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“Didn’t think you would.”

“Of course, I did.”

Chrissy leaned in and smiled. “We brought that corn dip you like, too.”

“Oh, hell yeah.” Knox eased up and reached behind the bar for two more shot glasses. He filled them both with tequila and passed them to the girls. “Get your night started off right.”

“That’s what I’m talking about.”

Chrissy grabbed hers and quickly tossed it back. Emery was a bit more apprehensive and took her time reaching for hers. Her eyes skirted over to me, but only for a brief second, and then she tipped it back, wincing when the liquor hit the back of her throat. And just like that, I became jealous of a damn shot glass.

I forced myself to look away. I’d spent the entire damn day trying not to think about her, and now, she was right next to me, making it impossible to think straight. I’d had enough, so I stood and announced, “I need a beer.”

“You just had one,” Knox snickered.

“I need another.”

I walked over to the cooler, grabbed two beers, and made my way over to the pool table. Coop was lining up a shot when I offered him a beer and said, “Rack ‘em.”

“We putting money on it?”

“Do we need to?”

“Could make things interesting.”

“Let’s just play for now. If I start kicking your ass, then we’ll talk.”

He laughed and handed me the cue. I popped open my beer and took a long drink, glancing over at Emery. She was laughing over something Chrissy said before tossing back another shot. Damn.

I lined up my shot and missed.

Coop raised an eyebrow, but he didn’t say a word. He knew better. I took another drink and waited as he took his shot. The ball slipped into the pocket, and he was on to the next. Good thing we didn’t put money on it, or I’d be out a fistful of cash. That was the only good thing I had going at the moment.

A couple of hours later, I was standing at the dartboard with Vicious, and I was steadily getting my ass kicked. When he hit his tenth bullseye of the night, I grumbled, “You’re cheating.”

“You’re just gettin’ old.”

“I’ll show you old.”

“You’ve been showing me for the past half hour,” he goaded.

I flipped him off and lined up my next throw. It wasn’t quite a bullseye, but it wasn’t a complete miss either. I shot him a look and said, “I’m coming back around.”

The words had barely left my mouth when Jasmine and Chloe strolled over. They were two of our younger hang-arounds, and like most of our girls, they were both beautiful and eager.

Jasmine was wearing a tank top that left her more exposed than covered and a mini skirt that left little to the imagination. Her hair was pulled up, and she had on long, dangling earrings that shook as she slipped her arm around mine. “Hey there, handsome.”

“Jasmine.”

Chloe was wearing even less than Jasmine and was carrying a tray of shot glasses filled to the brim with whatever booze she’d been able to wrangle up. “We brought you boys a shot.”

“We see that,” Vicious chuckled. “All of those for us?”

“As many as you want.”

With Jasmine still clinging to my arm, I reached over with my free hand and picked up one of the glasses, tossing it back. I placed the empty glass on the tray and was about to reach for another when I heard Emery’s voice behind me. I couldn’t make out what she was saying, but I heard her. She was close, too close.

Vicious took his shot, then said, “Appreciate it, ladies.”