Page 26 of Warlander Grizzly

“Around you? Yes,” he said easily, and that was the dad-gummed truth. Okie dokie.

She tapped the cue ball, and it drifted into the six ball and hit it in. Shocked, she straightened her spine in a rush. “I don’t know what to do.”

Landon was over in the corner celebrating, and this little spark of pride lit up her insides. She’d done it.

“All right, now you need to find another solid. But you can’t touch a stripe before you hit it.”

“In my head I call it a stripey ball,” she uttered softly as she studied the table.

“Well hell, now I’ll be calling them stripey balls. Can’t wait to play pool with the guys. I’m gonna get punched.”

There was a solid yellow one kind of by a side pocket, but the angle would be very sharp.

He seemed to see her confusion and stood, came up beside her and explained the angle, made sure she understood it. And when she made that one in, he cheered for her more than she remembered anyone ever cheering for her over anything.

It was just pool, but his excitement was infectious.

“What guys do you play pool with?” she asked, searching the table for another easy shot.

“I play on Wednesdays with Matt.”

She frowned and dragged her attention away from the table. “Matt who?” There was no way he meant Matt Barns, Willa’s mate.

“Matt Barns.”

“He hangs out with you?” Matt Barns was a monster, the Bad Bear of the Gray Backs, and a total brawler.

“He’s hung out with me since I was little. Jathan and Jaxon were my boys growing up.”

“You…” She searched her memory, but couldn’t recall much about Landon when they were cubs. “You hung out with the Barns twins?”

He nodded. “And then they left and found mates, and I’m still here.”

“What about your brothers?” she asked.

“What about them?”

“You didn’t hang out with them?”

“Oh, I did. I talk to Nox almost every day, but we just send each other dumb memes nowadays. He’s busy with his life. Everyone is. Everyone moved off, and I stayed.”

Huh. “Why did you stay?”

“Matt asked me to.”

Wait, what? “Matt Barns asked you to stay here?” She just wanted to make sure she was hearing that right.

He gave her this hot-boy smirk. “Why are you surprised?”

“I just don’t remember him connecting with anyone outside of his immediate family and his Crew. You’re a Boarlander. He’s a Gray Back.”

“Yeah, and I was staying at his place when I was spending nights with Jathan and Jaxon, and he was dragging my ass to school when my dad was pissed at me—”

“Wait, why was your dad pissed at you?”

“Because I kept skipping school and getting into trouble. Even Nox had better grades than me, and he has the reading level of a frog.”

She snorted and covered her laugh with a cough. Clearing her throat, she said, “I guess I didn’t really pay attention when we were kids.”