“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Grinning from ear to ear, Brendon went around the table, gathering all of the balls and putting them in the rack. With one agile slide back, then forward, he settled them in their appropriate position, lifted the black plastic triangle and then nodded in her direction. “Ladies first.”

V smiled back, chalked up the end of her pool cue and then moved to the other end of the table. The men around them went silent, and for the first time in a long time, V managed to slip into another realm.

Playing pool was a diversion she had resorted to in order to drown out all of the excess chaos around her. She started playing when she was eleven years old. One of the many men her mother dated had a pool table in his gameroom and she would make herself busy while her mother did the same thing, although Regina’s type of busy was something V did not want to think about.

V had fond memories of Jerry Tanner, although she couldn’t remember what number he was in her mother’s long list of boyfriends. She did remember that he was one of the nicer ones. Of course that relationship hadn’t lasted long because, after six months, Jerry had asked V’s mother to marry him and seemingly the idea of marriage to a man who didn’t have a seven figure net worth wasn’t attractive enough for her mother.

For a few months after her mother broke up with Jerry, he continued to come around. He was the closest thing to a father figure V had ever had and even though Regina Carmichael didn’t want to have anything more to do with him, Jerry hadn’t been able to let go that easy.

V focused on the white cue ball in front of her, lined her pool stick up perfectly, drowned out the rest of the noise in the dimly lit bar and took her shot. With skilled precision, the balls shot out in all directions. From an amateur’s perspective, it would’ve looked casual, but V took stock of what went where. She briefly glanced up at Brendon and the question was there on his face.

This was where people made mistakes. She knew if she had any chance at all of beating Brendon, simply the best pool player she knew, she had to get her shots lined up and sink them as accurately as possible. V was solids, and she lined up to drop the one ball in the corner pocket.

For the next few minutes, V was in the zone, completely oblivious to the rest of the people around her, including Brendon. She worked diligently to deliver the respective ball into the pocket she called, and before she even knew it, she was sinking the eight ball.

Never once did Brendon get to play.

“What the fuck?”

Sawyer’s terse comment broke V from her reverie and had her standing up straight. To her surprise, Brendon was smiling at her although she had just done what everyone considered impossible. Had she given him a chance, Brendon would’ve swept her just as quickly, which was another thing V knew never to let happen if at all possible. Granted, she normally didn’t get nearly as fortunate.

“Rematch,” Braydon chimed in, laughing. “Give the boy a chance, V. Let him go first, this time.”

V smiled at the other twin, and then glanced back at Brendon. “Sure,” she agreed. “After he buys me that drink.”

For the next hour and a half, Brendon and V competed back and forth, both of them damn near equally matched at every shot. Before this game started, they agreed that it was the last one. Her legs and her back were beginning to hurt, and to be honest, those heated looks she was receiving from Zane were making it damn near impossible to concentrate.

Just when she thought Brendon would take the game, he missed a relatively difficult shot, leaving her with one more ball, then the eight ball. V lined up her shot, drowned out the rest of the room and ended the game, successfully beating Brendon yet again.

When he walked around the table, moving very slowly toward her, she tried to hide her smile. And failed. He wrapped his arms around her, lifted her against his body and hugged her tightly. “Zane’s a damn lucky guy, lady. If I had my way, I’d steal you right away from him,” he whispered in her ear.

V blushed, and swatted him on the back as he put her back on her feet. “You’re a sly devil, Brendon Walker.”

Before she knew what happened, Zane had her in his arms, his mouth slamming down on hers in a kiss hot enough to alert the fire department. When he pulled back, she saw the intent in his eyes and her body reacted instantly.

Zane looked up at his brother and grinned. “You just remember she’s mine.”

Brendon laughed, and the brothers bumped fists. Zoey came over, hugging her like she was some sort of celebrity. “I can’t believe it. How in the world did I not know you could play pool like that? You’ve been my secret weapon all this time, and I had no idea.”

V laughed, brushing her hair back from her face. Not many people knew her talent, nor did she try and flaunt it. Today was an exception. These were her friends.

