Page 31 of My Three Hometown Hard Hats
We all clink our drinks together, sealing in the promise for the night to come.
“Are you any good at pool?” Brooks asks Hadley.
Austin snorts out a laugh. “Unless you’ve gotten a personal pool tutor in the last few years, I’m going to say no.”
She glares at him. “I wasn’t that bad.”
“You were worse,” he says, leaning his face down closer to hers. “But everyone can learn with the right teacher.”
Oh, shit.He has it bad for her, too.
“How about we play in teams?” I say.
Austin stares at her until she gives in. “Fine, you can teach me, but we’re probably going to lose.”
“Fine by me,” he says. "I think I’ll get a better prize than these two even if we never get a single ball in the pocket.”
Yup, he’s just as fucked as we are.
We do end up destroying them, even when Brooks and I both backed off. Neither of them seemed to mind at all, though, as she was bent over the table, and he was pressed up against her, guiding her through every shot.
I can only imagine the boner he’s trying to conceal in his jeans right now.
She comes back from the bar with a new drink for her in one hand and our three longnecks clenched in her other hand. She gives the other two their bottles before thrusting the last one at me.
“What did you do?”
“What do you mean?” I take the beer from her hands, enjoying her sudden feistiness even if I have no clue where it came from.
“Benny told me my money is no good in here. He wouldn’t let me pay for this round.”
“Oh, that.” I take a long pull of my beer.
“Did you do this because I told you on the plane that I got laid off?”
My head jerks back. “What? No.”
“I have money, Conrad.”
“No, that didn’t even cross my mind. I told Benny not to let you pay tonight and to put it on my tab because you’re here with us tonight, and I take care of what’s mine.”
Her shoulders relax as she exhales. “Yours?”
“It sure feels that way.” The look in her eyes shows that she feels the same, even if she doesn’t say it out loud.
Brooks taps on her shoulder. “Want to dance?”
She hands me her drink, then laces her fingers with Brooks. Austin and I sneak over to one of the high-top tables just as another group leaves.
“I thought she was going to bite your head off.” He laughs, sitting on one of the stools.
I scratch my neck, cringing. “Yeah, I thought so too. She’s sexy when she’s all fired up, though.”
He hesitates for a moment, unsure of how to talk to me about this. Brooks and I have shared a few women between us before, so talking like this has never been weird for us. With Austin, it’s a different story.
“Uh, yeah, she is.” He drinks half of his beer before setting it back down. “She got laid off?”
I debate whether to explain because it isn’t really my story to tell, but sooner or later, it will all come out anyway.
