Barking out a laugh, Killian nudged her pool cue with his elbow right as she lined up her shot. “That makes two of us. My cousin is a genius with the brutes.”
“No! Why don’t I have any battery left?” Letting out a frustrated thump of her heel on the floor, Lana was oblivious to the irritated look from the player behind her, the one who couldn’t line up for their shot. “Ugh, this is ridiculous.”
“Because you’ve been glued to that thing since I arrived?” Killian rolled his eyes, bending over to take his shot. “She’s addicted.”
“She’s work-ing,” Lana singsonged, obediently sidestepping when Zoey pulled her over, mouthing a silent apology to the table behind Lana’s back.
“On her secret project none of us get to know about, but we’re all expected to show up for and donate to.” Haleigh rolled her eyes.
Lana didn’t even glance at her. “Trust me, no one is expecting much from either of you.”
Enzo snickered, taking his own shot and earning a dirty look from his girlfriend. “What?”
“She insulted you too,” Haleigh reminded him, smacking him with a cue stick. Which turned into a cue stick battle, which was not how these things were meant to be used.
Chuckling, Killian placed his hand on Zoey’s shoulder. “Okay, pool shark, it’s your turn.”
“I’m not a pool shark. Pool sharks pretend they aren’t good. I don’t mind you knowing.”
The curve on her lips turned to a grimace when Enzo’s cue came dangerously close to whacking them in the knees. “Seriously?”
“I’m pretty sure that’s Zoey’s take-a-hike face.”
Zoey didn’t even notice Graham approaching until he appeared behind her elbow.
“Of course, the lady and I are still getting to know each other, so I could be wrong.” Shooting her a wink, Graham handed her a cube of chalk. “You ready for that game you promised me?”
Maybe it would have worked, but Haleigh dissolved into laughter, and her boyfriend turned to Killian in challenge.
“Are you going to let this guy snake your date?”
“This isn’t a date.” Frowning at Enzo, she chalked the end of her stick so hard the chalk squeaked in protest. “Not a date.”
“I don’t know,” Killian teased her, squeezing her shoulder just to annoy Graham before dropping his hand. “I was hoping it might turn into one.”
Enzo glanced at Zoey. “He did pay for your drink and for the table. Just saying.”
“My ice water was free,” Zoey growled back, but no one was really listening to her, their focus on the two large men with friendly expressions, clearly squaring off.
“So you’re saying if I want to snake your date,” Graham said, eyeing Killian, “then I have to reimburse you?”
“Or just play for her,” Enzo added.
“Uh-oh,” Lana murmured, her eyes flickering up as the table finally became of more interest than her phone. “She’s going to eat you.”
The pool hall went red around the edges. Zoey could feel the hair on the back of her neck bristle with rage. “I’m sorry, but what did you just say?”
“He said—” Haleigh started helpfully, but Zoey held up a hand, shutting her up.
“All of you better not have just insinuated that I can be bought, traded, or won. Because if any of you did, I’m going to kill all of you.”
“Watch the feet, gorgeous,” Graham murmured playfully. “At least last time, you weren’t wearing heels.”
“Of all the ridiculous, sexist, misogynistic, Neanderthal bullshit anyone has ever said to me. You. And you. Oh, and you—” Sputtering in fury, Zoey turned to each man as they all involuntarily stepped back out of self-preservation. Zoey cracked her cue down on the floor. “And if anyone is playing for anyone, I should be playing for Graham. I’m better at pool than any of you.”
“Done.” Pulling a roll of bills out of her purse, Lana slapped the money down on the table. “A thousand for the burger boy.”
“Burger boy?” Graham looked pained. “I have hobbies, you know.”
“Who’s playing for me?” Killian looked back and forth between them hopefully.
“No one,” Lana and Zoey replied simultaneously.
Since Killian was race car Killian and not polo Killian, he must have been used to this sort of treatment. With a chuckle and a murmured “ouch,” he settled down on a stool.
“We’re playing for Graham. Right, Zoey?” Waggling her eyebrows at Zoey, she stuffed her phone in her purse.
“Lana, what are you doing?” Zoey hissed, following her around the end of the table, where the pool triangle was hanging.
“Just having some fun, love.” Eyes twinkling, Lana made quick work of racking the balls. “I think the lovely diner owner’s company is worth at least that much. Your break or mine?”
“Mine. And I don’t have a thousand dollars.” Bending over the table, she shot Lana a look.
