What the fuck?

There are twenty other benches, stalker. Stop creeping on mine.

Just as I lift myself back onto the bench and let my arms fall like Jell-O to my sides, my right ear bud is ripped from my ear.

“What the fuck?” I yell louder than I intended as I look up to confront the offender. Skyler stands with her arms crossed, smirking. Without realizing it, my eyes fall from hers to the tight workout clothes hugging her curves.

Goddamn it, this is not part of the plan.

“Easy there, killer.” She laughs, throwing her hands up in surrender. “I just saw you over here when I was walking to Spin Class and thought I’d say hi. Clearly disrupting your lift session is a serious offense.”

I shake my head, realizing the scowl from my initial reaction is still cemented on my face. I trade it in for a smile and stand, rolling my shoulders back and pulling my left arm across my chest to stretch. “You’re damn right it is. Do you even lift, bro?”

She giggles and it’s the cutest fucking thing. Why does it have to be the cutest fucking thing?

“Remind me not to ever need a favor from you when you’re working out,” she says, her eyes playful.

“Who says you get any favors from me at all?” I arch my brows and her face falls, her eyes dropping to the ground. I laugh, nudging her with my hand as I switch arms and stretch the right one. “I’m joking, Sky. You ready for tonight?”

Her smile returns and she scoffs. “Please, I think the better question is are they ready for me tonight? The people playing tonight will definitely recognize me, which means I don’t have to worry about playing dumb. I can bring my A game. These poor suckers won’t know what hit them.” She winks and tosses her towel over her shoulder and I laugh.

“Well damn, looks like I’ll finally get to see the famous Skyler Thorne in her own element.”

“I bet you can barely contain your excitement,” she teases, but my eyes won’t listen to me and they fall to her chest. The sports bra she’s wearing paired with the low-cut tank top is enough to unravel me.

“You have no idea,” I murmur.

Skyler shifts uncomfortably under my stare and I lift my eyes again. She looks at me through her lashes, biting her lip just a bit – almost not enough to notice. I swallow and she clears her throat, pointing behind her with her thumb. “Um, you need to get in some cardio? I’ll let you bike next to me if you promise not to kill me with that lifting glare of yours.”

I laugh, crossing my arms across my chest. Skyler’s eyes follow the movement and I flex even though I don’t really need to in this position. “I got in plenty of cardio earlier, trust me,” I say, winking.

I realize immediately how that sounded as Skyler’s face turns white, her eyes wide. I was referring to running the circle around campus, but I know that’s not what she’s thinking. By now, she knows Erin stayed the night, and I watch as she puts two and two together.

My smile grows and I hold my ground as Skyler stares. It’s too easy to get caught up with her, to fall into our comfortable banter, but this slip up actually plays into my hand better than I could have planned. I’m supposed to weaken her, and comments like that might be the key to achieving the mission.

“Oh, uh… okay. Um,” she stumbles, backing up as I arch my brow. “Well I have to go, class is starting. I’ll see you tonight.” She turns on her heel and rushes toward the spin studio.

“Pick you up at five!” I yell to her back and she throws her hand up in a wave of acknowledgement.

Well shit, I definitely didn’t expect to run into her here. It makes sense that she would be at the gym, given how in shape she is, but this couldn’t have worked out any better for me. I smile, walking to the free weights. When I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror, my cocky smile fades. I look into my own blue eyes, searching for a compassionate man that I know must exist in there somewhere. There’s got to be a better part of me that wants me to stop what I’m doing.

I guess he’s not speaking to me right now.

Can’t say that I blame him.

“You look different tonight,” I observe, eying the baggy black hoodie and dark jeans Skyler’s paired together. She taps her sunglasses on her leg nervously and stares out the window as we ride to the casino. The tension that built between us earlier at the gym has only magnified since we got in the cab. Skyler and I don’t do close very well. Or, rather, we do it too well, which is why I know my comment earlier got under her skin.

“I told you, they know me here. That’s why I waited until last minute to enter. Last time I entered early, they ended up using me on fliers to get people to sign up. Come Challenge Skyler Thorne – Hot Young Poker Star!” She rolls her eyes and I smile, snagging the sunglasses from her fingers.

“You wearing these tonight?”

“Definitely,” she says, glancing at me quickly before turning back toward the window. I didn’t think I knew Skyler’s weaknesses that well, but apparently I stumbled upon a nerve earlier. She’s clearly affected and as much as I want to take a small victory lap, I hate it, too. I don’t want to fuck her up. I don’t want her to not be on her game. Not necessarily just because I want to see her play at her best so I can beat her at her best, but because I saw how much she loved playing after the auction. Her smile, her cocky façade – it’s amazing to watch.

“Well, that really sucks,” I say, sliding them back into her hand. She turns back to me slowly, a questioning look playing in her eyes. I trail the pad of my thumb slowly down her temple to the side of her eye while my fingers brush the hair from her face. “You have incredible eyes. I know if I was at the table, I’d be distracted by them.”

Skyler’s eyes search mine, her face torn between two emotions that I’m not sure I can decipher. Slowly, sadness overtakes the other contender and she turns her face away from my hand and back toward the window.

Damn. Not even a corny line can shake her? The Skyler I knew definitely would have called me on my shit. Or at least joked around about me being a lame ass.

“Are you nervous?” I ask, thinking maybe a more blunt approach might get her to open up. We pull up to the casino and before the cab has a chance to stop, Skyler swings her door open.

“Nope, I’m fine.”

I stay in the cab for a moment, watching as she storms toward the tall glass doors before finally paying the driver and climbing out myself. I catch up to Skyler and we walk in silence to registration, the lights and bells of slot machines mocking our lack of joy along the way. There’s a thick cloud of smoke already building and the faces lining machines and tables range from playful and hopeful to miserable and desperate. I’ll never understand why my father loves casinos and gambling so much. If you ask me, it’s just as sick an addiction as smoking or drugs. Some people ruin their whole lives on this false hope of hitting a quick fortune.

After May, I’m done with this shit. With casinos, with poker, with gambling, and with lying. None of this is worth the trouble. My dad? Yeah, he’s worth it. We don’t exactly get along, but he’s been there through a lot of shit in my life and I know at the end of the day, he always will be. I owe him this and I honestly do want to let him live this dream through me. I get it. But damn, this turned out to be a lot more than I signed up for.

Skyler checks in and gets her first table assignment. An older man is running registration and explains that the final table most likely won’t start playing until eleven, so we should expect a late night. By the looks of it, there aren’t a ton of people here for the tournament and they have twenty minute blind levels, so that should get the less aggressive players out quick. In theory, this should be an easy night for Skyler, but judging by the look on her face, you would think we were in Vegas already.