“Nah. Just winning.” Unlike George, who kept playing to his audience, Jasper hadn’t glanced once at Kellan or me. He was deep in his own head, and it was almost scary the way he dismantled George’s deck. For all he’d always counseled me about not attacking too early in a game, he was aggro in the best way, attacking methodically over and over.

Kellan whistled low under his breath. “Geez. Don’t ever get mad at me.”

“Tell me about it,” I whispered back. “I might be afraid to ever play him again.”

“Oh, he’d be gentle with you. Especially if you asked nice,” Kellan teased. And for once, the double meaning didn’t make me squirm. It was getting easier and easier being a public couple, holding hands in his dorm and exchanging long looks as we walked across campus. But then, random strangers weren’t truly the issue. It was easy not to care about them and their opinions, but telling myself to do the same with Bruno or my mom was another thing entirely. Fresh dread gathered in my stomach at the thought of the coming weekend and the conversations that had to happen.

However, those thoughts took a back seat to the game as both players traded blows. Momentum stayed with Jasper, though, and he took the first match handily.

“Bad deal.” George shrugged like he couldn’t care less about being on the ropes.

And indeed, he didn’t play like someone on the verge of losing. If anything, he became more relaxed and fluid while Jasper tightened up further and further. Even his grip on his cards was tense.

“Not so smug now, are you?” Rolling his neck, George pushed back in his chair like he was about to order a drink. As I well knew, his charm tended to increase as he sensed a win. The snake.

“Take your turn.” Jasper’s mouth was a thin line. From my vantage point behind him, I could see his cards, and I’d been working to keep my face neutral with each draw. Also, I’d watched and played enough to know that he’d gotten screwed by his opening hand. His nerves probably weren’t helping, but like always, he played better as he slipped further behind. However, despite scrappy play, he wasn’t able to recover from the bad start, which meant everything would come down to the third match.

“See?” Flashing a victory smile for his friends, George stretched. “I just had an unlucky deal that first round.”

“You sure about that?” Even with the loss, Jasper seemed to have recovered some of his swagger.

“Of course.” George gave a lazy shrug.

“Put your money where your mouth is.” Jasper leaned forward as if he were about to pounce. “Put up a second card for the final round. Winner takes all.”