Chapter Twenty-Two
AJ
The moment Nando slides his ass into the chair next to Hollie, I’m on my guard.
Nando should be behind the bar, so why the hell is he coming over here?
Watching him lean closer to her, I can feel something twist in my gut.
Reyes is saying something to me, but I can’t hear over the rushing sound in my ears.
My breaths turn shallow as my world narrows to Nando’s face.
I know that look. I’ve seen Nando charm women before, and I’ll be damned if he’s going near Hollie.
When he slings his arm around her shoulders, my thoughts turn violent, though Hollie didn’t like it when I almost hit Noah at her apartment.
It means I’m not gonna toss my cue stick, leap over the width of this pool table and grab Nando by his fucking tank top, haul his ass out his chair and slam him against the wall.
Which is really what I wanna do right now.
Instead, I place my finger and thumb against the tip of my tongue, curl my lips over them and let out a sharp, shrill whistle that gets his, and everybody else’s, attention.
‘Yo, Nando,’ I holler in their direction. ‘You mind taking your arm off my girl?’
Nando raises his brow in surprise. His arm falls away from Hollie’s shoulders. He looks her way.
‘AJ’s your boyfriend?’ he asks her, at the same time pointing in my direction.
I think I see her blush. But then she grins, looking over at me and making eye contact, and it makes my heart swell. ‘He is,’ Hollie confirms.
‘I knew it!’ Nicole squeals toward Reyes, clapping her hands. ‘I knew it! Didn’t I tell you? I told you he was hot for her!’
Nando throws up his hands. ‘Hey, well, I’m sorry, man, didn’t see no signs. I just like talking to them pretty girls.’
‘Yeah, well, she’s mine.’
Something occurs to me. I glance toward Chase, whose smirk tells me he set this whole thing up.
‘Bren put you up to this?’ I shoot toward Nando.
Nando gets to his feet. ‘Don’t know what you’re talking about, man. We cool. It’s all good. Nice to meet you, Hollie.’ He slopes off, back to the bar but I watch Chase high-five him softly as he passes.
I walk over to Hollie, who is on her feet.
Then, without warning, I slide my arm around her waist, lean in and kiss her.
Deeply. Because, while I know I’m the kind of guy that likes to keep things to himself, I never want to feel jealousy to that level ever again.
I’ve never kissed a girl so publicly before.
Not to the level that I’m kissing her now, like I can’t get enough of her.
And I like the fact her arms have wound their way around my neck, and she’s kissing me back with unbridled enthusiasm.
It takes me a moment to figure out that Reyes is wolf whistling in our direction, and Nicole is still squealing like a banshee.
When I break the kiss, I rest my forehead against Hollie’s, forgetting the noise level around me, and focus on the feeling of having her in my arms, not caring who knows it.
I feel Chase’s presence and turn my head. Hollie’s still holding onto me. I’m pissed at him. ‘That was you, wasn’t it?’
He gives a shrug. ‘Yeah, well. You’re too chicken to admit when you got a girl.’
‘You in any doubt now?’ I shoot back.
Chase can’t look me in the face. ‘It’s my turn on the pool table,’ he mutters.
‘Well, I don’t wanna play you at pool. Nobody wants to play you. You always win.’
Hollie lets go of me. ‘I’ll play you, Chase,’ she throws in casually, like she’s tryna diffuse any remaining tension.
I freeze. I was not expecting her to say that.
He frowns deeply at her, but she holds his gaze. ‘Don’t tell me the former nerd knows how to play eight-ball.’
‘I do, actually,’ she hums, ignoring his taunt, and suddenly I’m nervous, because when it comes to pool, Chase gave himself the dickish nickname, ‘Chase the Ace’.
‘Fine,’ he says, looking her up and down. ‘We’re up next.’
Chase walks off. I look down at Hollie. ‘You sure about this? He takes great pleasure in humiliating people. He chalks up numbers on a wall.’
She shrugs her shoulders. ‘I mean, I can have a go. I played a bit, back in London.’
I don’t care if she loses. The fact that she’s volunteered to go up against that jackass is enough. Reyes has made his way over to our side of the table. He hands me my cue. ‘We finishin’ this round or what?’
I take the stick and grant Hollie one more soft kiss on her lips, in case anyone was in any doubt about our relationship.
‘Hey, Hollie,’ Reyes says lightly.
‘Hi, Balthazar,’ she says back and I swear the sound of her voice does something to my insides.
The moment I let her go, Nicole is all over her. No doubt bombarding her with questions about us. I kinda like the idea that there is an ‘us’ now.
‘So, you and Hollie Palmer, huh?’ Reyes says in a low tone as I line up my cue. ‘Does Echo know?’
I hit the ball into the pocket. ‘Nope. And I don’t give a rat’s ass what Echo thinks.’
