“Small towns, right?” Rosey says. “Ever watch Superman?”

“Conversational whiplash,” Fisher says.

Rosey shakes her head. “I know you’re not clad in black leather or anything, but I bet the three of you looked like those Zod villains walking down Main Street.”

“Day made. I always wanted to be a comic book villain,” Jack says.

“I think that’s Leo’s kink, isn’t it?” Worth says.

“He just got there before me. There’s no way I would have let Mystique out of my sight if I’d met her first.”

I raise my eyebrows. “You have a crush on Mystique, or you have a crush on Jules?”

Jack shakes it off. “Nah. Well, not now anyway, she’s my sister-in-law.”

We all exchange glances. I never picked up on Jack having a crush on Jules, Leo’s wife. Maybe I’m reading too much into what he’s saying.

“I’m lost,” Rosey says, breaking through the awkwardness of the moment.

“Me too,” I confess.

“Come on,” Fisher says. “Let’s play pool.” He nods at the table in the back.

“I’ll leave you to it,” Rosey says as everyone moves off.

I turn back to her. “Come with us.”

She shakes her head. “You should have time with your friends. It’s so nice they came all this way to surprise you. It’s the kind of thing you expect brothers to do. But not the reality of what brothers would actually do. These guys care about you.” There’s a sadness in her tone I’m not used to.

“The way brothers should act?” I ask.

She shrugs and glances away. There’s something there, but she clearly doesn’t want to talk about it.

“I want you to hang out with us.” I say it because I don’t want her to be sad, but also because I want her around. I like her. She’s fun and so are my friends. They’ll all get along.

Our gazes lock as she decides what to do. I don’t want her to stay if she doesn’t want to. But I think she does.

“Okay,” she says. “But I can’t play pool.”

I sling my arm around her shoulders before I can second-guess myself or worry about what the town grapevine will say. I just want to be myself tonight. When New York comes to Star Falls, I just want to soak it all in and enjoy.

We head over to the table where Jack and Fisher have already started to play. “Maybe I’ll teach you.”

She slides her hand into the back pocket of my jeans. “Has anyone ever told you, you have a really nice ass?”

I chuckle and catch Worth’s eye as we head towards the back.

“Just neighbors, huh?” Worth says, handing us both pool cues. We take them and separate—reluctantly.

“Tell me about New York,” I say. “Remind me what I’m missing.”