“Eight ball. Side pocket.” Cal Walker closed his right eye and focused his left on his single remaining pool ball. He lined up the shot in his own mind then smiled. It would be tricky, but pool wasn't fun unless he took some risks.
“You'll never make that,” Addison chided from the opposite side of the table. “Never. It can't be done.”
“How much cash you willing to put on that?” David was sitting at the bar height table next to the pool table. He had his boots kicked up in one of the chairs and a beer in his right hand as he watched the game unfold.
“This game or that shot?” Addison countered.
“Both.”
“We've got $20 on the game, but Cal's already 3 balls up on me so I figure you've got that in the bag,” Addison said with a disgusted shake of his head. “I'll give you $50 if Cal can sink the eight ball in the side pocket. On one condition.”
“What condition?” Cal asked.
“You miss, I win.”
“Oh, so what you're saying is I only get one chance to sink the eight or David owes you $20?” Cal clarified.
“Exactly,” Addison replied with a grin.
“Deal,” David said.
“You're about to lose $20,” Addison said.
“Yeah right.” Makinsley Madison appeared on Addison's left with four full shot glasses balanced in the palm of one hand. She narrowed her eyes at Cal as he carefully lined up the tricky shot. “You might as well get your wallet out,” she told Addison. “He's a pool shark. You'll never beat him.”
“Not true,” Addison replied as he took two of the shots from her. He downed one of them like it was water and set the other on the edge of the pool table. “I've beaten him before.”
“Only when he lets you. I've never seen you win a single game against him.” Makinsley pursed her bright pink lips at him. She was wearing so many layers of make-up, her skin looked like it was starting to flake and crumble. Her pants were made out of some kind of see-thru, shimmery fabric. Her tube top appeared to be mostly straps with a few strategically placed scraps of fabric. As she downed the shot, she left a thick layer of gooey lip gloss behind on the shot glass.
“Well, I'm normally kind of distracted when you're here.” Addison grinned flirtatiously at Makinsley. She responded by lifting up the bottom of her tiny tube top and giving all three of them a full and unobstructed view of the mosquito bites she called breasts.
“This is for luck,” she said as Addison reached over and gently flicked one of her nipples.
Cal rolled his eyes and took a deep breath, knowing he had the shot even as he felt the pool stick connect with the cue ball. Two seconds later, the eight ball landed in the corner pocket and Addison owed David $50. Cal had quit gambling on his own pool skills awhile back, but David still found it amusing to take Addison's paycheck away from him. Sometimes Cal even made him split the profits.
“Maybe you should put your shirt back on,” David told Makinsley as he held out his hand to take Addison's money. “I don't think your tits are doing much to improve Addy's luck.”
Makinsley let out a loud huff. “Maybe I wasn't talking about Addy's luck,” she said in an annoyed tone. “Tonight could be your lucky night, David. I've always thought you and I had potential.”
“Oh, is that how it is?” Addison narrowed his eyes at Makinsley, but his voice held no anger.
David grabbed the shot that Addison had left on the edge of the pool table and downed it. “Ain't no way in hell.”
“You're the one who invited another girl to come out with us tonight,” Makinsley countered. She was scowling openly at Addison now.
“She's just a friend,” Addison said.
“You consider everyone you sleep with to be 'just a friend',” Makinsley replied. Her high-pitched, nasally voice grated badly on Cal's nerves.
“Yeah, well-,” Addison frowned.
“Yeah, well nothing.” Makinsley let out another loud puff of air. “You need to call that girl back and tell her that she better not even bother showing up. I'm not sharing you tonight. Touch another girl and I'm going home with Breedlove.” She pointed at David.
“Like hell you are,” David said flatly. “I'm engaged. Trish would shoot your nasty ass.”
“Excuse me?” Makinsley turned on him with an angry, hurt scowl on her broad and rather flat face. “Don't act like you wouldn't love to have a night alone with me.”
Cal rolled his eyes but stayed out of the brewing fight.
“You couldn't pay me enough-,” David started but Addison cut him off mid-sentence by waving a $20 in Makinsley's face.
“Mak, why don't you go get us another round. Make it a strong one,” Addison suggested.
