by Staci Hart
His lean, muscular chest rose and fell with a sigh, and he looked in the direction of my eyeline. “Bathroom maybe? I don’t know.”
“Things are going well, then?”
“It’s just … different. You know.”
I didn’t, and I didn’t care to. “She seems really sweet, Dex. I’m happy for you.”
His face turned to mine, but I kept my eyes in front of me, not wanting to meet his gaze. I could feel the weight, the hot intention, and a wave of revolt rose in me.
Especially when he said, “Are you?”
Two little words that held a deeper question and a darker promise.
“I am,” I said with the canned smile I gave when put on the spot.
“So what’s up with this guy?” he asked, keeping me pinned to the spot with his eyes. “You guys serious?”
My smile faded with the streak of anger that shot up my spine. “You mean like you and Elsie?”
The asshole didn’t even flinch.
“I mean, I didn’t move in with him, but I guess there’s still time.”
“Stella, come on. You can’t blame me for asking.”
My eyes narrowed with mock scrutiny. “I can’t? Because last I heard, we weren’t ever committed, monogamous, or even what you would call together. It’s just a shame I didn’t figure out I deserved better before I accidentally fell for you.” The second the words left my lips, I wished I could reel them back in—I’d never admitted it to him, and he was too fucking stupid to have seen it for himself. “So the way I see it, it’s none of your goddamn business who I’m dating or how serious it is.”
He saw what he thought was a window and took another step closer, invading my space. “You weren’t the only one who fell.”
“Could have fucking fooled me.”
Before he could answer, I felt another hand—the right hand—on my hip.
I leaned into Levi, breathing a silent Thank God into the humid air.
“Hey, Dex,” Levi said, somehow with both levity and warning, as he handed me my drink. “I think I just saw Elsie looking for you. Probably oughta go find her.”
Dex stepped back two paces as Levi spoke, his face a mask under a mask with a painted-on smile. “Thanks for the heads-up. See you around,” he said only to me, his eyes alive with meaning.
And mercifully, he gave us his back.
I sighed my relief and turned to Levi, reaching up on my tiptoes to lay a bruising kiss on him.
When our lips parted, he smiled down at me, but his eyes were guarded. “What was that for?”
“Do I need a reason?” I teased.
“I’m not complaining. You can use me to piss him off any day of the week.”
I frowned. “That’s not why I kissed you. I wanted to thank you for saving me from the biggest chicken in the joint.”
“But you know he saw it too. Can’t hurt, right?” His voice was light. The rest of him was pitch-black.
I took a step back, eyeing him. “I don’t feel the need to hurt him, Levi. In fact, I haven’t thought of him like that since the second I met you. I know we’re temporary and not serious and what-the-hell-ever else you want to call us, but the least you can do is trust that I’m here with you. Because unlike you, I’ve given no reason to mistrust me. I mean, Jesus, Levi.”
His face softened to regret. “I’m sorry, Stella.” I let him step closer. “It’s …” He looked into the crowd as if he’d find the words there. “I don’t know that I’ll ever feel like I belong here. Or believe you belong with a guy like me instead of a guy like Dex.”
“A self-centered asshole?”
“A trust-fund kid from your world. So it’s easier to make how I feel about you less than it is. Knowing I’m leaving. Knowing where we are. What we are.” He turned those dark eyes on me. “I believe you. I trust you. And if he puts his hands on you again, I’ll break his wing.”
I laughed, relaxing into him. “First of all, you belong here just as much as anyone. Have you ever stopped to consider it’s you who keeps drawing the line in the sand?”
He paused. “Once or twice.”
“So wipe it away. You’re the only one who can.”
Levi’s smile flicked up on one side. “And what’s the second thing?”
“On inspection, seeing you jealous is pretty hot.”
“Glad it makes you happy. I’ll punch him in the beak if you want.”
Another laugh.
“I’m not kidding. Say the word, and I’ll turn his face inside out.”
“How about instead, you kiss me and promise not to question my devotion again?”
His arm wound around me, his lips tilting into a smirk. “You’re devoted to me?”
“Desperately, darling,” I said like a Golden Age movie star as he moved in for a kiss.
“Good. Let’s keep it that way.”
And the kiss he laid on me made certain I would.
18
Smart Little Cookie
LEVI
A couple of hours and a couple more bars passed, and I found myself standing at a table on the edge of the dance floor, watching with amusement as a flock of chickens bounced around to the music. Funnier still—watching Stella, whose mascot head was flipped around backward and staring at Betty’s while Betty slapped her ass.
Honestly, I didn’t know how she left the sauna trap on. I’d resigned myself to wearing mine coming and going from bars as well as in transit, which was its own spectacle. A whole other flock followed ours, one with cameras and questions shouted over the rattling of the shopping cart as I pushed Stella toward our next destination. And she’d smiled and waved down at them all from her throne of disco balls like the queen she was.
I was lucky as fuck and not afraid to admit it.
How I’d managed to convince her to forgive my lie was beyond me. Truth be told, I didn’t quite believe I deserved it, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to talk her out of it. And as such, I’d set out to make the most of the second chance and ensure she didn’t regret giving it to me.
