Hard Irish
as they settled at the bar.
    Before he could even order a beer, the first thing Jared saw was the backside of a woman.  She was shooting pool on the other side of the bar.  Her heart-shaped ass was nicely framed by stonewashed jeans and topped the longest pair of legs he’d ever seen.  Men surrounding her were moaning, groaning, hooting, and hollering as she dominated the pool table.
    He watched her every move.  Svelte, classy, and determined, she angled the cue this way then that way, completely absorbed by the game, unaware of the attention.  She had her long black hair pulled back in a ponytail, wore a conservative-sized black T-shirt and as far as he could tell, had no makeup on her sun-kissed skin.  Attention wasn’t what she was after.  At least not compared to the polished and painted women he’d been through recently.
    “I can’t believe it,” James said.
    “She is something,” Jared added, forcing himself to look at his brother just to prove the woman hadn’t cast a spell over him.  James’s confused frown as he glanced up from the gleaming bar, clued Jared in that they weren’t on the same page.  He nodded toward the woman.  “I’m talking about her.  What can’t you believe?”
    “Christ!  I’m going through the biggest crisis of my life and you’re checking out the local meat market?”
    Jared clenched his jaw.   James’s words set him off.  Without the distraction of the job site, James had fallen back into his premonition funk.  “Bro, I’m telling you now.  Don’t go reading more into what Dad said. It was just an old story a ten-year-old boy believed.”
    “How can I not?”
    “Think about it.  When we were ten, Jackson and Jesse had us convinced there was a serial killer in the old saw mill.  Remember? We saw that fisherman slicing open a trout in a nearby creek and we both peed our pants running home from the place.  We didn’t sleep for a week and nobody could convince us the guy wasn’t a killer.  Jesse kept telling us it was just a story he and Jackson made up.
    James grinned.  “Dad tanned both their butts for it, too.”
    “Yeah.  But what did it take for us to finally believe it wasn’t true?”
    “We never did.”
    “Exactly.  Nobody could tell us differently.  We moved on, grew up, and eventually forgot about it.  Now, Dad was ten when his grandfather died.  He’s going to believe stories told about him whether or not they make sense.  And even if it is true, it doesn’t make any real difference in your situation right now.  Does it?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “You either have premonitions or you don’t and think you do.  Jesse and Jackson have been forewarned and knowing them, they aren’t going to blow off what either you or Dad said.  Jesse’s a freaking security expert.  He’ll treat this like he would any threat to his family.”
    “You think so?”
    “I do.  In fact, I will call him later and tell him exactly that.”
    James shrugged.  “I don’t know.  Part of me feels like I should be hounding their every step just so I can be there to stop whatever is going to happen from happening.”
    “Come on,” Jared motioned for James to follow him.
    “Where are we going?”
    “Out front so we can call Jesse and Jackson and tell them how you feel and to find out whether they are taking precautions or not.  If they are, then we’re putting this premonition stuff to rest for the night and coming back in for a beer.   If not, we’ll see.”  He glanced back at the woman, but couldn’t see her through the gathering crowd.
    After five minutes on the phone with Jesse, James was convinced there wasn’t anything more he could do.  Jesse had cancelled his upcoming business trip and had a security detail on himself and Jackson.
    “I’m warning you—you’ll be on your own for a bit, bro,” Jared told James.  “Before I leave here tonight, I’m getting that woman’s number or my name isn’t Weldon.”
    James raised

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