Viva Las Vegas [Alt]

Note: I am not Vox121. This is not "canon". I am not a native english speaker. This is the first time i write. There will be mistakes. This will most likely be a short branch. Minimal/no smut in this chapter. Thanks

The journey to becoming Emma’s boyfriend was a long series of baby steps. Being Emma’s boyfriend was a god-damn sprint. All the months of change that had occurred after meeting her had nothing on the whirlwind that took place in the weeks that followed.

First big event; telling Mom and Dad the news. I think Mom sobbed for a good twenty minutes. That actually kinda hurt. I knew I wasn’t that popular in the girl department, but from the way my mom carried on, she had expected me to die a hermit. Dad just accepted it with his usual skepticism. I think the months of her coming over for Dungeons and Dragons helped. At least he wasn’t immediately stamping her as a gold digger and demanding a full investigation of her motivations.

Second event was the first Friday get-together as an ‘official’ member of the group. We met at Colins house to play board games. I never would have pegged this group as being interested in any board games, but I was proofed wrong. We had a blast playing and talking. Also i won quite a few of the games, so I legitimately thought I had a good chance.

I actually didn’t know what would happen when I ‘won’ Emma. Seeing as we had only been dating a week, sex was off the table. Or was it? That made me antsy. Ryan mentioning role-play of a master/servant situation interested me. It might be fun to flip our usual script and try something new.

So I went into our first Friday pumped and ready to go kick some noob ass. The game?

Poker.

Fucking. Poker.

How the fuck was i supposed to win? I never set foot in a casino or gambled on anything in my life. I did not even know the rules!

Once i told this to the group i felt Emmas eyes on me nonstop. Emma ate up every second of me loosing one hand after the other. And with every chip I lost, I felt a cold, hard weight growing in my stomach. This went on until I lost about half my chips and excused myself or more like fled to the toilet.

Splashing some water on my face and looking in the mirror i realised two things:

One — I wanted to be the guy to take Emma home more than anything. I wanted to sleep with her before anyone else, now that we were a couple.

Two — I would not stop her going with someone else. I saw her look. I saw her desire for what had become our “game“ and i could not take that away from her. And if I was totally honest I enjoyed it as well.

That internal struggle left me with cold sweat on my brows and in my armpits. But than i felt a sudden clarity and the cold feeling in my stomach disappeared, replaced by certainty. I could do nothing but my best.

Taking a deep breath I sat down on the closed toilet seat and took out my smartphone, searching for and reading as many poker tips as I could find.

Five minutes later Emma knocked on the door asking if i was okay. Putting my phone away and quickly washing my hands I opened the door.

Emma looked at me with concern clear on her face. “Everything all right?“

I sighed. “Yeah... just realised what i am playing for. I mean i am gambling away my girlfriend and I really want to keep her for myself.“

She smiled and laid her arms around my shoulders and whispered in my ear: “Remember I am doing this for you. Someone else will embrace me - will fuck me before the night is over because you want it.“

I gave a weak chuckle. “I haven't lost yet and maybe you should think about what I can win tonight“

“Yeah? And what's that?“

“You'll have to wait till I win to find out“ I said, gave her a peck on the lips, freed myself from her arms and walked back towards the living room, leaving her standing behind me.

“Someone is confident“ Emma replied, quickly catching up and pulling my hand into hers and squeezing hard.

Back at the table I endured some good-natured jokes about whatever i did on the toilet, and then we went back to the game in earnest.

Having realised the reason why I always lost with my bluffs and didn't win anything of note on my good hands I started implementing some changes. Previously I had an obvious tell and now I could use this against them. Especially Ryan who liked to bet very aggressive.

But to win big you have to bet big. My heart beat like a drum as I went all in. Emma leaned forward and her grin reminded me of something Feral. The guys were whooping and hollering and two not one but two other players called me. In one hand Ryan, Justin and me would decide who would gain the lead by a large margin and who would be joint last.

I knew I had Ryan beat. The big question was Justin. We turned over our cards and saw the result. Ryan was swearing and sat back. “You fooled me man hook line and sinker.“

I didn't really listen and looked over to Justin's cards.