War Dog

Chapter 31

"Gaz, Soap, care to play a game of poker with me?" I ask pulling out a deck of cards.

"Wolf, we just got back, and you're already trying to swindle us?" Gaz remarks with a grin and takes a seat at the table in the rec room.

"I would never swindle you, Gaz. I'm just bored." I smile sweetly, my tail wagging happily, glad at least one of them agreed to play.

"And why didn't you ask Ghost to join, if you're not trying to swindle us, wouldn't you want Ghost to join too?" 

I grin wolfishly at Gaz's response, he's a sharp one. "Unfortunately, I know Ghost too well. and have absolutely swindled him enough that he no longer likes playing with me."

"Fair enough then." 

Soap joins the table, unusually quiet and I know without even scenting him that he's still uneasy about the talk he had with Ghost. 

"Soap," I smile warmly and hand over the deck of cards to him. "I have issues with my claws and the cards, I struggle to shuffle the deck, would you mind helping a wolf out?" 

He startles and looks at me wide eye for a split second at my warmth before he smiles tentatively, and I can tell he's warming back up. His eyes flick to Ghost sitting next to me at the table but he reaches for the deck. "Sure Ceri, I don't mind at all." His long agile fingers shuffle the deck with an ease that I envy. I had lied about not being able to shuffle the deck, my tail and ears giving away my lie to those who knew what to look for. I could shuffle just fine, but no where near as elegantly as he managed. 

He dealt out the cards, I looked at mine and steeled my expression, my tail flickering with irritation. Not a great hand. He laid out the five community cards for Texas hold em. Gaz and Soap looked at their cards, their scents mingling. Gaz seemed in the middle, not happy, but not disappointed either. Ambivalent. Soap on the other hand has displeased by his hand. 

"Let's make this more interesting," Ghost murmered and disappeared for a moment. He came back carrying his small set of chips. He dealt out the chips to each of us.

"Better than real money. I get the feeling Ceri here is trying to set us up." 

"Gaz! I would never set you up," I smile charmingly, tail going crazy, I shift and sit on my tail to get it to stop moving so much. I grab a chip and chuck it into the center, "I'm in." I say cheerfully, watching both of the men carefully. Soap plays with his chip hesitantly before chucking it in right behind Gaz's playful throw. 

Soap reaches out to flip the first three cards and I can feel his disgust lesson as he finds that he managed to get a possible something. Gaz remains ambivalent, his emotions much more steady than the volatile Scotsman. We all chuck in another token, and then. "I raise a hundred." I slide the token into the pile. Soap doesn't hesitate, he matches me. Gaz surprisingly does hesitate but he matches my raise anyway. Soap flips the next card. This time Gaz is the one to raise. "Two hundred." His voice is smooth, but his heart is beating a little too fast for someone telling the truth. He smiles charmingly when he sees me watching him curiously. Soap decides that he also wants to meet the rise.

"I fold." I mutter, dropping my cards to the table, letting him think he has me fooled. Soap on the other hand looks at me surprised. I can see the gears turning in his head and he's starting to think he should have folded too. Gaz on the other hand is feeling cocky. He thinks he's managed to trick me. Soap however has had too many conversations with Ghost and knows something up. I can smell the suspicion.

Soap flips the last card and I can sense they're both going to add to the pile. Soap this time raises the bet and Gaz cockily matches. They flip their cards. Soap had the better hand, Gaz looks at the pile in disappointment. I flip my cards for them to see. I had nothing special, just a pair of fives, still better than what Gaz had, which was nothing, surprisingly. He kept his emotions very even tempered, I suspected he at least had a pair of something. I'd have to watch Gaz very carefully. Soap on the other hand wore his emotions close to surface level.