Prologue

Jacob continued folding and unfolding the wallet size photograph in his hand. The creases looked like straight lines of white snow and matched the pearly whites of the woman in the photo.

"Jake, man, you gotta let her go. That photo's starting to get ripe; you've kept it for so long." Matt teased, nudging Jacob with his shoulder and taking a quick swig of his beer. He let out a deep, loud belch and wiped his mouth with his forearm. "Look around you! You've got your choice of hot chicks here." He waved over to the bartender and placed his now empty beer bottle off to the side of the counter. "Another beer," Matt ordered. He waited for a reassuring nod from the man behind the counter before shifting in his seat to face his friend.

The photo was still pinched between Jacob's fingers as he stared at it, his green eyes meeting the brown ones in the picture. Matt snatched the photograph from his friend's hand and held it out in front of him. "Seriously man . . ." He flicked the photograph with one of his fingers. "Let her go. She's hot, she was yours, but now she's gone." He slammed the photo down on the counter and into the wet circle the bottle of his beer had created. "Do you even know where she moved to?"

Jacob bit his lip and peeled the picture off the wet ring on the counter. "Claire told me she moved somewhere in the Midwest." He gently wiped the photograph against the sleeve of his shirt.

"Claire told you? Claire also told you that beer makes guys asses. What the hell does Claire know." Matt let out another belch. The bartender made his way over to the two men. He popped open a beer and set it in front of the already drunk Matt.

"Well I'll find out where Shelly did move to and I'll call her." Jake slowly folded the picture again and slipped it into the breast pocket of his shirt. "Just to see how she's doing . . ."

Matt chuckled a little and slammed down some green to pay for his drink. He took a long gulp from the bottle and shook his head at the counter. "Jake, Jake, Jake." He gave his friend a hearty pat on the back and hopped off the bar stool. "If you're this pathetic as a twenty-one-year-old, I'd just love to see you when you're fifty, man." Matt clumsily stumbled his way over to a few of his and Jacob's frat buddies by the pool table in the corner of the bar.

Jacob watched his friend stumble to the other side of the room and then turned back to face the counter. He took out the photo again and set it down, folded, on the shiny, wooden counter-top. He stared at it and sighed. He slowly slid it off the counter and watched it land in the small trash can on the other side.

Matt glanced back at his friend from the pool table. He tried to adjust his blurred vision by blinking numerous times but it did no good.

"You were supposed to do it last night." One of the men at the pool table growled under his breath at Matt. "Get it done tonight or another group will get at him first." The man bent down next to the pool table and positioned the cue.

"I know . . . tonight. Geez, don't get your panties all in a twist." Matt leaned against the side of the table with his beer still in hand.

The man glared up at Matt for a moment before aiming once again at the ball closest to him. "You better . . ." He pulled back the cue and knocked the ball into the rest. Matt watched the balls scatter around the table. Each one rolled into a pocket except for the eight ball which kept its spot. "We have to get to him first." He handed Matt the cue and smirked.