Page 116 of Set Me On Fire

“Knox will.”

Everyone looked at me, because apparently I’d said that.

“Not sure if he’d want to.” One of the husbands watched what was going on with a sly smile. “Fort Knox getting his end wet? Might put a smile on that dial of his for a change.”

But he had to, I wanted to insist. He needed to tell the very pretty girls to go and find someone else to chat to because he was taken. Knowing how much I wanted that was all the more painful, because I knew he couldn’t without outing the lot of us.

“Oh, the ladies have crashed and burned,” Jason said with a cackle. “Better luck next time. The boys want to play pool rather than talk to girls apparently.”

This whole exchange was like a sports match, complete with running commentary, so I watched along with everyone else as the guys finished up their drinks and walked away from the women to the pool table. Cues were found, balls were racked, and yet that still wasn’t enough to send the women on their way.

“Looks like they’re gonna have another crack!” one of the guys said.

The girls drank down their drinks and then made for the pool table, but what happened next I didn’t see, because Charlie appeared beside me.

“Hey, Splash.” My eyes met his and I saw that his twinkled with a special kind of mischief. “We’re gonna play a game of pool and we’re missing one person. Wanna crush those bastards on the pool table?”

“Can’t think of anything I’d like more,” I said, jerking myself to my feet.

Chapter 52

Noah

I needed these girls to piss right off now. Trouble is, I couldn’t think of a polite way to say that.

Knox didn’t do polite.

“Nice to meet you,” he said to the three of them, his tone making clear that wasn’t actually the case. “We’re gonna go and play pool now.”

“Ooh doubles?” the brunette said. Was it Saffron or Amber, I couldn’t remember.

“Singles,” he said and then turned without saying another thing.

“He doesn’t play well with others.”

Why the hell was I babbling that out? I felt bad because I knew exactly what this was. Dave’s leer our way had made that clear. He’d invited the girls to the pub, no doubt geeing them up into thinking we were interested in meeting women, when he knew otherwise. It was that manipulation that had me trying to explain things to the girls without actually saying what the story was. I wanted to stand there with my arm around Millie, for all of us to declare our relationship to the entire pub and sendthe women scuttling, but that’s not what we’d agreed to. Dave exploited that need for secrecy now, smirking into his beer.

“Anyway, have a good night.”

What the hell did Dave tell these girls? Because after a brief conversation amongst themselves, they came strolling over to the pool table Knox was setting up.

Only to be intercepted by Charlie.

“Excuse me, ladies.” He cut them off at the pass. “Looks like this pool table is taken, but there’s a free one over there.”

He should’ve had their attention. Girls usually took a first, second, and third look at Charlie, but their collective focus narrowed down on Millie. I made a small angry sound, ready to step forward if things got nasty, but that’s not what happened. The women retracted back to the closest table, sitting down to watch us play.

“We wanted to tell them to piss off,” I hissed at Millie as soon as she got in earshot.

“I was just about to.” Knox frowned as he chalked the end of his cue. “That’s why I came over here, but they followed us.”

“I saw what was going down and figured Godzilla had more pressing matters to attend to,” Charlie added.

Millie snorted, then smiled, and I felt a rush of relief, sure this was going to scare her off. Instead, she just grabbed the cue Knox passed her and shook her head.

“This is all bullshit.” She looked back to where the blonde was plastered against Dave. Rhett stared at the girl and then our colleague with a growing frown. “It’s just a set up. Dave’s trying to push our buttons.” She marched around to the white ball and leaned down low to take her shot, the three of us letting out a little groan in response. Her arse looked so fucking perfect. “And we’re not going to let him succeed.”

“But we might at this game of pool.” Charlie said to Millie as he shook his head. “Damn, babe, I didn’t know you were a shark.”

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