2. Lux

TWO

LUX

What the fuck was I doing in here?

I pondered on that while slowly sipping my beer, and glanced over to Ace who seemed to be wondering the exact same thing as he stared at the condensation dripping down his bottle.

On second thoughts, I'd bet my watch collection he was still thinking about an article in Cosmo he'd been reading this morning, titled The Sex Angle You've Never Tried , because he hadn't stopped talking about it all day.

He'd been talking about it so much I could probably try it, without ever having read it. I could probably find someone in here to try it with. Better yet, if I could guarantee that girl was still in Brown's, I'd sprint back there right now and try it with her.

In fact, I'd take every edition of Cosmo and lock us away for a month.

Fuck. She'd been something else.

"Why are we in here again?" Parker dropped into the seat next to me, wiped his hands on a paper napkin, and reached into the jar of pretzels and popcorn which had been on the table when we arrived. I couldn't be bothered to tell him that eating them would likely involve a one-way trip to the pharmacist for Imodium. "It's mostly students." He glanced around the room. "Correction, it's all students. I swear, you could catch something in the bathroom if you're not careful."

Yeah. That was the question. Why were we in a sweaty dive bar near Columbia University, with floors so sticky they'd be banned under the MLB's foreign substance rule? I'd be picking out popcorn from the soles of my sneakers all week.

Even the TVs weren't showing anything good. From what I could tell, it was a darts game from a month ago. Fucking darts .

"Because…" Tanner began with a loud mom-style huff, like he'd already told us a thousand times and none of us had listened – a very probable scenario, "it's near the grounds, and there's beer and a pool table. And two-for-one chicken wings."

"We have beer and a pool table at home."

"True," he nodded, "but we're fresh from being knocked out of the post season. I thought we could use the distraction. We don't have this atmosphere at home."

"Or the wings."

"Or the sticky floors," I mumbled through another sip of beer. To be fair to this establishment, the beer was decent.

Parker nudged me. "We have sticky floors when Tanner's been unsupervised at home for too long."

Ace, Parker, and I all barked out a loud laugh. Tanner didn't find it so funny.

"Whatever," he grumbled, his bottom lip pursing in a deep sulk as he pushed Ace away with a big shove before he found himself roped into a hug. "Get off. "

Ace let go, although the grin he was wearing never moved. "Somebody's butthurt."

Tanner put his bottle down and crossed his arms, his scowl moving slowly around the table at the three of us. "We drive past this place every day on the way to the stadium and I've always wanted to see inside. I don't care what you guys think, I like it, and I didn't want to sit at home on the PlayStation going over what we could have done better." He twisted around, waving his hand through the air. "It's busy, so it can't be that shitty. Everyone loves pool."

Ace hid his smile, but the man had a point.

It was busy – getting busy – busier than when we'd walked in for sure. In the past twenty minutes, I'd seen at least three big groups of guys enter.

I didn't know much about student bars on a Wednesday night, or any bars particularly, but I hadn't expected it to be quite so popular. It was based on a quiet street we always used as a cut through to the Lions Stadium, though I couldn't recall ever seeing anyone coming or going from it.

I'd been wrong.

What was more unusual was the fact that the four of us were sitting in full-sight, in a booth across from the bar, and not one person had paid any attention to us.

"You're right, Tan." My gaze slowly moved through the space; past the TV with darts, past another group of guys walking through the big swing entrance doors toward the brick archway at the other end, leading to where the pool tables were – where everyone seemed to be headed. "Bringing us to the one place in New York that couldn't give two shits about baseball is a great idea."

Parker looked up from his phone. "We'll get there next year. "

"Hey, we got further than The Yankees and The Mets did, that's all Shepherd cares about," Ace replied, taking a long draw on his beer, his amusement still very present.

I shook my head. "No, we need to make the World Series next year. We've already proved we can beat both, he wants more now. He wants The Commissioner's Trophy."

"Don't we all."

The four of us nodded in silence. Ace went back to thinking about Cosmo; Tanner was still looking butthurt; Parker, who'd been unanimously voted in charge of finding vacation options for our next trip, went back to his phone screen.

