John couldn’t help but muse over how they played together as a group. It seemed far more a sense of esprit de corps than actual friendship, at least, friendship how John would define it. The rivalry was outrageous, even if it did wear the mask of levity. Garth, the one who would jump too far and too fast every time—especially under Parker’s watch, as if his display of confidence would somehow win him Parker’s kudos—stared blankly at the stack of chips that Parker had managed to amass. He’d sat out the last three hands because he himself only had two chips left and had, per his own words, “Reached the point that he was either going to strangle somebody, or hang himself,” if he continued. Graham managed to remain cautious through most of the hands. It was only the times he went head-to-head
