Chapter 19
Shay tossedGabe’s phone back to her after reading the message she’d just sent to Lori. “You see, I thought we’d had a good conversation the other night. And I thought I understood what you were doing. And it kind of made sense, in a Gabe-logic way. And I’m here for you, to support your self-imposed exposure therapy. But, and this is a big but, Saturday nights are supposed to be your night to blow off the steam you’ve built up over the week. It’s your time to release the sexual tension you’re feeling from being around Lori and playing happy family with Solo’s babies. And I’ve got to point out, in case you’ve already drunk too much, and you’ve lost track of what time, or day, or even what year it is, that it’s Saturday. We’ve watched some baseball, and we’ve had some beer. Solo’s gone home to her wife, and now the four of us are supposed to be looking for the rest of the evening’s entertainment.” She tapped Gabe’s forehead three times. “Is any of this ringing a bell? Do you remember telling me all about your plan to not drive yourself insane from lust?”
Gabe shoved Shay’s finger away. “Please don’t poke me. You know I hate that.”
“Explain yourself then.”
“I can go one week without meaningless sex,” Gabe said. “I’m not an animal who can’t control their urges.”
Shay raised her eyebrows. “You’ve never had to control this particular urge before.”
Gabe took a long pull on her beer and watched RB break at a nearby pool table. “What’s your point?”
“My point is I’m worried that you won’t be able to control yourself tonight, and that you might do something you’ll regret. You’ve already got plenty of beer in you, and now we’re in a club. It’s dark, the music’s pumping, bodies are pressed together on the dance floor. You think you can resist all that and not make a move on Lori when she gets here?”
Gabe nodded. “That’s exactly what I think. I told you already: she’s important to me, and I won’t do anything to ruin the friendship. We’ve had the near-miss, and I didn’t succumb. I promise I won’t tonight either.”
“What’re you going to do when someone hits on you?” Shay asked.
“Nothing.”
Shay rubbed her forehead. “Why not?”
“Because I’m not here for that tonight.” Gabe didn’t say that she probably wouldn’t be here for a pickup in the near future either. Her last encounter had been empty and lacking connection, and she could give herself better orgasms. And then there was the tiny issue of feeling like she was cheating on Lori, like she’d rather have no sex at all and feel good about herself than stick to her original plan of satisfying that side of her with transient women.
Shay let out an exasperated sigh. “How long is this going to last?” she asked gently. “I’ve never seen you like this, and I’m worried about you.”
“You don’t need to worry. I’m having fun, and I’m happy. Would I be happier if Lori and I were having sex? I don’t know, because for the first time ever, sex doesn’t seem that important to me.” Gabe held up her hand when Shay opened her mouth to comment. “That’s not the same as not wanting it. But it isn’t on the table, so I’m trying hard not to think about it. And maybe you were right all along. Maybe eventually I’ll be able to tell Lori about what happened with the Nelsons, and she’ll understand. But I’m enjoying myself too much to risk what we have right now, even though it’s not the whole package.”
“Don’t you want the whole package?”
“I’ve never had the whole package, so I don’t know what I’m missing.” She looked at RB and Woody as they chest-bumped, and she smiled. “Coming out of the Army terrified me, Shay.”
Shay frowned. “You were terrified?”
Gabe nodded slowly. “I didn’t know for sure that the team would still be interested in the garage idea, I had nowhere to live, and I had no family to lean on. We all know veterans like me have ended up on the streets for the rest of their lives.”
“I never knew that’s how you felt,” Shay said. “I’m your best friend, Gabe. How could I not know that?”
“Because I didn’t tell you, and you’re not psychic. But everything worked out, and now I’ve got this,” she motioned to Woody and RB and then to Shay, “and we’re opening the garage next week. I get to visit Max every week, and I’ve got someone new in my life who I really care for in a way that I didn’t know I was capable of. I’m the most content I’ve ever been in my life, Shay, so there really is nothing for you to worry about. Okay?”
“You’re sure you’re okay?”
“I’m sure.” She stood and pulled Shay to her feet. “Let’s go shoot some pool and show those lug-heads how it’s done.”
