Page 79 of CowSex

“Thank you,” I manage as I take the glass full of sparkling wine he offers. I take a long sip from it, the bubbles going straight to my head.

Koa turns and looks at me, and I know that he knows that I heard what he just said. He closes his eyes and shakes his head.

“Gracie.” He says my name very quietly as the woman he was talking to steps around the table towards me.

“Gracie, good to meet you. I’m Dean’s wife, Shannon.”

I silently smile and hold my hand out as Koa watches. “Gracie Elliott.”

“Welcome to Addison Creek.”

“Thank you, your town’s beautiful.”

“Yeah, we like it. Not often Koa comes to visit, though, can’t remember the last time he set foot in Mo’s.”

I’m not sure what to say to that. I wanna be chatty and witty. I want to brush Koa’s words off like they don’t matter, but they do, and now I feel empty inside and have nothing to offer.

“You play pool, Gracie? I just whopped Mason’s ass so he won’t play me again.”

“Sure.” I turn with a fake smile and answer Lee. “Lead the way.” I follow him to a back room where two pool tables are set up without a backwards glance at Koa.

We play pool. We flirt. I know it’s wrong, but I do it anyway. Lee buys me drinks, and I drink them. Three games, four drinks. I manage to win one. I lose two, but it’s the victory that I focus on as everyone else stares and shouts at the two huge flat screens that are situated at opposite sides of the bar.

The game’s long and tedious. I have no clue what’s going on, and I nearly cause a riot when I suggest to Koa’s mates that what they call soccer is a much more entertaining sport than what they call football.

He barely says two words to me, other than, “Would you like a drink?” I said yes because I would. I’d like to drink the bar dry and lose myself in a pity party for one, but after a while, I shake it off.

Shannon comes and sits beside me, asking, “So, I’m guessing you’ve no idea what’s going on with the game?”

“None whatsoever.”

“Want me to explain?”

“No offence, but no, not really,” I tell her honestly.

“I’m also guessing you heard what Koa said about not getting cosy with anyone?”

I take a sip of my drink and look at her, she has long, poker straight hair, dark almond-shaped eyes, and a beautiful olive complexion, she reminds me of Pocahontas, well the Disney version at least.

“I did.”

“He’s lying.”

“I don’t care.” I sound like a brat, but after five, or maybe six glasses of sparkling crap, I can find zero fucks to give.

Shannon shrugs. “None of my business, but I think you do, and whether you want my advice or not, I’m gonna give it. You want him, he’s yours. I watched the way he was looking at you when you danced, and I don’t think I can ever remember him looking at a woman like that, not even his wife.”

I make ahmmphsort of sound. “Which one?”

Shannon takes a swig from her beer bottle and looks over the top of it with her dark eyes. They look almost black, and they’re right on me.

“He tell you about both his wives?”

“He told me about Danielle, her drinking, and the accident. He explained about them losing their little girl, and about Kai getting in a car with a drunk driver. He also mentioned he had a little girl and that his second wife was a gold digger.”

“He told you about that, too, Kai I mean?”

I nod.