The second I’d seen her in the diner, my first thought had been that she was Cecelia Beaton. But the more I thought about it, the less I believed it. Stella was free in a way I’d never known, never believed existed. And her untethered nature made her being the mastermind of the whole thing almost impossible to believe. Although, I still had a suspicion that she knew who Cecelia Beaton was. But I told her I’d let it go, and I kept my promises.
I respected the group and Stella too much to break that trust.
Zelda pulled up next to me with her eyes on the crowd. “If Ash grinds his hips any harder, he’s gonna get Joss pregnant.”
I snorted a laugh and took a sip of my whiskey. “Probably wouldn’t be the first time. He might be the king of immaculate conception.”
“Nothing immaculate about that.” Z wore a little smile but didn’t laugh back. “So you’re the reporter.”
“I’m the reporter,” I echoed.
“You were wise to lie, even though you’re a fucker for doing it. You’re lucky Stella likes you. It’s probably the only reason Ash still has a pulse.”
“I’m not gonna hurt any of you.”
“I know. That’s the only reason why you still have a pulse.” She took a long pull of whatever she was drinking. “She likes you. A little too much, if I’m being honest.”
“Is there ever a time when you’re not honest?”
“Not one. It’s just who I am as a person, Levi.”
“Never said I didn’t appreciate it.”
She smirked over at me before looking over the dance floor again. “Thing is, Stella has a knack for getting involved with two kinds of men: the kind she shouldn’t trust and the unavailable ones. And you, my friend, are unavailable. The jury’s still out on the trust thing.”
I didn’t argue, didn’t say anything, just watched Stella out there on the dance floor and wished I could have it all.
“The last guy who did this to her wasn’t just unavailable—he was
an asshole. And one thing you aren’t is that.”
“Even though I lied?”
“Even though you lied, which was shitty and fucked up, by the way. But you never lied about how you felt about her. Did you?”
“Never. I don’t think I could if I wanted to.”
“Exactly. You’re nothing like him.”
We fell silent for a beat, our gazes falling on the man in question. His arm was around that sweet, smiling little girl who was too busy chatting with her friend to notice him watching Stella with all the possession I’d been. Except he had no right to her. And the look on his face made me want to separate his jugular from his throat with my bare hands.
As if he’d heard the thought, he looked right at me, and the testosterone-charged rage that zipped between us was almost tangible. I’d tear that scrawny motherfucker limb from limb if he so much as squared his shoulders.
Sadly, he didn’t.
I took another drink when he lost the staring contest. “So is this where you tell me not to hurt her?”
“Oh, I don’t think I need to tell you that,” Z said with the velvety sheen of a black cat. “You’re a smart little cookie. You know what’s what. But what you may be blind to—she’s in deeper than she realizes.”
At that, I turned to gauge Z’s earnestness and found it was verifiable, even without her looking back at me.
“Stella believes you’re telling the truth about the whole reporter thing, and although she can be a pretty shitty judge of character, I’m not. And I believe you too, especially after you gave her veto power on whatever you write. Something about your face.”
“I’ve been told it is a nice face.”
Z rolled her eyes. “Modest too.”
“Said the kettle to the pot.”
A little laugh. “But you should know something about Stella—no matter how hard she might try, she doesn’t do halfway. Flings aren’t in her nature. Stella Spencer was made for love, and not a single man in her acquaintance has ever been able to provide it, not in the way she wants or needs or gives. I won’t tell you not to hurt her because I don’t believe you would—on purpose. But I’ll warn you to be careful. Because if you aren’t, you’ll hurt her whether you want to or not.”
I nodded somberly with the weight of a sinking cinder block in my chest. “That’s fair advice, Z.”
“Well, I’m helpful like that. Stella trusts you, and I trust her implicitly. Plus, I like you. It’s a shame you’re leaving.”
“That it is,” I answered with genuine regret.
“Although it’s not like you’re leaving forever, right?”
“No, not forever. But I don’t know how long it will be. Could be a few weeks. Months. A year. Can’t exactly ask her to wait for me.”
“Oh, I don’t know—you seem capable enough.” She reached over and grabbed my chin in her thumb and forefinger to open and close it as she sang in a teenybopper voice, “I just met you, and this is crazy, but while I’m gone, wait for me maybe.”
I chuckled when she let me go. “You make it sound so simple.”
“It is. What’s it hurt to ask?”
But my cynicism ran too deep to hope. “We barely know each other, Z. I’ll be on the other side of the world in a war zone while she’s here.” I nodded to the dance floor. “She needs somebody who can be here with her.”
“I’d like to take a moment to note that she spent two years trying to convince herself what she had with Dex was healthy. If she put up with that, I can almost guarantee she’d at least want to try when it comes to you.”
I drew a long breath through my nose and let it out slow. “I’ll think about it.”
Z shot me a warning look.
“Not because I don’t want to,” I clarified. “But this wasn’t part of the plan. I just want to give it a second, make sure this is what we both want before we make any promises.”
“It wasn’t part of the plan. But take a look around, Levi, because I think it’s time to make new plans.”
