Page 81 of After Midnight

She smiles, a soft smile that looks like it’s just for me, then turns as River and Nala come barreling into the house, Dex and Nora trailing after them.

I give Nora a hug, picking her up and twirling her around, like I’ve done since I first met her, and she laughs as I set her back down. “You met Remi?” I ask, glancing back. Remi’s at the kitchen island now, plucking grape tomatoes out of a bowl and saying something to Dex that makes him let out a sharp laugh.

“Yeah,” she says. Her hand finds my forearm, and she gives it a gentle squeeze. Quietly, she says, “I really like her.”

My eyebrows lift. Nora is notoriously hard to get to know, and she keeps her friend group super small, so hearing that she likes Remi makes me immediately feel like everything is going to be okay.

“Me too,” I say.

At that moment, Lucas starts down the stairs, and Nora and I both glance up as he descends the staircase into the living room. His lips are pulled into a frown, and he’s shoving his cell into the back pocket of his jeans. He was moody before and after the show, and seeing as Alisha isn’t here, I assume it has something to do with her. But getting Lucas to open up is like trying to wring water out of a fucking cactus.

He immediately goes to the fridge and pulls out a beer, and half of it is down his throat in one swig.

“Not good,” Nora whispers next to me.

I shake my head. “Nope. Definitely not.”

“Okay, everyone!” Jordan calls out, clapping her hands to get our focus. “Dinner’s ready. Let’s eat!”

An hour later, we’re seated around the firepit on Dex and Nora’s patio, empty plates strewn about us. Remi is next to me on the couch, and my arm is draped across her shoulders. This reminds me of the night when we were all sitting here and Alisha snapped a photo to send to Remi. But now, Remi is here and Alisha isn’t.

I glance at Lucas.

He’s been a sulky bastard all night, and I know I need to talk to him. Right now, though, Remi is pressed against my side, one hand on my thigh, and there’s no way I’m leaving this situation to try to go coax something emotional out of Lucas.

“So, Remi,” Jordan says from where she’s seated across from us, Michael beside her, “how did you get into dancing?”

My stomach tightens up. Is that rude to ask a stripper? I glance down at Remi, but she just smiles like it’s a question she gets asked all the time.

“I took a pole class in Vegas and just got hooked on it. And stripping is lucrative, so it felt like a natural progression for me.”

In his chair by himself, Lucas grumbles, “So, you just like taking your clothes off?”

At first, I get the desire to face push him, but Remi just leans forward to look around me, tipping her head at Lucas as she says, “If women would pay you money to take your clothes off, would you do it?”

The fire crackles in the pause that follows. Then a small smirk pulls on the corner of Lucas’s lips—one of the first nonsulky expressions I’ve seen on his face all night—and he says, “Fuck yeah.”

Remi smiles and settles back into her spot against me. “Exactly.”

“It looks tough,” Nora says. She’s cuddled up against Dex, and River is lying sprawled across their laps, eyes closed as Dex strokes her head.

“It’s brutal,” I say.

Everyone looks at me like I just said something confusing.

I clarify, “Remi gave me a lesson. I think I almost tore my rotator cuff.”

“I would pay to see this,” Dex says, his lip ring catching the firelight. “Film him next time, Remi.”

She glances up at me, a conspiratorial smile pulling on her mouth. “Maybe I already did.”

I arch a brow at her. “Secretly filming me?” Leaning down, I catch her lips with mine, taste the beer on her mouth, then pull back and add, “That’s sexy.”

The hand she’s got on my thigh tightens, and it makes heat dance through my stomach. I’m thinking it might be about time I take her home.

My gaze goes to Lucas again. He’s staring into the flames, one thumb worrying at the rings he wears on his fingers, a half-empty beer bottle in one hand. I want to talk to him, want to ask him about Alisha, but maybe right now isn’t the moment. If I ask him to go talk, he’ll probably refuse and a sling a sharp insult at me, knowing exactly what I’m up to.

Once Remi heads back to Vegas, I’ll try to talk to him about Alisha.