Amber quickly found herself feeling self-conscious under their stares. She’d given serious thought to making the right impressions. She went with black jeans and a flattering white top, wanting to make sure she looked good without obviously going all-out. Nothing she had said could possibly have been insulting or odd. She glanced at Jason to find an equally perplexed expression on his face.
“Is something wrong?” she ventured.
“Nothin’,” Drew answered evenly, giving a slow, brief shake of his head. Wade sighed. Drew held out a hand toward him, not looking away from Amber. Wade fished out a billfold, peeled off a twenty and handed it to him. “Nice to meet you,” Drew smiled as he put the bill in his pocket.
“Likewise,” she replied slowly.
“The fuck was that?” asked Jason, his brow furrowing and his eyes on Wade as the other man stepped around the pool table to get back to his shot.
“Bad call on mah part,” Wade shrugged. His eyes were back on his game, but his tone was perfectly friendly.
“Did you just lose a bet?” Amber pressed, her lips quirking in a grin.
“Yup. So Jason didn’t mention you b’fore. How’d y’all meet?”
“We just met today,” Jason answered, a mild touch of irritation evident in his voice. “Amber’s still new in town and I thought it’d be nice to bring her out to meet some cool people. You guys happen to know any, maybe?”
“Ah might’ve met a couple before,” grinned Wade. He sank his shot and rounded the table to line up for his next.
“Where you from, Amber?” Drew asked. He moved over to one of the tall chairs by their small table for drinks, pulling his jacket off to make room for her. His tone and smile became considerably warmer.
“I’m from Oly,” Amber said, taking him up on his invitation to sit at the table. “And yes, we met in class today. You two go to UW?”
“I don’t start ‘til next quarter,” said Drew. “Just been workin’ since I got out of high school.”
“Ah’m at North Seattle Community,” Wade answered. “Ain’t yet decided when ah’m gonna transfer.”
Amber already felt much more welcome. “Where do you work, Drew?”
The Bureau taught her to be observant. She noticed the quick, questioning glance Drew threw at Jason before he answered, though not Jason’s wordless response, whatever it had been. “Here, lately,” Drew said. “Mostly day stuff, helping with inventory and the records. I’m kind of on hold for actual service work ‘til I turn twenty-one next week. Alcohol laws and all that, y’know?”
“Oh, that’s awesome,” Amber smiled. “Big birthday plans in the works?”
“Think I’ve got one person or another takin’ me out to dinner every night that week, but we usually save the birthday party for Halloween. We’ve got another friend who was actually born on the day, so it should be a big thing. Got a big costume ball in the city we’re all going to this year.”
“Is Sherri coming?” Jason asked. “Are you two official now?”
“Officially over,” Drew shook his head.
“Aw, what happened?”
“I guess I was too much of a distraction from her school work. That’s what she said, anyway.”
“Callin’ it,” announced Wade, who had been on a roll while no one else was looking. “Side pocket.” One stroke of his cue stick later, Wade smiled up at Drew with a triumphant look, then glanced to the others. “Who’s next?”
Amber looked to Jason and shrugged. “Anyone else likely to show up soon? Should we wait?”
“Nah, they can wait us out,” Jason decided. “Two on two?”
“All good,” said Drew as he racked up the balls. “Amber, you wanna break?”
“I can do that,” she accepted. Amber picked a cue stick off the rack on the wall, then moved around to the end of the table. She waited for Drew to clear out. Set up the cue ball. Lined up her shot. Glanced up, once, at movement on the other side of the table. Spiked the ball in shock as her brain registered what she saw.
The dark-haired stunner on the other side of the table caught the flying cue ball without the slightest break in her composure. Amber’s mind nearly went blank as she just stared. The newcomer smiled gently, rolling the cue ball back across the table to its starting point.
“Hello,” the woman said. She glanced to the young men around the table. “Gentlemen. Who’s this?”
“Lorelei, this is Amber,” Jason spoke up. “She’s a classmate of mine.”
Amber blinked. She couldn’t believe that Jason or the others could speak so comfortably with her. Why weren’t they just as awed? Hell, they were guys, and young ones, too-why weren’t they more awed?
The woman rounded the table to offer her hand. She looked noticeably older than the rest of them, perhaps around thirty, though with unfairly perfect skin and a figure that women would kill for. Amber slowly took the woman’s hand, shook it, and mumbled out a greeting. She couldn’t tell if Lorelei didn’t realize how taken aback she was or if the older woman was simply too gracious to draw any attention to it. Amber suspected the latter.
As she shook it off, Lorelei asked, “You said you’re here with Jason?”
“Yeah-huh,” Amber nodded.
Lorelei’s cool smile remained. She slipped over to stand next to Drew. He didn’t look her way, but he waited with his hand out and a smug smile as she fished a twenty from her purse.
* * *
“You don’t need to play your cards so close to the chest, you know,” Lorelei told her as they got to the bar. “They’re trustworthy. They like you already.”
Not for the first time that evening, Amber found herself taken aback. A dozen replies came to mind, none of them honest. She chose the most non-committaclass="underline" “What do you mean?”
Lorelei favored her with a quiet, sly grin. “You ask much more than you tell,” she observed. “I can’t blame you. They’re an interesting crowd. Yet I can’t help but think you hide things about yourself. You need not.”
“Am I that obvious?”
“No,” Lorelei replied. “Not obvious at all. You’re good.” Her tone was so cool and knowing that it made Amber nervous. “They are all sharp young men-I would not spend my time with them otherwise-but they haven’t caught on just yet. I’m a little more practiced at reading people. You needn’t be so guarded, Amber. You might be surprised at how accepting they are.”
“I bet everyone’s accepting of you,” Amber huffed. It hadn’t taken long for her to get over her initial shock, but she’d spent the last hour trying to piece together why a woman like Lorelei hung out with these guys. That her boyfriend was part of the circle of friends was perfectly clear; that she had great affection for all of them was also obvious. Yet even so, the casual socializing just didn’t seem to add up. Who the hell was this woman, and just how much did she suspect?
“That’s a loaded topic. Ahmed, hello,” Lorelei said to the older man behind the bar. “Gin and tonic for me, and for my friend…?” She looked to Amber.
“Guinness,” answered the younger woman. She paused to choose her words as Ahmed moved off to fill the order. “I dunno. After everything that happened with my last boyfriend and all that, I guess I’m a little gun-shy.”
“I don’t think that’s it, no,” Lorelei mused, thoughtfully looking her over. “You haven’t decided whether you’re attracted to Jason or not, but you find him intriguing and you enjoy his company. You suspect there’s much more under the surface, and you’re right about that.”
“I am?”
“He’s not suave, I’ll grant, but he’s honest with himself about who he is. He’s a strong soul. Witty. Resourceful. Exceedingly brave and loyal.” Lorelei leaned back on the bar, looking to the group of young men. “You’ll have to earn the stories,” she added with a smile. “He’s also quite intelligent. He knows that bringing you out to meet his friends runs the risk that you’ll find one of them more attractive.”