Liar (Madison Kate #2)(91)

Dallas jerked a nod. "Of course."

Kody handed me his pool cue and dragged his drunk manager away from us to exchange some words, leaving me to take the next shot for him.

"You're up, Danvers," one of the Reaper boys announced. "Show us what you've got." He was eyeing me with way too much interest, and I wasn't the only one who noticed.

"Pull your fucking eyes back in your head before Kody sees you checking out his girl," the other punk—the one with the stupid-ass fucking name—hissed at his friend, whacking him with the back of his hand. "Uh, he didn't mean anything by that," he assured me, nervous as fuck, and I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever," I muttered, and Dallas snickered a laugh. I checked out the spread of balls on the table and picked my shot. As I leaned over to take the shot, Drew returned with a drink in each hand. She scoffed a laugh, and I narrowed my eyes at her.

"You got something to say?" I asked her, my voice cold and threatening.

She just rolled her eyes, setting the two drinks down on the side of the pool table. "Uh yeah, there's no way you're making that shot."

What a fucking walking cliché. I snapped my wrist forward, nailing the shot and sending my chosen ball careening into the pocket.

Drew rolled her eyes like she'd been taking lessons from Regina George her whole life. "Yeah, well, I bet you can't do it again," she declared with a sassy lip purse.

Bree laughed beside me, leaning her drunk ass on the side of the table. "Of course she can," she replied for me. "In fact, if she gets it, then you have to down that whole drink in one go." I shot Bree a sharp look, but she wasn't focused on me.

Drew was so supremely confident, though, and I wanted to see her taken down a peg. She brushed her hair back, flashing the Reaper mark on her wrist. "Okay then, but if she misses, then your princess has to do the same. And with a real drink, not that soda water shit she's been sipping on."

I shrugged. One drink wasn't exactly going to get me drunk, so who the fuck cared? "Sure," I replied, already eyeing up my next shot. I’d grown up as a bored only child with a father who had more money than god. I’d had my own pool table and I knew how to play. This wasn't even a challenge.

Rolling my shoulders, I leaned over the table, my breasts brushing the green felt as I lined up with the white ball and...

Bang!

My shot went wide, but I didn't fucking care. That’d been from the "private room" where Archer and Steele had gone with the gang leaders. I didn't think it was a gunshot, but...

"Kody!" I shouted, but he was already rushing back over to me. "Go!" I ordered him, pointing in the direction of the sound. His expression was torn, but I shoved him in the chest. "Go now. I'm fine here with Dallas and Bree."

"And me," Jase slurred, clapping Kody on the shoulder. "We can handle looking after one spoiled-brat girl. Go keep the boys alive, yeah?"

But still, Kody looked conflicted.

"Kody, fucking go. If it's all okay, you can be back here in seconds, but if it's not...?" I didn't need to convince him any further. He grabbed my face, kissing me quickly.

"Don't fucking move from this spot, babe. I'll be right back."

As he rushed in the direction of his friends, I couldn't fight the sick feeling of unease pooling in my belly. No one outside of our little group seemed to have even noticed the sound, though. Or maybe they had, but paid it no mind as they didn't know who was in that room. Let alone how armed they all were.

Turning back to the pool table, I found Drew standing there with a wide grin and a drink in her hand.

"You missed," she informed me, like I fucking cared. "Drink up."

She held the cup out to me, and I scowled at her. I’d missed the shot because something was going wrong in this "civil business discussion," but apparently no one else seemed concerned.

I wanted to throw the drink all over her and tell her to go fuck herself, but I also hated people who backed out of bets simply because they lost. Especially when the punishment was something as pathetic as drinking a drink.

Still, I was no moron. I ignored the drink Drew was trying to hand me and took hers instead. Call me crazy, but the eager way she’d tried to get me to drink that drink? She'd almost certainly spat in it or something.

Holding her eyes, I tipped her drink to my lips—ugh, gross, gin and tonic—and drained the whole thing before slamming it back down on the edge of the pool table.

"Happy?" I asked her, licking my lips and cringing at the bitter taste her drink had left behind.

The dark scowl on her face confirmed my suspicions, and she hurled "my" drink on the ground in a bit of a diva tantrum before trying to get in my face. I was a few inches taller than her, though, and if intimidation was her aim, she was falling way short. Literally and figuratively.

"Watch your fucking back, bitch," she hissed at me, pointing with her sharp little red fingernail. "I'm coming for you."

Drew stomped off and I sighed. So much for her weak effort at "starting over."

Fake bitch.





33





Kody didn't immediately return from the back room, and after a couple of minutes, I started worrying. Big time. My palms were sweating and I couldn't stop staring at the door he'd disappeared through, even though I knew it hadn't been long.