adam’s ear, and he barely holds back a huff.

I chuckle, flattening out my money into neat piles, all under the watchful gaze of Adam.