Page 17 of Power Play

Looking at the table, three of their balls are still on the table, each sitting in front of a pocket like they’re guarding it from our shot, which they are. Making all our shots that much harder.

But that’s not my style. I don’t like to make everything easy on myself. I love the hard work. I walk around the table once, looking at all my possible shots, before deciding.

The eight ball is at one end of the table, while the cue ball is at the other end. Of course, their balls are in front of the pockets near the black ball, meaning I need to hit it hard enough to bring it back to this end of the table.

Difficult? Yes.

Impossible? Absolutely not.

“Bottom left pocket,” I say, gesturing to the pocket I plan to hit it into.

“Seriously? You expect us to believe you’re going to hit the cue ball from down here, hit the eight ball, and magically angle it enough to go into that pocket.” Trevor snickers.

Harris has to chime in of course, giving us his two cents, “You forgot to mention that she somehow won’t hit our balls in. Or scratch.”

“Shut up and let her play. We didn’t ask for your commentary,” Rex says, still staring at the table, probably trying to figure out how to talk me out of the shot.

Walking over towards Rex, who happens to be standing right where I need to be for the shot, I get ready to aim.

“Good luck,” he whispers quietly, almost too quietly for me to hear, telling me the words are for my ears only.

“I don’t need luck,” I tell him with a wink before leaning forward to aim. I can feel his body just inches away from mine as I lean forward, and my ass goes backwards. If he were just a step closer, my ass would be touching his lap. Out of the corner of my eye, I watch Cassie and Cade talking, both watching us intently.

I hit the cue ball and watch it smash into the eight ball before perfectly taking the path I described. As the eight ball goes into the pocket, the cue ball stops just short of falling in after it.

“Holy fuck,” I hear Trevor say. “Guess this round is on us, Harris.”

“No shit. This one’s on you. Did you even make a damn ball?” Harris yells back.

“Yup.”

“The cue ball doesn’t count, asshat.”

The two of them walk away towards the bar, continuing to give each other shit as they go.

Turning around, I go to make another smartass remark when I see Rex is watching me. I want to know what he’s thinking; crawl inside his mind and decipher what the looks he keeps giving me mean, but with my luck, there would be a fucking obstacle course inside his brain.

“Good game, partner,” I tell him with a sweet smile as I slide between him and the table to grab my drink.

“Yeah...” he mutters. “Where’d you learn to play pool?”

“An old boyfriend,” I joke.

I might just be seeing things, but for a quick moment, I think I see a flash of jealousy. Or maybe it’s annoyance at my mention of another man.

“No, I’m just kidding. My brother and I used to play all the time growing up. Our parents had a table in our basement. We used to try to make the most challenging shots for the other person. I always won.”

“Interesting. Well, apparently, all the fun paid off. You play really fucking well.”

“You’re not too bad yourself.”

Cassie walks over with a grin.

“You couldn’t hold back, could ya? Had to show off a little bit?” she says to me before turning to Rex. “I’m Cassie, this showoff’s best friend.”

“Nice to meet you, Cassie. I’m Rex.”

“Can I steal this one from you for a moment, Rex?” Cassie asks.

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