Her toes curled inside her boots.
She let out a puff of air and rounded the table, pretending to plan out her shots.Only her pool partner still looked intimidated.Sighing, she leaned into her pool cue.“Billy, this is my friend, Roux.Roux, this is my… This is Billy.He’s not going to rough you up.”
Billy paused with his beer halfway to his mouth.
“He was here the night you and Landers went at it,” she explained.
Billy grunted and shrugged.Apparently, that was some kind of guy code, because Roux’s expression changed.His hands dropped, and he picked up the chalk.
Billy slipped onto one of the stools by a tall table and nursed his beer.He was in a quiet mood tonight, willing to just sit back and watch.He seemed deep in thought.
And that rattled her.
She took a shot, but her hand trembled at the last moment.The ball fell in the side pocket as she’d intended, but the cue ball rebounded off the bumper all wrong.It put off the alignment of her next shot, and she had to take a step back to reevaluate.
She spun her pool cue round on its end, but she’d lost her interest in the game.She and Roux played out the match without much more discussion.
With little fanfare, she evened the score.
“Good game,” the kid said, stuffing his hands into his back pockets.He glanced at Billy.He could read the weird vibe in the room.“I should probably be leaving.”
“Okay.”She was sad that the evening’s entertainment was over.She was afraid she’d disappointed him somehow.“See ya, Kanga.”
For once, he didn’t protest the nickname.He nodded at Billy as he walked past.
It left them alone in the room.
Roxie put her cue stick away and felt her knees go a bit wobbly without the support.
“Hey,” Billy said when she walked over to him.
She stole his beer and took a sip.
“Hey.”Instinctively, she touched her hand to his chest.One man, forever and ever.
She cleared her throat.“Did you have a good time with Charlie?”
“We released more than we kept.”Lines formed on Billy’s forehead.Reaching out, he caught her by the chin.“How was your day?”
Weird.Unsettling.
She glanced around the bar.It was so early; the sun hadn’t even set yet.The bartender had been begging her to stay out of his way, and they wouldn’t get busy until the night crowd started rolling in.“Want to go to the roof?”
Billy traced the line of her bottom lip with his thumb.“Yeah, let’s go to the roof.”
Chapter Ten
When Billy awoke the next day, it was to the most dangerous sense of home.He was in Roxie’s bed again.She wasn’t beside him, but he smelled lavender on the pillowcase and heard the river off in the distance.
He rubbed his chest.Home.It kind of stuck right there.
He hadn’t had this feeling for a long time.He’d lived most of his adult life, moving from job to job and town to town.After spending yesterday with Charlie, though, and last night on the roof with Roxie, he realized he wasn’t settled yet.
Hell, he’d even had a coherent conversation with his mother.
Growling under his breath, he rolled onto his back.It was a hell of a sentiment to grip him now that he’d made his decision to cut his ties with Cobalt City.
A rhythmic tapping noise caught his attention, and he frowned.Roxie had been in a weird mood last night, all quiet and introspective.Flipping back the covers, he got up and strolled to the open doorway.Catching the doorframe overhead, he stretched.
