8. Jules #2
We continued talking while we ate. Caroline told me more about her childhood and how she’d grown up in a small town in Oregon with her younger brother and sister.
Her mother was a nurse, and her father was an electrician, and they both were loving, doting parents.
They sounded nice— vastly different from mine, and it was hard not to be a little jealous.
I never had parents who cared about me and my best interests.
My mother was too busy trying to keep my father happy to worry about me and what I needed.
The only time she seemed to even care was when he took things too far, and even then, she was more concerned about him.
She didn’t want him to be mad that I was leaving and ran circles to convince him that it was better for me to leave.
Once I’d moved out, that was it. There were no phone calls or visits. I tried to reach out to my mother countless times, but she never took my calls. Eventually, I gave up. I’d like to say that I’d moved on and never thought about either of them again, but I did.
I thought about them all the time, which was one of the reasons why I enjoyed being with Caroline. Being with her made me forget, especially when she was pushing me to do things I normally didn’t do—just like tonight.
“You ready?”
“Ummm, yeah.” Hoping it would give me some added courage, I finished off my mule, then told her, “Ready when you are.”
“Great.” She stood and adjusted her skirt. “Do I look okay?”
“You look amazing.”
“I think my skirt might be too short.”
“It’s fine. You’ve certainly got the legs for it.”
“Thanks, babe.” She gave me a warm smile as she said, “Come on. Let’s do this.”
I followed Caroline over to the back of the bar, where the guys were playing pool.
We walked up just as Hayes hit a great shot, and he and the older guy he’d been playing with shared a congratulatory high five.
The man I didn’t know gave Hayes a pat on the shoulder as he told him, “Nice one, brother. One more, and we got this one.”
“Not a problem.” He motioned his hand to the end of the table as he announced, “Left corner pocket.”
Hayes leaned down and placed the tip of his pool stick at the center of the cue ball, then eased his arm back and made the shot.
We all watched intently as the ball collided, and the eight ball slowly rolled into the left corner pocket.
When he saw that they’d won, Hayes punched his fist into the air. “Hell, yeah!”
“Good game.” Q walked over and started collecting the balls as he asked, “Who’s up for another round?”
“I’m out.” The man looked down at his watch and sighed. “Ally is gonna have my ass if I don’t get home and fix that damn fan.”
“Come on, Guardrail. Just one more game.”
“Can’t do it. I’m already late.”
“What about you, Chains?” Hayes asked. “You in?”
“Sorry, boys. I think I’m gonna head out, too.” Chains motioned his head over to Caroline and me as he told him, “Give these two a go.”
“Oh, no. That’s okay,” Caroline stammered. “We’re just watching.”
“Why watch when you can play?”
“You don’t want us to play. I’m awful,” Caroline admitted. “I can’t even remember the last time I played.”
“That’s okay.” A smirk crept across his face as Hayes handed her a pool stick. “We’ll take it easy on ya.”
“Okay... What do you think, Jules?”
I glanced over at Q, and like before, his face was void of expression. Normally, that would’ve been enough to shut me down and have me running for the door, but tonight, it had the opposite effect and I got angry.
I was practically fuming as I walked over to the wall and picked up one of the pool cues. I twirled it in my hand, checking the weight and length. It felt pretty good, so I turned to Caroline and said, “I’m game if you are.”
“That’s what I’m talking about.” After saying goodbye to his brothers, Hayes sauntered over and grabbed a pool cue of his own. “How do you wanna pair up?”
“Girls against the guys, of course.” Caroline’s smile grew wider as she looked over to me and teased, “That is if you can handle a little competition.”
“Oh, we can handle it. Don’t you worry about that.” He started racking the balls as he continued, “In fact, why don’t we make this interesting and put a little wager on the table?”
“Oh, I like the sound of that. What kind of wager did you have in mind?”
“How ‘bout a Tequila shot for every miss?”
“Sounds like a fair wager. What do you think, Jules?”
I hadn’t played pool in years, and even when I did, I wasn’t all that good. I had a feeling Caroline wasn’t much better, but that didn’t stop me from saying, “Sure. Sounds good to me.”
“Umm, no.” Q sounded angry as he told us, “I don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
“Not a good idea.”
“Sure it is,” Hayes argued. “We're just gonna have a little fun. No big deal.”
“And when things get out of hand?”
“We’ll be fine,” I pushed. “Besides, a few shots never hurt anyone.”
Q glared at me for a moment, then said, “We’ll see about that.”
Before Q could protest any further, Hayes headed over to the bar to get our shots. Q didn’t say a word. He didn’t have to. I knew he wasn’t happy about our little wager, but he played along and so did I.
Moments later, Hayes returned with a bottle of Tequila, limes and salt, and four shot glasses. He placed them down on the table, then opened the bottle and filled each of the glasses. As he passed them out, he smiled and said, “Just a little something to get us warmed up.”
We all took a lick of salt and a squeeze of lime, then lifted our glasses and tipped them back.
I felt the sting of the liquor as it hit the back of my throat, but I did my best to pretend I was unfazed as I placed the shot glass back on the tray.
I had a feeling I was going to be in trouble when Q motioned his hand toward the pool table and announced, “Ladies first.”
“You want us to break?”
“Yeah.” A mischievous smirk swept across Q’s face as he said, “Unless you don’t think you can.”
“I’ll manage.”
With pool stick in hand, I leaned over the table and positioned myself to take the shot.
As I stood there, I tried to envision the cue ball slamming into the center of the others, causing them all to disperse into the different pockets, and for a second, I actually thought I could do it.
I felt the power pulsing through my veins, and I just knew I was going to make an amazing shot.
I was wrong.
When I hit the ball, I barely grazed it, and the damn thing only moved a couple of inches. It certainly didn’t cause the others to collide and roll into their designated pockets. It was beyond embarrassing, but again, I simply played it off. “I guess that’s a miss.”
“Yes, it is.”
Hayes poured us another drink while Q stepped up to the table and made his shot. Unlike mine, he actually made good contact with the ball, and two stripes dropped into the right corner pocket. Hayes couldn’t contain his excitement as he exclaimed, “That’s what I’m talking about!”
“Good job, Q.” Caroline tilted her head back and drank her shot, then announced, “Guess that means it’s my turn.”
“Yes, it does.” I drank my shot and tried not to wince as I told her, “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Caroline had just stepped up to the table when Q leaned over to Hayes and said, “I’ll be right back.”
“Whoa. Where ya going?”
“I’ll be back.”
Without saying anything more, Q turned and started walking toward the front of the bar. I thought he was going to go outside, but instead, he went over and started talking to an elderly couple who looked like they were getting ready to leave. I leaned over to Hayes as I asked, “Who is that?”
“Huh?” As soon as he realized who I was talking about, he added, “Oh, that’s just the Davenports. They live up the road from Q.”
“Oh.”
I continued to watch as Q helped the older gentleman to his feet and steadied him before he did the same with his wife. Once they both had their footing, the tough-as-nails biker helped ease them over to the exit. I was in complete awe as I watched the trio disappear through the front door.
It was such a kind gesture—one I hadn’t expected Q to make, but then again, I didn’t know Q well enough to know what to expect from him.
I was still staring at the front door when Caroline announced, “I guess that’s another miss.”
“Afraid so.”
“I’ve got it.”
I walked over to the table and filled each of the shot glasses. I passed them around, and one by one, we each tilted our heads back and took the shot. This time the burn didn’t bother me. In fact, I barely even noticed it.
I thought that was a good thing.
But yet again, I was wrong.
Very, very wrong.