Distraction (31 page)

"Shortstop and sometimes pitcher, but I prefer
shortstop. Saw your last game. You
'
re good.
" He sounded genuine.

"
Thanks. Elle'
s never missed a game. She and I usually celebrate when I
win."

She looked up at the mention of her name. Rolling her eyes,
Elle smiled back at me playfully. Once our gazes met, both of us seemed
powerless to move away, until Alyssa messed up the moment by nudging her arm.

"You wanna play pool?" Elle broke eye contact and
smiled back at Green. Alyssa was a pain in my ass, but pool was
our
game.

"You ready to lose?" I teased.

"We
'
ll see," she said. Even without looking at me, her
cheeks turned pink.

I grinned. Score one for me, Green zero.

Alyssa butted in. "Let
'
s play pairs."
Perfect opening. Thanks to Alyssa.

"You wanna partner up, Spud? We’ve always been perfect
together."

Color rose to her cheeks.
I'
d love nothing
more than to watch Green get his ass kicked. Alyssa and I may have had a truce
between us, but beating her would be a sweet reward, too. Only it did
'
t quite go down
the way I'd imagined.

"Nope, you get me against Elle and Eric."

"What about Bret?" I thought fast. I knew he needed
to keep off his ankle, but fuck me. Alyssa, had wormed her way in and messed
shit up.

"His ankle isn
'
t healed."

"Right," I complied, straining to keep the
irritation out of my voice. We headed over to the tables. Thankfully, we were
able to get the last one available. Bret, Alyssa and I grabbed a few seats
while Elle and Green sat at a table beside us.

Elle took over and racked. I almost pointed out that Alyssa
and I were supposed to break since she set up, but she bent over. Her cleavage
bounced when she reared back and made her shot. Did she know how I felt about
her? She acted like a siren, taking pleasure in my misery by flaunting her body
in front of me. Damn.

"You
'
re little ones," Elle pointed out after making her shot.
I hadn
'
t even paid attention. She'd made two more balls in. When she
scratched, I had to adjust my junk before taking my turn.

I scanned the table. Unfortunately, she blocked most of my
shots, and I ended up making only one ball in. However, I'd made sure not to
leave Green a good opening. Another point for me.

Like me, he
'd only made one shot. When Alyssa
'
s turn arrived,
I knew from the way she held her stick she wouldn
'
t make anything.
Going against my better judgment, I decided to help her out.

"
Amazon, don
'
t hold the stick that way or you
'
ll..." She
didn
'
t give me the chance to correct her and scratched, as I
figured she would.

"
Oopsie,
" she said, in a fake-ass innocent tone, then sat on the
bar stool next to me. I glared, holding back a slew of interesting and creative
insults.

"Give her a break, Tristan." Elle chalked the end
of her stick, eyeing the table. When she bent over, her dress rose, exposing
more of her thigh. Out of nowhere, I felt a smack against my arm and snapped my
head up. Alyssa shook her head when I gave her a “what the fuck was that for"
look.

"Tristan, you're up," Alyssa said, pointing to the
table.

"Do. Not. Hit. Me. Again."

"Then behave," she retorted.

I walked around the table, my jaw clenching as my grip
tightened around the pool stick.

"Two ball, side pocket," I called, and made my
shot.

"Lucky shot," Elle teased, leaning against the
table with her arms crossed, showing more cleavage again.

"Luck has nothing to do with it when you
'
re as good as
me."

Elle rolled her eyes and Alyssa made gagging noises behind
me.

"Six ball, corner pocket." Again, I made another
one in. “
See?
" I lined up for another.

When I missed my bank shot, Elle walked in front of me, her
floral scent driving me crazy. Alyssa missed, of course, and Green did too.

"Ten ball, side pocket." Elle hovered over the
table. I froze, watching her until the end of her stick rammed into the center
of my stomach.

"Ugh," I protested.

"Tristan! Ohmygod. Are you okay? I thought you moved out
of the way." Elle hurried toward me, helping me to the bar stool, beside a
gloating Alyssa.

"He
'
s always in the way," Alyssa replied.

"Alyssa, be nice." Elle turned back to me, her face
scrunched like she
'
d sucked on a lemon. She looked so adorable when she was
worried. "Seriously, are you all right?"

"Can
'
t hurt steel.
" I gave a short laugh-cough combo, holding my stomach
tight. "Finish your shot." I straightened my spine and nodded toward
the table.

"
Okay, fine, macho man.
"

Bret hobbled over to the table. I forgot he
'
d left to grab
another round. "Dude, I thought you were gonna hurl for a minute." He
laughed, handing me a beer. I grabbed the cold bottle, taking a long drink
before setting it on the table.

"Yeah, well, she can hit pretty hard." I pressed my
hand over the center of my stomach where Elle
'
s stick rammed
into it.

"I
'
d remember that if I were you," Alyssa said with a crazy
smile.

I looked in Elle
'
s direction, then wished I hadn
'
t as Green
pulled her to him and kissed her. The embrace lasted only a few seconds, but
long enough to bring color to her cheeks when she backed away. I looked in a
different direction and downed my full beer. The score had evened: Me one,
Green one.