Gabe and Shay had won three games by the time Lori and Rosie arrived, both looking stunning in blouse and skirt combos matched with heels that Gabe couldn’t imagine them trying to dance in. But she’d learned long ago that there was very little a femme couldn’t do in heels.
Everyone greeted and hugged them, and Woody and RB headed to the bar for drinks while Shay began to chat with Rosie.
Lori hooked her arm into Gabe’s and pulled her aside. “One thing about work, and then the rest of the night is for play. Is that okay?”
“You’re setting the rules,” Gabe said and grinned. “We can talk about whatever you want to.”
“I just wanted to thank you again for getting the Oakley fixed,” Lori said. “Fran’s staying in Louisville overnight, and she said it was running like a dream.”
“That’s great news. How’s the horse?”
“Nope.” Lori put her finger to Gabe’s lips. “I’ve said my one thing. Now you’re going to teach me how to play pool.”
Gabe groaned internally, and Shay just shook her head slowly, mouthing, “Good luck,” silently. She followed Lori back to the pool table they’d commandeered and didn’t stop herself from enjoying the way Lori swayed her hips or the soft curves of her calves. She snapped her eyes up when Lori spun around.
“Before we start, I need to ask you one thing, and it might sound strange.”
Gabe shrugged, more concerned with proving to Shay that she could keep her eyes and hands off Lori while she draped herself all over a pool table. “Ask away.”
“Are you on the prowl tonight?”
Gabe laughed and leaned against the table. “Am I what?”
“You know… Are you hoping to hook up with someone?” Lori blushed slightly and glanced away.
“No,” she said though every bit of her wanted to ask if Lori would be irritated if that was her intention.
“What about Shay?” she asked, though this time, she glanced across at Rosie.
“It’s not very often Shay goes home alone on a night like this. Why?” Gabe thought she knew the answer, but she wanted it confirmed before she said anything to Shay.
Lori looked like she was stopping herself from saying something. “No reason. Will RB and Woody be looking for someone to go home with?”
Gabe racked up the balls and tucked the triangle back under the table. “You’d have to ask them. Are you hoping to hook up with someone?” she asked, half-joking and then wished she hadn’t opened her mouth at all. What if Lori said yes? What if she’d gotten super-comfortable in the friend zone and wasn’t even considering Gabe even if she had decided she was ready to get back into dating?
She took a breath and rolled the cue ball up the table. If and when Lori was ready, would that be the time for Gabe to tell her story and give Lori the chance to make her own mind up about culpability? And would she be able to continue to trust Gabe? That was the main issue here. The thought of losing Lori was just too much to contemplate. Would seeing her with some other woman be any more or less painful?
Lori joined her at the head of the table after picking up a cue from the rack on the wall. “I’m definitely not interested in hooking up with anyone,” she whispered. “Rosie and I just don’t want to be playing third wheels.”
“Ah, okay. That makes total sense,” she said, strangely relieved that Lori still wasn’t ready to jump back into the dating pool. That gave their friendship more time. “Do you want me to find out and let you know?”
“No, that’s okay.” Lori chalked her cue and gestured to the table. “You should probably break. I almost always sink the white ball when I do it.”
“Do you know how to hold this?” Gabe got into position and slid the cue slowly and deliberately between the thumb and forefinger of her left hand.
“Not properly, no,” Lori said and watched intently.
“Your left hand is just the guide. Hold it with your right hand about here but don’t grip it too tightly.”
“Got it.”
“Line the cue up to the center of the white ball but then look down the table at where you want it to hit. If you’re going to hit it hard and split everything, go for the very center of the first ball, yeah?”
Lori nodded. “But don’t look at the white ball again?”
“Nope. Think eye to target, like when you drive,” Gabe said, maintaining eye contact. “Once you know where the steering wheel is, you don’t keep looking at it, do you?”
“Huh, I guess not. I hadn’t thought of driving that way before.”
Lori’s smile held such a genuine openness that Gabe’s knees went weak, and she eased up so that she could lean against the table. Over Lori’s shoulder, Gabe could see Shay continuing to watch the unfolding scene with the interest of a nature photographer watching a safari hunt play out.
“Do you want to try?” Gabe asked.
“Sure.”