Reyes wins our game, only because I can’t seem to tear my eyes away from Hollie. She’s smiling while talking to Nicole. She looks happy. I hope that it’s in some small part ’cause of me. ’Cause of us.
Chase brings me back to reality when he snatches my cue stick away from me. ‘Out of the way, lover boy,’ he says, depositing his quarter. I listen to the rumble of the balls rolling out the table as he racks them up.
‘Just go easy on her, all right?’
‘Let’s see what your girlfriend’s made of. She thinks she can play? Let’s find out.’
Hollie walks over. Reyes hands her his cue. ‘Good luck,’ he says with a wink.
‘Should I break?’ Hollie asks innocently.
I don’t want him to embarrass her.
Chase holds up his hands. ‘Be my guest. Show me what you got, Palmer.’
Hollie runs her fingers through her hair and moves to one end of the table. She chalks the end of her stick. When she leans down, I forget to breathe.
I don’t quite believe it when she pockets two balls on the break.
Chase looks unmoved. ‘Beginner’s luck,’ he says. ‘What’s it to be?’ he asks her, because she’s sent one stripe and one solid into the pocket.
She surveys the table. ‘I’ll go stripes,’ she says, and moves into position.
My lips twitch as she pockets another two balls in quick succession.
I raise my brow at my friend. Chase responds in kind and pockets two of his own.
Hollie doesn’t break a sweat, just coolly goes about her business. Another stripe finds the pocket and Reyes whistles.
‘What the helly?’ Nicole blurts, and it occurs to me that Reyes has got his arms around her waist. I thought they were on another break.
I cross my arms and watch closely.
For the first time, Chase is pissed, and I’m digging it. He takes his next shot and misses. I resist the urge to punch the air. I get that we’re supposed to be friends, but right now, I feel like it wouldn’t be outta place to bow down and worship my girl, because she is killing it.
She bends at the waist. Within a couple of minutes, she’s demolished him, pocketing the 8-ball and finishing the game.
I break out into a grin. I can’t help it. Chase looks like he doesn’t know what just happened. I go to Hollie, snake my arm around her waist and kiss her lips in celebration. My chest bursts with pride, and when I pull away, she’s blushing.
Then Chase comes over.
‘Where’d you learn to play pool like that?’
She bites her lip. ‘University. In England. I got taught by some guys who had some skills.’
He holds out his hand and she shakes it. ‘Not bad, Palmer.’
‘Not bad?’ I repeat. ‘She whooped your ass.’
‘You wanna rematch?’ he shoots at her.
Hollie shrugs and I pull her closer. ‘I’m good. Think I’ll just bask in my victory for a while.’
Chase rolls his eyes and walks away toward the bar.
‘Oh dear,’ she says in that British way of hers.
‘Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for somebody to come along and do that?’ I tell her. ‘You’re my hero.’
I kiss her again, slowing it down a little this time. My mouth lingers on hers. ‘You might wanna finish your drink,’ I whisper against her lips when I pull away.
‘Why?’ she asks innocently.
‘’Cause I’m taking you upstairs.’
When we’re outside, I take Hollie by the hand and lead her around the side of Scotch & Smoke and keep going until we’re at the set of stairs that lead to my room. We don’t talk, and I wonder if she can tell that I’m nervous.
Hollie keeps hold of my hand as I lead her all the way up the steps that snake up the side of the building to my door. I unlock it and step inside, switch on the dim light and hold open the door for her. There’s a small smile on her face as she steps onto the wooden floor boards.
She looks around. The bed’s unmade. I don’t remember the last time I slept in it. Bringing Hollie up here was not in my playbook for today.
Yet here we are.
I swallow a lump in my throat, pushing my hands deep into the pockets of my jeans. ‘So… this is it. This is me.’
She raises her eyes to the beams. ‘Wow, you were right. You really do live in the attic.’
‘Uh-huh.’
She looks down to the floor boards, a low-level thud from Scotch’s rock soundtrack seeping up from below. ‘Does that sound not drive you crazy?’
I shrug. ‘Guess I’ve gotten used to it.’
She closes the door behind her. ‘It’s really warm up here.’
‘Yeah. I sleep naked.’
She takes another step forward, knots her fingers together, taking it all in. ‘I like it,’ she says. ‘It’s cozy.’
‘Yeah?’ I ask, and I swallow. ‘Echo gives me a good deal on rent. The generator keeps the light on. Without that, it gets pretty dark in here.’
She shakes her head. ‘It’s ridiculous that you don’t have a proper electricity supply.’
My lips twist because we all know who was responsible for that decision.
I change the subject. ‘I meant what I said… in the bar. Never thought I’d see the day when Chase Brennan lost a game of pool.’
She gives a shrug. ‘He probably likes me even less now than he did before.’
I take her hands in mine. ‘Why would you think that?’
‘He didn’t look too happy with me.’
‘He’s a sore loser, that’s why. Come here.’