Pissed, I ended up missing my next shot.

When Elle's turn came up, she chalked the end of her stick
before leaning over to get a better look. "Six ball, side pocket," she
announced. As soon as the ball fell in the pocket, she blew invisible dust off
the end of her stick. I swear to God I had an instant hard on.

"That was sexy," Eric said, pulling her to him.
Again.

"What? Making my shot or blowing the end of my stick?"
She choked, realizing what she'd said, and crimson rose from her face to her
ears.

"Both," Eric admitted with a throaty laugh that
sent me into a near blackout rage of anger.

Time to turn this shit up to see just how flustered I could
get her.

Elle walked over to the opposite side of the table, bending
over to get a clear angle for her shot. I slipped behind her, and whispered in
her ear, "Don't choke, Spud. Keep your mind clear." She sucked in her
breath.

“You need to move a little to your left." I grabbed her
hips and inched her over. Her legs wobbled, and I held onto her tighter.
“Perfect." I pulled away from her.

"You're such a cheat. Move out of the way."

"What? I'm just standing here. Am I a distraction?"
I stepped back, crossed my arms over my chest, and grinned when shock colored
her face.

She snapped out of her stupor, gave me a flirty smile back,
and raised a brow. Without looking at her target, Elle took her shot and nailed
it. "Nope," she said stubbornly.

The rest of the game played out the same. Every time Elle
bent over, I couldn't stop myself from watching. I didn
'
t even care that
Alyssa had made only one of her shots.

Green had the last shot, and Elle gave him a good luck kiss.
He made it and won them the game. Asshole.

"Bathroom break for the girls."
Alyssa
took Elle'
s
arm, swiftly moving them away from the pool table.

"Good game, man," I said when Eric sat across from
me, taking over Alyssa
'
s seat.

"
Thanks
. You, too."

Bret jumped in. "
Daniels, don'
t get too comfy
on the field. My ankle's almost good as new."

I wanted to point out that I was better, but didn
'
t.

"Don
'
t be scared," I joked, then took a sip of my beer and
realized I
'
d finished it. "Hey, I
'
m gonna grab
another beer. Y
'
all need one?"

"As long as you
'
re buying," Bret said, but
Eric shook his head.

"All right. I
'
ll be back."

In line, I stood behind some jerk-off who thought flirting
with the bartender would get him a free drink. I would
'
ve intervened,
but a bouncer moved him along instead.

"Two longnecks," I ordered, fishing my wallet out
of my pocket.

"You
r
money isn
'
t any good here, sugar." The bartender winked. When she
handed me my beer, she gave me a napkin with her number on it. Yup, still got
it.

“
Thanks.
" I tossed my cash into her tip jar.

I turned back to the table. The line of people walking slowly
in front of me made it hard to push through. I walked then stopped so many
times I
'
d spilled half a beer on my shirt.

I caught sight of Elle and Alyssa heading back and shifted
around the slow-moving group in front of me. I moved close enough to hear them
talking and figured I'd ask Elle to dance when I heard Alyssa asking
Elle
a question.

"So, you gonna get hot and sweaty with Eric?"

What the fuck kind of question was that? Instead of saying
anything, I slowed my pace to hear Elle
'
s answer.

"We came really close, until my stomach decided to ruin
the moment."

I came to a standstill, allowing the person behind me to bump
into my back.

"Hey watch your fucking step, man," I said,
spinning around, ready to pounce. The girl behind me looked ready to piss her
pants. “Awe, shit. Sorry."

She gave a nervous laugh. When I circled back around, Elle
and Alyssa were gone. I moved along with the crowd, not in any hurry to be
around Elle and her fucking date.

"It's about time. Did you get lost?" Bret shook his
head.

I wasn
'
t in the mood for his jokes. Alyssa's question replayed in my
head, along with Elle's answer. If she hadn
'
t drank so much
she and Green would
'
ve gone–nope, not gonna go there.

"Here, and next time get your own beer." I slammed
the bottle down. Glass clinked against the table, sloshing beer on the surface.

"Tristan, are you all right?"

I looked at Elle. Her brows furrowed. "I
'
m
awesome."

Elle

Eric and I danced on and off throughout the night. I tried to
ignore Tristan
'
s heated glares. He was obviously upset, I just didn
'
t understand
why. After the last song Eric and I finished dancing to, I walked back to
Tristan and smiled. He glared back.

Alright, enough of this shit.

"You
'
re acting like an ass." I had to lean in close to him so
he could hear me.

"Yeah, well, you're acting like a..." He didn
'
t finish.

I folded my arms across my chest as heat rushed to my cheeks.
Asshole.

"Care to elaborate?" I sat back in my chair.

It was just the two of us sitting at the table. Tristan said
something, his face hard, but I couldn't make out his words from the loud music
playing.

"Whatever
,
" I said, raising my voice. I pushed my chair out, ready
to find Eric so he could take me home when he grabbed my arm.

"Let me go." I jerked away, my sleeve tearing with
the effort.

Tristan removed his hand, shock mingling with his anger
.