Greed God chapter 144

March 18th 2016 Gemworld 9:00 PM EDT

I had to admit. I really loved gambling. Not in the way most people  would think when they heard that. I wasn't an addict. I'd never been  short on money, so earning cash never gave me the rush that some got. I  didn't chase the jackpot and I could stop at any time. In fact, I  usually called it quits after a few hands so as not to dull the  enjoyment I got from the activity. No, the reason I loved gambling was  much simpler than even the greed that defined so much of my life. I  liked to humiliate people who thought they were cunning.

Gamblers,  by and large, were the kinds of people who assumed they were better  than other people. Smarter, more controlled. Gambling was an exercise in  hubris and arrogance, and arrogant people were always the most  entertaining victims for bullying. The best part was that when done  right, it made it impossible for them to admit to themselves you were  doing it. The very pride that made them desirable marks made it  impossible for them to face that they'd been outsmarted.

Of  course, this particular game wasn't one I could win in the end, but  that was the great thing about the way I gambled. I didn't care about  winning. I'd be leading them around by the nose the whole time they were  beating me, and that was more than enough for me to have a good time.  So I had zero compunctions about dropping a few piles of valuable opals  to stock up on chips, despite knowing that I was going to lose them all  in the end. Once that was done, I dragged Zee over to sit across from  Crayken Lurk and the group of random poker players sitting around the  table with him.

Crayken was an average looking Opal guy.  Symmetrical if boring facial features, albeit striped as all Opal  citizens were for whatever reason. His blue eyes were too close  together, and his nose had been broken a time or two and set poorly, but  he wasn't a swamp monster or anything. I could see why Snow hadn't  returned the interest, but I also saw why she hadn't exactly scared him  off yet. He was middling enough in appearance that a bit of money or  power would push him over into being a catch for someone like her, but  since he didn't have those she'd been leaving him on the hook.

Tonight,  he seemed to be on a roll. His mouth was split into a wide grin as he  tossed chips around, downing shots of liquor so strong I could smell it  from here, but coherent enough to show he was used to the heavy stuff.  When I sat down, he turned his grin on me. "This is a big boy table  new-blood. If you don't have the chips to drop take your cock sleeve and  get lost." His eyes raked over Zee, and I debated reacting violently.  My possessive instincts were pushing me to that, but it was mostly the  system. I would deal with him after business was done, no point ruining  my plans for momentary satisfaction.

Zee was glaring at  him, but I pulled her face to the side for a hungry kiss, making a show  of groping that fantastic body in front of the others to show she was  mine. When I pulled back she was dazed and panting, and I dropped the  bag of chips I'd gotten on the table. "Sorry, you're right. I'm new in  town. Where I'm from we let our cards do the talking instead of running  our ugly fucking faces because we're jealous. Just because you can't get  your dick wet to save your life doesn't mean you need to be all bitter  about it."

Most people in this situation would have tried  to be friendly. Cozy up to the guy, the lead him by the nose to where  they wanted him to go. Those people were amateurs. Being friendly would  lead to him associating the pills with me specifically. He'd remember  me, might even mention me, and suddenly I'd be part of the story. That  nice guy who I won those cool pills off of. If anyone asked him about  the pills in the future, they could pry my existence out of him, and  because of that, they might be able to track me down.

This  though, this wasn't unusual at all. People mocked Crayken all the time,  he was kind of a pathetic guy. I wasn't the first person tonight to  talk shit to him, and I wouldn't be the last. He might remember beating  me and winning the pills, but that memory would be focused on him. It  would be a victory he had against an enemy, and the enemy themselves  would be irrelevant to a half drunk gambler on a hot streak.

His  eyes hardened. "Fine. Keep her with you. Maybe once I've taken all your  chips she can whip out those fat tits and give us a show to pay off  your debts. She looks like a pricy one, but I bet once I win the pot I  can afford some time with her." I actually had to focus to prevent the  growl that wanted to slip out at that. This guy was starting to actually  annoy me. Drooling over my property was bad form, and some part of me I  hadn't really experienced before (possibly a draconic part rather than a  system part) wanted to vomit a storm of elemental fury into his  sniveling face.

I didn't though, I just moved on to  putting the chips out of the buy in, though I did pull Zee back a bit  tighter against me. I was annoyed at his assumption that his money would  be enough to take my woman. That something that belonged to me would be  so low in value that he could possibly afford it, that you could put a  price at all on the things I did to her. I'd been meditating for days to  regain control of myself though, so I pushed the anger down and got to  work on the gambling, mentally starting a score sheet of the horrible  shit I was going to do to this insufferable little shit stain.