The thought nearly leveled her. Never had she actually taken the time to think about how close she had become to the Walker brothers over the years. She went to school with Braydon and Brendon, but they always seemed so overprotective of Zoey, she often felt like the outsider. But then again, V hadn’t needed anyone to stand up for her. She’d managed to do a good job all on her own. Based on the way most of the other kids had treated her, she hadn’t had much of a choice.

It wasn’t a secret that the town had painted her mother as a slut only out for monetary gain, and no matter how painful the thought was, it was what it was. Regina liked men; there was no doubt about that. She also had one agenda – finding the richest, most successful man to shack up with and marry. Never had it worked out for her, but that hadn’t stopped her from trying. V couldn’t even remember the number of men who came and went from their house when she was growing up. There were times she never even knew their names, which as she got older, she actually preferred.

“You ready?” Zane asked, interrupting her thoughts. V smiled, thankful for the distraction. It was a fact, thoughts of her mother and her sordid past never did much good for V’s mood.

She nodded her head and accepted the hand that Zane held out to her. Within minutes, their goodbyes were said, and they were leaving. Zane held her hand as they followed Gage, Zoey and Kaleb out to the parking lot. The threesome didn’t seem to notice anything going on around them, and for that V was grateful, especially since Beau was trailing not far behind.

V had a sneaking suspicion that Zane was up to something, but she’d tried to ignore it, knowing her nerves would get the best of her if she allowed them to. She was more than a little excited about the possibilities that this night had in store for her, but she wasn’t willing to admit it just yet. After the last night at Zane’s, V had developed some sort of shameless fascination for the two men. Although she still preferred just the two of them together if she had a say, V was willing to enjoy the distraction. She seemed to need it now more than ever.

Zane had awoken a part of her that she hadn’t even known existed. Beau played a big part in that before the assault and truth be told, she had been anticipating a replay, even while Zane had been in the hospital. On those lonely nights when she assured herself that staying away from Zane was the best for him, she still allowed herself those few sexual fantasies to fill the void that Zane had left in her life.

The other night had been a surprise. Although, most of her anticipation occurred in the dark of night while she was lying in her bed doing her best to ignore those creaks and groans of her house, she found that indulging in a little mental foreplay with two hot, sexy cowboys was an easy way to forget her more pressing thoughts and fears.

This time she wouldn’t be imagining it. Her body was completely onboard with that, especially with the adrenaline still coursing through her system. Beating Brendon Walker at pool wasn’t an easy feat and V knew, based on the way the game played out, he hadn’t let her win. Then again, Brendon wasn’t like that, so the excitement was still sizzling inside of her.

Or maybe, that really was from the anticipation of what was to come.

As long as Zane took the reins again this time, like he did every time, V knew she was in good hands. The only thing she had to bring was herself and her desire, which she was pretty sure couldn’t be stoked much more than it was right that moment.

Chapter Fifteen

♂♀


Zane didn’t bother asking the question because he already knew the answer. Opening the passenger side door of his Jeep, he waited for V to climb in before turning to face Beau.

“Her house,” he told him. He hadn’t asked V to spend the night at his house, and he didn’t want to assume anything after her insistence the night before. Despite her panic attacks, he wanted to make sure V felt as though the world weren’t crashing down around her. He was trying to keep his distance and not overwhelm her with his feelings, and giving her something familiar to hold on to seemed like a reasonable compromise. He wasn’t sure how she was going to react once they got there, but he hoped he could get her inside without having to watch her have another debilitating panic attack. In fact, his real reason for wanting to go to her house was to hopefully replace those memories with other ones.

Beau nodded his agreement and then ventured across the parking lot to his truck. Zane liked the idea of Beau coming back to her house for more than just one reason. Being that they didn’t know what Jake Sanders was up to at the moment, he wasn’t willing to put himself in a position like he had the last time. His brothers were worried about him, he could feel it. Knowing that Beau would always have his back made it easier on him, and probably even more so on V.