Chapter 31 – I’ll Win It Back for You
When the noon class ended, Evan went to the cafeteria, bought two boxed lunches, and carried them back to the boys' dorm.
If there was one creature in this world he understood too well, it was a gambler.
Growing up in Ridgefall, he had seen too many families ruined by cards, dice, and men who swore they would quit after one more round. Add Jack Carter's constant nagging into the mix, and Evan knew exactly what kind of mess Wayne had walked into.
A half-baked gambler like Wayne, once his blood ran hot, would lose until even his underwear belonged to someone else.
He would not leave himself a single step back.
Evan pushed the dorm door open.
Wayne was lying on his bed like a corpse.
The fat bastard had actually been awake for a while. He had stared at Evan's missed calls on his phone and simply had no face to answer.
When Evan walked in, Wayne finally sat up like a punctured balloon, hair sticking up like a bird's nest, his face gray and lifeless.
Evan dragged over a chair, threw one boxed lunch onto the desk, and did not scold him.
He only said, "Eat."
Wayne picked up the disposable fork and shoveled rice into his mouth, but every bite tasted like cardboard. After a few mouthfuls, he suddenly lifted his head.
"Evan, lend me five hundred. I'll pay you back after finals. I swear."
Evan's face went cold.
He stared at Wayne hard enough to make the air freeze.
"Sure. I can lend it to you. But once you take that money, we're done being brothers."
Wayne froze.
His eyes reddened. After a few seconds, he shook his head.
"Then... forget it."
Evan had only been testing him.
Sure enough, the idiot was stupid, but he still had a line he would not cross. He was not rotten enough to sell brotherhood for gambling money.
"But I feel like crap!" Wayne threw the fork down and grabbed his hair with both hands. "I'm so damn angry!"
"Last hand yesterday, I had a straight flush. The other guy also had a straight flush, just a little higher. If not for that, I would have flipped everything back!"
Evan kept eating and did not respond.
"And the more I think about it, the more cursed it feels. Six cooler hands in one night. Not just me. The whole table got wiped clean!"
Evan stopped chewing.
He knew at once.
Wayne had not lost to luck.
He had walked straight into a rigged table.
Evan swallowed the last mouthful of rice, tossed the empty box into the trash with perfect aim, and wiped his mouth with a napkin.
"Is your skull full of wet cement? You still don't see it? Someone set up a pig-slaughter table and carved all of you up together."
"No way." Wayne stared at him with tiny, panicked eyes. "I went five or six times before. I won every time. I only lost these last two."
"Then you're a purebred dumbass."
Evan leaned back and cursed without mercy.
"Every gambling den knows that trick. They let you taste sweetness first. Let you think you're clever. Once your appetite gets big enough, they butcher you in one shot and scrape the meat off your bones."
"If they never let you win in the beginning, how would they make money? That's bait, idiot. Bait."
After Evan spelled it out, Wayne replayed the last few visits in his head. The more he thought, the more wrong it felt.
"Damn it! So those bastards cheated me?"
"You just figured that out?"
Evan snorted.
"I told you not to gamble. You had to act like your brain was waterproof."
"Brother Evan! My real brother!"
Wayne suddenly lunged over and hugged Evan's arm, howling like a wronged child trapped in a grown man's body.
"Help me get the money back! That was the money my dad earned under the sun, swinging a sickle until his arms smoked!"
Evan rolled his eyes.
"Why didn't you think of your dad's sickle when you were throwing chips?"
"I'm begging you, brother. Lend me five hundred as capital. If I don't pay it back, I'm a dog. I'll go carry bricks. I'll sell my fat ass if I have to."
"Get lost. Nobody wants that fat ass. Not even desperate people."
Evan sighed.
Wayne was the first real brother he had made after coming to Harbor City. The man had plenty of flaws, but he was loyal. He had treated Evan to foot massages, stood up when Wendy was being bullied, and was not a coward when it mattered.
He was worth pulling back from the cliff.
After thinking it over, Evan flicked ash from his cigarette.
"Fine. Stop howling. Tonight I'll go with you. We get your capital back, then we stop."
