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or his eyes, or his leather jacket. "Where are you from, Zane?" Leo called his shot, took it and
missed.
"South." Zane walked around the table to get to the far side and took his shot, neatly sinking a
ball in the corner pocket. Leo didn't pay enough attention to see what number. "Actually, just
across into Oklahoma."
Leo nodded and wondered when the come-on was going to start, when the hustle would become
the point instead of pushing balls around with sticks. Zane had been working it far too long to let
it play out much longer. "You're not drinking." It was an observation, not a question.
"Nah, can't play pool for shit if I'm drunk. I'll have a beer later, maybe." Zane took another shot
and another ball went softly into a pocket. "Want to make this more fun?"
"I was just wondering when you'd ask." Leo grinned and reached for his wallet. "Twenty?"
"Sounds good to me." Zane nodded, all nice and friendly.
From there, everything went in the expected pattern. Leo won, though he tried not to -- Zane's
game fell off drastically until it would be embarrassing to play any worse. Leo couldn't be
completely obvious about throwing the game, so he had to suck it up and win.
After some back and forth and idle chatter that might or might not have verged on flirting, the
bet was upped to fifty on a rematch and Zane's game came back. So did Leo's. It helped that Leo
was pretty sure Zane was checking out his ass every time Leo bent over the table to take a shot.
Preening always made for better pool shooting, even though Leo tried not to let his ego get in the
way.
He won again, unable to resist a rather nice shot that was just too sweet to miss.
The third time the balls were racked, Leo was done with the game and just wanted to take care of
the hunger that was glowing in Zane's eyes. He might have played a bit longer -- with Zane, and
even played a bit more pool -- if the heat and want had been more about Leo's ass and less the
honest to fuck "I need to eat some food soon or I'll be sick" kind of hunger.
He might not be able to save Zane from whatever had him hustling for money, but he could at
least make sure Zane had a hot meal and not humiliate him in the process. Leo knew about that,
too, as much as he knew about hustling pool. It was just dumb luck that he didn't do either
anymore. Old and knowledgeable at twenty-nine. Who would have thought?
The money on the line wasn't quite a hundred dollars; Leo couldn't afford the full bill, but he'd
put up whatever was in his wallet. He didn't miss the way Zane's fingers curled when he saw all
those bills coming out, even if they were almost all fives and ones. Leo figured it had been a
while since Zane had held that kind of cash.
Leo figured that Zane was going to have to move his ass -- Leo didn't have any more money to
give, and he wasn't going to let Zane draw this out any longer, either.
Watching Zane shoot pool was a little too much fun, and Leo'd had a few drinks. That sort of
thing led to trouble, and he was mostly just trying to be charitable, anyway. Let the kid win the
money and then see if they could find a nice motel room to spend part of it on, maybe.
Leo broke hard and started shooting pool like he meant it. He sank four balls off the break and
called solids, then gave Zane a tight grin. "Ready to get serious?"
Zane laughed and nodded. "Go, man. Show me your best."
Leo didn't do that -- it would defeat the purpose, after all. He showed Zane his B-game instead,
with enough push behind it that it looked like anyone else's A-game. Hell, they were drawing a
crowd, and a few of the regulars were looking at him with frank surprise.
Leo didn't hustle in his home away from home. Not ever. He didn't even play pool there, usually,
just to remove the temptation, so it wasn't a big shock to him that a few of his drinking buddies
were looking at him with "what the flying fuck are you doing?" clearly going through their
minds.
When Leo finally missed a shot, he only had three balls left on the table and he hoped to hell that
Zane's game was as good as he thought it might be. It would really, really suck to have to throw
the game and make it look legit after that little display.
Zane gave him a tight grin and chalked his cue. "Nice. You're good."
"I am," Leo conceded with a nod. "I think you are, too, so why don't you show me?"
"Hold tight. You might want to get yourself another beer." Zane's grin grew tighter, a little feral,
and Leo tried this best to look unimpressed and mildly annoyed as Zane started sinking balls.
One after another the balls vanished, some shooting hard into the pockets, others dropping softly
and oh so slowly, raising the occasional cheer or rueful groan and sigh from the guys watching.
Zane took shot after shot, two of them complex enough that Leo had a moment of fright Zane
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