Page 58 of Take Me Home

They came to a quick consensus. Hazel, smaller and more able to squeeze between the crowd of mostly men with a flash of smile and a cheery, “Sorry! Excuse me!” reached the board quickly and began plucking the darts from it before anyone else could claim them. Derek lagged, having already started flirting with some older women in the brief minute they’d been at the table. Travis followed close behind Ash and, when they were halfway across the room, yelled over the noise, “Say the word if we need to get lost.”

“What?”

“So y’all can hook up.”

“We’re not hooking up. We’re…” He stopped the wordfriendsin his throat.

“Something wrong with your—”

“No, nothing’s wrong with my dick, asshole.”

Travis laughed, hands raised. “All right.”

“I’m working on it.”

“Well, here’s some free advice. Work faster. Pull the trigger.”

“Yeah, okay,” Ash said sarcastically, jostling around menwho had parted politely for Hazel but were immoveable boulders for him. “It was super helpful that you invited us here where I can’t even talk to her, but sure, I’ll just ‘pull the trigger,’ whatever that means.”

Travis laughed again and clapped his hand hard against Ash’s shoulder, shaking him roughly. “That’s always been your problem.”

“What’s my problem?”

“You think too much. You into her?”

Ash sighed. There was no point in denying it. “Yeah.”

“So, do something about it. Teach her how to throw a damn dart.”

“I’m not doing that.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s a fucking cliché. She won’t be into it.”

“Man, every girl is into that shit. In fact, if youdon’tdo it, you’re pretty much saying you’renotinto her.”

Ash figured it was pointless to clarify that he didn’t want only to hook up with Hazel. “Just so we’re clear, your brilliant advice is to mansplain darts to her. Revolutionary, truly.”

“Pull the trigger, Campbell.” With that, he shoved Ash the last few steps, right into Hazel.

“Sorry.” Ash removed his hands from her hips, where he’d caught himself. “I think we lost Derek to those cougars.”

“But what a way to go.”

“So.” He scratched his arm. He felt Travis’s smirk beside him but blocked it out. “Have you played before?”

Hazel raised an eyebrow. “Why? Are you going to teach me how?”

Travis barked a laugh and said something about the restroom.

“Do you want me to?”

She squinted at him. “What if I’m actually a professional dart player? Bet you’d feel pretty dumb trying to teach me my own sport.”

“Are you a professional dart player, Hazel?”

“I’ve never thrown a dart in my life. But—” She pressed a fistful of darts against his chest. “Are you any good at this? Because I don’t want to learn from someone with terrible form.”