Poker Face by Adriana Law Page A

Why are you here?”
     
    “Is that any way to thank your father?”
     
    “For what?”
     
    “For finding someone interested in putting in an offer on the
ranch. Why the tortured expression? I thought you’d be doing a little happy
dance?”
     
    “I…”
     
    Mackenzie’s hand came up. “Before you go into all the boohoo’s
over your “new family” not having a home….turns out this man is interested in
keeping Tink, Birdie and Griffin on after he buys the dump, so all is good in
the land of misfit toys…you are free and clear of all obligation,” his mouth
twisted into a mischievous grin, “even sleeping with the barracuda, which, just
so you know, is every bit as attractive as her mother. I’m not sure I
understand your whole hesitation there, but anyways… Ms. Barracuda is in the
kitchen reading over the offer as we speak…..”
     
    Drew hit the hardwood with a loud thump, tangled in a mess of
blankets that took the sudden spill with him. He fought his way out, “You’re up
to something!” and popped to his feet, tugged on a pair of jeans and looked his
father directly in the eye, “Are you forgetting this entire setup is a hoax….a
stupid bet? Megan doesn’t own a damn thing, the papers are fake! As soon as I
tell her what you and her stepfather have done and why…”
     
    “She’ll pack and catch the next flight home, forgive her
stepfather, because her mother expects it, and never speak to you or I ever
again. Now, I’m okay with that outcome, but is that what you really want son?
I’d think long and hard before you answer. Don’t forget you’ve been the key
player in this whole ordeal. You think she hate’s you now…” Mackenzie nodded at
the couch and the cushions knocked cockeyed from Drew’s tossing and turning,
“wait until she finds out you’re a real piece of shit ….”
     
    “She already knows I’m a piece of shit,” Drew uttered.
     
    “Your inability to convince her otherwise is not my fault, that
dear son is yours… along with accepting payment of any kind for sex….I think
that kind of puts you in the same category as a whore, which makes you one
pretty fucked up individual, not that I’m not proud of you for it..” he
whistled through his teeth, “but all your do-gooder-friends might see things a
little differently. I have no idea why you care.” His gaze swept the small
stuffy den. “I would think you’d be ready to be free and clear of any
obligation to this dump. The only attractive thing I’ve seen in the last
hundred miles is sitting in the kitchen.”
     
    Drew leaned in, and smelled the before-breakfast-alcohol on his
father’s breath. His words were more of a hiss, anger over somehow being drug
back into his father’s sick world. “Some things never change… you always have
had a way of twisting things to your advantage, haven’t you?”
     
    The kitchen door opened and Drew froze at the sight of Megan
laughing, not some fake flirty laugh he’d heard her do when she was trying to
manipulate someone into doing what she wanted, but a sincere laugh.
     
    “I’m so glad you came out,” she said leaning playfully into the
man next her.
     
    The man, or boy, Drew wasn’t sure which he wanted to use to
describe the six foot, young Ben Affleck look-a-like in a crisply pressed suit,
all he knew for certain was he didn’t like the guy, or the way he seemed to
enjoy touching Megan. He looked like a guy that had his shit together,
business-wise, which only made Drew dislike him even more. And he was making an
offer on the ranch, couldn’t forget that little detail. Although noticing how
well Megan fit with the guy, the pair creating the perfect, cute couple, Drew
wasn’t thinking much about the ranch, more along the lines of how bad of an ass
he would make of himself if he took a swing at the guy?
     
    “Uh… me too,” the guy said scanning her with his nasty eyes.
     
    The two wandered towards the front entrance. The guy looking back
as