Her sisters boo immediately.
“Oh, come on,” Harleigh complains. “We just got here.”
“Yeah,” Charli adds, frowning. “It’s not even ten.”
Matty rolls her eyes, but doesn’t argue. She looks tired. Not sleepy, just done.
I slap Caison on the shoulder. “See you tomorrow,” I tell him.
“Bright and early,” he says.
I lean in and kiss Matty’s cheek, quick and light. Her skin’s clammy, and her eyes snap to me as she swats me away, nails catching my wrist. She pulls back and pierces me with a fiery glare.
I ignore it.
“Hope you’re able to rest,” I say.
Because of course I do.
I straighten and raise my voice just enough for the table at large to hear me. “I’m gonna head back to my friends and shoot a few rounds of pool before calling it a night myself.”
Shelby pretends not to hear me, eyes fixed on her glass—which she’s holding in the hand Dick tried to claim—as if it was suddenly the most interesting thing in the room.
Everyone else acknowledges me.
Royce grins. “We’ll be over in a bit.”
“Save the table,” Axle adds.
I nod, already backing away.
Dick watches me go. He doesn’t look angry. Just … resigned. Like he knows when to bow out gracefully even if he doesn’t like it.
Smart man.
I weave through the crowd, back toward the pool tables. My friends are already lining up shots. The sharp crack of balls colliding echoes through the space. Someone slides me another beer without asking, but I push it aside. I think it’s best that I stick to water for the rest of the night.
I try to keep my eyes on the pool table the remainder of the evening. Resisting the urge to look back in her direction.
The truth is, something in me couldn’t stand watching her try so hard to be interested in someone. Couldn’t stand seeing her smile politely while he talkedather instead oftoher. Couldn’t stand the idea of her settling just because everyone else thought she should.
I chalk my cue and take a shot, sinking a solid with a satisfying clack.
Seth whistles. “Damn.”
I shrug, and my eyes drift back toward her table anyway.
She’s laughing now—real laughter, not the forced kind. And I wish I were the one making her laugh.
I shake my head.
I line up another shot and remind myself that I’m just a guy shooting pool at a bar on a Friday night.
Nothing more.
Nothing less.
And whatever that was between us back there?