I was still scanning the room and about to join Parker in vacation hunting, when my eye caught on a guy standing by one of the brick pillars. It wasn't that he was by himself, or that he didn't appear to have taken advantage of the five-dollar beer and wings, or that he looked like he'd rather be anywhere else. None of those things.

I'd seen him before, and I couldn't figure out where.

I didn't go enough places to randomly bump into people I knew, and I'd never been here before.

"What about Greece?"

"What about Greece?" Tanner asked as he peeled off the label from his bottle and began shredding it.

Parker passed his phone over and tapped the screen. "For vacation? We can charter a jet for tomorrow, fly overnight, and be on the beach Friday morning."

"Tomorrow?" The look on Tanner's face made it clear he thought Parker had lost his mind. "I need more than tonight to pack. It's already seven."

"Dude, you only need swim shorts."

"We agreed vacation starts Monday." He shook his head. " I can't leave tomorrow, anyway. My sister's coming to stay this weekend."

I tore my eyes away from the dude by the pillar. "And when were you going to tell us?"

"She just told me today, and I'm telling you now…"

"She can take my bed," Parker grinned, and Tanner scowled quickly, a thick line appearing on his brow as his glare deepened.

"Just because Scout's got a boyfriend, doesn't mean you hit on my sister," he shot back, at which point Ace and I both held our hands out before a punch-up ensued, because we were veering dangerously close to that happening.

We had been since Parker had discovered the unwelcome news a month ago.

Scout Davison was a girl on the social media team, and why Parker had become a season regular on The Lions social channels. For reasons only known to himself, he'd been biding his time before asking her out… and then Ace had told him it was too late.

Scout was no longer single.

Since then, his mood had been increasingly volatile; flip-flopping between not caring in the slightest that the girl he'd been crushing on all year had hooked up with someone else, and only answering in monosyllabic sentences and appearing to be on the verge of tears.

We'd mostly avoided the subject, but it seemed joking about someone's sister justified a cheap shot back.

"Can we get back to the task in hand please? Where are we going on vacation? And for the record, I vote we stick to Mexico or the Caribbean. Greece is too far."

"Barbados?" offered up Ace, which Tanner objected to on the counts of it being too boring .

Parker snatched his phone back and began swiping again. "Hang on."

I looked over to the guy again. Where the fuck had I…

My hand smashed down hard enough on the table that beer rose up the necks of the bottles, and foamed over the top. My three companions stopped arguing about the merits of Cancun versus Cabo, but over my dead body were we going to Cancun.

"Dude! What the fuck?"

I paused, nodding over to the brick column. "See that guy? Does he look weird to you?"

Tanner and Ace turned around; Parker leaned forward slightly, like the extra six inches would help him see better. After ten seconds of staring, everyone got bored and turned back, which only deepened my frown.

Tanner shrugged. "Not really. He doesn't seem to be enjoying himself though. He's just standing there. Why?"

"I saw him this afternoon."

His brows rose slowly as he became marginally more interested. "Huh. Where?"

My mind snapped back to her, like she was tied on the end of a rubber band.

That girl.

I'd turned down the row of bookshelves to see her reaching way too high, and didn't give a second thought before I jogged up to help. In hindsight I wish I'd waited; I wish I'd given myself enough time to commit more of her to memory.

From the back and twenty yards away, she'd been a goddamn bombshell.

Up close, I'd never seen anyone like her. I'd almost been rendered speechless .

Her eyes were the color of fall, that indiscernible golden-y bronze; lips that reminded me of the summer peaches my mom brought home from the market on Fridays, and pale toffee hair spun from a million different shades of blonde and brown all tied up in a thick ponytail that slowly swayed down her back.

Except as I stood there drinking her in, it felt like I already knew her. Or perhaps it was wishful thinking because Ace had been banging on about Cosmo all day. I hadn't been able to shake it.

It had been driving me crazy.

Ace snapped his fingers in front of my face. "Where?"

"Brown's."

"There's your answer, only weirdos hang out in bookstores." The corner of Tanner's mouth twitched as Parker high-fived him, their squabble forgotten.

Ace ignored the pair of them. "What was he doing in Brown's?"

"I dunno. He… uh, I dunno. Something was off."

