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Chet, Hank, Brady, and a host of other guys were running both tables, cheered on by a swelling crowd.
“Jude! You’re up.” Chet called over the voices and country music pumping out of the jukebox.
Jude finished the rest of the sandwich and wiped his hands on a napkin, then stepped up. He chalked the cue stick and analyzed the balls scattered on the burgundy felt.
Chet sidled closer. “Solids, in case you forgot. You seemed to be more interested in the other room.” A goofy grin spread over his face. “Watching my girl?” He teased, stretching around Jude to ogle Remi.
“Nope. The brunette she’s with. You know her?”
“Remi’s college roommate. Haven’t met her yet. Remi has always visited Nix in OKC, where she lives. Or they meet up at some spa destination.”
“Hmm.” Jude pointed the stick and leaned forward to line up and take the shot. “Five ball. Side pocket.”Crack!The orange ball ripped into the pocket. The cue ball spun like a top in place. He moved, searching for the spot from which to take his next shot, pointing at the far corner pocket to his right. “Corner. One ball.” The cue ball struck the side of the solid yellow ball, bouncing it off the cushions and cleanly into the pocket. “Chet, do you know when the girls made plans?”
“Seems like Remi mentioned it a few weeks back, preparing me to share her all weekend. They have a spa day at that new fancy place in Eagle Creek tomorrow. Why? You interested?”
What motivates me is none of your concern,Nix had stated at the farm. The fuck. Something to prove to her dear old dad? Jude rolled his lips in thought, weighing whether to give her a second chance, just for fun and to see what she was made of. Did she possess the Ogden grit and iron will? Did she play dirty like Jamison, Patrick, and Mule? Or was she ethical? Was it fair that he held the enticing brunette accountable for the ugly history between their families—what transpired between their great-grandfathers?
He avoided answering Chet’s questions by asking a few of his own. “Does your girlfriend know you’re here? That it’s guys’ night out?”
“Yup. She’ll venture over here and make introductions before leaving.” Chet stepped to the table to take his turn.
Jude returned to studying the visitor from Oklahoma City, wondering how to smooth over the earlier debacle at the farm. “Where are they headed after here?”
“Youareinterested.”
“Can’t I simply be conversational?”
“Simplyconversational—” Chet assessed Jude through narrowed eyes. “Yeah, right ... Remi mentioned they might stay for trivia and then end the night at her place in pjs, with a movie and popcorn. I’ll never understand women and their love of pajama parties. You’d think it was over and done with years ago.” He shook his head, raised the longneck, and took a long pull. “You’re up again. You keep looking at Remi’s friend like that and you’re going to light her on fire. Want to meet her?”
“Already have.”
Chet’s brows shot up. “When?”
“This afternoon. She’s anOgden.” Jude sank the last of the solid balls, winning the game.
“Ogden … As in Ogden-Keller Oil?”
He placed the cue stick in the rack, finished his beer, and set it on the narrow ledge on the wall. “Yeah. One and the same.”
Chet placed his stick next to Jude’s. Awe filled his low whistle. “I didn’t know there were female Ogdens. An Ogden-Keller secret weapon?”
“The thought crossed my mind. She showed up in an old truck, dressed like she had a hot date.”
He didn’t want to share more with Chet. However, the image of Nix Ogden flying out of the vehicle had given him the belly laugh of the year, which was subdued by a sudden and fierce arousal induced by her tight skirt, long shapely legs, and exposed tummy. A fuckin’ Oklahoma smokeshow. It was not something he would forget for some time. That, and her blasted furnace of a temper; it about matched his.
“Why did she show up at the farm?”
“Claimed she had an appointment with me. Kind of true. Skye got the information wrong.”
Chet’s words took on a protective tone. “Give your niece some grace; she’s fourteen. She’s been through a lot. You didn’t get up in her shit, did you?”
“What do you think?”
Chet stared at him.
“Of course, I didn’t. I can’t be mad at Skye.” His niece was the only child of Nell, his recently passed sister, and her husband Lane. She was now his ward.
Six months after the accident, he and Skye were still establishing themselves as immediate family. Loving her was easy. Disciplining her was a challenge. Jude needed to address the oil and gas history with Skye because the farm was her home now, and she had joint ownership with him and his brother Lee.