Makinsley hesitated for half a split second and then snatched the money out of his hand. “Don't expect any change,” she snapped at him, giving him the stink eye once more before storming off in the direction of the bar's dingy bathroom.
Addison and David both watched her go. “You have the worst taste in women,” David muttered.
“You can quit blaming me for her being here,” Addison grumbled. “I already told you I didn't invite her. She saw my truck parked outside and decided to stop by. You heard her say that.”
“I try not to listen to her,” David countered. “Every time she opens her mouth, she reminds me of a truck with its serpentine belt squealing. I want to hit her upside the head with a fucking wrench.”
“Yeah, well, apparently the feeling isn't mutual. She wants you.”
“That slut would screw this pool stick if she thought she could get off with it,” David said as he held up the item in question. “I'm not interested and I have no idea why you keep going back for seconds.”
“She's fun,” Addison said with an unapologetic shrug.
“I've met her. She ain't fun.” David crossed his arms over his narrow chest and shook his head at Addison. “I wanted a quiet night, Addy. It's been a long damn time since it was just us guys. I figured we'd shoot some pool and have a few drinks before we went home to the girls. No drama. Just a little bit of liquor and a little peace. Then you went and brought Makinsley.”
“I did not bring her,” Addison repeated.
“She's here because of you.”
“I didn't invite her.”
“Minor detail,” David replied. “You know I can't stand her, especially not when she's all pissed off because you invited some other girl out with us. Who was it, by the way?”
“Who was what?”
“The other girl you invited?”
Addison smirked. “Katie.”
“Katie?” It was Cal's turn to look surprised. “Makinsley's got her panties in a wad because you invited Katie out with us?”
“Why did you invite Katie?”
“Makinsley snatched my phone out of my pocket when I wasn't paying attention and she read my text messages. Katie and I were joking around earlier about frying up some of the catfish we got out of the country club's hot tub. Makinsley took the messages out of context.” Addison held his arms up in surrender. “Not my fault Makinsley is too dumb to realize who I was talking to.”
“Makinsley knows Katie,” David pointed out.
“Katie isn't programmed into his phone under her real name.” Cal purposely shot Addison a warning glance.
“It's just an inside joke.” Addison let his playboy smile drop and returned Cal's glare with a look that dared him to make more of it.
David looked between them curiously. “Did I miss something?”
“No,” Cal said.
“Nothing,” Addison said at exactly the same moment.
“Yes, obviously I did.” David said. He picked up his beer and took a sip. “Do I want to know?”
“It's nothing. Really. Cal's just being an asshole.” Addison began pulling the balls out of the pool table and putting them into the triangular rack that he'd just placed in the center of the green felt.
Cal opened his mouth and then closed it again. “I've said my peace. Do whatever you're going to do.”
“What the hell are y'all talking about?” David demanded. “I don't do this cryptic shit. If y'all have something to say to one another, just say it in a way that I can understand what you're fighting about.”
“Cal thinks my relationship with Katie is bordering on inappropriate,” Addison said flatly.
David nearly dropped his beer. “What?”
“Exactly,” Addison said as he pulled a cigarette out of his pack and lit it. “She and I are friends. We joke around. Cal thinks we're crossing a line. We're not, but Cal's got to butt his nose in where it doesn't belong and try to make something of nothing.”
“I never said-.” Cal slammed his hands down on the side of the pool table. “I just told you the truth. I think y'all are too damn close. I think it's going to come back and bite both of y'all in your asses.”
“You don't have any-.”
“Okay. Enough. I get it.” David stepped in between the two of them.
“You get it?” Cal asked. “How?”
“Because I'm not an idiot.” David leaned against the side of the pool table. “Ian's completely and totally flaked out. Addison's been picking up a lot of that slack when it comes to Katie and Hannah Mae. Folks are starting to talk. I get it.”
“Are people talking?” Cal asked.
David raised one eyebrow at Cal. “They're talking about Ian.”
“Well, that's to be expected.” Cal gestured for Addison to hand him a cigarette. “Ian is a fucking train wreck.”
“Thought you quit.” David gestured to the cigarette.
“I don't buy cigarettes,” Cal said dismissively as he took the cigarette and lit it.
“I need another drink,” David said.
