“Performance anxiety, Kolane?” Lucas’s gaze sparked with delight, while Liam scowled.
He straightened, studying the cue ball as though it were a live thing that had dissed him.
Cole chuckled, then lined up his stick. He hit the eight ball and sunk it in.
When he leaned over for another shot, I asked, “Isn’t that a foul?” I wasn’t a huge pool player but was pretty certain the black ball was supposed to go in last.
“We’re playing cut-throat,” Liam said, chalking up the tip of his stick.
“How do you play that?”
Without taking his eyes off the game, he explained the rules: each player had a section of pool balls and they had to sink their opponents’ balls in. Matt arrived then and handed me a sweaty bottle of beer.
“Thanks.” I took a sip and felt it drip into my empty stomach. I needed food. And I probably needed it before I drank the beer. “I should eat something,” I told no one in particular, but then I offered to get the others food. I prayed no one would ask for anything, or my bank account would take a serious hit.
After everyone said they were good for now, I walked over to the bar, sat on a stool, and then grabbed a laminated menu that was as sticky as the bar. I ordered nachos with cheese and bacon, then spun on the stool and watched the pool game. Again, I wondered what got into me to come tonight. I heaved a sigh, then wheeled back toward the bar and took my phone out of my bag.
August had answered me. Glad you’re okay. Heard you’re Matt’s favorite girl now too.
I smiled. No. Still just yours. He has Amanda. Only after I pressed send did I realize how flirty that sounded. I dragged a hand through my hair that was now completely dry.
August sent me a smiley face.
Not for the first time, I wished he were here instead of across an ocean. That thought filled me with abrupt guilt. Guilt that made me glance at Sienna. She was laughing at a story Cole was telling her. I studied her a moment, analyzing her body language. Her eyes glittered a little as she looked up at the mammoth blond with the buzz cut. Maybe her eyes always glittered. Or maybe she was over August.
I ducked my face back down and wrote: You’d be proud of me. I’m at Tracy’s with the pack. I’m trying to be social.
A couple seconds later: I hope they’re on their best behavior.
No one’s called me any names yet.
And if any of them do, you tell me, OK?
I’ll be fine. Concentrate on staying alive out there. Which had me thinking… Are we as killable as humans?
Don’t get your question.
I took a swig of beer, then set it back down and typed: Can we die of something other than drowning or silver poisoning?
Dot-dot-dots appeared. Then: Silver, fire, or asphyxiation. Why? Are you planning on killing Lucas?
I grinned. LOL. Even though I wish you’d taken him with you, no. No homicidal plans on my end. I was just wondering.
Strange thing to be wondering about.
The bartender came back with my dish and the bill. As I dug out my wallet, I remembered I owed Liam fifty dollars. I paid for my meal, then took out the owed amount and slid it inside my bag’s front pocket.
When I looked back down at my phone, August had written: Want me to call you?
I frowned.
One more line of dialogue appeared: For a refresher course. Wolf 101.
I did need one. I was about to type yes when Matt sidled up next to me at the bar. He ordered more beer and filched a soggy tortilla chip from my bowl. “Who you sextin’?”
The chip I’d been chewing on went down the wrong hole. I coughed, then grabbed my Sam Adams and took a long gulp.
“I wasn’t sexting,” I wheezed out.
A goofy grin slashed his jaw. “Sure you weren’t.”
“Seriously, I wasn’t.”
He snatched another chip. “Who were you texting, then?”
“Everest.”
“Liar.”
My spine tightened.
“You couldn’t have been texting Everest ’cause he’s right there, sucking face with some chick.”
I spun on my stool. Everest was here? Sure enough, he was sitting on a brown leather couch in a dusky corner of the room, making out with the girl from the music festival.
“So? Who were you really talkin’ to, Little Wolf?”
“No one, Hulk.”
His smile grew larger. “As long as it ain’t that creep you went out with the other day, I’m cool with it.”
I snorted. “It wasn’t, but thanks for your consent.” Even though I would sooner swallow a live goldfish than admit this to Matt, I was sort of touched by his concern.
“You looked out for me, so now I look out for you… Only fair. Unless someone’s already doing that?” He looked at Everest again then, and I did too.
Like the hunger crimping my stomach, Everest’s fickleness pinched my heart. It had barely been a month since Becca’s suicide attempt, and he was already kissing someone new. Sure, I’d thought it was healthy for him to be flirting, but making out with someone…that was too much too fast.
“August just wrote back,” Matt said.
I whipped my face toward Matt and swiped my cell off the bar. I didn’t check the text message, just stuffed the phone inside my bag. My heart had leaped a good couple inches into my throat. “We’re just friends.”
As he paid for his beers, he said, “I’m not judging. I like the guy.”
I wanted to add don’t tell Sienna, but that would’ve sounded incriminating. I scooped up some plasticky cheese and crunchy bacon bits with a chip and stuffed them inside my mouth.
“Lucas wiped me out.” Liam was suddenly here, right next to me. He swiped a beer from Matt’s stash and drank half of it. “Your turn, Mattie.” As though just noticing me, he asked, “Unless you want to play, Ness?”
My heart performed a strange little twist as I looked up at Liam, as I imagined him carrying my limp, naked-ugh-body in his arms. They’d probably had to draw straws, and he’d gotten the shortest one.