Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 87392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 437(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 437(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
He danced along the bar for the rest of the song, and then the whole room erupted into applause. He jumped down, took off the cowboy hat, and tugged his shirt back on. He quickly grabbed a bleach rag and cleaned off the bar where he’d been stepping with his boots.
“There really is nowhere like Red’s,” I said.
“Now you know why it’s the only bar I go to,” Evan said.
“Do you believe that rumor that Red was in a porno once?” Cal asked. I lifted an eyebrow.
“He won’t say if it’s true or not,” Evan said. “But yeah, I wouldn’t put it past him.”
As we started up our second round of pool, Red came over with four shot glasses, pushing them onto one of the high tables nearby.
“On the house,” he said to all of us. He was still beaming.
“Red, you don’t have to—” Evan started to protest.
“Shut your beautiful mouth,” Red said, holding up his hands. “My bar, my call. I’m having a great night tonight. You should too.”
Red gave a little salute as he walked back off toward some other group of people he was surely going to charm to high heaven next.
“Is he always like this?” I asked Evan, Cal, and Nikki after we all took our shots.
They all nodded in unison.
“He’s too generous,” Evan said. “I love him for it, though. He will be a great boss for you.”
“Seems like it,” I said.
“Let’s switch it up this round,” Cal said, grinning at me and Evan. “Evan on my team, Nikki on Mitch’s.”
“Bring it,” I said.
Fuck. With each passing turn, I felt the tequila hitting me more and more. I couldn’t stop watching the way Evan’s ass looked as he bent over, the way his pants hugged his body. When I saw him using improper form, I dropped my hand to his forearm, nudging it slightly in the other direction.
“Don’t overthink it,” I said to him, squeezing his arm. “Stay focused.”
He missed the next shot entirely. When it was my turn, right as I was going to shoot, I felt his body press up against the back of mine.
“What’s the problem, Mitch? Can’t focus on the shot?”
Jesus. His voice that close to my ear, the warmth of him behind me… if I didn’t know any better, I’d have wanted to turn around and manhandle him right there.
And now I definitely couldn’t focus on the shot.
“Quiet, weirdo,” I said, craning my neck and pushing back against him further, trying to meet him at his own game. “I’m trying to think, here.”
“You’re the one that messed up my last shot because you vise gripped my arm,” Evan said.
“I was correcting your terrible form,” I said, grinning.
“My form is great,” he said. “You were trying to fuck with me.”
“And it worked, huh?”
He gave me one last push before walking off toward the table. “C’mon, make the shot.”
Every cell in my body was on fire. I took the shot, but of course it missed, because all I could think about was the way Evan’s eyes were staring right at me in my peripheral vision. Did I only feel this way because I was weirdly jealous of how Cal looked at my best friend?
All I knew was that I wished I were alone with Evan right now instead of in this very public bar, in front of Cal and Nikki. I was glad when the game ended and they each gave us high fives before walking back over to the bar.
“Need some fresh air,” I told Evan. “Come out front with me for a sec?”
Outside it was colder than I’d remembered, though. A very light snow had started to fall, but there was a bench under the front awning of Red’s where Evan and I sat, protected from the weather. I took a deep, chilly breath in, then leaned over toward Evan, putting my arm around him and squeezing him.
“This is the first night out I’ve had in… months. Maybe even a year,” I said.
“What?” he replied. His warmth felt so good, and I knew I should have let go of him, but I needed to squeeze him a little longer.
“Things haven’t been great, Ev,” I said. The tequila in my blood was conspiring to make me blabber now. Usually I was so preoccupied with staying optimistic, keeping everyone around me happy. They used to call me the Peacemaker back in school.
But things could get a little fuzzier when I was drunk. It didn’t happen often.
“I know,” Evan said, pulling back a little so he could look me in the eye. “Mitch, I know you must have a mountain of feelings about… everything that happened with Jess, and the move. You can talk to me about anything.”
I snorted. “I have more feelings about you than anything else, it seems like.”
“Feelings about my improper billiards technique?” he asked. “Because first of all, fuck you, my form is great.”