Page 94 of Joker

She’s smiling. That should concern me.

“Do I need to be worried?” I ask.

“Yes,” Mac says.

“No,” Emma says at the exact same time.

Kya grins into her drink. “Probably.”

Shaina lifts her bottle.

Every woman around me does the same. And for one brief second, I feel something shift in the air again.

Not dramatic. Not heavy. Just…inclusion. Like I’m standing at the edge of something old and familiar to them, and instead of leaving me outside it, they’re making space.

Shaina’s eyes meet mine. Then she says, in a voice that carries just enough to make Mac start laughing before she’s even halfway through it: “We drink to those who love us, we drink to those who don’t. We drink to those who fuck us, and fuck those who won’t.”

Mac nearly chokes.

Kya is already laughing.

Emma just shakes her head like she’s heard it a thousand times and still somehow finds it funny.

And I laugh.

Actually laugh. The kind that slips out before I can stop it, warm and surprised and a little disbelieving.

Shaina watches me for one second, then clinks her bottle lightly against mine.

“There,” she says. “Now you’re less suspicious.”

I raise a brow. “Less?”

“Don’t push it.”

That makes me laugh again. And when I take my first drink a second later, it goes down easier than it probably should.

Emma hands me another drink before I can ask what’s in it. “Try this.”

I take a cautious sip. It’s stronger than I expect and a little sweeter too, enough to go down easily if you’re not paying attention.

Mac lifts her bottle toward me. “There she is.”

“There who is?” I ask.

“The woman who is leaving that room and acting like a human.”

Kya snorts into her drink. “Give her five minutes before she threatens to go back to her room.”

I take another sip and look around.

Raven one week ago would’ve had every nerve on edge in a room like this. Raven now still has most of them on edge, if I’m being honest. But less. Less than before.

That should probably scare me more than it does.

The women keep talking, drawing me into small conversations that don’t require anything heavy. Casey and Amy come over once to grab popcorn and report that Lexi is absolutely fine, Jason is down for the count, and Gio has been outvoted on movie choice but is “dealing with it like a man,” which, judging by Amy’s face, means complaining nonstop from a nest of blankets.

That image alone nearly softens me clean through.