Page 31 of Boss Unavowed (Boss 2)

She knew him well enough to know not to come out and ask if something was troubling him, much less ask what. He nodded and held up his empty glass to signal for another.

Elaina walked around from behind the bar. She grabbed him by the arm, pulling him off the stool he sat on.

“Come on, let’s go for a walk.”

He reluctantly followed, and she led him over to an empty pool table in the back of the bar.

“Rack ‘em up,” she ordered as she went to grab two pool sticks from the wall.

He wasn’t in the mood for games, but he accepted the distraction for what it was and took the triangle out to rack the balls.

Elaina walked back and handed him one of the sticks.

“They say bartenders are as good as therapists,” she said, looking at the pool table and not at him.

“And what do they say about bar owners?” he asked, lining up his shot to break. He hit the cue ball with a deliberate force, sending the balls scattering across the green. He looked back up, waiting for her response.

“That we’re gluttons for punishment,” she answered with a wry smile.

He scoffed. “That makes two of us, I guess,” he said under his breath, aiming for his next shot.

She waited until he sank the purple stripe before chiming in again.

“I take it there’s trouble in paradise?”

He aimed and missed his next shot, so she moved around the table to take hers.

“Trouble would be an understatement.”

“What did you do this time?” she asked before sinking the solid red.

He shook his head and blew out a distressed breath. He took his glasses off, rubbed a hand over his eyes, and put them back on.

“She left me,” he said, his voice deep and overly steady.

Elaina paused briefly to look up at him, then looked back at the table.

“Why?”

“Where do I begin? It started with me going on a trip to New York, where I bought her a fucking engagement ring, a trip she probably still assumes I fucked around on her on – which I didn’t,” he began.

Her eyes had gone wide when he mentioned the ring, but she kept quiet, allowing him to go on. She missed her fourth shot and he took his turn.

“Then it all really went to hell when… maybe you should sit down for this.”

He motioned toward a stool behind her, so she turned and pulled it forward, perching atop the seat.

“Go on,” she urged.

He laughed as if what he were about to say was so absurd, even he couldn’t believe it.

“Farren’s father is Tommy the fucking Tank.”

He could see the color leave Elaina’s face.

“No,” she said, unable to wrap her head around this revelation.

He abandoned his pool stick and moved right in front of her. “I stood face to face with the bastard, Elaina. I held his shirt in my fists and let him slip through my fingers. He was right there.”

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