“Yeah, go on.” Belle pointed at another red. “This is an easy shot.”
Leah wasn’t sure, but she lowered her chest to the table and closed one eye so she could see along the length of the cue and gauge her aim.
A sudden weight lined her back. The scent of tobacco followed it.
“Like this, love.” Taff’s voice was beside her ear, his chest flush to her spine and his body curled over hers. “Hold it like this.”
She squirmed. “Get off.”
He chuckled and wrapped his hand over hers. His fingernails dirty, his index and middle finger stained yellow.
“Come on, man,” Wyatt said. “There’s friendly and too friendly.”
Leah felt sick. Taff’s body over hers was disgusting. Everything about it, his heat, smell, groin on her ass.
She tried to push up, but he kept her pinned. “Eye on the ball,” he said. “And just—”
He didn’t say anything else, and suddenly he was gone.
Leah stood as the sickening sound of flesh on flesh rang through the bar.
Taff staggered backward, his face an image of shock as blood spurted from a split lip.
Carter rounded on him, fists clenched. He threw another punch, which caught Taff on the jaw.
“What the—?” Taff managed, banging into a table and sending two bottles of beer flying to the floor.
“Never touch her again. Don’t even fucking speak to her,” Carter said, his voice sharp and dangerous.
Taff’s face reddened, and he lunged forward like a bull charging.
He caught Carter in the belly and reeled them both toward the pool table.
Belle grabbed Leah’s arm and dragged her out of the way a millisecond before the two big men collided with the table, sending the balls skittering over the surface.
Taff threw a punch Carter’s way.
He dodged it, and in a rush of power, he shoved Taff onto his back on the table and loomed over him.
It was then Leah saw it.
Carter had drawn his gun, the business end shoved hard under Taff’s chin.
Her adrenaline was already flowing pretty fast, but now it shot up to critical levels. How had this escalated so quickly?
Taff grimaced and glared at Carter. Spittle sat at the corners of his mouth. He was breathing hard.
Leah couldn’t let him get shot, much as she didn’t like the guy. It would be blood on her hands as well as Carter’s.
She stepped forward, but Belle gripped her upper arm. “No. Leave them.”
“But—”
“You’ll make it worse. Trust me.” She kept a tight hold.
Leah gulped. How could it be worse?
“You bring a fancy bird in here,” Taff said with a grunt, “looking like that. She’s fair game, Carter.”