It didn't sound right to say the dude had stared. It's what people did when they saw me. My height made me stand out, and once they'd stared long enough, they realized who they were staring at. I'd had enough practice to know when someone was staring in admiration, and that guy hadn't been. I'd also had enough practice with not staring back, and they were usually forgotten the second they were out of sight.

But there'd been something about him…

"Maybe he's a Yankees fan. They're all fucking weird."

I was about to reply that was probably it, but instead, my mouth dropped. A group of students standing around the nearest pool table parted right down the middle. My wishful thinking had somehow worked, because there, so clear she could be under a spotlight, was the girl.

Holy shit.

Had I been sitting at this fucking table listening to Parker and Tanner argue about girls, and vacations, and whatever other bullshit that had come out of their mouths, when I could have been grabbing a second chance with the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen? How long had she been in here? How long had we been under the same roof?

How the fuck had I missed her?

I wasn't sure, but now I had my eyes on her, I couldn't drag them away.

Someone's fingers snapped in front of my face. "Earth to Lux!"

My eyes flicked to Ace for a second, but only a second, before they returned to her. "Wh… what?"

"What are you looking at?" Tanner twisted around to see the pool table. "Whoa."

That did it. My attention had finally been got.

"Don't even think about it," I warned, making it clear any further opinions/actions/ideas any of them were about to have were not welcome.

I may as well have beat my fists over my chest, because I was claiming her. That's correct, enter into the record right now that at seven something p.m. on a Wednesday in this shitty bar I couldn't remember the name of, I was full-on claiming that girl as mine.

"Who is she?"

Now there was the question of the day, and the answer was one I intended to find out before the night was over. Preferably in the next five minutes.

Maybe I'd be able to try this sex angle after all .

My head shook slowly while I soaked her in for the second time today. I didn't even blink as I watched her dust the end of a pool cue and skirt around the table. Her eyes narrowed on the spread of balls in front of her as she weighed her options. I couldn't look away; every cell in my body was tuned into the way her ponytail swished as she looked up at another girl by the table. Those plump, peachy lips I'd been thinking about curled in a wide smile right before she took the shot, and sank the ball in the corner pocket.

Fuck me.

This afternoon she'd been mute, almost Bambi like, as though I'd been a car heading straight toward her. But now, I'd trade my left nut to see her smile again. And the right, come to think of it.

"I dunno. I saw her in Brown's."

Ace's brows pulled together in a frown. "She looks familiar. Has she already paid a visit to Casa Greyskull?"

"You've probably already hooked up with her," added Parker.

I shook my head. No. No way. I'd definitely remember, but before I could stop it, my blood hit a low boil.

"Wait. Please tell me none of you dickheads has?" My voice was more of a snarl.

I forced out an exhale as they all shook their heads, and ignored the amusement on their faces.

"She's popular though… look at the guys near her table, they're all watching. Her friend's hot too. Very hot."

Ace and Tanner turned around again. Now the four of us were watching the show, watching what Parker had noticed. He was right. Every guy in here was staring, some more subtly than others, definitely more subtle than the dipshit taking a selfie with her in the background .

Even I could see his screen.

I didn't like it, didn't like it one bit. A dark, heavy thud in my chest confirmed it.

Is this what cavemen felt like?

Fuck, I'd spoken two words to her, spent barely five minutes in her presence, and here I was, ready to fight every guy in here – especially the one staring at her ass as she bent over for the next shot.

Je- zus . The curves on her should be illegal. I didn't even know an ass could look like that in jeans – peachy, grabbable, supple enough for me to sink my fingers into. It deserved to be on a pedestal. In fact, the second I got home I was going to build one and place her on top, seeing as she was coming with me.

From this angle I couldn't see her play, but from the expression on the other girl's face, and the way she dropped her head with a slow shake, I'd say she made it. And won.

Game over.

The two of them moved to the bar, and the heads of nearly everyone followed their path. I noticed a couple nudging each other, but if the girls saw, they didn't let on.

"How do you know her?"

My head snapped back to Ace. "What d'you say?"

He chuckled, his mouth holding onto a smirk. "How do you know her? I've seen her before, I'm sure of it."

