“Pretty sure your friend just abandoned you for my teammate.” He nodded his head toward Roxie andLedger, who were already tossing insults along with darts. “Trust me, that’s going to end badly.”
I arched a brow. “For who?”
He smirked. “Good question.”
I took a sip of my drink, grimaced at the sugary burn, and quickly set both my and Roxie’s drinks down on the bar, not planning on touching them again.
I turned my gaze back to him. “Okay, so what’s the deal? You and Ledger obviously know Roxie. And judging by her death glare, she doesn’t exactly send him Christmas cards.”
Talon chuckled, low and amused. “Ah. That.”
“That?” I pressed. “Come on, Everhart. Tell me. Why does she look like she’s two seconds from aiming a dart at his head instead of the board?”
He leaned a little closer, like he was about to tell me something confidential, though his eyes sparkled with mischief. “Let’s just say … Ledger and Roxie have history.”
I raised my brows. “The bad kind?”
“Is there any other?” He shrugged. “They met way back in freshman year, had a couple classes together. She corrected him every time he opened his mouth, he called her bossy, she called him arrogant. Classic hate at first sight.”
I glanced toward the dartboard, where Roxie had just landed a hit dead center and was crowing in victory while Ledger scowled and demanded a redo. The tension between them was so sharp, it was practically sizzling.
“Sounds like they hate each other now too.”
Talon’s grin slanted sideways. “Oh, trust me. Hate that loud usually means something else is hiding underneath.”
I choked on a laugh. “You think Roxie likes him?”
“I think Ledger likes the fight. And Roxie doesn’t exactly shy away from it.” His smirk deepened. “If they ever stop arguing long enough, you might want to clear the room.”
I rolled my eyes, though the idea wasn’t hard to picture. Still, I wasn’t giving him the satisfaction of agreeing. “Well, she’s not the only one who thinks your teammate is insufferable.”
His gaze flicked back to me, sharper now, as if I’d just offered him a challenge. “What about me?” he asked. “Do I fall into the insufferable category too?”
I let the question hang, slowly spinning Roxie’s abandoned drink while his eyes stayed fixed on me. He was too confident, too sure I’d say what everyone else probably did—that he was charming, captivating, the guy you couldn’t help but like.
Eventually, I stopped spinning the glass and met his gaze head-on. “I don’t really know you.”
His brow lifted. “That’s a diplomatic answer.”
“It’s the truth.” I shrugged. “Your reputation? Sure, that’s hard to miss. But reputations aren’t the same as people.”
Something flickered across his face then, something that looked almost like surprise. He leaned back on his stool, cue stick balanced loosely in one hand, and gave ashort laugh. “You think my reputation is all smoke and mirrors?”
I tilted my head, watching him carefully. Smoke and mirrors … that had me thinking ofTheWriteGuy, since the title of his book wasShadow, Smoke, and Mirrors. But I couldn’t be thinking about him right now. When talking to a guy like Talon, I needed to have my wits about me.
Finally, I said, “I think it’d be exhausting to live up to one.”
For a second, his smile wavered. Just a hair, but enough for me to notice. He swirled the glass of water in his hand, eyes dropping to his drink before cutting back to me. “You’re not wrong. The guys had to drag me out tonight.”
I blinked. That wasn’t the kind of line I’d expected from Talon Everhart. Not the guy who was supposed to thrive on attention, who always looked at ease with the spotlight burning bright on him.
“Really?” I asked before I could stop myself. “You’d rather be … where?”
His mouth quirked, but not in the cocky way I’d seen before. This was smaller, almost private. “Home.”
It was such a simple answer, but it tugged at something in me.Home. Not out charming women or partying with his friends. Just … home.
I covered the sudden rush of curiosity with a light laugh. “That’s not very on-brand, Everhart.”