Chapter Eight

Caleb watched from the side as Reid started placing the balls into the triangle. The others were watching intently, just like the crowd the two at the table had built up were. Usually the pool tables aren't this popular. But the new girl's effortless defeat of the school dick, Aaron Abbott, had been something to watch.

"I hope she kicks Reid butt," Tyler said from the rim of his glass.

Reid, hearing what he said, turned to look at him and subtly flipped him off. Tyler snorted and the guys chuckled.

"I don't think she will, no matter how good she is," Pogue said quietly giving Caleb and Tyler the look.

They knew he would use his powers if he could. Though he was skilled without them, he couldn't help but to give himself a little extra.

They all watched on as Reid flipped the coin.

"Heads," they heard the girl say.

Reid caught the coin and slapped it on the table. He revealed tails. Her face never revealed anything. Caleb watched her as she focused on Reid and the table. She seemed as though she was hiding behind a mask of neutrality. Nothing slipped up since he had been watching. It made he wonder what she was working so hard to hide.

Georgina could feel the rest of the Son's eyes on her. Instead of worrying over it, she kept her poker face and watched Reid break. Like her time before, it was a great start. He potted a colored ball straight away. This streak lasted for three balls before he missed his fourth shot. He was so focused up till then that she found herself watching him more than the game. When he missed he cursed under his breath and stepped away from the table letting her start.

She checked out where all her striped balls were. There was nothing she could pick up so she just started by potting the easy shots. She started on her fifth ball when she knew it would miss the pocket. It bounced off the edge of the bumper back into the table. A small moan went through the crowd.

Reid had four balls left while she had three. While Reid lined up his next shot, she could see a way for getting all her balls on her next go. Checking Reid, who was deliberating over what to do as his balls were blocked by either the black ball or hers, she knew she had this game tied up.

She saw Reid shoot the Sons a glance and what she thought was a smirk and then bent down to shot. He was angled to shoot at the bumper then bounce off and hit one of his balls, but it was a long shot at least. He focused on the ball and she felt something she hasn't felt since she was nine years old. Someone was pulling power to them. Shooting a look at the Sons and then at Reid, she saw a faint ring of fire extend from his eye. It was brief but it did the job.

Reid shot the white ball. It bounced off the bumper and rebounded to his ball sending it into the left middle pocket. But it didn't stop there. It carried on, missing her balls and the black ball and went sailing into his remaining balls that were one in front of the other. The impact sent them both into the bottom right corner pocket.

Applauses for the shot went around the circle. Reid stood up and smiled at them as he walked around the table to the finish the game by potting the black. She frowned to herself. She didn't understand how she could be feeling someone outside her family use their power. When she was younger she could feel her Uncle and cousins use. They all could. A cheer bought her attention back to the game.

Looking up, she saw Reid stood at the head of the table. He was holding his hands up in mock nonchalant as the crowd clapped and whistled. Reid held onto his cue as he looked at Georgina. Like a switch had flipped, she went from confusion to annoyance. Not once had she used her power to win a staked game. Sure she sharked games but never cheated.

"I guess I won, huh?" Reid said from across the table.

"Double or nothing," Georgina replied, keeping her emotions on lock down. Her voice carried over the crowd. The noise around them died down.

Reid smile stayed in place as he glanced at the Sons. Georgina could have sworn she saw the tall one give Reid a shake of the head.

"You don't like to lose?" Reid asked.

"No," Georgina said. "I just like the challenge," she added appealing to his ego.

Reid crossed his arms and looked at her from under his eyelashes.

"The price?"

"Name it."

"A date," he answered after a pause. "And you wear a dress."

Georgina heard comments ripple through the crowd. She gritted her teeth from his cocky attitude, but smiled to herself when she thought about her plan.

"Fine. Shall we start?"

"Woah," he said hold a halting hand. "What's your price?"

"I don't have one. I just want to play."

Reid raised a questioning eyebrow but shrugged his shoulders like she already had lost and started racking up. When he was done he flipped the coin.

"Heads," she said. Third time lucky.

After he removed his hand, she saw the face side up. Without even looking at anyone, she focused in on the game. Breaking wasn't as good as her first game, but she potted two stripes and one color.

