Page 7 of So in Love
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Jamie watchedCrystal approach the pool table.Dressed in a low-cut silk blouse, black ankle pants, and strappy heels, she was the epitome of casual sexy.After studying the table for a moment, she bent at the waist and prepared to make her shot.The curve of her ass was quite enticing.So much so that he nearly forgot to pay attention to her shot—and the spectacle The Humiliator would undoubtedly cause.
Except it didn’t.
Crystal hit the ball, and it went exactly where she said it would.The room grew instantly silent.
“What the hell just happened?”Tori said, breaking the eerie quiet.
Crystal peered over at her and shrugged.Then she moved around the table and called her next shot.Which she sank as effortlessly as the first.
“Wait a minute.” Tori stalked to Crystal with narrowed eyes.“Did you swap out your cue?”
Crystal held up the stick and pointed to the black writing.“Nope, still says manky pillock.”
Tori shook her head.“Unbelievable.”
Sean joined her and studied the cue.“What sorcery is this?”he breathed rather dramatically, which drew a laugh from several of the others.
Crystal gave them both a haughty stare.“Maybe Hugh just needed someone to believe in him.”
“Hugh?”Jamie blurted the name the moment he realized what she’d done.“You’ve given The Humiliator a nickname.”
“I’ve given him his rightful name—Hugh the Humiliator.”She clutched the cue like a weapon as she looked around at everyone.“Prepare to be humiliated.Each and every one of you.You thought you could label him.You sought to marginalize him.But no more.Hugh is ready for revenge.”
Silence reigned for a brief moment before Cam burst into laughter.This started a flood of hilarity as everyone cracked up, Jamie included.He moved closer to where she stood.“You should be a writer,” he said.
“You sound like Alaina,” Crystal muttered.“Prepare to lose,” she told Jamie as she turned back to the table and proceeded to knock every ball into a pocket in rapid succession.
As she went to rerack, everyone in the room seemed to collectively shake their heads.
“This is unprecedented,” Sean said.“Tori, I think you guys have to give that cue to Crystal.”
Tori refilled her glass and held up the bottle of whiskey in silent question.Jamie went to get more.“What I want to know is whether the curse is really broken or if The…excuse me,Hugh, has decided to align with just Crystal.”
“Meaning, if someone else tried, it would go back to being horrible,” Sean said.
“It’s a theory,” Tori said with a shrug.
Crystal finished reracking.“That no one is going to test.Hugh’s mine now.”She broke, immediately sending a ball into the corner pocket.With every subsequent hit, everyone moved closer to the table.Brooke kept score, adding after Crystal sank each ball.As she neared fifty, everyone joined in, and when she claimed victory, the entire room broke into loud cheers.
“All hail The Humiliator!”Cam shouted.
“Hugh.”Crystal corrected, grinning.She held Hugh up over her head, and Cam bowed in deference.She brought the cue down and pressed a kiss to the wood.
Watching her lips pucker sent a shaft of heat to Jamie’s groin.For whatever reason, he was digging Crystal tonight in a way he never had before.
Tori held her glass up in a toast.“To Crystal and Hugh’s amazing victory!”
Jamie went to the bar and poured another whiskey for Crystal, then took it to her.“Cheers.”He tapped his glass against hers.
She lifted the glass and took a hearty drink.
“And with that, I need to call it a night,” Kelsey said, setting her glass on the counter.“I think I’ve had enough.”
Luke set his glass down and put his arm around Kelsey.“Let’s catch a ride upstairs.”
“We’ll come with you,” Brooke said, nodding toward Cam.
