Then Kiss Me (19 page)

He grinned.  “Oh, shit.  I should’ve thrown the
fuckin
’ game.”  He took a swig of his beer and then walked up to me, wrapping his hand around my waist and pulling me close. 
Mmm
…I
really
liked when he did that.  “If I did it now, though, you’d know I was doing it on purpose.” 
A quick kiss on my lips, then h
e winked and released me, walking back to the table. 
“Told you I wasn’t cheap.”

Somehow I felt relief, finding out that’s all his comment had meant earlier.  Still, I couldn’t help but feel he meant something else…li
ke he wanted more…
much, much more.

Chapter Ten

I
HEARD SOMEONE
yell our n
ames from across the noisy room
over the sounds of “BYOB,” one of the
System
of a Down songs I’d picked.  Scott looked up from where he’d been leaning over, examining the black and white ball damn near the center of the table.  I followed his eyes and spotted Jim and
Julie
.

Oh, fuck…
really?
  Well, maybe they’d take a hint.  The two of us were on a date, after all.  And, if not, Casey, you can play nice for a little bit, right? 
Right?

Right.
  So…I smiled as they walked over. 
Julie
gave me a quick
hi
as they got close and Jim gave Scott a brotherly slap on the shoulder.  “What’s up, man?”

Scott furrowed a brow and said, “What the
hell’s
it look like?”

“Yeah,” I said, “I’m quite obviously getting my ass thoroughly kicked.”’

Jim laughed and looked over at me…and then did a quick scan of my legs. 
Seriously?
  Right there in front of his supposed friend and wife?  What a creep.  Not that I’d needed my suspicions confirmed.

Scott said, “It’s your turn, Casey.”

Oh…how’d I miss that?  Great…these guys were going to get to watch my utter failure too.  But I took my time and lined up a shot…and made it.  Whew.  At least I wouldn’t be
totally
humiliated.

My next try, though?  Not so hot.

And had Scott just bypassed his own turn so I could save face?  I hadn’t caught him missing a shot.

He
then put me out of my misery and won, sinking that goddamn smug eight-ball in a corner pocket.  He raised his eyebrows, smiling at me, and said, “You owe me now.”

I didn’t care what our guests thought or if they could even tell it was something private between the two of us.  I just smiled at him.  Sketching him really would be a win for me.  I could spend a couple of hours staring wantonly at him, taking in every tiny detail, and
he wouldn’t even have to know what I was thinking.  But, of course, he would.  And so, I thought, that could be lots of fun.  It would probably take me weeks to finish the thing.

Jim broke me out of my reverie when he asked Scott, “
Wanna
play doubles?”

He cocked his head and looked at me.  “I’m game.  Casey?”

How could I say
no
, especially if Scott wanted to?  Well, one game wouldn’t hurt, I supposed, and he
had
been spending all kinds of money on me.  The least I could do was be gracious.  “Can I go have a quick smoke outside?”

Scott gave me his keys so I could get in his truck and
Julie
said she’d join me.  It felt awkward, because
Julie
and I didn’t seem to have much in common.  But she didn’t seem uncomfortable at all and spent the entire time outside telling me about some TV show she liked.  It was about vampires and she told me about an episode she’d watched the night before.  And, as if that
hadn’t been
enough to make me wish I were dead
er than the vampires she couldn’t stop chattering about
, she started going on and on about her job at the dry cleaners.  By the time we were heading back in, I felt exhausted. 
Julie
could talk.

When we got back to the pool table, Jim handed
Julie
a beer and told her she could go first.  Hmm…
Scott and I
were definitely going to lose.  I knew that even before I saw what a decent
player
Julie
was.  She got three balls in before missing a shot.  Great…I was going to be completely humiliated.

Scott looked at me and said, “You go first.”  I managed to get a ball in—how, I don’t know.  I got ready to shoot again and Scott said, “Hold up.”  He set his beer down and told me to go ahead and line up my shot again.  So I leaned over the table and he got behind me, repositioning my arms and telling me how hard to shoot it.  Jesus…I could feel his warmth through his shirt, even more pronounced against the air conditioning blowing down from the ceiling.  He was distracting as hell.  But somehow I managed to make the shot as directed, and it worked just like he’d said it would.

Jim was laughing, but it wasn’t humorous.  Or was it just me who saw it that way?  He said, “Hey, that’s cheating.” 
Wait a minute
—i
t sunk in as I watched him.  The guy was already drunk.  I looked over at Scott for a cue.  He rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“Fine…I can do it myself.”  And, of course, I missed the next shot.  This wasn’t turning out to be as much fun.  I hoped Scott felt the same way.  Maybe we could leave after this game.  I walked over to Scott
, placing my hand on his chest,
and said, “I’m going to the ladies’ room, but I have no doubt you’ll have the game in the bag by the time I get back.”

He grinned.  He acted like he wanted to give me a quick kiss but he wasn’t comfortable doing it in front of Jim and
Julie
.  I smiled back.  That was okay.  I knew how he felt.

I paused for a moment, standing beside Scott.  Jim was getting ready to shoot and I wanted to assess the competition.  He made his first shot. 
Shit.
  Even three
sheets to the
wind,
he seemed almost as good as Scott.  I was certainly the weak link here.  So I turned and headed to the ladies’ room.

