Page 19 of Wingmen

It went about as wellas it could have.

Elliot miraculously hit a striped ball on his first shot, and it bounced close enough to the pocket that it looked plausible.Dustin sank a solid ball on the next shot, and Elliot remembered that was a dot. He’d played a little pool in Miami with his uncle.

Elliot walked slowly around the table looking for a shot. Well,pretendingto look for a shot: he’d never understood the angles. He spotted a stripe sitting right in front of a corner pocket, and with a deep breath, he bent and aimed.

Sank it.

Containing his sigh of relief, Elliot stepped back from the table, to golf claps from Dreya and Simone, who were perched, pretending to be fancy.

“Easy shot,” called Dustin, from the corner.

“You scared, Grandpa?” Elliot shot back.

Dustin’s eyebrow ticked up. “Lotta game left.”

After that, things got serious. The old man was good, but not as good as he thought he was. Another beer loosened Elliot up. He forgot the girls were watching and remembered a few things about pool. He held onto a respectable second place as the game went on, and he had a good time chirping Bennet. When Bennet’s eye caught his and Elliot’s stomach threatened to do the sideways thing again, he forced himselfnotto think about the cowboy movie. There was a scene where they fucked in a tent that kept popping into his head.

Bennet won the first game, and came around the table to offer his hand. He smelled like leather, and he hadjustthe faintest little crinkles coming in around the corners of his eyes.

“Good game,” said Bennet, as they shook.

“You tryna break my hand, dog?” said Elliot, and withdrew to go back to the girls.

Dreya’s glass was empty and she was staring across the bar with a glazed look. Simone was on her phone. Elliot had to do a little wave to get their attention, and they looked at him with distant smiles, like they’d forgotten what they were doing.

“You win?” said Dreya.

“Not this time.” Elliot did a humble shrug.

“Oh.” She turned and gazed across the room.

“Hey, but don’t worry Nena…” He took her chin between his fingers and turned her face back to his. “I’m gonna win the next one for you.” Dreya half-chuckled, and he glanced at Simone, who’d gone back to her phone. “You girls wanna go doubles?”

Simone lifted a shoulder, looking bored as hell. Well, whatever. She was Bennet’s problem. Elliot winked at Dreya and went back to the table. Bennet held out the triangle.

Racking was easy enough. Elliot remembered to put the balls in tight –tighter than a changa’s pussy, as Uncle Sal used to say.

“Okay, ladies,” he said, snugging it into place. He removed the triangle with a flourish and stepped back from the table and looked up. “Who wants to blow on my cue?”

Simone and Dreya weren’t at the high top.

Elliot frowned. His eyes went around the room and he spotted them near the bar, talking to two guys he hadn’t seen come in. Dreya was laughing at something one of them was saying – really laughing; not like she’d just half-chuckled at Elliot.

“What the fuck?” he said.

Dustin, who’d been watching Elliot rack, looked up and followed his gaze. He looked at the empty high top, then back at the girls, then set the end of his cue between his feet and folded his hands on top of it. “Hm.”

“They left.”

“They didn’t, actually. They just leftus.”

Elliot tsked. “Fóquinsatas.”

Dustin looked at him sharply. “Do I wanna know what that means?”

Dreya’s laugh came across the room, and Elliot worked his jaw and glared. He’d been so busy chirping Bennet, he’dforgotten the girls were even there. But they shouldn’t’ve left like that.

“Whatever,” he said. “Let’s just play.”