First  though, I had to play this out. Which involved lots of cocky shit  talking, and even more losing bets. I got dealt the first hand, picking  them up and studying my cards. They were, for the most part, pretty  close to a normal deck of cards. I assumed some traveler to Gemworld in  the past had had some impact on this place, because it seemed  coincidental that the cards would be so similar. The only read different  was that the Jack was called a Duke, and had a D instead of a J on the  card face.

I looked over my cards, and then around at the  others at the table. At least two of them were working for me, shills  I'd paid off before coming here to make sure I could control the flow of  the game. I let Zee look at my cards too, and she reached down to  squeeze my thigh in a quick, light rhythm designed to convey a message. I  had a king queen off suit, and she was telling me to bet into it, which  of course, I did.

Tactically speaking king queen off suit  isn't the worst hand to start with, but it isn't great either. I didn't  bet in too hard, because I knew I'd scare the others off, but I didn't  limp in either. I doubled the big blind to show I had a solid hand but  not one that was amazing, and then waited for the flop. My shills  followed my lead, betting in, but not big. Their chips were all covered  by me today anyway, so it hardly mattered to them. The cards that came  down were an eight, a six, and a Duke, none of which did jack shit for  me.

Now that I was sure I wouldn't be hitting anything  really impressive and the others were already in I bet high, making it  seem like I'd hit something amazing on the flop. It might scare Crayken  off, but only the first few times. Once he got the hint that I was  reckless he'd bide his time and then bet hard into me at this point to  drive up the pot. The turn and river came, respectively a ten and a  Queen. I had a pair, but it was hardly enough to matter, and I lost a  solid chunk of chips, affecting an annoyed scowl.

I spent  the next hour bleeding money. I bet into every bad hand, but I bet into  the good ones too, so it wasn't obvious. I folded when I could get away  with it, especially hands that I was pretty sure I would win, and  finally, after hemorrhaging cash for sixty uninterrupted minutes, I ran  out. Crayken was on top of the world. "The calm collected newcomer! Look  at you, so elegant in defeat. Looks like you're out of chips. Don't  worry, I'm a man of my word, and I'm in a good mood. Bare your whore for  us and I'll let you into the next hand on my dime. I won't even touch,  she just has to jiggle all that bouncy flesh for us."

He  leered at Zee, and I added a seventeenth terrible injury to my mental  tally, gritting my teeth and forcing down my possessive anger. This was  the end of the charade. I was almost finished, and when I was done I was  dragging her into the back alley and fucking her until her screams were  permanently burned into their ear drums. If anyone tried to come peek  I'd burn them alive with dragon breath. I reached into my pouch, pulling  out a bottle after a calculated moment of hesitation.

I  sneered at him. "Please, she's too much woman for some limp dick wannabe  gangster. But I'm not exactly flat broke. Let's see if you even have  enough to match these. You can't even normally get them here. I picked  them up in Carmine. Unless you think a fat pair of tits is worth more  than an advancement to the next rank?" I had decided to go with Carmine  for my story because the place was right next door. They were the most  likely to take notice and try to butt their noses in, and it would begin  the process of attracting the outside attack I was working on staging.

Still,  the rumors had been circulating as I'd arranged, and when he saw the  pills Crayken's eyes were pried off Zee's body and glued to the bottle. I  felt myself relax a bit. It was much easier not to kill him when he  wasn't openly leering at her in front of me. I was really unhappy with  these stupid draconic instincts. I'd just been tamping down on the lust,  and the possessive rage was rearing its head.

The  next hand was annoying and took way longer than it should have, but  when I finally lost, I was able to rage quit the whole game, which was  nice at least. It even played to my image to throw a bit of a tantrum,  so I smashed the table with a fist to middle, grabbing Zee by the hand  and storming out with her, leaving behind a laughing Crayken, albeit one  who was glancing a bit worriedly at the damage I'd left.

We  got out into the alley and Zee put a hand on my shoulder. "Nicky, you  ok? That was...a lot." I didn't answer with words, I just grabbed her  and slammed her into the wall, giving her an almost bruising kiss before  tanking up her dress. I tore her thing away and set the head of my cock  against her absolutely dripping pussy and shoved it in deep with a  single, grunting thrust of my hips, tearing a low, keening cry from her  throat.

I  leaned forward to snarl into her ear. "Trust me Zee. You're going to be  taking far more abuse than I just did tonight." I felt her cunt spasm as  she began to drip down me, her desires telling me she was reveling in  the rough treatment and the commentary. I hooked both arms under her  knees, pinning her back against the wall and lifting as I started to  fuck into her roughly. I was going to finally sign my name on this bitch  tonight. Time to show her who she belonged to once and for all.