"I don't. I met her for the first time this afternoon, but I know what you mean. She does seem familiar." I picked up my beer again, searching the bar until I found her standing near the end of it. "Don't you think it's weird I've seen her and that guy twice today in the same place? I thought he was with her in Brown's, yet it doesn't seem like they even know each other in here. "

In fact, the more I thought about it, the deeper my brows knotted. It was weird, and I didn't believe in coincidences. There he was, still standing in the corner, face like he'd stepped in shit.

Parker, Tanner, and Ace all swiveled around in the direction of the weirdo again, all subtle as a sledgehammer, while I found her in the crowds, right as her friend walked off toward the bathrooms. She was alone, and based on the two guys inching their way toward her, I wasn't the only one who'd noticed.

Fuck it.

"I'll be back."

Tanner yelled something after me, but I was already too far away to hear it. I slowed my approach and watched her. Something had happened since I'd left the table; the girl who'd been playing pool and smiling with her friend five minutes ago was gone; in her place was one with her head down, twisting her hands together and staring at her nails in that way like you wanted to appear carefree, but your insides were doing the exact opposite.

I knew the feeling well.

By the time she'd decided her nails weren't that interesting and looked up, I was in front of her. This afternoon she'd come up to my shoulder standing on her stool, now she barely came up to my chest.

It did nothing to quiet the caveman inside me.

Her neck jerked back. Bright amber eyes flashed wide under a thick fan of black lashes, a split second before confusion fogged her features and she let out a small gasp.

I gave her my best smile, the one I knew got the most likes on social media. "Hello, again."

An entire story played out in her expression; her nose scrunched causing the smattering of freckles to almost vanish, a tiny crease appeared in the center of her cheekbone, like a dimple which hadn't fully formed, and two straight lines ran between her brows as they dropped. Whatever the story was, I desperately wanted to read it. I'd stay up all night.

I didn't notice it earlier because I was likely too distracted by the way her eyes widened as she peered up at me, but she smelled fucking amazing . Not florally or sugary like some girls did; she smelled like fall or a new bucket of balls – eucalyptus, leather, and spice, with a hint of citrus.

It was making my head spin.

"What are you doing here?" she spoke finally, and I didn't miss the small bite to her tone.

"I'm having a beer with my buddies." I pointed over to the boys, all three of whom waved back and grinned like the idiots they were.

Her eyes narrowed and it took another second for her to speak again. "Are you following me?"

I stepped back, confused and… no… just straight up confused at the odd question, not to mention the way she was scowling at me – like a little army of flaming arrows were ready to be fired from the narrow slits of her eyes.

"Um, no."

"Are you a student?"

I slowly spun around, in case she was speaking to someone else, but all I could see was another crowd of students, and the boys watching like they were only missing a bucket of popcorn.

"Do I look like a student?"

I tried to hold in the smile as she gave me a once over – slow enough for me to determine she liked what she saw, but not so slow that she thought she was making it obvious. It was a move I knew well, from years of girls hoping to get my attention, but from her it was different. She'd had my attention since the first time I'd spotted her. Finally, she leaned back with her arms crossed over her chest, and a face full of suspicion. "Then why are you in here?"

Yes! Now we had a question I could answer. "Honestly, no fucking clue. Why are you in here?"

"My friend wanted to play pool. We just finished."

"I saw. Congratulations on the victory." I grinned again, leaning against the bar for the sole reason of getting closer to her height, and so I could breathe her in; memorize every note of her scent. She tracked my movement, flashing to my muscles again and back to my eyes which had never left hers.

I just about stopped my chest from puffing.

"Were you watching me?"

"Yes."

"And now?"

"I came to save you," I replied.

"Save me?"

"Yeah."

I don't know how she managed it, but her eyes narrowed even further. I couldn't even see the gold of her iris, and judging by the way her lips pursed, boy, was that the wrong thing to say.

"Do I look like I need saving?"

I should have said no, and left it. Any minute now she'd be breathing fire. I could almost feel a ball of it building inside her, ready to shoot my way. I should walk back to the boys, but my mom always taught me you'd never live with regret if you tried first. Plus, I was finding this fierce, argumentative little blondie kind of hot .

