Page 41 of Somnium

Cadi widened her eyes to a look of surprised innocence. “You want me to break?” she asked, edging her voice with just a touch more sweetness than normal.

Elias smirked, leaning against his cue. “If you’re up for it.”

She pulled in a breath and pushed her mouth into a hard line of uncertainty. “Alright. I guess we’ll see how this goes.”

She bent over the table, making a show of balancing the cue against her hand as if still trying to figure out her angles until⁠—

Crack!

The sound of crashing resin reverberated through the room. Cadi chewed on her lower lip to keep from grinning as two balls sailed smoothly into opposite corner pockets. Right where she wanted them.

“Nice! I’ll be stripes,” she said, picking up the small cube of chalk, not missing the way Elias’s eyebrows shot up. Circling the table, she spied her next shot and bent low to sink another ball with a calculated tap.

“Huh.”

She looked up as Elias stepped forward and leaned against the table next to her, eyes narrowed.

“Don’t play much?”

Cadi waved a hand in dismissal. “Oh, just here and there.”

A small twitch tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Right.”

She could tell him the truth. That her dad had played in pool leagues in every town they moved to, securing multiple championships across the southern region and teaching his daughter everything he knew.

But this was so much more fun.

Elias studied her for a moment, the sharpness of his expression softening slightly, like he had just noticed something new about her. Something that he couldn’t quite figure out. An electric tingle began to grow just beneath her skin when she saw him angle the slightest bit closer.

Cadi cleared her throat. “Excuse me.”

He tilted his head, and Cadi had to fight her smirk at the look of confusion on his face as she gestured to the table behind him.

“You’re blocking my shot.”

“Right!” he said, threading his fingers into his hair as he stepped to the side. She lined up the shot, briefly considering holding on to the offensive and clearing the table, but that just didn’t feel polite. After all, they were still new friends. No need to completely destroy him.

Yet.

Aiming wide, she sent the cue ball rolling past her next target to bounce harmlessly off the bumper. She snapped her fingers in an obvious show of feigned disappointment, stepped back, and began spinning the chalk cube against the edge of the table. Elias just rolled his eyes at her and stepped forward for his turn.

“So,” he said, circling the table, searching for the perfect point of attack. “Where’d you learn to run a table like that?”

Pain flared beneath Cadi’s ribs at his question. It was an old wound that she knew would never fully close, no matter how long she tried to let it heal.

“My dad.” She lowered her eyes to the table, running her fingers against the smooth felt. “Pool was kind of our thing before—” She cleared her throat, praying it would hide the crack in her voice. “Before he passed.”

Elias was quiet, and she kept her eyes fixed forward, even though she could feel him looking at her.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

Cadi shook her head, forcing a smile before lifting her face to his. She had expected to find pity, or discomfort. Those were the typical responses when she mentioned anything about her parents, but instead, she saw only sadness in his gaze. A softness there beneath his usual confidence and teasing that left her feeling exposed in a way she hadn’t expected.

“It’s fine,” she said.

Elias took a step toward her, his mouth falling open as if he were on the edge of saying something, but his words were cut off by someone calling his name from the doorway.

“Elias, my guy!”