The Wright Boss(32)

I laughed. "We'll see if you can do that."

"I can't even count the number of times I've done that."

"Wait, I thought you said that this was your boss," Nick said in confusion.

"I … well … he is," Heidi said, backpedaling.

"Landon and Heidi have been friends for years, dude," Patrick said. "He's been her boss for a week. She can give him a pass for the night and play pool. You know where Flips is?"

Nick stammered, "I … yeah, I do."

"What he's trying to say is," Austin cut in, "we're going to head to Flips to play some pool if you'd like to join us."

"Oh, I don't know," Heidi said.

"I mean, these are your friends, right?" Nick asked. "I don't mind going with you if you're feeling up to it."

"I don't-"

"Come on, Heidi," I pressed. "It's only one game. Unless you're afraid I'll beat you."

"The only time you've ever won is when I let you to protect your precious ego."

I shrugged. "You can prove that tonight."

She imploringly looked at Nick, but he seemed not to notice.

"I'm up for it! I didn't even know you liked to play pool. I would love to see how good you are."

"Right," she whispered.

"Great! Then, it's settled," Austin said. "We'll see you there in twenty minutes. We just have to close out."

Heidi glared at me, as if this were all my fault. I was pretty sure she was going to back out and have her new date take her home. Except that I had challenged her to a game, and she was too competitive to let the challenge stand.

I didn't care if I lost horribly to her. I wanted the chance to fight for more than the game.



       
         
       
        





Thirteen



Heidi


"It was nice to meet some of your friends other than Julia," Nick said with his ever-present smile on his face as we sat outside of Flips. "I really need to meet your roommate now though. Emery sounds nice."

I fought to keep a blank look on my face.

This was a disaster.

A disaster!

"Yeah, we should invite her, too, and then we'd have the whole gang together," I muttered sarcastically.

"If you want to invite her, I don't mind. This has been the best date yet."

I sadly smiled at him. Emery was right. There was no spark here. He hadn't even noticed the tension between me and Landon. Even after Landon had sent that drink.

And oh my God! How dare he send me that drink while I was on a date with someone else! What the hell had he been thinking?

"I think Emery is in with her boyfriend tonight," I told him, sinking low in the passenger seat.

"Isn't she dating a Wright?"

"Yes, Jensen. He's the oldest."

"So interesting. I don't know much about their family, just that they're, like, Lubbock royalty. Trevor is more into all that stuff than I am."

"Lubbock royalty." I guffawed. "They're just people who happen to have money. I wouldn't put them on a pedestal."

That was rich, coming from me. I'd been putting them on a pedestal my whole life. But it had been easy to do that when I grew up with nothing. My father's bar wasn't exactly a lucrative business deal. The only money he had ever raked in had been entirely illegal … and we had all paid dearly for it. I was from the wrong side of the tracks, looking up at the mansions, wondering what it was like to live like that. I couldn't help it. Even now that I had money, I had a certain level of fascination with the rich and famous.

Of course, with his golf career, Landon fit that mold better than all of them, and I never really felt that way about him. Probably because I had known him before his career took off.

"You ready to go in?"

I sighed. I was not ready to go in.

I had no idea why I had even agreed to this. Partly because I was competitive by nature and partly because … I wanted to see Landon. After that elevator ride, my mind had been going crazy. I'd thought the date would make me forget about him, but of course, my luck, we'd run into him on the date. Now, I was willingly going to hang out with him and the guy I was dating.

Only one explanation.

I was a masochist.

Nick was getting out of the car before I could even think about changing my mind.

I'm doing this. I'm really doing this. 

I let me heels click onto the pavement and straightened out my pink-and-black dress.

Man, I was stalling.

Nick was smiling at me from the front of his car, and I hesitantly walked up to him.

"You all right?"

"Yeah," I lied.

When we entered Flips, it was like coming home.