Before I could answer, Stella bounded toward us and flung herself at me in the best way. Thank God I didn’t drop her, seeing as how I only had one free hand.
I heard her muffled laughter from inside her mask. “I wanna kiss you, but I can’t.”
“Then we’d better get this thing off of you. Now.”
Her arms relaxed, and I put her down so she could rid herself of the gigantic mask. I set my drink next to it on the table so I could have both hands to smooth her damp, wavy hair and thumb the mascara from under her eyes. Those eyes were bright as starlight, blinding me from everything but her. Her face, so small in my hands, her smiling lips, the whole of her teeming with joy and vibrance that affected me in ways I couldn’t have anticipated. It was a contact high, a secondhand buzz, but even diluted, she was made of potent stuff.
And I kissed her salty lips in the hopes of another hit.
It’s time to make new plans.
The words echoed in every heartbeat. Because even though I’d thought I had everything I wanted, I was wrong.
And the girl in my arms was proof.
STELLA
We followed Z out of the fourth—fifth?—bar as she pushed the shopping cart out the doors with the rest of us in her wake. We pulled over just outside of the doors to put on our masks, but before I could don mine, Levi propped his on the handle and picked me up.
“Come on, princess. Up you go.”
I laughed as he deposited me on the mound of disco balls, which was super uncomfortable but better than the hell I’d pay for walking around in these shoes. And before he handed over my mask, he stole a kiss that had me looking forward to a hot shower with a naked, soapy Levi.
When our masks were on, Z shouted, “Tallyho!” and in a train of chaos, we made our way to the next bar.
Everyone we passed stared and laughed and took pictures, and some were even brave enough to follow us like we were the Pied Piper. Levi pushed the cart, and I held on for dear life—it wasn’t a smooth ride—while everyone sang and skipped and made an absolute spectacle. People waved, and we waved back. Paparazzi had staked out our route and lit up a path of flashbulbs to mark our way. And it seemed all was well and merry.
We heard the sirens before we saw them, the pack of us slowing, then stopping, looking at each other like we’d find an answer. Were they coming for us? Should we run or just keep on keeping on?
When they turned onto our block and headed straight for us, we knew.
People scattered in every direction, but we stayed together. Levi took off running with the cart bumbling in front of him, and thank God—there was no way I was running in these shoes, which I was already working on unbuckling.
“Come on,” he yelled. “If we can get inside the bar, we should be okay.”
My ass bounced on one of the disco balls, the little mirrors cutting my back and legs, and my teeth rattled as we barreled toward the bar. Cop cars screeched to a halt at the curb next to us, splayed at all angles in their haste.
“NYPD. Stop where you are!”
I turned to look behind us and found a trio of cops on our trail. Another three flanked us. My heart was a machine gun.
Because this was it.
In six months, no one in our group had been arrested. And tonight, that streak ended.
A cop car pulled onto the sidewalk at an alarming speed, blocking our path. My scream echoed inside my mask at my certainty that I was about to fly ass over tit when the cart hit the car, but Levi threw all his weight backward, stopping me at the very last second.
Just in time for eight pistols to point at a pack of idiots dressed in chicken costumes.
19
Clucks and Schmucks
STELLA
The clock on the wall outside the holding cell ticked about as fast as a sloth high on Ambien.
Somehow, we’d reached five in the morning, and I’d felt every single minute. Levi’s shoulder might as well have been a Posturepedic for as comforting as it felt under
my cheek. But there wasn’t much we could do besides lean into each other, seeing as how we were handcuffed.
This made peeing a true challenge. It might have even been funny had a female cop not been staring down her nose at me through the whole ordeal. We’d been denied our phone calls, citing that the pay phones were unavailable, but we’d be able to Just as soon as they’re free.
The whole thing was bullshit. We weren’t being booked, just detained under “protective custody” until we were no longer a menace to society. AKA sober, which we were as of hours ago, but they had the right to hold us for seventy-two hours unless I could get a goddamn lawyer here to bust us all out.
Without a phone call, my odds weren’t looking good.
Z was asleep, head against the cinder-block wall, Betty’s head in her lap. Joss used Betty’s torso like a pillow, and Tag and Ash sat shoulder to shoulder, blinking at a TV screen outside the windows of the cell. Other inhabitants included two bums who smelled like an August dumpster at noon, a guy who’d held up a liquor store, a couple of prostitutes, a drug dealer, and half a dozen other Bright Young Things, all of whom were part of the core group.
This fact hadn’t escaped me. If I hadn’t known it was a setup, I would have figured it out just on that.
I yawned again, and Levi started with a jerk.
“I’m sorry to wake you,” I said with a voice like sandpaper.
But he sighed, angling to kiss the top of my head. “Don’t be. You okay?”
“My new bracelets are gonna leave a mark, but yeah. I just want to get home where a hot shower and my bed await.”
He hummed his longing. “Mind if I come with you?”
“Please do. After this, I don’t think I want to be alone.”
“I don’t want you to be alone either,” he said quietly.
A cop approached, and we all perked up as she unlocked the door with a jangle. Immediately on entering, she made eye contact with me. I had no idea whether that was a good or a bad thing.