“Then you better win. Because trust me, if I win, he’s going to be my new pool boy. Speedo and all.”
Zoey missed her shot.
For some reason, her hand slipped right off the cue and the cue right off the ball, resulting in the worst break Zoey had ever made since she had turned eleven and was tall enough to hold her own stick. “That wasn’t nice.”
Lana took a delicate sip of her drink. “No, but it was funny.”
“I feel like I should be protesting this.” Graham leaned a hip against the table. “But I’ll just sit here and try to look pretty.”
“You’re in my shot.” Scooting him away with a nudge of her foot, Zoey sighted along the cue. Right as she was about to hit, she noticed Graham’s face at eye level with her from the other side of the table.
“Don’t miss, gorgeous. I’m scared of what Lana will do to me.”
Zoey shook her head, murmuring, “You and me both.”
Killian’s phone rang, and he excused himself to take the call, leaving Enzo to eye Graham in a way that made Zoey want to smack him. Clearly, Enzo didn’t think much of Graham, his loyalty to Killian written all over his face.
“How about a real bet?” Enzo tossed a much larger roll of bills onto the table. “Twenty thousand to the winner. Loser gets the loser over there. Don’t worry, man. You’re the conciliation prize.”
Choking at the sight of so much cash, Zoey went still. Twenty thousand dollars was as much as Zoey would make in a year. Sometimes it was more than she made in a year. To Enzo and Haleigh, it was nothing. To Zoey, that amount of cash could make serious changes for the better in her life. But one look at the expression on Graham’s face, his jaw tensed because he knew as well as she did why Enzo had done it, was all it took for Zoey to know she’d never touch it in a million years.
Not when Enzo just wanted to put Graham in his place.
“I don’t want your money, Enzo,” she said softly.
“Everyone wants my money, sweetheart,” Enzo promised. “Some just play hard to get first.”
“I may end up punching it out in the parking lot after all,” Graham joked. Despite his laid-back posture and easy smile as he watched Enzo, there was a heat in his eyes none of them could miss.
Feeling her face burn with humiliation, Zoey picked up the cue ball. Deliberately rolling it into the closest pocket to her, she glared at Enzo, so furious she was shaking.
“Scratch.”
“Why is it new money always insists on carrying that much cash?” Lana rolled her eyes, plucking the white ball out of the corner pocket and placing it down where it suited her the best. “Let’s have a little class, shall we? Oops, missed this one. Zoey, it’s your turn.”
Once again, Zoey picked up the cue ball and shoved it in a pocket. “Scratch.”
If looks could have killed, Zoey was sure the glare she aimed Enzo’s way would have been a particularly painful version. Much worse than a carnivorous horse. Three scratches from Zoey later, Lana sank the eight ball with a solid thump of victory.
“Well, that wasn’t nearly as hard as it should have been. Sorry, love. Some people just have to ruin the fun.” Peeling off a thousand of Enzo’s money, presumably to cover what Zoey didn’t have, Lana picked up the rest between two manicured fingertips and dropped it in his lap. “Really, I don’t know why he likes you two.”
Lana’s bored tone of dismissal left Enzo flushing a particularly dark shade of red and Haleigh’s eyes widening.
Killian ambled up, stuffing his phone into his pocket. “What did I miss?”
“Your choice in friends sucks,” Zoey said, so angry she couldn’t look at any of them. Hard, quick movements of her hands had the balls racked and ready.
“Would you like to play again?” Lana asked her, because Lana knew how much Zoey loved pool, but she was done. With a tight shake of her head, Zoey left the table and headed for the bar.
She needed a moment free of these people, to swallow her anger and try not to think about the money she’d left on the table.
Money that could have made a real difference.
“Water please,” she said to the attractive but shy-seeming man working behind the bar.
The bartender gave her a wary look, which she didn’t blame him for. The people she’d arrived with had done nothing but make spectacles of themselves. Even now, she could hear them carrying on as if it meant nothing.
Fingers trembling in anger, Zoey scooped a couple of pretzels from the little bowl he silently set in front of her.
“Well. That was interesting.”
Zoey wasn’t ready for tall, scruffy, and handsome to lean against the bar next to her, so she buried her face in her hands.
“That was exactly why I don’t like to be around Lana’s friends. Or friends of friends. It always starts fine and ends up with—”
“You taking double shots of ice water? Hey, Rick, keep them coming for Zoey here.”