Choosing stripes, she carried on. In the zone, she managed to pot nearly all her balls. When she came to her seventh and last one, she got too cocky and over shot it. The ball sailed towards the pocket she aimed for, but bounced hard off the bumper and shot towards the opposite corner pocket. She hoped it would go in, but instead it stopped barely an inch from the pocket, right next to the black ball.

Reid pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on and started his go. He was great until his fourth ball. It was another trick shot that would have been impossible to do. Covering herself, she walked to the chalk and made sure no one could see her eyes. She felt Reid pull his power. But she was already ahead of him. With black eyes she managed to block the power he sent to his ball. When he hit it, instead of doing what he wanted to, the white ball missed and sailed straight into the pocket.

Releasing her power, she tried hard not to smile at Reid's confused expression. He leaned on his stick as he subtly looked behind him. Georgina watched out of the corner of her eye as the Sons gave each other the same look. They had no idea why his power didn't work.

Walking to the ball space, she bent and picked up the white ball. Holding it in her hand she looked at her remaining balls. She knew that if she potted one the other would fly off making the shot nearly impossible to finish before Reid could take back the game. She knew a shot that could pot them both, but it was tricky and she had only done it a handful of times.

Taking the ball with her, she checked the cues in the rack. She heard murmuring behind her as they all wondered what the hell she was doing. There was a thin small wall cabinet next to the rack. Pulling it open and peeking inside she found what she was looking for. It was a stock cupboard for the pool tables. There was ruffled notepads with track records, chalk cubes, an extra triangle and a masse cue.

Taking the cue, she leaned them on the wall as she took off her jacket and put in over a vacant seat. Picking the shorter one back up she walked to the table and chalked up the dry cue. A masse cue is shorter with a thicker point. It was used mostly for masse shots were you needed more power. Walking to the left corner pocket where her striped ball and the black ball were, she placed the white ball right next to the striped ball, close enough that they were touching. The odds of her making this difficult shot were low, but she had to give it a go.

Lifting her leg up onto the table for extra support, she lifted the cue till it was vertical to the table. She could feel the stick pressed against her neck and under her ear. Holding her fingers against her leg to stop the cue from moving, she carefully picked the spot on the ball. Without over thinking it, she hit the white ball with a bang. At first movement, the white ball hit the striped ball into the pocket.

Watching the white ball, she knew she had done it. It spun on its axis with enough velocity, that as it shot off, it slowed and turned 180 degrees and came shooting back to the black ball. With a click, the white ball nudged the black ball over the edge and into the pocket.

The crowd watching went crazy, clapping, hooting and cheering. Even Georgina let out a victory laugh. She looked up to see Reid still confused about his power not working, but even he was awed at the shot.

He slowly walked around the table with his arms still crossed. When he stood next to Georgina he opened his mouth and gestured at the table with one hand.

"I, eh, I have to admit. I'm a little impressed," Reid admitted. His blue eyes looking down at her.

"Only a little?" Georgina teased with a straight face.

"It's more than most people get," Reid said with his trademark smile.

Georgina snorted silently through her nose. He stared down at her. Usually she could handle the looks and gazes from men. She just looked right through them. But this time it was different. She let her eyes drop, casually checking him out…again. The crowd around them had started to disperse except the Sons.

"So," Reid said softly. "About the wager. What did you have in mind?"

She looked up and saw him looking intently at her. She was about to come up with some smart remark. But a shiver ran up her spine. Frowning, she looked down as she lifted up her hand. It shook. Remembering who was watching, she clenched her hand.

"Hey," Reid said, clearly seeing her hand and the change in her. "Are you okay?"

"Er, yeah," Georgina said quickly. She grabbed her jacket and put it on. "I have to go. I forgot I had to be somewhere," she added quietly.

Though she tried to not let it show, she was scared. Usually when the shivers started she didn't have long before the convulsions began. She went to leave when Reid grabbed her arm. Nearly freaking out from the first contact she's had from someone in a long time, she jumped and tensed her arm.

Reid seeing the look in her face let go of her and held his hands up.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he stated seriously with a frown.

Georgina knew she was behaving like a freak. She saw the concerned puzzled look in Reid's face and through her peripherals she noticed the Sons and the two girls watching.

"Forget it," she mumbled quietly, keeping her eyes to the floor and quickly made her way out of the bar.