His voice was sexy, low and smooth. Kevin’s voice was half squeak.

Was I making comparisons?

Kevin had kept me an emotional captive. If I’d even cast a glance in another man’s direction, it resulted in…

I couldn’t go there. Kevin was my past, and I’d escaped with a singular promise to myself. I would survive, not look back, and make a new future. So, hell yeah, I was free to look anywhere I wanted, at any-fucking-one I wanted, and make any fucking comparison I felt like. The mental freedom was exhilarating.

Fuck you, Kevin. I’m free.

BG moved sideways to line up another shot. He even moved sexy. When he flexed his shoulders before leaning over, I debated whether to change his nickname to Shoulder God.

Butt or shoulders, it didn’t matter. I wouldn’t be able to put together a coherent question if I continued to watch him from behind. Walking up and rounding the table was the logical approach.Don’t watch BG’s ass, I told myself. Guys could train themselves to lift their eyes from a girl’s chest—more or less—so I could do the same and stop watching from this vantage point.

Forcing my eyes away, I concentrated on the ground and repeated to myself,Publisher’s Clearing House, Publisher’s Clearing House, Publisher’s Clearing House. Those odds were one in six billion. I’d actually done the calculation. How depressing was that? Those were also the odds that this guy would even smile at me.

It was fun to watch, but a girl had to be realistic.

What did I care? I was supposed to be lying low here anyway. And that’s why I was going to talk to BG and his friends—to find Callie Bush. I needed a place to stay, and Grace’s kids needed to be looked after. I couldn’t forget that.

I heard the click of balls colliding on the felt and looked up to see the seven ball roll into the corner pocket. He’d sunk another shot.

“Another game?” BG asked in a voice that was oddly familiar.

I looked up. He turned, and our eyes locked like two puzzle pieces. I was unable to look away from those deep browns.

My God, I know him.

His face first registered recognition, then disdain.

“What are you doing here?” Boone Benson asked me. The same Boone Benson I’d known years ago.

I withered under the stare of the boy I hadn’t seen since leaving Peterville halfway through my senior year. Only now he was a man—a big and imposing man. Given our history, the odds that this particular man would smile at me had deteriorated to something like one in a trillion.

BG now stood for Big Goon, Bad Guy, or something worse. I’d have to work on that.

“You and your family back to ruin another life?” he sneered.

Clearly, the years hadn’t mellowed him. Boone was still the same devil who’d humiliated me in front of the entire school at Peterville High. He’d been the one out to ruin my life, not the other way around.

I felt like slapping him, or at least spitting in his face. Instead, I turned syrupy sweet. “It’s wonderful to see you too, Boone.”

“Why are you here?” he huffed.

I straightened up. “I need to talk to Callie Bush.”

“I’m outta here,” Boone said as he turned and walked out of my life again.

And it couldn’t be soon enough for me. Once an asshole, always an asshole.

With Boone gone, I learned the other two at the table were his brother Case, and Case’s fiancée, Jordan. They were both very pleasant, quite the opposite of Boone.

I accepted Case’s apology for his brother, and the three of us had a short chat. The small-town truism that everybody knew everybody else worked in my favor. They were happy to hook me up with Callie as soon as I mentioned that Grace was my stepsister.

I caught the eyes of a policeman at a corner table lingering on me longer than felt comfortable. I turned away, unsure what I’d done to garner attention. All that remained was to wait and look casual until Callie arrived.

Look casual, I repeated in my head. I could feel a drip of sweat roll down from my armpit.

I pulled out my new phone. Texting was a normal, casual activity, wasn’t it? I sent another text to Laurie and Debbie without glancing back at the cop. Their numbers were some of the few I’d memorized.