Rough and Tumble by CRYSTAL GREEN Read Free Book Online Page A

olive-branch smile that thanked Sofia and Molly for letting her have this flight of fancy and, dammit, how could Sofia be mad at her after that? Arden had always been irrepressible, unlike Sofia, who was much more of a Molly-type bookworm.
    But with another glance at Molly, who was smiling like a fool, as if she were remembering her slumming time at the bar with the biker, Sofia thought that she might be the last standing member of the Braintrust Club on this trip.
    Hooper paused in his shuffling. “I don’t think I have to verse you all in the finer details of ten-card draw.”
    All the players chuckled with assurance, and Hooper started up with his tricks again. Rhonda had a subtly arrogant smile on her face, and Sofia decided she was going to keep an eye on her instead of Hooper. She didn’t like that smile. Was it one of those “tells” that revealed she was . . . What did they call them? Card sharks?
    Ah, what did she know about poker. The game didn’t interest her. But Arden was still eagerly watching Hooper like a child gazing at a magician during a birthday party, and Sofia couldn’t help an indulgent grin.
    The sound of a phone vibrating caught Sofia’s attention, and Molly leaned her head back with a frustrated sound.
    â€œPlease don’t be Margaret,” she murmured.
    Molly’s sister was always texting, asking for money so she could survive as an artist. And now that Molly didn’t have a job, she’d obviously been dreading every message.
    Molly fished her cell out of her purse, looking at the screen and sliding off her stool.
    â€œHuh,” she said. “It’s a text from one of my ex-coworkers. She says to give her a call about a lead she might have on another job with a firm run by her old college roommate.” Molly’s green-blue eyes shone. “Sof, I can’t talk to her when I’m drunk!”
    Please, God, please have this happen for Molly
. “Yes, you can! Just act sober, Mol. You can absolutely do that.” She grasped her friend’s wrist. “A new job! Genhaven can
eat
it!”
    She could see Molly putting her mind to getting sober, breathing in, closing her eyes, then breathing out. When she opened her eyes again, she was the ice princess who could shoot a guy down across a bar with only a glance, the brain who could probably balance the country’s budget if they just gave her the books.
    â€œWin one for the Gipper,” Sofia said, slapping Molly’s back on her way out. “Go.”
    As Molly headed for a back door opposite the bar area, Arden’s gaze followed her, pulled away from Hooper as he distributed the poker chips.
    When Arden frowned at Sofia—
what’s going on?
—Sofia gave her a thumbs-up. Arden gave her one back. She was happy, and that made Sofia happy, although she could already tell she was going to be bored out of her skull until Arden either blew her stack of chips or decided to call it quits.
    Just before Hooper began to deal, one more person walked into the room from the bar door in back of Sofia, and the first thing she saw as he loosely approached the table was a nice, tight butt in blue jeans.
    The biker dude who’d been flirting with Molly earlier?
    Thank God Molly wasn’t in here. It wasn’t that Sofia thought Molly would ever go
there
, but, then again, even Molly had the capacity for surprises in her, especially after a few cocktails. She could be distant, that was true, but sometimes that wasn’t the case at all. There were times she did things that made Sofia look twice, like when they’d all traveled to Baja in their midtwenties and Arden had dared Molly to skinny-dip at the beach at sunset. No one had thought she’d really do it, but there’d been a few margaritas involved and—whoop!—off came Molly’s bikini top. As they’d all laughed in shock, she’d pressed her arms over her chest and run toward