Page 17 of His Last Shot
“Why didn’t you tell me this?” I ask, a tad annoyed. We are partners, after all.
“I was. I am … now.”
“So what you’re saying is … be careful.”
He nods. “Be careful.”
I chew on my bottom lip as I watch him kneel, turning his attention to the subfloor. Then, I blurt it out. “Well, I probably shouldn’t tell you I’m going to join his pool league. Plus, I saw him and some really big dudes escort a man who looked pretty roughed up out of the bar.”
He drops his tape measure and rotates his face up to meet mine. “Are you kidding me right now?”
I take a sip of my coffee. “Nope. Dead serious.”
“Did you not hear me? Illegal gambling. If it’s true, what game do you think his ring is involved in?”
“Probably my favorite game. Pool.”
“There’s no ‘probably.’” He reaches for the tape measure again with a little too much force. He continues without acknowledging me. “Is the guy you saw okay?”
“I have no idea.”
“Well, count me out of all of it. I don’t want anything to do with that man. Have fun in the league, but don’t invite me to join. I got too much going on.”
I scoff. “I wasn’t going to anyway.”
“Good,” he grumbles.
Look, I know he’s right about Dexter. Rachel’s description of her uncle left me with a deeply unsettling knot in my gut. Add in the lousy first impression I had of the guy, then the dude at the bar, and now what Scott’s heard, I don’t like him.
After our initial meeting and Scott’s warning to stay away from him during the reno, Scott and our lawyers dealt with him during the bar’s remodel. And I trust Scott’s judgement. He wouldn’t repeat these accusations unless he had hard facts that were true and came from a trusted source.
“I’ll be careful,” I reiterate to put his mind at ease. But he knows me. I tend to jump into things, feet first, blindly.
“Scott, there is just something about Rachel.” He faces me, brow furrowed. “I can’t put my finger on it. It’s just … something.”
This brings a smile to his face. “I get it. Laura has the something.”
And for years, I have wanted what my cousin has with his wife. They have been married for over twenty years, and they still look at each other the way they did before they were married.
You know what I mean.
Like a couple who are in that can’t-keep-your-eyes-off-each-other phase. The way you miss her when you aren’t together. How you find yourself reaching out to touch her whenever she’s near, and you believe the moon rises and falls because of her.
That’s Scott and Laura.
I want that.
I deserve that.
I need that.
My plea for his understanding continues. “It’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt for a woman before, so I have to get to know her better. Even if that means driving clear across town to play a game that I can play on my table in my garage.”
“And in a pool league. Which you hate.”
“Which I hate.” My gut twists in excitement just thinking about seeing her again, and my cheeks are on fire.
Scott’s laugh echoes in the empty space as he points to me. “You’re blushing.”