"Really?" Wayne's eyes shone. "My capital was fifteen hundred."
"Fifteen hundred." Evan cursed under his breath. "That's probably several truckloads of corn from your dad."
"Okay, okay. Tonight you come with me."
Evan lifted one finger and shook it.
"Wrong. You don't take me there. I take you there."
He tapped the desk lightly.
"That money, I'll win it back myself."
"You?" Wayne looked him up and down, doubtful again. "Brother Evan, are you sure? I don't think I've ever seen you touch cards. You don't even like gambling."
Evan smiled coldly.
"Not liking it and not knowing how are two different things."
He patted Wayne's thick shoulder, climbed straight onto an empty dorm bed, and lay down.
"Go to afternoon class and sign in for me. I'm getting some sleep."
He slept until the last afternoon class ended.
When Evan woke, he called Hannah and told her he would eat outside with a friend tonight and come home late.
On the other end of the phone, Hannah quietly breathed out in relief.
Right now, she only wanted a little distance from Evan.
That boy was too dangerous.
Yesterday at the beach, she had almost fallen.
The memory of his astonishing masculine confidence still made her face heat. For one absurd instant in the car, she had even wanted to lower herself closer and see whether the truth matched the shock in her mind.
If she had not held herself back, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
Hannah drove back to the villa alone.
When she opened the door and looked at the empty, cold house, she let out a helpless sigh.
Lately, she had also started sensing that something was wrong.
Before Evan came to stay, no matter how busy Rowan was or how far away he traveled for business, he would call her several times every day.
This time, for some reason, he had changed.
Maybe he felt relieved because there was now a man in the house with her?
Rowan had been gone for days and had not called on his own once.
Every time Hannah called him, he said he was busy, answered with two or three careless sentences, and hung up.
Today, Hannah did not bother calling.
She changed into soft house clothes, curled up on the living room sofa, and turned on the television.
But she could not take in a single thing on the screen.
Her mind was full of Evan.
Then, without warning, the words Evan had said while reading her fortune echoed in her head again.
You will have a second man in your life.
A second man?
It couldn't be... Evan, could it?
Hannah jolted, slapped her own thigh hard, and scolded herself.
"Hannah Snow, stop thinking nonsense. Keep your head clean."
On the other side of Harbor City, Evan and Wayne grabbed a casual dinner, then returned to the dorm to keep sleeping and save their energy.
The underground gambling room did not really wake up until after midnight.
They slept until the early morning, washed their faces with cold water, and took a taxi straight to the place.
It was not a proper casino at all.
It was an abandoned underground garage that had been crudely converted.
At the entrance, two lookouts stood outside a sheet-metal door, smoking.
When one yellow-haired punk saw Wayne's familiar figure, he stubbed out his cigarette and walked over with a grin.
"Yo, fat boy. Back to donate money to the brothers?"
"Donate to your mother." Wayne spat to the side. "I'm here to win it back today."
The yellow-haired punk did not get angry. He casually offered Wayne a cigarette, then held one out to Evan.
"Sure, sure. Go in. The tables are already running."
Evan did not take the cigarette.
Hands in his pockets, he led Wayne inside.
They passed through a dim corridor, turned right, and pushed open two heavy soundproof doors.
The smell of smoke, sweat, and stale greed smashed into their faces.
Inside, the lights were dim. Mahjong tiles clicked, gamblers shouted, cursed, and laughed. The whole basement felt like a dirty lung.
As soon as they reached the three-card brag table, a middle-aged man who had been slaughtered at Wayne's table last night recognized him. He grabbed Wayne's shoulder warmly.
"Damn, fatty, you finally came! I lost fifteen hundred last night. Tonight I'm winning it back with interest."
Wayne clenched his teeth.
"Yeah. I lost five hundred too. Screw them."
The two men hooked arms and pulled out chairs, ready to sit.
But just as Wayne's backside was about to touch the chair, Evan reached from behind and grabbed the back of his neck.
Like lifting a chicken, he pulled Wayne away from the table.
"Stand aside and watch the show."
Evan sat down with cold eyes.
"Today, I play."
Author's Note:
This story will continue updating here.
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Thank you for reading.