“Nice wallet,” Jenna complimented, counting the cash he had given her.
“Thanks. It was a gift.” Train waited until Jenna went back behind the counter before he took the shot of tequila Killyama was about to drink.
“Hey … That was mine.” She couldn’t help laughing at his disgruntled expression.
“Want to tell me why I bought, not one, but three rounds of beer?”
“The first two rounds were beer. The last one was whiskey.”
Train choked on her shot of tequila.
“And it was cheaper than a visit to the emergency room, which is where the brothers would have sent you if you had won another game. The only reason your ass isn’t in an ambulance right now is because I was smart enough to buy those rounds for them, and because they’re slow as shit and didn’t know they were dealing with a pool shark until you beat Pike.” She swiveled on the stool she was sitting on. “Jenna, bring me another shot of tequila and another beer for Train,” she yelled out before turning back to him.
“Am I buying that, too?”
“No, it’s on me. Don’t be pissy. You’re lucky I got over my mad spell with you and we’re friends now. Before, I would have warned them. I’m a good pool player, but I’m not that good.” She rolled her eyes at his lame attempt to get on her good side by letting her win all three games.
“Lucky me,” he grumbled.
It took another beer before she could talk him into dancing with her again. When they sat down to take a break, several men pulled chairs up to join them.
“Where’s the rest of the crew tonight?” Calder asked. “I haven’t seen Stud tonight, either.”
Killyama cocked her head at Train as he deliberately pulled her chair closer to his, dropping an arm over her shoulder. He was practically pissing on her chair to stake her as his property.
“Stud and Sex Piston had a teacher’s conference with Meri and Keri’s teacher. Sex Piston keeps making up excuses for missing, so both of them went this time. Crazy Bitch and T.A. are out on a double date, and Fat Louise and Cade are hanging out at their house with their baby.”
“The girls in trouble?” Before Calder had gone to prison, he wouldn’t have cared less if the girls were in trouble. Then prison and the rehab Stud had sent him to had given him the opportunity to get clean. It had taken time for him to mend fences within the club and form relationships with his nieces and nephew.
“No, the girls want to be foreign exchange students next year, and Sex Piston is fighting it all the way.”
“What does Stud think about it?”
“You know Stud; he isn’t crazy about it, either, but it’s not like he can spring for a family trip to Paris.”
“I’m with Sex Piston. Two young girls in Paris? Stud would just be asking for trouble.”
Killyama stiffened. “I don’t know why not. I told Sex Piston she should let them go,” she lied. She wasn’t about to offer any advice when it was Stud and Sex Piston’s call to make. If they felt the girls could act responsible, then she was all for it. “You think they’ll bang any man with a French accent?”
“Wouldn’t you?”
“Hell yes, but that’s me, not Meri and Keri.”
Train dropped his arm from around her shoulder. “You’d fuck a man just because he had a French accent?”
“Hell yes.” She wasn’t about to back down in front of the men. “What woman wouldn’t? It’s called the city of love for a reason.” She fucking cracked herself up. Crazy Bitch was usually the one who enjoyed baiting the men in the club, but since she was AWOL, Killyama decided to fill in for her. “All I’d have to hear is three simple words: ‘Welcome to Paris,’ in French, and I’d do him.”
Train rose to his feet. “Really? That’s all it would take to get you in bed?”
Killyama had meant to aggravate Calder, not Train. That was just a bonus. He was sexy as hell when he was jealous …
“Bienvenue a Paris.”
“What’d you say?” Killyama put her finger in her ear, trying to pop the plug that kept her from understanding what he had said.
Train repeat the unintelligible words again. Then he repeated it in the only language she understood.
“I said, Welcome to Paris.”
23
“Go home, asshole! You’re going to wake my neighbors!”
Train tried to reason with the furious woman, but she ignored all of his attempts to cool her down. The only reason he had managed to get her on his bike was because she had been damned by her own words. Then she had taken off like a scalded cat as soon as he had parked at her apartment building.
If he hadn’t kept up his military training, he wouldn’t have made it to her door in time before she could lock herself inside. He had barely managed to jam a boot in the door to keep her from closing it.