Chapter Five: Boiling Point
Chalk
“How’s the pool comp going? You seem like you got the crowd going.” Bear congratulated me.
We were catching up near the pool table at Wheelz, and I felt like I hadn’t seen him in a long time. “It’s good, it’s bringing us extra revenue that’s going to help with the casino. I’m loving it personally. I get to focus on something else other than my life.” As soon as the words slipped out of my mouth I knew I sounded bitter, but the lack of information from Lucy was starting to bother me.
Bear stood with his arms crossed as a crowd started to filter in the door. “Sounds like you need a beer, buddy. You want one?”
I looked up, flashing Bear an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, I’m frustrated about a few things and it’s bugging me.”
“You don’t have to apologize to me. I know you got it rough, but that beer’s going to help. Looks like you got some new players tonight.” Bear tapped my shoulder and walked to the bar.
My eyes scanned the new sign-ups on the clipboard.
The presence of a larger man with a cut-off flannelette shirt, a lengthy beard, a swaggering walk and piercing blue eyes caught my attention. I followed his movements and gripped my clipboard a little harder. Something about the darkness in his eyes and the scar on his cheek made me feel like he wasn’t here for the pool competition. I thought he might be headed for the bar, but turns out he was coming at me with the sign-up sheet.
He looked up with a weird, sinister smile on his face.
Bear came back with a bottled beer, some of the froth running down the sides.
I licked it off my fingers as Angie approached, which was probably not the best look. She caught me at the wrong moment.
She smirked. “The cup runneth over I see.”
She’d met Bear already and he grinned at her joke. “Can’t let good beer go to waste,” Bear supported in his deep voice.
“Right. I’m here to sign up for the pool comp, what’s my competition look like tonight besides you?” Angie asked.
I gave her a challenging look. “So you’re playing tonight?” Given the bad vibes I had about our new player, I wanted to give Angie permission and a heads-up to flush him out.
“Of course, she has to get another chance to beat you,” Bear interjected. “We need to see somebody else win other than Chalk.”
His booming laugh at my expense made me wanna laugh as well. “Bear. You know better than anyone I’m not going to be beaten. Coyote has tried, Hawk has tried, you’ve tried…all of you have failed. Now I’ve opened it up for the public to beat me, and they still can’t do it.” My overconfidence was on full display.
Bear clapped me on the back. “Yeah, right, my man. Every man must fall. It will be your turn soon.” He chuckled. “There’s Hawk. I wanna talk to him, so I’ll see you guys later.” He wandered off to talk to Hawk as he came in the door.
Angie raised her eyebrow with a little chuckle. “Interesting…I am playing tonight. I feel like I’ve been having withdrawals from a couple of things this week. How about you?”
“Well, I’m sure glad that you’re here to get your fix.” I chuckled. “Um, I need to ask you a favor, can you help me with it?”
“Depends on what the favor is,” she shot back.
“There’s a new guy here tonight. I need you to talk to him a little bit. Get to know what he’s doing. See how he’s looking around all over the place? He’s making me feel nervous,” I stated with my brow furrowed.
Angie grabbed her pool stick and leaned in with interest. “You think he’s a spy or something? What’s the problem?”
“I think that he’s here for some reason other than pool. I wanna get the read on him.”
“Okay, this is my jam, lemme see what I can find out from him.” Angie beamed with an I-got-this smile.
“Great, thanks.” I grinned at her as she chalked up her pool cue.
Harper breezed in the door looking fresh and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Hey Chalk, sorry I’m a little late. I had to deal with a few things at home,” she explained in a tired voice.
“Ahhh, I understand. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, fine, fine, just kids. You know how it is.”