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“You know a pool hall close by called something balls?” I questioned Simon when he slipped into the driver’s side.
He didn’t waste a second, throwing the car into gear before I was even finished explaining. “I got you, sir. ‘Bout five minutes away.”
During the first minute of the drive, the air with thick with silence. Cassidy’s foot was tapping, and her arms were folded across her chest, staring straight ahead, not giving me the time of fucking day. “You gonna cold-shoulder me no—”
“You said you didn’t have any money,” she snapped and turned her body toward me. The fierce, narrowed glare was probably meant to burn a hole through me, but there was something fucking sexy about the way her claws were now out after I’d just been making her purr so loudly upstairs.
“Actually, I never said that,” I corrected, reaching into the pocket in the back of the seat in front of me. I pulled out my wallet and cell phone and held them both up. “I don’t havemy walletis what I was going to say last night. You cut me off and assumed I meant I had nothing.”
“You didn’t correct me.”
“Because a few seconds later, we were getting engaged,” I argued, throwing my head back against the headrest and laughing. “To be honest, it was nice to meet someone who had no idea who the fuck I was, who didn’t look at me and see dollar signs, and who was just so fucking genuine.” I turned to look at her, her hard frown having softened as she stared back at me. “You’retherealist person I’ve met in a long time, and I’ll pay you back for the pizza and the—”
“You will not,” she huffed, shaking her head. “Sorry. Sometimes I get a little thorn that digs in my side when people lie to me. It’s been there a long time.”
I nodded, unable to fight the smirk that pulled at the corner of my mouth. “You should’ve told me. I’d have pulled it out while I was down there—”
She reached over and shoved me just as Simon pulled to the side of the road. “Okay, playboy.”
We both looked out the window and saw the sign on the front of the crappy, run-down pool hall. “Sticks and Balls, original,” I deadpanned. “I’ll—”
The door shut, and I looked over, noticing she was already out and on the sidewalk.
“Fucking Christ,” I cursed, throwing my door open and catching sight of her storming toward the front door, seeing her perky breasts visibly bouncing beneath my shirt.
Simon came to stand next to me, hiding his smile with his hand.
“She really thinks going in a place like that, dressed like that, is a fucking good idea.”
“Apparently, she does,” Simon agreed with a nod.
I grit my teeth, knowing I only had seconds to decide what to do. “I’m not being a possessive idiot if I think that’s a bad idea, right?”
“Are you looking for a fight?” he asked with a raised brow.
“No.”
“Then you better stop her—”
I was already moving. He was right. There are timesIhang out at these kinds of places. I know the types of guys who frequent them, and the second they see just how naked Cassidy is, someone is going to touch something, and I’m going to have to kill them.
I pulled my hoodie over my head and rushed over, stepping inside quickly enough that I managed to catch her around the waist and pull her back against my chest. I glanced to the right where the pool tables were located, each one with at least a handful of people beside it. Already people were watching us. We were new, we didn’t belong here, and it was already obvious by the way the groups of men were whispering between themselves that I needed to get this sorted quickly.
“Put my hoodie on,” I murmured in Cassidy’s ear.
She looked back at me. “Why?”
“Because I’m going to try and get us out of here without me having to fight these bastards, but if they keep watching you like they are, I’m gonna be starting a brawl. So, please put it on and go find Aspen while I deal with these guys.” I let her go and for the first time, she caught sight of the twenty to thirty men eyeing her, some with a look in their eyes that instantly pulled her from confident to cautious.
Thank God.
“Woah,” she whispered, quickly pulling the hoodie over her head and tucking her arms around her body.
“Which guy is Aspen’s date?”
“Danny,” she answered, leaning into me and scanning the crowd. “Uh, over in the far corner, blue T-shirt, scruffy blond hair, shark tooth necklace.”
“Good, go get her. I’ll let Danny know that calling her after this is probably not a good idea.” I nudged her to the left, where the bathroom sign was hanging haphazardly on the wall while I walked toward the surfer wannabe.
