Page 39 of Dream (Fighting Fate)

Corey looked up, surprised. “Oh, yeah. Sorry.”

“That’s okay. Just checking.”

I stood back and watched. I was really starting to relax. If I thought about it, there wasn’t that much difference between hanging out with these guys, and hanging out with the friends I’d made back in Gulu. That thought made me smile. I liked that.

Corey walked around the table a couple of times, his eyes narrowed in thought, before aiming at a green ball and sinking it.

“Hey, this is cool. You just keep on sinking them and I won’t have to have a go. Can you still call yourself a winner if you didn’t technically do anything?”

“Yes, you can,” Josh said, coming up behind me and placing his hands on my hips. His lips skimmed over my neck, his warm breath sending tingles down my entire body. “Because you’re the good luck charm.”

“Really?” I breathed.

“Mmmhmm . . .”

Corey took another shot, but missed. “Obviously not that lucky,” I said.

Josh chuckled softly, kissing my neck once more before releasing me and moving over to the bar to get himself a beer. Instead of coming back to me, though, he sat down on one of the bar stools next to Aiden and started talking to him in hushed tones.

Dean sank two balls before missing one, and then it was apparently my turn. Corey walked me to the table and pointed at the red one. “Try this one. If you aim to get the cue ball to hit right here, it should go in the middle pocket.”

I nodded. Sounded easy enough. I tried to hold the cue the same way I’d seen the guys holding it, but it felt awkward.

“Try sliding your right hand in a bit, so it’s not so far back,” Josh suggested from his perch at the bar. I slid it in a bit and it felt way better.

The white ball wasn’t very far away from the red one, so it was easy-ish to line up. I tried moving the cue back and forth like Corey had done, watching to see if I was aiming for that spot Corey had told me to. “How hard do I hit it?” I said, without taking my eye

s off it.

“Not very hard. Just a gentle tap,” Corey answered behind me.

I held my breath as I tried the gentle tap. The white ball connected with the red one and shot toward the middle pocket, dropping perfectly inside.

I jumped up, eyes wide. “I did it!” I turned to Dean. “Ha-ha! In your face!”

Everyone burst out laughing. I knew they were laughing at my expense, but I didn’t care. I got a ball in, and I was going to do my happy dance.

Corey was still chuckling when he came up beside me. “Okay, are you going to have another shot?”

“I get another shot? Oh, yeah! I get another shot! Yay!”

Josh shook his head at me and laughed again.

Corey pointed out which one he thought I should go for next—an orange one, and told me where I should aim for. I tried to calm myself back down and focus. Taking aim, I hit the white ball, but it missed the orange one completely. In fact, it missed every single ball on the table. I didn’t know how, but I wasn’t happy.

“Bad luck,” Corey said. “Aiden gets two shots now.”

“What! Why?”

Corey shook his head, but he was smiling. “That’s just the rules. The opposing team get two shots if you don’t hit anything. Same if you hit one of theirs first, hit the black, or pocket the cue ball.”

I pouted. “Well, that sucks.”

“Yes, it does.”

Aiden went through and sank all of the striped balls. Show off. “What now?”

“Now he has to sink the black ball. If he gets it in, they win.”

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