Past that, in the back corner, were a couple old refrigerators, a keg tap, and a sink that mirrored the one in Katherine’s laundry room. A group of girls in short dresses and tall boots were talking around the pool table in the other corner. This wasn’t a swanky club from the city, but it’d do.
Caleb took to the place right away, strolling over to a group of guys calling out his name. They were all yelling out that it had been too long since they’d seen him. I made my way to the makeshift kitchen with Josh. He opened the vintage fridge and handed me a beer.
“Joshy!” A girl dressed in an oversized flannel men’s shirt and nothing else ran at him.
I looked back at the other girls, wondering why. There was heat pumping in the building, but it wasn’t that warm. He lifted her up, kissed her once, then swatted her ass when she ran off again.
“Welcome to the local bar.” He held up his fingers, making quotation marks. “It isn’t much, but it works for us.”
“One hell of a poker table you got there,” I said, walking toward the center of the room. It wasn’t the standard frat-house table; it would’ve set him back a few months’ pay from that diner.
Caleb walked over with the group of guys, introducing me before we took a seat at the table. I sat across from Caleb; it was our routine. We never sat close during a game. If something was up, we knew each other’s tells, so we always sat where we could see them.
After the guys took a few shots at Caleb for his elusiveness on why he’d skipped town a couple years earlier, the cards were dealt.
“Aren’t you going to introduce me?” a girl asked, walking up behind Josh and putting her hands on his shoulders, sliding them down over his chest. They appeared more intimate than friends, but his unaffected reaction told me he’d had his fill of her.
She had a pretty-enough face—one of the prettier ones there—but she was no angel. I shook the thought away as soon as it hit.
“Mackenzie, this is Caleb and Logan. Guys, this is Mackenzie,” he threw out casually.
Her eyes grew wide. “Oh my God! You’re Luke’s older brother, right?” she squealed, directing a broad grin at Caleb.
“That’s me. How do you know Luke?” Caleb asked, lowering his cards.
“We went to school together.” She ran her thumb over her bottom lip, flirting with him. “I remember you. You were a senior, and one of the hottest guys in town.”
She wasn’t shy, nor was she his usual type. The girl was all bones. I rearranged my cards in my hand. When I glanced back up a moment later, Caleb was patting his leg for her to sit.
“You gonna be my beer wench tonight?” he asked, moving her hair to the side.
“I’ll be whatever you want tonight,” she purred.
And he was set. Good for him, but one look around the room left me coming up blank. The girls there were just that—girls—barely legal, not for me. The rest had been around the block a few too many times. I liked my girls with a touch of class—not so rough around the edges. Still, after a few more drinks, one of them would do.
Within the hour, the smack-talking college kids sitting around us were out of money and on the couches, welcoming more girls as they straggled in. Their seats were quickly replaced by more local guys Caleb went to school with.
“So what’s going on with the paper?” asked the guy who grabbed the seat beside me. “It’s all my dad’s bitched about the past week.” He’d been eyeing the table for a while from across the room. I only noticed because of the overly tight polo shirt he was sporting. It had to belong to a chick.
Josh stared down at the cards he was shuffling, not paying attention, and another guy sitting beside him piped up. “My grandma’s looking for a buyer. Problem is, none of them are good enough.”
“Good enough?” Polo Boy screeched. “To run the fucking Tribune? Hell, you should buy it, Josh. Sell that rotting diner and move up.”
“Fuck you, Mark!” Josh snapped.
Mark? No way the blonde had ever dated this putz!
But was this really the same Mark that Josh had been referring to? The town was small enough to have me questioning it. I tipped my head to get a better look at the guy. He played the jock look for the girls, but there was no denying he was nothing more than a cocky little boy.
“Sorry, man. I’m just saying—” Mark started.
“Well, don’t,” Josh cut him off.
The tension was thick in the air, and I was unsure why it was such a sore subject. Crass or not, the diner was a shithole.
“You’ve been running that diner for what—two, three years?—with no success,” Caleb said gently. “It needs a lot of TLC, and your dad wouldn’t want that burden on you.”
“I’m not selling it. It was his life.” Josh narrowed his eyes at Mark, then began dealing a new hand, making it clear the subject was closed.
Mark seemed happy enough with changing the topic.
“Gotta admit, Caleb, I didn’t expect to see you back,” he said, staring down at his cards. “I just ran into your brother a few weeks ago.”
“And how’s he doing?” Caleb asked after a drawn-out pause.
Mark’s head shot up. “Maybe you should call him sometime and find out yourself.”
Caleb didn’t reply, still focused on the game. The hand went quickly—one by one they folded until just a few players were left. These guys didn’t have the backing for a real game.
“Where you been, anyway?” Mark asked, staring over at Caleb.
“Away.”
“No shit, but anywhere in particular?”
“I’ll raise you,” Josh said when Caleb added to the pot.
“What’s with the questions?” Caleb asked, finally locking stares with Mark.
Things were getting heated quickly. I wasn’t sure what their past was, but Mark looked at least a couple years younger than Caleb, so they didn’t seem like school buddies. Caleb was an easygoing guy; it was one of the reasons we got along so well. He was usually the one to defuse shit, but I could tell when he was past his limit.
If Caleb wanted to put this Mark prick in his place, I wouldn’t mind helping out. Hell, I’d enjoy it—and it had nothing to do with the sweet blonde. Mark was just a douchebag that talked too much, and as I sat there watching the aggravation roll off Caleb, I was prepared for anything.
“Does your dad know you’re in town?” Mark pressed, oblivious to the tension in the air.
“Do you mind? I’m here to play some poker, not chit chat,” Caleb bit out, his voice strained. Yeah, he was about to lose it.
“Well, you got my girl on your lap over there, so I’m a bit distracted,” Mark hissed. “I fold.” He threw his cards on the table.
Josh laughed, choking on his beer before spitting it out. “Dude, if you laid claim to every girl you fucked, no guy in the tri-state area would get any.”
Caleb placed his cards down and collected the pot. He then opened his arms, indicating Mackenzie could get up, which she did.
He looked over to Mark with an easy smile. “All you had to do was say so.” He leaned forward, grinning. “But for the record, your girl came to me. Might want to keep that in mind.”