Fold

"Fold," I said.

I decided that discretion was the better part of valor. I still would have a sizable lead on him even with the 500 chips he gained on the hand. That still put me up by about 4000 in chips, a sizable enough lead that I was still very confident.

It was actually on the very next hand that I corrected the mistake that I had made on the previous hand. When Mike dealt the flop, I didn't even bother to look at the cards. I watched his face. The look only lasted for a split second, but I saw it. He cringed. It was almost imperceptible, but it was there.

He tried a very similar strategy, seeing if he could chip away at my lead by betting really strong and making me fold again. He had that same look of supreme confidence on his face as he had the last time, but I had seen his real reaction, the one he gave before putting on his façade.

"500," he said, that confident grin on his face, just like the last hand.

I didn't even bother to look at the cards. I wasn't even sure what kind of hand I had, I was just certain he was not at all happy with his own. He was hoping to steal the 250 of my chips already in the pot without having to actually get too deep into the hand, figuring I'd play it conservative with my big lead still intact.

"1000," I said, just as confidently, pushing chips into the pile in the center of the table. To call, he would have to push all but about 750 in chips in on this hand, that I already was very confident he didn't like. If he was going to stay in the hand as the betting progressed, it would likely take all the chips he had.

I could see the frustration in his eyes, but then I watched him take the only sensible course of action.

"Fold," he said, clearly pissed that I had called his bluff and it had backfired on him. I had already gained back everything I had lost by folding on a really strong hand, and then some.

His anger made him easier to read. Every hand, I would act like I was looking at my pocket when I was actually just looking at him. I could see when he was frustrated at yet another shitty pocket, and I would pounce, betting strong and making him fold. With a blind of 50, folding could be pretty costly to someone with only about 1000 in chips, but not nearly as costly as betting hard on a crappy hand.

Before long, he was down to around 500. Recovering from that was going to be next to impossible, especially in the mood he was in, where he could barely keep the irritation off his face at the crappy luck he was having.

Emma came and encouraged me to pull my chair back from the table. She sat down on my lap, a huge smile on her face. She put her hand on my cheek and looked deep into my eyes, and then she kissed me. God her lips felt so soft and wet and warm. She tasted so, so good to me in that moment.

"I love you, Isaac," she whispered to me. It was the first time she had spoken those words to me. It was sweeter than any sound I had ever heard in my life.

"I love you too, Emma," I whispered back.

"Shit," I heard Grant spit out as he watched that. The writing was on the wall, and everyone knew it. The mood in the room was very somber, everywhere except in the chair where I was sitting. Emma and I were ecstatically happy, our bodies pressed against each other, her arm wrapped around my shoulders. We were finally going to be lovers, giving ourselves completely and totally to each other.

Mike was almost seething in that moment. Emma had clearly given the whole room a clear signal that she knew the game was over, even though technically it wasn't. When the pocket was dealt, he looked quickly at his cards and tried to fake that confident smile of his, but I could see the anger behind the smile. Mike did not like losing to me in poker.

"All in," he said pushing his chips in to the pot.

I looked at my cards.

Pocket aces!

I just smiled a very big smile.

"Call," I said, pushing my chips in.

The next five cards were dealt very quickly since there was no betting left to be done. We both ended up with two pair, because there was a pair of nines in the common cards. I was Aces over nines, he was Jacks over nines.

It was over.

The room was nearly silent. Everyone was so disappointed that I had won. But I didn't give a shit. I looked into Emma's eyes and she looked into mine and we just laughed. It was pure happiness. After all this time and all this drama, we were finally going to be together. Really together.

"We are really going to do this, aren't we, Isaac?" she asked me.

"Yes, we are," I agreed.

"You sure you aren't going to give me to Ryan again?" She asked with a smile.

"Never again," I said.

Speaking of Ryan, it was at that moment that he stood up on a chair.

"Congratulations to Isaac for winning The Game tonight," he said, to groans from the rest of the guys. "While I am certainly disappointed to see Emma leaving the Prize Pool, let me just say that I, for one, am really happy for the two of you. I know this is just a technicality, but I have to ask. Isaac, who do you claim from the Prize Pool as the victor of tonight's contest?"

I looked deeply into Emma's eyes and smiled at her.

"Sarah," I said loudly.

There was a brief second of absolute silence as my unexpected declaration caught everyone completely off guard. I could see the stunned look on Emma's face. And then Ryan burst out laughing. Emma smiled again and swatted my arm before kissing me.

"You bastard," she said to me.

"Like you didn't deserve that," I said to her before returning her kiss.

"I actually will take Sarah," Mike said to the rest of the group.

"Yes," I heard Sarah exclaim. Mike was gathering quite a reputation from the ladies in the group. I was glad for him, but not nearly as glad as I was for me. Emma was finally mine. There was a flurry of activity around the room as each of the guys took their designated turns pairing up for the night, but I was unaware of anything except the stunning beauty what was still sitting in my lap.

"Isaac, you big stud," she said to me.

"That's me, honey," I said.

"Take me to bed, or lose me forever!"

"Show me the way home, honey."

I will confess that, for the first time in my life, I really did feel like the Top Gun.