“I gave the rest of my cash to Makinsley.” Addison frowned in the direction of the bathroom. “I don't know what takes her so long in there.”
“She's reapplying her fucking face,” David told him. “You don't know it, but she's really an ogre under all that make up.”
“I always thought her nose and her height made her look more like a troll, personally.” Addison grinned wickedly at David. The tension that had existed a moment before had already evaporated.
“Jesus Christ. I never thought about it that hard. Yeah. She does look like a troll,” David agreed. “And you're screwing her.”
“Everyone is sexy in the dark,” Addison informed him.
“Says the guy who's giving multiple orgasms to the troll.” Cal reached into his own pocket and pulled out a wad of cash. “I'm fixing to go get me a Jack and Coke, hold the coke. Y'all want anything?”
“Same as you,” David said.
“Addy?”
“Double shot of tequila?” Addison shrugged and then shook his head. “Fuck that, get me the whole bottle. It's been a long damn week and I'll bet every last dime I have to my name that this upcoming weekend is going to be even worse.”
“Considering that we're currently two days away from the wedding and the girls are all running around like chickens with their heads chopped off, yeah. I can see the next couple of weeks being a bit chaotic.” Privately, Cal thought chaotic was an understatement, but he didn't want to admit that to his buddies. Even best friends have their limits and he figured that everyone they knew was pretty close to reaching their wedding drama limit for the decade. Gracie's parental drama and lack of planning had spiraled into a full blown disaster during the last month.
“I was actually referring to Kerry being arrested on suspicion of murder,” Addy revealed as he racked the pool balls..
“What?” Cal nearly dropped his wallet.
“When?” David asked.
“This afternoon. Neither one of y'all put a human head in the trunk of Kerry's car, did you?”
“A human head?” Cal made a face. “No.”
“I wouldn't even know where to get a human head,” David said. “Though as far as stunts go, it has creativity. I'm kind of jealous that I didn't think of it first.”
“Frank thinks its just a prank,” Addison acknowledged. “But they're still holding him in one of our jail cells until they figure out the full details. Can't be too careful, you know.”
“You said they arrested him on suspicion of murder?” David asked. “Seems like a heavy charge for a prank.”
“Sully says the head is real. I talked to him on the phone when I was on my way over here. He wanted to make double-triple sure that I wasn't responsible for the head. I don't know why no one wants to believe I didn't put a human skull in Kerry's trunk.”
“You did put decaying shrimp in his air conditioning vents.”
“You also reversed the wiring on his taser so that it shocked him when he pressed the button.”
“You baked laxatives into his wheat muffins last week.”
“You refilled his asthma inhaler with pepper spray.”
“The hair removal cream in his shampoo was downright classy. So was the poison ivy you rubbed all over the seats of his cruiser.”
“Okay, okay. Y'all have made your point.” Addison tried and failed to look innocent. His bright turquoise eyes were sparkling in the dim light of the bar. “I like to have a little fun with Deputy Longwood. Point is, I wouldn't rob any graves to do it. I don't know where the head came from. All I know is that Sully found a head in his car and now Kerry's in lockup.”
“I'd pay good money to see Kerry rotting away in a jail cell,” David mused.
“You want to?” Addison offered. “We can go down to the Sheriff's department and pay him a friendly little visit.”
“That would be evil.” Cal was smiling as he said the words. “But fun. Definitely fun.”
“Screw the drinks. Let's go.” David set his pool cue back onto its rack.
“Go where?” Makinsley had returned from the bathroom with a fresh round of shots.
“The sheriff's department,” Addison told her. He took the shots from her, keeping one for himself and passing the other two to David and Cal.
“We're out drinking. Why would we want to go the sheriff's department?” Makinsley tossed back her heavily highlighted blonde hair, swallowed her shot as if the liquor were water and then jammed herself into the relatively small space between David and Addison. She wrapped one of her arms around Addison's waist and tucked herself underneath his shoulder so that he had his arm around her. “Isn't avoiding the police part of the point of being drunk in a bar?”
“Kerry's been arrested. He's locked up in one of the cells,” Addison supplied.
“We're going to go taunt him and throw shit at him,” David offered.
“Oh. Well. That changes everything.” Makinsley grinned. “What are we waiting for? I call shotgun!”