Page 45 of Lucifer's Hounds

“Dammit.” Scott runs out all his solids and misses the eight ball on purpose. It was about a half-inch off and someone thatshoots with his accuracy wouldn’t have missed such an easy shot by so little. I glare at him.

“Really?” I don’t need him to let me win. I hate that.

Scott giggles, trying to stifle his laughter. The door opens, and Leo re-enters the bar.

“You kicking her ass in pool already?”

“Maybe,” Scott says with a shit-eating grin. I walk over to the table and shoot the eight-ball straight in with one ball left of mine still on the table.

“Make that a definite yes, he’s kicking my ass.”

“She’s a little feisty,” Scott laughs.

“Noted.” Leo says with a finger pointed up.

“My girl’s going to come up here shortly. She gets off at three-thirty.”

“What time is it now?” Scott asks.

“Almost three o’clock.”

“Holy shit. Where is Mindy?” I grab my phone off the bar and dial Mindy’s number.

“Hello?”

“Hey woman. Where are you at?”

“I’m walking in the door now.” The front door swings open and Mindy walks through with hands full of grocery bags.

Leo and Scott both bombard her at the door and take the bags from her.

“Thanks guys. Y’all are so sweet.”

“Is there anything else in the car that we need to get?” Scott asks as he sets the bags down on the bar.

“Umm, yeah. I think there’s a case of water in the trunk. Oh, and three bags in the backseat.”

“All right. We got it.”

Scott and Leo head out to the car. I notice that Leo’s patch on his back doesn’t have all the same pieces that Scott’s does. There’s only one patch on his back, the bottom one, and it reads“Prospect” while Scott’s reads “Lucifer’s Hounds” on the top and “Baton Rouge” on the bottom with a demonic looking hound dog directly in the center, ears pinned back and teeth bared. Next to the hound is a small circle patch that reads “MC” and it is all proportionately purple and gold.

Mindy props her feet up on the barstool next to me. “I hate shopping.”

“You and me both. I’m glad you went, and I didn’t have to.”

“Thanks, you bitch.”

“Anytime love. Anytime.”

“So how are things going with you and the boss?” Mindy asks, raising her eyebrows at me.

“Things are going.”

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, I just find it amusing that I can now say that about my boss. But he wasn’t my boss when this started. I didn’t intentionally seek out my boss. Can you hear the bullshit from the regulars if they ever found out? I’d never live it down.”

“This is why they don’t find out. You know I’m not saying a word. And nobody else knows.”

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