Anger surges through me that Michael would be so proprietary. Sure, we’ve been friends for a few years but geez… we went out on two dates. I’m not his girl.

I smoothly shrug his arm off my shoulder and step forward to take Zach’s cue from his hand. “It’s my turn, right?”

“Actually, it’s Kelly’s,” Zach says, and then turns to Michael. “And to answer your original question… No. This is not a step above what I’m used to. I find this modern existence to be dull at the best of times, uninspiring at the worst.”

“Excuse me?” Michael says in disbelief.

“This modern world you live in. Everything handed to you and you do nothing overly hard to get it. You don’t know what it’s like to truly live until you need to focus all of your daily energies on avoiding death. You swing through a drive-thru for your evening meal while I go out and kill my food every day. You don’t know how safe you are until you have to walk a daily path where at any moment, a deadly snake can strike at your ankle. Sure, you have your fast cars, loud music, and expensive meals at fancy restaurants, but you know what I think about all of that?”

Michael just shakes his head, his mouth hanging slightly open.

“I find it boring,” Zach says. “Unfulfilling. A plastic attempt to take life by the horns.”

“Well, I don’t think that is really what I was trying to say,” Michael stammers.

Zach’s voice is menacing and filled with derision, and although I know his words have momentarily stunned Michael, I know he won’t take lightly the backhanded slap that he’s just been dealt. Reaching my hands up, I put them on Michael’s chest and turn him toward the bar. “Look… why don’t you and Philip go get a drink and then you guys can get in on the next game, okay?

Michael glances over at Zach briefly, and then dips his head down. “I didn’t mean to offend him. He’s a little over reactive, don’t you think?”

“It’s fine,” I assure him just to get him away from Zach. “Just be a little more sensitive. I told you it was hard for him to leave his home.”

“Sure,” Michael says before he heads off to the bar.

When I turn back around, Zach is standing there. “It’s your turn now. Kelly just shot.”

Placing my hand on his forearm, I say, “Zach… I’m sorry. I didn’t invite Michael here tonight, and I apologize for his thoughtless words to you.”

Zach shrugs his shoulders. “We have thoughtless people in Caraica too, Moira. I’ve heard worse.”

“Thanks for being a good sport,” I tell him, giving his arm a squeeze before I release it.

“Come on, Moira,” Kelly calls out from the other side of the pool table. “Quit yapping and start playing.”

I turn toward the pool table, but Zach’s hand snakes out and catches me by my wrist. I turn to look back at him, and his stare is intent. “What is this man to you?”

“Well… he’s a friend.”

“But you went out on a date with him. He touches you a lot. Do you want to have sex with him?”

Taking a deep breath, I let it out. “No, Zach. I don’t want that.”

“I don’t like this feeling I have,” Zach says with his brows furrowed in consternation. “I don’t like watching him put his hands on you.”

“It’s nothing,” I assure him, although I’m pretty positive that’s possessiveness and jealousy that Zach is feeling right now.

“It is something, Moira. I’ve watched many of my tribe mates f**k Tukaba in the dirt not five feet from me. It never bothered me to share her. But this bothers me.”

Pleasure courses through me as I realize that for all the times that Zach bemoaned the loss of his Tukaba to me, that she was nothing more than a convenient vessel for his release. I thought he viewed me the same way, but it’s clear to me now that Zach is developing some feelings toward me.

This should dismay me because it just makes things more complicated. But on the contrary, it relieves me, because it gives credence to the fact that I’m developing some feelings myself where Zach is concerned, and it also validates that what happened this afternoon is something more than just a perverted escapade disguised as something else.

“Geez, Moira… any day now,” Lexi calls out.

“We’ll talk about this later, okay?” I tell Zach, and he gives me a nod.

Moving over to the pool table, I check out my options. I have two decent shots but we’re so far ahead of Lexi and Kelly now, I opt for the more difficult one. Bending over, I line up the five ball with the pocket, drawing my gaze back to the cue ball. Before cutting my eyes back to the five, I make the mistake of looking up at Zach. He’s watching me intently and, when our gazes meet, I know that our talk tonight is probably not going to be productive. I can see it in his eyes… hungry, hungry eyes that hold mine just a moment before dropping to my br**sts, and a shiver runs through me.

Sliding my eyes back to the five ball, I pull my cue back and let it loose.

And miss my shot by about a mile.

Lexi and Kelly snicker behind me, and I give Zach an apologetic smile as I walk back over to him. He hesitantly returns it, but his look is no less needful.

From the corner of my eye, I see Michael return with his friend and holds out a shot glass to me with a smarmy grin. “Here you go, Moira. I bought you a shot of tequila. Figured it will loosen you up a bit.”