Camden's Redemption (Gloves Off #4)(25)

“It’s none of your business how I know. All I can say is you’re a f*cking idiot. Now let’s get this game going.”

I started to walk away, but he wasn’t done. “She’ll never want anyone like you. Just look at you.” He pointed to my face. “She pities you.”

Clenching my jaw, I looked up to find Brooklyn staring daggers at Blake. For a moment, I doubted. What if she did pity me? Was that all the other night was? However, when she looked at me, I didn’t see pity in those green eyes of hers. I couldn’t tell what it was, but it definitely wasn’t pity.

Gabe stepped forward with the coin in his hand and nodded toward me. “Heads or tails?”

“Heads,” I replied.

He flipped the coin and smacked it on the top of his hand. “Tails it is.”

With a smug expression on his face, Blake got into position and sunk in one of the stripes. I hadn’t played pool in years, not since my father died. It was one of the things we used to do together without Ryley. I never had a reason to play until now. Blake dominated, sinking almost every ball until he screwed up, leaving two of his stripes on the table along with all my solids.

Taking a deep breath, I glanced at Brooklyn over my shoulder and she nodded, giving me all the confidence I needed. I can do this. I sunk in one ball, and then another. Knowing Brooklyn didn’t have to spend the night with that f*cker was my motivation. I wanted her with me tonight. The room grew silent as I leaned over to take my last shot, the one before the eight ball. The cue ball went flying down the table and smacked the red one with exact precision. It slammed into the right front pocket and over half the crowd cheered.

Blake glared around the room, shocked that I had some of his people in my corner. The eight ball was right in the middle of the table with multiple pocket options, but none of them were going to be easy. It was a gamble. Fuck. Blake curled his lip and rolled his eyes at something over my shoulder. That was when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

Brooklyn leaned into my ear and whispered, “Go for the left, middle pocket. If you aim for the right side of the hole and tap it gently on the left side of the ball, it’ll go in. Trust me.”

“What if I was going to do that anyway?” I asked smugly.

She lifted her brows. “I highly doubt that. I could see you looking at the end pockets.”

“All right, you got me. Don’t forget, you owe me for this.”

She squeezed my arm. “Only if you sink this shot.”

Looking down at her, she winked and walked away to stand by her brother. “Left, middle pocket,” I called out. Blake snorted and started to laugh. The crowd even followed suit. They didn’t believe I could do it.

After chalking up the tip of my stick, I blew off the excess and watched it fly into the air. It was like everything was moving in slow motion. I focused and took a deep breath. The stick slid through my fingers and once it felt steady, I lightly tapped the cue ball and watched as it slowly traveled down the felt and hit its target. The whole room fell silent, waiting. It was almost there . . .

“It’s in,” Gabe shouted. “Fighter boy wins.”

I breathed a sigh of relief and the crowd cheered. Then, Brooklyn was in my arms with her arms around my neck.

“You did it!”

Blake threw his pool stick across the room and stormed toward the steps. Putting my arms around her waist, I breathed her in and smiled. “You’re welcome. It looks like we pissed off f*ckface.”

All too quickly, she pulled out of my arms and watched Blake disappear around the corner. “Good, he deserves it. What was the bet, exactly?”

Before I could reply, Jason cut in, holding out his hand. “Great job, man. What was the bet? I think I can guess.”

“His previous deal with Brooklyn is null and void.” I smirked and she laughed.

Jason patted me on the back. “Just as I thought. Let’s go upstairs and I’ll buy us all a round.”

“I can’t,” I said. “There’s something I need to collect on. Rain check?”

“Whatever, man. But you’re coming back out here next week. More of the guys want to fight you.”

I shook his hand and smirked over at Brooklyn. “I wouldn’t miss it.”





CAMDEN STARTED FOR the stairs, but I hung back with my brother. “Are you on duty tonight?”

He nodded. “Yep, which means I probably need to keep up before lover boy disappears.”

“Do me a favor,” I said. “Stay back just a little bit. I’ve got him right now.”

“B, what are you doing?”

We trudged up the steps and I watched Camden leave the bar, but not before hooking a glance over his shoulder. He knew what he was doing. “I need to talk to him without having a tail. I’ll text you when I’m done.”

“Okay, but be quick.”

“Dammit. It’s best I don’t mix business with . . .” I stopped mid-sentence and bit my lip.

“Mix what?” he asked. “Business with pleasure?”

I shrugged and let out a sigh. “He’s not as bad as I thought he was going to be. Everything I’ve read about him doesn’t seem right. He’s just not that guy anymore.”

“True, but it doesn’t change the fact he’s done some pretty shitty things to people.”