Mary loved watching her husband play poker.
Being the CEO of a small medium sized business, she didn't get much relaxation time. Projects to supervise, meetings to run, employees to shape and move along took a great deal of her time. Sure, she often thought to herself, the company made large amounts of money and was in the Top 5 of her industry, but still. It ate up a great deal of her time.
His poker was a night where she didn't have to do anything, but watch. Just exist.
Mary always sat behind him, just close enough to see his cards. She didn't give advice. She didn't chat with the other players. She just watched the cards fall and the chips go where they may.
She knew who the other players were. They were often the same group of guys. Bill was her husband's best friend, been so for years and years. Gary was an office mate of her husband. Sometimes everyone jokeed they were husband and husband. Jess was the odd man out. No one really remembered where he came from, but he showed up week after week and was a good player. Though he had a bad tick where he would smile too much when he had bad cards. Jess never won much.
Then there was Isaiah. Everyone called him Izzy, for short.
One of the reasons Mary sat where she did was to be able to look at him, when she could. He was a man with ebony skin and the clearest blue eyes she had ever seen. Like the deepest sea, frozen in time. His build was like Bruce Lee's, skinny but the muscles stood out when he wanted them to.
Mary often caught herself staring at him, over her husband's cars. Then like a hawk, his crystals suddenly latch on to her stare. She would break it off by taking a sip from her glass, and his would go back to the table.
The game, as always, was Texas Hold'em. Each player got two cards, where they would place bets, then three more cards were dealt to the center of the table, face up. They call this the Flop for some reason. The players would bet on what they thought were the best hands they had. Then another face up and more betting. The final part of each hand was The River, where one last card was laid on the table and one last bet.
She often thought it was a slow moving game but she liked it like that. He had enough hustle in her life.
In-between hands, her husband turned to Mary and began to say "Mary, Would...."
She knew what she wanted: Time to refill everyone's glasses. She hated to do things like that, but none of the guys wanted to leave their seats.
"On it." She told her, as she got up from her stool.
Mary went to the bar and got bottles of beer for everyone, as well as the opener. Going back to the table, she set a bottle down in front of the player, popped the cap and then move on to the next player.
The thing is though, she always left Isaiah for the last.
With the last bottle, Mary would set it next to his chips and then turn to leave. Only this time, Izzy turned his head to look up at her. They again locked gazed, when He shifted his eyes to her glass and then back up to her. Mary blinked as He did it again. Finally understanding, She picked up His glass and poured the beer from the bottle into it. Setting back it back next to chips, Mary heard Him say "Thank you", but never looked up again.
She returned to her stool as the next hand was started. From her place, she could see her husband's cards: two Aces, clubs and hearts. "Well that is a good start," Mary thought to herself, trying to keep her face under control.
The bidding started at $100, until it got her her husband. With a slight smile on his face, he raised the bidding by $75. Everyone matched him, including Jess with a huge smile on his face. After Gary threw in his chips, the Flop was layed out:
The Queen and Jack of Spades, with the 5 of Hearts.
The next round of bidding found Bill tossing in his cards, Gary betting $200 which Jess and Mary's husband matched.
When it came Izzy's turn, He called Gary's $200 and raised the stakes by $500.
Gary's breath exploded and said he was out, flipping his cards over to show the Jack of Diamonds and 5 of Clubs. Jess grinned even more while evening out the pot. The husband called Izzy's bet.
The next card down, which in poker terms was called The Turn, was the Ace of Diamonds.
Mary could barely contain herself! She had to turn away from the table, so the light of excitement would not give away what cards her husband held. Specially to Isaiah.
She got up and went to the bar, to get under control. From there, she could hear the bidding: Her husband started with an even thousand, which Jess just managed to cover. Izzy matched that and doubled again. Her husband called, causing Jess to stare at the empty spot where his chips used to be.
"Ah geez guys. I got everything in the pot," he complained. " You take an I.O.U.?"
Mary's husband chuckled and told Jess "No paper dude. Cash or security."
Jess asked what the husband meant by "security"
Placing his cards face down on the table, he said "Jewelry, gold coin, artwork, or the like. Hell, isn't one of your comics worth a grand?"
At the mention of his comic books, Jess went pale and looked at his cards again. Slowly he put them on the table, also face down and slid them under the pile of chips in the center.
"I'm out," he told the other two men.
Izzy and the husband stared at each other across the table. Each man being as stone faced as he could be.
Mary returned to her stool, watching Isaiah's unmoving eyes bore into her husband. "Shall we?" the Dark man asked to no one in particular, to which the husband simply nodded.
With The River, the last card appeared on the table:
The Ace of Spades.
Mary simply could not keep her eyes from widening at maximum! She could not believe what she was seeing. The pot on the table was going to hugs, knowing how Izzy played.
But Isaiah never took his eyes off the husband. He simply said "All in" and pushed the entire pile of his remaining chips towards the center of the table.
The husband looked at that pile and then down to his own. It was somewhat smaller, say by about $5,000. "I'm a little shy," he told Izzy. "What kind of security do you want?"
Isaiah set his cards back on the table, face down, side by side. Sitting fully back in his chair, he shifted his crystal orbs from the husband to Mary.
"Her," He said nodding at her.
Mary gasped and put her hand to her mouth. "My God," she thought, "What in the holy hell is he thinking?!?!"
The husband, turned to look at Mary, then turned back to Izzy and, finally, picked up his cards to look at them. Setting them back on the table, he said "I'll agree to it if she will."
She could not believe what she was hearing. Her own husband was willing to use her as a settlement in a card game. But then she thought about it. He had four Aces. Sure Mary didn't know what cards Isaiah was holding but they couldn't beat four Aces.
Could they?
Steeling herself, Mary said "Do it."
Isaiah looked back to the husband and said "What do you have?"
Mary's husband turned over his cards. "Four Aces."
The dark man reached out to one card, using it to flip the other one over and showed both to the crowd:
The King and 10 of Spades.
"Royal Flush."
There was silence in the room. No one said a word.
Well, except for Isaiah. He looked up at Mary and said "You're mine".
