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“Lie,” she sang. “I can hear the lie. Besides, I saw the roof you and Lucas put on your trailer today. Perfection.” She set her purse on the table that was backed up against the wall right beside their lane. No one would get past their senses to steal it and besides, she needed her full range of motion. She didn’t want to catch the blade on her swinging purse.
She cracked her knuckles dramatically and stretched her neck. “Okay, stud, teach me.”
Kru snorted and retrieved the axe. “The rules are one axe per lane. Stay out of the lane until the blade hits the target. If you miss and it comes flinging back, it’s your responsibility—”
“To get the hell out of the way, blah blah blah. Teach me how to bullseye.”
Kru blinked hard. “I honestly think this is the most words you’ve strung together in front of me since you moved to Smashland.”
“I’m shy. I take awhile to warm up. How do I hold it?”
Kru was a patient teacher and she was a fast learner, so by the time Lucas was back with a pair of Coors and one fruity beer—complete with a miniature teal umbrella and a straw—for her, she was at least hitting the target. Kru could keep his trick shots, she needed both hands to throw hers straight.
“Cheers,” Lucas said as he held his drink up. “Cheers to whatever ails us not killin’ us.”
“And! Cheers to an epic night where I’m going to kick both your booties in axe-throwing,” she added.
And those grins on the boys’ faces were getting deeper and more genuine.
The target had round lines leading to the red bullseye in the middle, but it also had lines that split it up like pie pieces, and numbers were written on the outer edge of each section. Kru explained a game called 21, where the first one of them to make it to a combined total of exactly 21 points wins. But they couldn’t go over, or the last throw doesn’t count.
They took turns throwing the axe and writing down their scores, and whoooo she was getting competitive.
“Don’t suck,” Kru told her right before she did her third throw.
She laughed and had to re-align herself and blow out a steadying breath before she threw the axe. “Three!” she added it to her scorecard while Lucas went and retrieved the axe.
The lane next to them opened up, and Kru disappeared for a minute and returned with another axe. He gestured for her to take the second lane, and then the throws started going much faster. The boys stomped her at two games of 21, then Kru explained a game of Humans and Zombies, in which they had to throw the axe for a combined score for both teams. The zombies—her and Lucas—only earned negative numbers, while the human—Kru—was throwing for positive numbers. The first team to drag the combined number to negative fifteen, or positive fifteen, won. That one was more of a battle, and more pressure and fast-paced and hella fun! “I want to do this all night!” She took a sip of her fruity beer and watched the boys playing against each other for a game called Around the World, where they had to hit certain sections in order. That was a total accuracy game, and it was so fun staring at Lucas. He wore a big grin and was trash-talking Kru as he slung the axe. He was really good, and the blade always sunk so deep in the wood. His body was pure power and sex appeal as he positioned the axe over his head and lurched forward, releasing the handle from his strong grasp. Thunk.
Good…grief! That man was hot. There were a couple of other groups throwing axes in the lanes on his other side, but he wasn’t paying attention to them. They were sure paying attention to him though, and she got it. That man was fine. The guys hated him, the girls probably wanted to date him, and she was just sitting here half-buzzed and enjoying the high of an absolutely amazing day with a man who had absolutely all of her attention.
He's going to leave us.
The thought came out of nowhere, and she knew it was her falcon worrying over things she couldn’t control.
“Stop,” she murmured, feeling stung straight through her chest. She took another sip of her drink and glanced at the door.
Cadence was headed this way, her eyes furious.
“You okay?” she asked before the tiger shifter even reached them.
“You ignored all of my calls,” she spat at Kru.
Kru turned and huffed a breath, took another throw of his axe and went to retrieve it.
“I have been worried all night!”
Lucas had a frown etched into every facet of his face. “He’s a grown man, Cadence. If he doesn’t want to answer your nagging call, he doesn’t have to.”
“Except that wasn’t our deal!”
“What deal?” Jenna asked.
“If I’m going to trust you out in public, you have to check in.”
“You’re not his fuckin’ babysitter,” Lucas growled. “Grab and axe and join a game or piss off, Cadence. You’re harshing our buzz.”
“Excuse me?” she yelled.
