Lili Hops, the sister of Sheriff Nathan Hops...
Couldn't she leave him alone for five minutes.
Her incessant chattering...
was giving him a headache.
And Goren had to take it on himself.
He was seriously losing his strength to hold on much longer.
Even if Hops' sister was a pretty girl...
With her long copper curls, her big green jade eyes, her porcelain complexion, and her little freckles on her little nose...
Nothing could match Eames' beauty for Goren.
And Goren could not take his eyes off Eames.
Who was only interested in Hops.
Totally ignoring him.
If he had known...
He wouldn't have attended that meal...
And would have stayed with Molly.
Instead of putting her to bed so early.
Sure, Molly was a chatterbox.
But she...
She cared about him.
Didn't make fried whiting eyes at some shitty Sheriff Hops.
And just the thought of Eames keeping his eyes on Hops, and blushing every now and then at his every word...
Goren wanted to wring the neck of that handsome man Nathan.
If he were dead...
Maybe his corpse-like complexion would keep Eames away.
What a great idea.
But he pulled himself together.
He could never do such a thing.
Besides...
Why had his great-aunt Cathy put him so far away from Eames.
Sure, she was right in front of him.
But it was not the same to have her as to have her next to him.
Here she was next to Hops...
Seeing him was sticking to him.
And with every word he spoke, she looked transfixed.
Making Goren feel a black anger.
Why when he...
He showed her his intelligence...
She was not subjugated.
It didn't make sense.
He had always thought that her intelligence was part of her charm.
But with Eames it didn't seem to work.
How could she be interested in someone who was stupid.
And above all...
full of himself.
It was hard to understand.
Hops was far from being a very intelligent person.
The proof...
He talked too much about himself.
And he was not interested in what Eames had to say.
But he...
He drank up every word he said.
Goren saw Nathan move his hand closer to Eames, touching him.
Goren's anger increased at this gesture.
Goren's anger increased and he found it more and more difficult to contain it, so much so that he held the fork in his left hand, bending it, and his knuckles were white.
Of what right this handsome it allowed it even to touch the fingers of Eames.
Never in five years of partnership...
Goren had never dared to even touch Eames' fingers.
And he...
A stranger...
He allowed himself to be so familiar.
And Eames, who said nothing...
Let him do it.
And he thought she was a feminist through and through.
And here...
She was proving him wrong.
Maybe he should have...
But he had never dared.
Eames intimidated him too much.
So maybe he should change his strategy...
And instead of taking it easy...
Don't waste another second.
Or Hops would steal Eames from under his nose.
And he couldn't do anything about it.
Cathy could not take her eyes off her nephew.
He who had never refused a meal...
Or even a discussion...
Tonight...
Goren didn't eat anything.
His plate was always full.
And not a single piece of meat or vegetable had been touched.
Moreover...
He didn't say a word.
It wasn't like her nephew to stand in such silence and not eat anything.
Cathy could see that Goren was more focused on Eames than on his partner on the left.
And the way he was clutching his fork in his hand...
Cathy would not have liked to be the utensil.
She could see that there was a problem.
And that problem was none other than Sheriff Hops chatting with Eames.
Cathy had thought that if the sheriff's sister was keeping Goren company, he would have easily turned away from Eames, and taken care of her.
But he didn't.
Still...
It was a pity.
Because Lili was not only very pretty...
But she was also very nice.
But nothing had helped.
His nephew had not left Eames of the glance of the evening.
And since she was placed right in front of him...
It was even worse.
He could see everything of the show between Eames and Hops.
Had she done well to invite Sheriff Hops and his sister...
She was beginning to doubt it.
She had thought they would all have a good time.
Seeing her nephew...
She understood that she was mistaken.
Moreover...
Goren's reaction confirmed the suspicions she had had from the beginning.
If her nephew had taken Eames it was not because she was just his partner.
To him...
She was much more.
And tonight...
The way he reacted to seeing her with the sheriff...
Confirmed it for him.
His idiot nephew had a crush on his work partner.
- Have a nice ride home Sheriff Hops... Lili…
No sooner had Cathy closed the door behind her guests, than Goren took Eames' hand in his, intertwined his fingers with hers, and gently pulled her along, forcing her to follow him.
- Where are you taking me...
Or was he taking her...
Eames would find out very quickly.
But the why...
Maybe she wouldn't agree.
But he still had to try.
Especially after that awful night.
Where Hops hadn't stopped being a sweetheart with Eames.
He had to stop trying to take it slow.
And finally decide to act.
Goren stopped in front of the library door, opened the door, pushed it gently inside, looked behind him to see that no one was there or following him, like his great-aunt, whom they had left at the front door alone, without a word, and seeing no one, he entered the room, closed the door behind him.
- Can you explain to me what we're doing in the library at this hour?
Goren walked into the room, and sat down in front of a chair that he pointed out to Eames, where a coffee table stood between them.
Eames looked at him skeptically.
What the hell was he up to?
All evening...
Goren had not been very good company.
He had shut himself up in silence.
Which he never did.
And as soon as she looked at him...
He made a dirty face.
He had the features of the face pulled...
And in his brown eyes...
She could read a black anger, ready to explode, that she had never seen in his eyes.
- I propose a little game.
I'm sorry.
Goren was offering her a game.
Was he forgetting the taciturn Goren he had been all evening...
And from which a dull anger was only missing to come out.
And now...
He was very calm.
Without any anger.
As if nothing had happened.
Eames did not understand anything anymore.
Didn't understand him anymore.
Goren had always been a complex person for Eames.
But tonight...
It was worse.
She couldn't understand him anymore.
Could something have changed between them...
That was the mystery.
Goren took out a set of checkers, and placed it in front of him, setting up the pieces.
- If you take a pawn from me...
At these words, Eames snapped out of her thoughts, and looked at a Goren who was placing the white pieces in front of her, and the black ones in front of him.
If she took a pawn from him...
What did he mean by that...
- You can choose a truth or dare...
Oh...
A truth or dare...
So that was it.
He wanted to play truth or dare...
But with checkers.
A mixture of two games in one.
Or mix in a new rule.
But it was that this checkers game looked interesting.
Especially...
Goren had no idea that in checkers...
She was the champion.
So every checker she took from Goren...
Eames could ask her any question she wanted.
And then...
She could know some of his little secrets.
So why not.
- Okay... Eames came and sat down on the chair in front of Goren, and put her hands on either side of the checker board on the coffee table. I'll play.
Bingo.
From Eames' enthusiasm, Goren knew he had hit the nail on the head.
What's more...
He could see that Eames thought she was already a winner.
If she had known what she was getting into...
Maybe she would have refused.
A sardonic smile appeared on Goren's lips.
Maybe he would finally get the answers he wanted.
And why not…
A little kiss as a token.
Goren was really looking forward to taking Eames' counters.
He was already enjoying it.
Tonight...
He was going to beat Sheriff Hops to the punch.