I used the facilities and then washed my hands.  Then I checked myself in the mirror, making sure I looked okay for my new guy.  I’m not vain, but you know what that’s like…you’re dating someone new and you always want to look your best.  So I checked my makeup
and
my hair, and once I was satisfied, I stepped out.  But before I got to the end of the hallway, Jim turned the corner.  “Hey,” he said, in what I thought was just a friendly gesture on his way to the men’s room.

“Hey,” I said back, starting to walk around him.

But he grabbed my arm, preventing me from going any farther.  He got close, invading my personal space big time, and said, “So, Casey, you’re giving it to Scott, huh?”  He sneered
.  He looked a little pissed too, and I couldn’t quite figure out what the fuck his game was.  He was so
close,
I could smell tequila on his breath.  Yeah, he was definitely drunk.  And as I examined his red-tinged eyes, the words Wendy had spoken to me not so long ago came rushing back.  Suddenly, I felt frightened, and I’d always thought I didn’t scare easily.

Rather than show my fear, because I thought a
sicko
like Jim would just get off on it, I decided to be strong and angry, hoping it would instead scare
him
off.  I tried pulling my arm away, but his grip was too strong.  “That’s none of your business.”

He pushed me against the wall between the two restroom doors.  “Oh, but it is.  You see,” he began, allowing me another smell of the tequila on his breath, “Scott and I are
best friends
, and best friends share
everything
.”

A sense of horror coursed through my veins.  Jesus…it was
true
? 
Why hadn’t Scott even indicated
anything?  Was
that
what he’d meant when he’d said he wasn’t cheap?  I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention.  I tried to jerk my arm away and still couldn’t.  He grabbed my other arm, getting closer and pinning me to the wall.  “Let
go
of me,” I growled.  I
knew yelling wouldn’t do a damn bit of
good,
as I heard the sounds of
Ozzy’s
“
Crazy Train
” drifting down the hall.

“You
think we haven’t shared things before?”  Jim’s eyes narrowed. 
Things?
  So I was just
an object
to him?  I couldn’t quite process my thoughts before he said, “Ask Wendy.  She’ll tell you.”

Yeah, Wendy…she already
had
.  What. 
The.
  Fuck?  And how the hell could I get out of my predicament?  The only thing in my favor was that Jim wasn’t dragging me down the hall.  And, somehow, I’d managed to verbally stand my ground.  At least, I hoped that I really had been able to contain the fright I was feeling.  “I said,
let go of me
.”

A big guy wearing overalls with thinning brown hair started walking down the hall
, and then Jim let go of my arms. 
Chickenshit
.
  But I knew I
got
lucky.  I took a deep breath.  Jim started stumbling toward the men’s room as the man got closer to us.  Jim said, “Think about it,” and then walked into the men’s room.

“Go to hell,” I muttered under my breath.  I smoothed out my skirt with my hands and ran them over my hair as well.  I took another deep breath
and nodded, then started walking
down the hallway.  I didn’t want to make a big deal out of this…not yet, anyway.  I had to process it.  I had to decide if what Jim had said had any truth to it and the only way I could do that would be not talking about it…
yet
.  So I tried to act normal when I walked back to the pool table.

Scott and
Julie
were standing diagonally across from each other talking.  When Scott saw me, he said, “It’s your turn,” and he helped me set up my next shot.  Not wanting to be accused of cheating, though, he just told me what to do, rather than touching me.  I was glad, but for different reasons.  I still didn’t make the shot, even with the guidance, but I wasn’t surprised.  I was still shaken up.  “That’s okay,” he said, trying to be reassuring, and handed me my drink.  I was feeling paranoid now, though, and didn’t plan to drink anymore.  So I held it up to my lips and tilted the bottle but didn’t actually drink a sip.  I planned to ask the waitress for a glass of water next time I saw her.

Julie
stood over the table and she looked like she was counting the balls that were left.  As I set the bottle down, I noticed my hands were shaking.  Jesus…I really
could
have used a drink, but no way was I going to risk it.  If these guys really
shared
, with me at any rate, it’d have to be without my consent, and I’d heard far too many stories of women trusting their dates, having a drink, and then waking up the next morning knowing something was wrong but having no clue about what had happened.

Scott noticed
something
.  I wasn’t sure if it was my shaking hands or the red marks appearing on my arm.  Maybe it was the fear in my eyes I couldn’t quite hide.  He got close and I forced myself to not back up.  “What happened?” he asked.

I looked down.  I’d never been a good liar and eye contact was a deal breaker. 
“Oh, nothing.”
  I hoped my voice at least sounded as casual as I was aiming for.

Jim came back then.  He pretended nothing had happened.  Scott touched my chin, urging my face to look up, and I couldn’t stop myself from making eye contact.  I could see the questions in his eyes, but he didn’t ask
anything else.

Jim started shooting and we turned our attention to the pool table.  It would have been dead silent except for the strains of Lamb of God in the background.  Not such a heartwarming song anymore.  I started wondering if Scott was one of those guys
who
had had a camera somewhere in his room and had started it recording when I hadn’t been looking.  My imagination was running away from me.

Jim kept shooting until he had one ball left, and he missed that shot.  So then it was Scott’s turn and he hit in every last ball we had left on the table,
then
sunk the eight ball in.  He said to Jim, “Beat
ya
, buddy.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jim said, acting cool.  “Only ‘
cause
I’ve been
drinkin
’.”

“Whatever.  You’re always drinking.”  He turned to me. 
“Ready to go?”