The cougar stalks the watering hole, desperate with hunger. Her wound is old — but deep — from a hunt gone horribly awry in her youth. She seeks out the weak and the injured — the easy prey that will not put up a dangerous fight.
"Yes, I'm at the bar, Jackie. I told you that I was going to go have a drink." Dave paused and held the phone away from his ear, his wife's voice overcoming the noise of the bar to still reach him despite the inch or so of open air.
"Well, you could have come with me." Another loud, angry retort blasted through the phone. "We didn't have to come here. We could have gone anywhere that I could get a drink. I had a hard day, and I needed..."
Dave looked at the phone when it clicked, and then pushed a button with a scowl when he saw that she had indeed hung up on him. He slipped the phone back into his jacket pocket, drained the last of his beer, and called, "Give me another one."
Her prey chosen, the cougar creeps in. She must watch carefully, waiting for the perfect moment. One mistake, and her hunt will fail. She will return to her den hungry if she reveals herself too soon. Her prey will bolt, and she lacks the energy for a prolonged chase. Her wound is too painful for that.
Dave took another long draw of his beer, and glanced over as someone sat down at the bar a couple of stools away. He couldn't help but take notice of her, dressed as she was. A short, black skirt revealed long expanses of very attractive leg, ending in heels. Her tight, low-cut top accentuated her ample breasts, revealing the valley between them.
"Can I have a Cosmo? Thanks."
Her voice had a quality that he could only call sensual. Dave quietly, almost silently snorted, and took another pull of his beer. He remembered when his wife had talked like that, as opposed to shrieking. He remembered when she'd dressed that way for him. His eyes flickered back to the woman, her breasts like a magnet to them. His wife had never had tits that big.
She took a sip of her drink, and Dave noticed her full lips, which left a crimson imprint upon the glass when she put it back down and smoothed her long, dark hair back off her left shoulder. He had no idea that he was paying so much attention to her until their eyes locked for a second, and she smiled.
The cougar's heart races as adrenaline surges through her. The danger and anticipation awaken her senses. Her hunger surges, urging her to action, but she is not new to the hunt. She resists, knowing that a swift, but unplanned strike is rarely successful.
"Hi," she said, still smiling.
Dave acknowledged her with a nod and responded, "Hello."
"This is my first time here. Is this the normal crowd?"
"More or less," Dave answered. "I've been coming here for years. It gets a bit crowded if there's a band."
"I've been looking for a new place." A sudden surge in the noise from a large group breaking out in laughter forced her to raise her voice to be heard. "A little loud, but not too bad," she said with a laugh as she picked up her drink and moved to the adjacent stool. "Marie," she offered, touching the upper swell of her right breast.
"Dave," he responded, unconsciously keeping his left hand — and the wedding ring there — hidden from view.
Marie sipped her drink and said, "You need somewhere to get away after a long day at work."
"Don't I know it," Dave said, and shook his head a little as he chuckled.
"To drinking away the idiots you work with," Marie offered, raising her glass, still wearing her infectious smile.
"Cheers," Dave agreed, raising his glass as well and drinking when she did. He knew she was flirting, and that he should know better than to go along with it, but it was making him feel good. That was the whole reason he'd come out tonight, and he figured that it was harmless.
Marie asked, "Do you play pool?"
"A little. I used to be pretty good."
"Feel like a game? I'm itching to play, but guys get the wrong idea when a girl walks back there alone — you know?"
He knew he shouldn't, but Dave was already inconspicuously removing his wedding ring and slipping it into his pocket under the guise of checking for change only a second after she finished. "Sure, why not."
"Great," Marie said, her smile growing wider. She spun on the stool and stood, cocking her hip slightly to the side.
Dave stood as well, and the pair walked back to the billiards room.
Her prey is weak, its thoughts upon its infirmities rather than the ever-present dangers of the world. The cougar senses her prey's weakened will, and vigilance. She moves still closer, her muscles tensing, coiling to strike.
Dave fought to keep his eyes in his head as his leave forced her to bend low over the table for her shot. He could see straight down her top, revealing hints of a pale yellow, lacy bra beneath, holding her over-ripe breasts contained.
Marie sank her ball, but to avoid a scratch, she once again had to let the cue ball drift into an unwelcome spot on the table. Dave stepped aside as she walked around the table to line up her next, very difficult shot. This time, he stood only a foot away as she bent, giving him an incredible view of her ass in her short skirt. Only the balls clanking together snapped him out of his trance this time.
"Shoot," Marie said as the six stopped just short of the pocket. "I should have played it safe. A blind man can make that shot."
"You were close, though," Dave said, trying to take his mind off of his swelling erection and the vivid images of her bent over the pool table in his head. "If you'd made that one, you could have run the table on me."
"I didn't though," Marie said with a laugh, just before Dave easily sunk the six.
"Leave it so she had to bend over the table again," a man at the next table said, prompting laughter and agreement from his friends around him.
Dave's expression hardened, and he scowled at the group as he walked around the table for his next shot. He smiled again moments later when Marie rolled her eyes and made a quick, dismissive gesture.
