AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Are you ready to go home for the night?” He seemed more in control, more like his usual self, the gravel in his voice mostly gone.
I nodded.
“What’s what’s-his-name going to say about that?”
I tilted my head, trying to puzzle through that. “You mean Knox?”
“Writer boy. Or is it pool shark?”
I laughed. “Considering we got beat in five turns, I think we better stick with writer boy. You sound jealous.”
“Hell yes, I’m jealous. You don’t even like pool.”
Why did I like so much that he remembered that? That he rememberedme, things about me that not a lot of people on this planet knew?
“You’re right. He asked me to play, and I thought, why not? I told him I was terrible, so he went into it with eyes wide open.”
My tone was light, but Cash’s “Mm-hmm” was not.
“Stop it,” I said. “I need to get my clutch and then I’m going home.” I took my hand from his, because the last thing either of us needed was to be seen walking through the bar hand in hand, and headed out into the billiards area, toward the table where I’d been sitting.
“How are you getting there?” Cash asked right behind me.
I’d ridden with Magnolia, and I had no intention of interrupting her high-stakes game. “Walking.”
“I’ll walk with you.”
“You don’t have to. This is Dragonfly Lake.”
“Let me walk you home, Ava,” he said just before we got to the table where Knox sat.
“Hey, Cash,” Knox said with an easy smile.
“Breckenridge.” There was no smile in return, and I inwardly rolled my eyes, even though jealous Cash gave me a little ill-advised thrill.
As I picked up my clutch, which I’d tucked away behind the table marquee, I checked the tables and saw that Magnolia and her partner were playing a second game. “Are they still looking good?” I asked Knox.
He blew out a sound that said,No question. “Only thing slowing them down is the other games. Are you leaving?”
Nodding, I said, “I’m exhausted.”
“Need a ride?”
Cash moved into my side at that and said, “I got it.”
“Thanks for the offer,” I said much more pleasantly. “And for the game, even if I was pathetic.”
“Thanks for being my partner. I’m sure I’ll see you soon.” Knox’s parting words were pleasant, friendly, but that was all.
I wasn’t getting vibes from him that Cash had anything to be jealous about. There certainly wasn’t anything on my end. Though Knox was good-looking and I was excited to have someone to talk writing with, I wasn’t drawn to him sexually. Particularly not with Cash at my side, but I wasn’t about to tell Cash that.
Cash put his hand on the small of my back as we made our way to the door, and I was torn. Did I like his hand there? Yes. Too much. Did his possessive brusqueness irritate me? More than a little.
I waited till we were outside on the sidewalk and the noise of the bar was all but gone. “What was that all about?”
“I don’t like him.”
He led me to the right instead of left and took a sidewalk that went toward the back of the bar, across an alley, and through the trees, shortcutting toward Honeysuckle Road. The inn was just under a mile away, but I was glad my slides had flat soles.
