You've gotta know when to hold 'em..

[chosenbylightning]

Barry Allen's life hadn't exactly been on track since his mother's murder. After pleading with the police, social workers and anyone else who would listen to him for more than five minutes that his father was innocent, he realized it was a lost cause. Nobody believed him, and they sure as hell didn't believe his father.

So Henry went to prison and Barry went into the foster system.

He'd been out hustling cards the say the particle accelerator exploded, a bolt of lightning sending him into a coma for nearly a damn year.

Once he recovered, Barry fled Central City, fled the group of scientists that wanted to study him like some kind of lab rat. His speed took him to Starling and to Verdant, the best club in the city, owned by the Queen family.

Barry was damn good with cards, even before the lightning, he could make a decent living at Verdant and the job meant he wouldn't have to dodge the cops. It's boring work, but it keeps him in a decent apartment and plenty of beer.

He also keeps his eyes to himself which isn't easy considering the new manager is ridiculously attractive.

Comments

[queenleftbehind]

He might keep an eye away from her, but Thea was keeping an eye on him. There was something funny going on with the infamous Mr. Allen, but she couldn't quite pin it down. For the last few months, behind her brother's back, she'd had another club behind the dance club. There were so many nooks and crannies in the club that she sometimes wondered whether Ollie had built it that way. Or at least had renovated it that way.

He was being smart, playing in games where he could fleece the other players and yet still give the house its due. But she could have sworn he was cheating and yet when she went to watch the video, she couldn't quite make anything out. There was sometimes a blur she attributed to a graphical glitch, but that was all. She'd have to make sure she had those cameras fixed.

In the meantime, she thought she'd see his moves in person. She left the front side of the club in the hands of a manager and picked a moment when there was an empty seat at the table Barry was using. "Deal me in," she said to the dealer, sliding a small stack of chips in front of herself. To the other players, she was just another woman, but she suspected that Barry knew exactly who she was.

Funny how she'd never noticed the spade on his neck before now. She knew the deftness of his hands, but she'd never noticed that.