Offside (The Barker Triplets 1)

For a moment she considered the possibility. Considered her options. It had been so long since she’d been touched that the idea was almost appealing. Except the glow of throwing sex with Shane in Bobbi’s face would fade fast and as much as she disliked her sister at the moment, there was a line no sister should ever cross.

Ever.

Shane Gallagher was off limits.

“It’s nothing to me,” he moved toward the entrance. “I just think if you cared enough to play, you should put in an appearance is all. You’re part of the team whether they want you to be or not.”

Billie chewed on her bottom lip. What could having a beer hurt?

“All right, just one.”

Besides, when Bobbi found out she’d gone out for beers with Shane she’d hit the roof and that alone would be worth it.

Chapter Six

Logan finished his beer, pushed the empty bottle toward Duke, and reached into the front pocket of his jeans for his keys.

The owner of The Grill looked grumpy as hell and his attitude was even worse. Rumor had it, he and his wife were on the outs and that talk was from a few days ago. Duke grabbed the empty bottle and glared at him. “You want another?”

It was obvious he and the wife were still out of sorts.

“I don’t have all night, Forest.”

Logan shook his head and rolled his shoulders. It had been a long day—truthfully, a long week—and he was ready to call it a night. His teammates were downing jugs of beer but he wasn’t in the mood to celebrate. Not really. His break-up with Sabrina hadn’t gone well and it had bugged him all week.

He ran fingers along his jaw, keys jangling in his free hand. That was an understatement. The woman had gone into full blown cry mode and he felt like an absolute shit. She’d used the L word and even now it made him wince. But what the hell? He’d never promised her love. He’d never promised her anything except a good time. No fault. No foul.

But still…

He shook his head. “Nah, I should head home.”

And he would have too, except Shane Gallagher strode into The Grill with none other than Billie-Jo Barker on his heels. They had his instant attention, but then again, they had the attention of the entire bar. Gallagher the ex-con and Billie the upstart woman who was on the tongue of every gossip king and queen in New Waterford.

Shane put his hand to her back and prodded her forward toward the bar. Toward Logan and Duke. Toward the entire team of Angry Pirates. Toward Dearling who looked like an ass-hat with chicken-wing sauce all over his face and his mouth open so wide he’d catch flies for sure. Jason Danvers however, grinned slowly and leaned back in his chair.

Logan didn’t much care for the calculated, predatorily look on Danver’s face. He didn’t much care for Shane’s hand on Billie’s back either, which was something he didn’t want to think about.

“Are you staying or leaving?” Duke asked one more time.

“I’ll take another,” he answered without thinking.

“Huh.”

Logan grabbed the cold beer and nodded as Shane slid into the seat beside him, while they both watched Billie head for the ladies room.

“I’ll take two cold ones, Duke,” Gallagher signalled the big man behind the bar.

“I didn’t think she was coming out,” Logan said, taking a swig from his bottle.

Shane’s eyes lingered on Billie for a half second too long and then he shrugged. “I’m kind of glad she did.”

“Gallagher,” Logan started, keeping his gaze level as Shane swung back toward him. “She’s Bobbi’s sister. Are you really gonna go there?”

For a moment Shane’s eyes darkened and his mouth thinned. He nodded as Duke set two cold beers in front of him and then took a long, generous swig before he spoke.

“Bobbi and I are old news,” He shrugged. “I don’t think she gives a shit who I’m seeing or who I might be interested in.”

“They’re women...sisters,” Logan answered. “Trust me, they care about that kind of crap.”