His Frozen Heart Read Online Free PDF Page A

his eyes averted, preferring instead to look at the pool table
rather than watch my approach. I wasn’t dressed as skimpily as
Libby, but I knew the skirt and boots I had on normally drew men’s
eyes to me. I smiled at him as I approached to introduce myself,
“Hi, I’m Candy.”
    His eyes roved from the pool table,
down to my boots and shyly made their way up to mine. He looked
nervous, as if two women didn’t normally invite themselves over to
play a game of pool with him. His answer was stiff,
“Tony.”
    Libby beamed from across the table,
“That should be easy to remember, Teddy and Tony,” as she gestured
to the shorter man closer to her, letting me know his name, then
she introduced me to Teddy, “This is my friend, Candy.”
    The first game went quickly. Teddy
racked, Libby broke, and she put four balls into the pocket. Teddy
took their first turn and dropped five. I put in two and Tony sunk
one. There were only three balls left on the table, and Libby won
without even having to do any fancy bank shots.
    Teddy leaned toward Libby, his eyes
glued to her outfit as if he were an inspector in a sweat shop.
“Damn, that was fast. You two want to play again?”
    Libby smiled, “Sure, we don’t have to
be anywhere for a half hour.”
    Teddy’s curiosity was piqued, “Where
are you two off to? A date?”
    Libby dismissed the idea brazenly, “On
a Tuesday night? No. Candy has a test she has to study for. I
promised if she came out with me to play a couple games, I’d make
dinner so she could study.”
    Close enough to the truth not to raise
suspicion. Teddy eyed me, “A test? You’re in college?”
    It was a fair question. Libby and I
were both twenty, so we didn’t drink, at least not in bars. We
looked young enough that we could easily be jail bait, so good for
him for checking to make sure I wasn’t in high school.
    I nodded, “Yeah, my sophomore
year.”
    His attention turned back to Libby,
“So, you two stay in the dorms?”
    Libby flirt-punched him, “No, we have
a house on the east side of town. High school was enough for me. I
work.”
    Tony had quietly racked the balls
without asking if we wanted to play again. Teddy gestured to the
table, his eyes fixed on Libby, “It’s your table. You’re going to
play us again so we can get it back, right?”
    I felt eyes on me from across the
room. I turned expecting to see Chris staring our way, but was
surprised to see a different set of eyes watching me. It took me a
second to place who they belonged to: Dave Brewer leaned up against
a wall. I hadn’t seen him since the summer after we graduated. Dave
was stalky, tall, but built solid. He was wearing dark blue jeans,
a black t-shirt stretched taut across his chest, and black boots. I
held up my hand in a half wave, but he didn’t return my wave or nod
in my direction or anything. That was odd. The two of us hadn’t
kept in touch after high school, but we were good friends our
senior year. I wanted to go over and say hi, but Libby would blow a
gasket if I did.
    I couldn’t help but steal glances in
his direction: each time I looked his way, he was staring at me.
Dave had changed a lot since high school. He had been stringy and
awkward looking, but he had filled out the last couple years. Libby
shot me a warning glance reminding me I needed to stick to the
routine. She broke again, but this time she only got three balls
in. Teddy sunk six. I put in one, Tony dropped one, and it was her
turn again. We still had three balls on the table, Teddy and Tony
were on the eight ball, Libby made it look good but missed her
shot. Before I had a chance to shoot again, the men had
won.
    So far we were seriously keeping to
Chris’s original timeframe. We’d been playing with them for less
than ten minutes. Libby went into shark-mode, “You two got lucky.
If I hadn’t missed that last one, you’d be racking again,” she
challenged.
    Teddy answered in a self-deprecating
way, “I know. You’re pretty