Five dice, all showing ones?
William couldn't help but chuckle. For him, that was child's play.
He placed his hand over the dice cup, then suddenly flicked it upward. The five dice shot into the air. The bar's lighting was still dim, and Maria couldn't even see how he caught them—but the motion alone was enough to make her eyes widen.
That flick of the wrist?
Clean. Sharp. Precise.
No way this guy hadn't trained.
Maria stared, unblinking, as William set the cup down on the table.
"Five ones?" she raised an eyebrow, clearly skeptical.
William just smiled and gestured for her to lift the cup herself.
Maria, curious now, reached out and lifted it.
Her eyes widened.
Not only were all five dice showing ones—they were stacked. Perfectly. One on top of the other, forming a neat little tower. The top die clearly showed a single pip.
She picked them up one by one.
All ones.
No mistake.
It looked simple enough, but Maria had been running bars for years—and she'd never seen anything like it.
Well, maybe in movies. Or magic shows.
"This is insane…"
A handsome young bartender walked over, eyes locked on the dice. "Maria, where'd you find this guy? He's a freakin' legend!"
"Think you could pull that off, Nicholas?" Maria asked, glancing at him.
Nicholas shook his head so fast it was a blur. "If I could do that, I wouldn't be getting wrecked by drunk ladies every night."
Then his eyes lit up. He fished a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and offered one to William.
"You taking apprentices? I'm ready to sign up."
"Nope," William said flatly, though he did take the cigarette. "But if you're serious, I can teach you."
"For real?" Nicholas lit up—literally and figuratively—as he sparked his lighter and leaned in. "Name's Nicholas Perez. Just call me Nicholas."
"Got it." William lit his cigarette and took a drag. Cigarettes had been around fifty years ago too. He'd even tried opium once. But none of it ever did much for him.
Nicotine, opiates—his nerves were immune. No buzz, no addiction. Just smoke.
"Alright, calm down," Maria cut in, waving them back to focus. "William, give me five sixes this time. Same stack. Can you do it?"
William picked up the dice cup again. With a flick of his wrist, the dice dropped in. He gave it a light shake, then lifted the cup.
Five sixes.
Stacked.
Perfect.
"Holy sh—" Nicholas's eyes nearly popped out of his skull. He'd been hoping to pick up a trick or two just by watching.
But William had barely moved. Just a flick of the wrist—and boom, five sixes stacked like magic.
What was he supposed to copy? His hand motion? His facial expression?
Maria stood there, mouth slightly open, a dazed smile creeping across her face.
She'd struck gold.
No—she'd struck a damn diamond mine.
"Maria, about that double salary you mentioned earlier—still good?" William asked with a calm smile. He wasn't the type to care about handouts, but money he earned himself? That was a different story.
"Of course," Maria replied without hesitation. "As long as you work hard and can really drink like you say, your base salary's six thousand dollars. Add drink commissions, and if your numbers are good, pulling in ten or twenty grand a month is easy."
"Sounds good." William had already looked into modern prices. A pound of rice was only a couple bucks, and even high-end beef in New York ran about forty dollars a pound. Ten or twenty grand a month? That was high income even fifty years ago.
"Alright then," Maria said, turning to Nicholas. "You'll take him tonight to entertain my girlfriends. Show him the ropes—he doesn't know the games you guys usually play."
Nicholas blinked. After watching William stack dice like a magician, he'd assumed the guy was some nightlife veteran. Now Maria wanted him to train William?
"William, right?" Nicholas asked. "You ever play Texas Hold'em?"
William shook his head honestly. "Never."
Nicholas took a deep breath and started explaining the rules.
"Don't worry, it's pretty simple. Let me break it down for you.
Everyone gets two hole cards—those are your private cards, only you can see them. Then we've got the blinds—small blind and big blind—just to get the betting started.
There are four betting rounds. First, you can call, raise, or fold. Then we deal three community cards face-up. That's the flop. Another round of betting. Then the turn—one more card. Another bet. Then the river—the final card. One last round of betting.
Your goal is to make the best five-card hand using your two hole cards and any three of the five community cards.
At the end, we show our hands and see who wins. If you forget the hand rankings, no worries—we've got cheat sheets.
Sound like a lot? Don't stress. We'll play a few rounds and you'll get the hang of it. Ready to try?"
One round later…
Nicholas blinked. "Beginner's luck, huh? Let's go again."
William just smiled. This game's way too easy.
He didn't even need to read minds. With his observation skills and memory, losing was basically impossible—unless he wanted to.
They played twenty rounds straight.
By the end, Nicholas looked like his soul had left his body.
"Maria, are you sure he's never played before?" he shouted across the room. The bar was still quiet, no customers yet, and Nicholas was having a full-blown crisis.
At Moonlit Harbor Pub, Nicholas had a bit of a rep—"Little God of Booze," they called him. Not because he could drink like a tank, but because he was a master of all the bar games.
But now? He'd just lost twenty straight hands of Texas Hold'em. No drinks involved, but his mental state was in shambles.
Maria walked over, glanced at William, and said, "He told me he hadn't played."
"I lost twenty hands!" Nicholas looked at her like he'd just been betrayed by the universe. "He's totally playing dumb!"
Maria was stunned too. In all her years, she'd never seen anyone win twenty hands in a row at poker. Not unless they were cheating—and William hadn't even tried to hide anything.
"Try something else," she said.
Nicholas sighed. "Alright. Beer Pong!"
He looked at William.
"Don't tell me you've never played this either."
William nodded. "Never."
Nicholas groaned and explained the rules.
Ten minutes later…
Nicholas and Maria sat across from William, staring at him like he was an alien.
Nicholas had lost thirty-five games.
Maria had lost twenty-one.
Both of them were completely shut down.
"Let's try darts!" Nicholas said, desperate now. He quickly explained the rules.
Three rounds later, they gave up.
Every single dart William threw hit dead center—bullseye, every time.
What's the point of playing anymore?
Maria finally got it. When it came to bar games, William was basically unbeatable.
"William," she said, rubbing her temples, "look, you're amazing at this stuff, no doubt. But you can't actually play like this with customers."
She'd seen enough to know he wasn't just lucky—he was a monster.
"If you win every single game, the guests won't have any fun. You need to lose sometimes. Like, one out of every three or four games, at least. And if a guest loses three times in a row, you have to drink with them."
If William went full god-mode on the floor, no one would want to play with him again. Once was enough to scare them off for good.