Watcher by Valerie Sherrard Page A

played you, have I?”
    Ah. So she was looking for a fresh victim. Probably tired of beating the same guys over and over.
    â€œI don’t think so,” I said, like I wasn’t sure.
    â€œSo, how about it?” She flashed me a smile and then turned back to the table to point out a combination shot that I couldn’t make if I had a hundred chances. She chalked up, leaned over the table, and slid her cue forward just once to line up the shot before making it. She turned back to me without even watching to see if it all happened as she’d predicted, which, of course, it did.
    â€œUh, I already put up at another table,” I said. It sounded pretty lame.
    â€œWhich one?”
    I pointed to the back of the room. At the same time, I felt Tack nudge me in the back with his elbow. It was a What are you, nuts? Go for it! kind of nudge. I almost lost my balance. Terrific.
    â€œSo, I’ll put up for a game with you at this table,” she said, plopping down a toonie. “You can play at whichever one is free first.”
    But there was no question as to which one would be free first — not the way she shot — and she knew it as well as I did. She could wrap the table in a quarter of the time it normally took to play.
    â€œYeah, okay. Sure.” I tried to look enthusiastic while I prepared myself for the coming humiliation.
    I made my way back to the corner and parked myself on the bench, wondering if there was any way to get out of playing her.
    â€œ What is your prob lem, dude?” Tack asked.
    â€œWhat, you mean because I’m not dying to look like a fool?”
    â€œC’mon, man, who cares? She’s hot .”
    â€œShe just wants a fresh sacrifice,” I pointed out.
    â€œMaybe,” he said. “Could be more to it.”
    â€œSure, because she’s always going out with guys just like me,” I said.
    He didn’t have an answer for that. We both knew Loren wasn’t about to start hanging out with anyone my age, and especially not someone who was always broke. Her taste ran to older guys with cars, guys who all had a certain look about them — like they were always on the verge of sneering. At everything.
    Tack was, as usual, being the optimist, thinking she could have more on her mind than the desire to add another idiot to the long line of guys she’d embarrassed at the pool table. But it turned out he was right, just not for the reason he thought.
    She beat the players who had already lined up at her table in no time and then signalled me that I was up. I walked over, wondering if my fake smile was fooling her.
    â€œYou still on probation?” she asked as I racked the balls and stepped back to let her break.
    â€œDon’t waste any time getting to the point,” I said. But I smiled, because it really didn’t bother me. I like girls who are direct a lot more than the ones who put on a big coy act while they work their way up to whatever they really want to say.
    â€œWe probably don’t have much time,” she said, smiling back. “I’ve seen you play.”
    She chalked up and broke. She got low, and her eyes swept the table, assessing which shot she should take next. You can always tell the good players because they never go for the easy shots first.
    â€œSo, are you?” she said.
    â€œSeeing as you paid good money to get this information,” I said, “the answer is no, I’m not.”
    â€œBut you were?”
    â€œUntil last year, yeah. Why?”
    â€œI just wanted to know how things work. I had to hold, you know, for Jack.”
    â€œWhat’s the charge?” I guessed Jack was the current boyfriend. A real winner by the sounds of it. You just can’t help admire a guy who expects his girlfriend to take a fall for him.
    â€œI dunno. They didn’t tell me that yet. But it was mostly just weed.”
    â€œHow much?”
    â€œHalf an ounce, maybe. And some E, but