Yeah, the longer she looked at me like that… I was definitely getting turned on.

"Kinda." I grinned wider, wondering if that ball of fire inside her might actually explode. "Let's call it a preemptive save because you're on your own, and I couldn't help but notice you seem very popular tonight. So, I came to ask what you would like to drink, then you're going to give me your number."

She let out a cute little snort, like I'd imagine a baby dragon would make, followed by a less cute splutter, but managed to rescue herself before she broke into an all-out coughing fit. Her arms tightened across her chest. "Oh really, and what makes you so special?"

Another easy answer. "Look at me."

Her mouth dropped open, just like I hoped it would. There's no way she wasn't used to guys hitting on her, but from the way her cheeks flushed and her eyes widened in shock, you'd never guess. I liked it. I liked making her blush. It wasn't often that I met a girl who didn't immediately put their hands on my chest, or run them along my biceps and tell me what an enormous fan they were of my game… among other things.

Maybe I never had.

This whole time my focus had been glued to her and her alone, but my sixth sense had been in overdrive. Right now, the alarm was sounding about a couple of guys inching closer to us, both of them holding phones. They hadn't realized the mirrors behind the bar were reflecting every step. Morons.

I didn't play center field for nothing. My lightning reflexes attested to that as I reached behind me and snatched the closest one from the hand of its owner.

Compared to me, most people were smaller, but the moron I'd stolen the phone from was small by anyone's standards – twig like, with weedy little arms that had never seen the inside of a gym – and the outrage died on his face when he took one look at me.

"Hey, you wanna take a picture with a lady, ask her first, dipshit," I snarled before he could object.

Moron Two had already moved way back. He was clearly the smarter one.

"Now fuck off, the pair of you. You can get your phone from the bartender when it's closing time, and tell your friends."

I stood there glaring until they beat a hasty retreat to the group of guys they were with.

All of them shuffled to another area, nearer the pool tables.

I turned back to the reason I was standing in this – now very crowded – bar, amazed that I'd been able to tear myself away from her in the first place. This time, the scowl had been replaced by a smile, a little slightly confused smile, but a smile nonetheless. And fuck me again , she wasn't just pretty, she was the type of beautiful poets wrote sonnets about.

"Thank you."

I stepped closer, trying to shield her from anyone who attempted to make the same mistake. "You wanna tell me why everyone's trying to get a selfie with you?"

"Um…" her smile dropped, and she brushed her fingers against her brow. For the first time, I noticed a large purpling bruise.

"Hey, what happened to your head?"

She hastily straightened her bangs, and the apple of her cheeks glowed bright pink, but I never got the answer because that was the moment the brunette she'd been playing pool with decided to return. She – very annoyingly – wedged herself almost in between us, wearing an even bigger and more suspicious glare than the one I'd been privy to for the last five minutes.

"Who are you, and what do you think you're doing?"

I had to hand it to these girls; they certainly weren't sugar and spice and all things nice. Both could do with working on their greetings, especially this new one with her fists balled on her hips like she was about to save the day.

Except that was my job.

"Saving the day, and waiting for Goldilocks here to give me her number. Who are you?"

"I'm her best friend, and she's not going to."

I met her glare with my second-best smile, and I held back from telling her that setting a challenge only made it more fun. "We'll see."

I looked back to my mystery girl, to find her frowning at me again .

"You're gonna change your mind."

"I'm not," she huffed lightly, her brows dropping again as she sucked in her lip. "I don't know you... do I?"

I wasn't going to tell her I'd been wondering the exact same thing. I never got to be a mystery guy, and she'd find out soon enough. "Only in your dreams, Goldilocks."

"Gimme a break," scoffed the best friend. "I'm gonna need a puke bag."

I chuckled and turned to the bartender, gesturing for six beers. He placed them down and I slid the moron's phone over to him for safe keeping, along with a couple of twenties. Leaving two beers on the counter for the girls, I picked up the other four.

"See you later, Goldilocks. Bye, Best Friend, and try not to leave her to fend off the wolves by herself next time. "

As I walked away, all I could see in the mirror's reflection was their confused faces.