Lori approached the table, looking hesitant, and Gabe stepped to the side so she could concentrate on how Lori held the cue and see where she was looking. If she’d stayed where she was, her view would’ve been of Lori bending over the table, and she was pretty certain her resolve wasn’t strong enough for that temptation.
“That looks great,” Gabe said. “Now just relax, keep your eye on where you want to strike, and then shoot.”
The cue ball ricocheted off the pack, splitting them and sending balls all over the table…including the second ball into a middle pocket.
Lori jumped up and did a little happy dance. “Yay for me!”
Woody whistled as she approached with their drinks. “Looks like she’s hustling you, Gabe,” she said, giving her a beer and a mojito.
Gabe narrowed her eyes and passed Lori’s drink to her. “Is that what’s going on?” she asked and grinned, hoping that wasn’t the case; she needed her turn at the table to breathe between watching Lori take her shots.
Lori put her hand to her chest and batted her eyelashes. “Beginner’s luck.”
Woody clapped Gabe’s shoulder. “She’s hustling you,” she said, “and I’m going to sit and watch it happen.”
Great. Another spectator. Although maybe that was a good thing: another person to keep her from doing something she’d regret in the morning.
“What did I sink?” Lori sipped her mojito.
“You’re stripes, and I’m solids.” Gabe watched Lori bend over the table again and had to take a long pull on her beer to keep from staring. Lori didn’t sink anything, so Gabe stepped up and lined up her shot. She pocketed two balls in a row and could see the path to another three, but she didn’t want the game to end that quickly in case Lori didn’t want to play again. So she caught the edge of the fourteen and sunk the cue ball instead. She stood and shrugged. “Foul.”
“What does that mean?”
“You get two shots, and you can place the white ball anywhere on the table.”
Lori frowned and ran her finger over the head string. “It doesn’t have to go behind here, like when you break?”
“Nope,” Gabe said and collected the cue ball from the top pocket.
“Doesn’t that make it too easy?”
Lori’s fingers grazed Gabe’s palm as she took the ball from her hand, and Gabe rubbed her hands together. “That tickled,” she said, though she wasn’t ticklish at all. Lori’s touch had just traveled straight to her core, and she needed to get rid of the sensation.
Lori laughed and looked pleased with herself. “The super soldier is ticklish? Surely not?”
“Anyway,” Gabe said, not wanting to compound the white lie, “it’s supposed to make it easier. If you had to shoot from behind the line, hustlers like yourself might foul on purpose to put the other player at a disadvantage.”
Lori arched her eyebrow. “If I was hustling you, wouldn’t we have something riding on the game?”
Gabe crossed her arms and took a step back from the table. “Are you suggesting we make a bet?”
Lori placed the ball on the table and rolled it back and forth. The inanimate object had no idea how lucky it was.
“You seem reluctant,” Lori said.
“You seem eager,” Gabe said, unable to resist playing along. “Is five dollars a game too rich for you?”
Lori shook her head. “Not rich enough. How about ten dollars? But the pot stays on the table. We could play best of five, and if we’re tied after four games, let’s make it interesting and bet fifty dollars.”
Gabe didn’t know if Lori was already a little buzzed, or if this was just how she was when she was out. Whatever it was, Gabe was enjoying this side of her. “For someone who wanted me to teach her how to play, you sound pretty confident that we’ll get to five games.”
“Are you worried your reputation will suffer if you lose to a novice?”
Lori turned her attention to the table again and positioned the ball where there was no clear shot for her. She was either clueless or Woody had her pegged.
“I’m beginning to think I might not be playing a novice,” Gabe said.
Lori walked away to Rosie and returned with a crisp ten-dollar bill from her purse. She placed it on the edge of the pool table and weighed it down with the chalk. “Rosie thinks you won’t take the bet, but Shay said it’d be like taking candy from a baby.” She motioned to their little group a few feet away. “They’re actually taking their own bets.”
Gabe grinned. Yeah, she liked this side of Lori a lot. “I’ll take your money, no problem.” She withdrew her wallet and put ninety dollars on the table. “I’ll even put it all down now.”
Rosie hurried over with Lori’s purse, and she swapped out the ten for two fifty-dollar bills.
“That’s too much,” Gabe said.
