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The fucker just grinned at me. “Know what?”
I ground my teeth and glanced around to make sure no one was listening in on us. “Don’t fucking play with me, man. How did you find out?”
He shrugged, still looking too pleased with himself. “I figured it out the night you got your first text from...what do you call her again? Your midnight visitor? Caroline asked me to sneak your cell phone back to you after she and Zoey had taken it.”
“Zo—Blondie was involved in that, too?” Ooh, Blondie and I were going to have some words after this. “Holy shit. So, you knew before I even knew?”
“Yeah.” Looking proud of himself, Hart chuckled. “I’m pretty clever that way.”
“You’re pretty dead.” I shoved him against the wall and scowled. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me you knew that night?”
Hart merely shrugged, seemingly unconcerned by the fact that I was a split second from maiming him. “I knew you’d figure it out eventually. And Caroline went to a lot of work to fool you. I didn’t want to ruin all her plans.”
He was Team Caroline. I didn’t like that. Just how much did he adore her? Frowning, I scowled as I stepped back to give him room. Starting up a tune to whistle, he winked and slid past me, exiting the hall and reentering the bar.
I followed him slowly, warily. Him knowing too much was not cool. Nothing—absolutely nothing—was keeping him from telling Noel everything, right this second.
“So, Ten...” Asher grinned at me as he swung a chair off a table. His smile was too conniving.
I narrowed my eyes. “What?”
“How about you and I make a little wager tonight?”
Forgetting the glasses I’d been stacking, I moved to the table next to the one he was working on and took another chair off it to swing it around and sit it upright on the floor. “What kind of wager?”
“Let’s see which one of us can get the most phone numbers from women?”
I paused and glanced at him. The twinkle in his eyes as he folded his arms over his chest and rested back against the table told me he knew he had me boxed into a corner.
Behind us, Gamble hooted. “Now that’s a competition I’d like to see.”
Shit. I glanced back at Gamble and mentally bitch slapped the piss out of Hart. What the hell was he getting me into? I couldn’t turn him down now, not with Gamble listening in; he’d know something was up if I rejected a challenge like this.
“Me too,” Hart said. His grin spread a little too wide and a little too knowingly. “Unless you have a reason why you’d have to say...no.”
My mouth fell open. What a prick. He must really like Caroline, enough to fuck with me tonight in some evil plot to get her away from me.
I nodded and mumbled, “Whatever,” because I couldn’t say no in front of Gam and no way in hell was I voicing the word yes aloud.
But the first second I had after we opened the doors and Gamble was busy at the bar, I shoved the prick from behind. “Go up to the bar where Gam can hear you and call this fucking bet off.”
“What?” He looked startled. “Why would I do that?”
Because I’d kill him if he didn’t. I lifted my hands and sent him an incredulous glare. “Why do you think? I can’t fucking hit on other women. I’m with someone, numb nuts.”
“Then you call it off.”
“I can’t. Gamble will realize something fishy is going on, like I’m sleeping with his sister behind his back.”
“Well, you are, so—”
“Fuck you.” I shoved him in the chest. “We’re going to tell him. Someday. But first, I want to show him I can grow up and take care of her before I drop the big bomb. Maybe that way, he won’t kill me quite so fast when he finds out. Except playing a dumbass game to accumulate phone numbers won’t show him any such shit.”
“Then call it off, man. Show him you’re growing up.”
I growled. “Like he’ll believe that. Everyone knows I couldn’t grow up that fast. It has to be a slow progressive change to maturity.”
“Oh God.” Hart rolled his eyes. “You’re giving me a headache.”
