Page 14 of Back To Our Beginning

“Okay. Then I’ve got you’re back.” Ruby pushed out of the booth. I looked at her and saw she was once again wearing a tank top with a big flannel shirt that came down past her butt. On girls’ night at one of our three houses, she’d get rid of that God-awful flannel shirt, and you could see just how great her curves were, but all she could say was that she was fat. There was no talking her out of it. My friend with her glorious red hair and her knock-out curves saw everything else clearly in the world, just not herself.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she shook her head. “I know what you’re thinking, and tonight is about your demon, not my demons.”

I sighed. She was right. “Okay, to the pool tables.”

I reluctantly followed her. As we got close, she suddenly stopped and I almost bumped into her. I sidestepped her to see what she was looking at. As soon as I saw the situation, I knew why she had stopped. There was Beau, his auburn hair gleaming under the pool light as he was lining up a shot, with a pretty, long-legged brunette leaning against a cue stick as she avidly studied his ass. It was clear that they were playing a game.

Beau made his shot.

She said something that I couldn’t make out, and he laughed.

Bastard.

He roamed around the table, bent, aimed, and hit the cue ball against a solid ball that banked against the side and easily dropped into a corner pocket. All that was left was for him was to sink the eight ball. It was an easy shot.

I saw that there were a couple of guys watching the game, so I strode over to the table, Ruby following me. Before Beau bent over, he saw me, grinned, gave a chin tilt, then took his shot and sank the eight ball.

“I should have never bet money on this game,” the brunette purred. “I should have thought of something else to bet if I lost.”

The two men watching the game laughed. Her meaning was clear. She walked up so close to Beau that she was practically pressed up against him. “Are you sure you just want my money?” she asked.

“That was the bet,” he said easily. He took a step back and held out his hand. She had to work hard to wiggle her fingers into the front pocket of her skin-tight jeans to pull out a twenty-dollar bill. I saw that she also slipped Beau her number.

“Let’s do this again sometime,” she purred.

He looked over his shoulder at the two men whose eyes were popping out of their heads. “I think Louie or Slim would be better bets for you next time. If you want, I can introduce you…”

The brunette gave him a considering look. “I think I’ll pass. Just know, it’s your loss.”

Oh, for fuck’s sake.

I looked over at Ruby and I knew she was thinking the same thing. This woman gave our sex a bad name.

The brunette had to push past Ruby and me to get to the bar, where I was sure Vic would flirt with her. So soon, all would be well in her world. Knowing Vic, he might even take her up on her blatant offer.

But still…ewww.

“Maddie, it’s good to see you.”

I’d been so busy watching the brunette sashay through the crowd, I hadn’t noticed Beau coming toward me. I wouldn’t have thought that was possible.

I looked up at him and realized he wasn’t looking me in the eye. Instead, he was looking me up and down, his gaze lingering on my abdomen. When he did gaze back into my face, his blue-gray eyes were dark blue. I licked my lips, trying to figure out what that meant.

Finally, I got my shit together. “I came to talk to you.”

“That’s good news. I’ve been trying to get ahold of you.”

“Can we go sit over there?” I said, pointing to a vacant top table at the back of the poolroom. It was covered with beer glasses and half-filled plates, but I didn’t care.

Beau looked over his shoulder.

“I’ve got a better idea. How about we play a game of pool?”

Ruby let out a giggle snort, and I glared at her.

“I don’t want to play pool, Beau. I want to talk.” I needed to shut his shit down. I hadn’t talked myself up for three days to confront him, to cave now.

“I’ll talk if you beat me at pool. How about that?”