“It doesn’t matter since it’ll all be going back in this purse in less than an hour anyway,” Rosie said and winked. Then she strutted back to a chorus of banter and catcalls.
Gabe laughed and shook her head. “She seems strangely confident too.”
“Besties are supposed to have your back, aren’t they?” Lori asked.
“If it turns out that you’re some sort of pool-savant and you are hustling me, I’ll never look at you the same again.”
“Maybe that’s what I want.” Lori winked and bent over the table to reposition the cue ball and take her shot.
Ah, hell, what was she supposed to make of that statement? Gabe simply watched, drawn into Lori’s orbit, and relaxed into the magnetic inevitability of her feelings. Friendships lasted beyond most sexual relationships, and maybe the idea of exploring that with Lori would be better than the reality, which might not last beyond a few fantastic weeks.
“Which ball do you think I should go for?” Lori asked.
Gabe circled the table to keep from staring at Lori’s ass, but the front view was no less appealing. Her low-cut blouse dropped away from her body to reveal a black lacy bra. Of course it would have to be lace…and it’d be a matching set, no doubt. “You still want me to give you tips even when there’s money on the table?”
“Seems like that would be the chivalrous thing to do.” Lori looked up at Gabe and bit her lip as she struck the cue ball. It nudged the side of the number twelve, which eased into its intended pocket.
“Are you supposed to be so blasé about the hustle?” Gabe asked. “That kind of behavior could get you into trouble.” She took a long pull on her beer just to tear her gaze away.
Lori caressed the edge of the table as she walked around it to her next shot. “Is that a promise?”
Gabe choked on the beer and covered her mouth while Lori laughed, clearly reveling in her femme power. “Do you always flirt this mercilessly with gay friends?”
“I don’t have many gay friends, so I can’t answer that question,” Lori said. “Is it a problem? I’ll stop if it is.”
“Nah, it’s fine. You said it’d been a long time since you’d been out on the town properly, so I figure you’re just letting your hair down and enjoying the fact that you can do that without the risk of any expectations from me. Am I right?”
Lori shrugged elegantly and glanced away. “Sure. Let’s say it’s that.”
That was an explanation that didn’t explain anything at all. Gabe blew out an exasperated breath and looked to Shay, but she was too busy in an intense-looking conversation with Rosie, paying no attention to Gabe’s distress, and Woody and RB had drifted to an empty table for their own game.
“Looking for moral support?” Lori leaned over the table to take her next shot, which she missed narrowly.
“Sure. Let’s say it’s that.”
Lori chuckled and gestured to the table. “Now we’re having fun.”
Gabe put her beer down and cleared the table of solids. She paused to empty her beer before switching the cue to her other hand to pocket the black. “Now we’re having fun.”
The two of them emptied the pockets and rolled the balls to the far side of the table. Lori did a neat little balancing trick with the top ball, clicking the rack downward for the ball to fall into place.
Gabe chalked her cue and tapped the stack of bills. “You’re going to need more than that fancy move to take my money.”
Lori sashayed around the table and took the chalk from Gabe’s hand. Her touch had exactly the same effect as the first time, but Gabe couldn’t bring herself to lie again. Instead, she simply locked Lori’s gaze and held her breath. She could play this game too, couldn’t she?
Lori chalked the end of her own cue, drawing it back and forth slowly, and once again, Gabe cursed the luck of the inanimate objects getting all the attention.
Lori returned the chalk to the pile of dollars and went to the head of the pool table. “Loser breaks, correct?”
Gabe shook her head. “I suppose you know that because you read it somewhere back in 1998 as opposed to you being a pool shark who actually knows all the rules—and how to break them.”
Lori positioned herself once again, and Gabe imagined being beneath her, looking up as Lori straddled her hips. Lori looked at her as if she knew exactly what Gabe was thinking, and she smiled wickedly before driving the cue ball into the pack and sinking two off the break.
“I’ll take stripes since that worked so well for you,” Lori said.
Gabe nodded and enjoyed the show as Lori almost danced around the table and cleared it with her next seven shots. She had no idea what the hell was happening but decided to relax into it. Lori was having fun and flirting harmlessly. Nothing was going to happen tonight or any other night.
Was it?