Not so great for Huck

Nicole quickly understands her role. Much of the game she spends standing in the corner behind Huck. She’s supposed to clear the table of empty plates, keep snacks coming, light cigars, and fill the empty beer steins. The only horrible thing about the first hour is she’s in the line of sight of Ralph. When he isn’t looking at his cards his eyes are fixed squarely on her breasts. It stops her from ever being able to completely fade away into the background, so she spends much of her time staring into her beer mug and drinking it faster than she normally would.

From the banter around the table, she pieces together most of the relationship. Ralph is one of Huck’s oldest high school friends. She’s surprised to learn he owns Dan’s Adult World on the other side of town. She never would have figured him out as an entrepreneur of any sort. A frequent sex shop customer, maybe, but not an owner.

Chet and Huck work for the same construction company. Huck, she’s surprised to ascertain, is a construction foreman, but due to recent labor shortages, he’s been putting in more labor than usual. Chet is one of the team’s crane operators.

Vincent, as she already learned, is Huck’s nephew. He hates being called Vinnie, which Huck makes sure to call him every chance he gets. Vincent is a year out of college and in programming. He talks a big game about crypto. It sounds like he was originally invited because Huck thought he’d be bad at cards, but he ended up being better than expected. He cleaned Chet out during the previous game he attended. Huck keeps making jokes about “Vinnie the Virgin.” It clearly irritates Vincent.

Kevin, however, is a puzzle. He barely speaks. He’s only finished his first beer when the rest of the men are getting to the bottom of their second round. Twice Nicole catches him staring at her. Both times his mouth twitches like he has a tick when she makes eye contact. Somehow it makes her even more uncomfortable than Ralph’s eyes trying to bore through her dress.

Nicole doesn’t know poker well, but as the game goes on she can tell Huck isn’t doing well. He folds more often than all of the other players. On the other hand, the other four men seem to be performing equally well.

After the first hour, they take a break. Nicole uses the opportunity to use the upstairs bathroom and freshen up. She takes a moment to sit on the edge of the bed and rest her feet. It was a lot of work standing in brand new heels for that long. As she sits on the bed she hears voices outside. It’s Huck and Kevin. She sits closer to the window and listens in.

“You didn’t have to lose that much money,” Kevin says.

Huck laughs. “Eh, there was a point when it looked like Vinnie might be on a winning streak so I had to start messing up the flow to give an advantage to Ralph and Chet. I wasn’t worried about you.”

“Hm. If the rest of the night goes as you suggested you’re going to make six times as much at the warehouse in two weeks.”

“I’ll be shocked if I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am. Do you think the other guys figured out I was working the table in their favor?”

Kevin laughs. “Fuck no. Inviting Vincent was a brilliant move. It kept Chet too on edge to worry about anyone else.”

“That’s only part of the reason I brought the kid. I think the rest of the night is going to be good for him.” He pauses and takes a drag of his cigarette. “And if it isn’t good for him it’s going to be freakin’ hilarious for us.” He slaps Kevin on the arm. “Either way, you’re not going to be disappointed. Now let’s get inside and up the ante.”

Nicole whispers “holy shit, they’re scamming the other guys at the table!” Although she can’t figure out how Huck losing to them equally would be a benefit. And what was that about a warehouse? Nicole, two beers into the night, finds herself feeling curious about this mystery. While she was previously a little resentful about being a fly-on-the-wall servant she was now eager to get back downstairs to see if she could figure out the plan. Finally, the night was going to be moderately entertaining for her.