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I spotted a couple of werewolves in the group, as well as a guy I thought was an incubus. Several of them beelined for some empty tables, laughing and shoving each other good-naturedly, while one sidled up to Larkin and gave him a friendly slap on the back. I squinted, trying to place him. He looked mildly familiar.
“Hey, Chris!” Larkin said, and it clicked. He was the guy who’d dove into the ring during Vince and Ewen’s match on Thursday, teaming up with the ghoul to take Ewen down.
He was the unicorn Ewen rode in on for his entrance. My mouth pinched as I took him in. He had shoulder-length, wavy brown hair, blue eyes and a stubbled jaw.
I guessed he was hot. In that really obnoxiously obvious way. If you liked that kind of boring classic beauty or whatever.
“How’s it going?” he said cheerfully, giving me a nod before gesturing at his buddies. “It’s my friend John’s bachelor party. Dan texted to tell me you were all here, so we decided to stop by.”
Ewen had texted him? Why was Ewen texting him?
“Shweet.” Larkin nodded over at Ewen’s table. “Dan’s over there.”
“Nice.” Chris looked over and grinned, then patted Larkin’s shoulder again with a chuckle. “Maybe I’ll go sit on him for once.”
Larkin laughed. I scowled down at my empty glass, then found myself watching from the corner of my eye as Chris ambled over to Ewen’s table. Ewen and Vince both stood to greet him with the obligatory ‘manly’ hand clasps and back slaps.
My lip curled. They looked like a fucking boy band. They just needed Larkin to go and pose beside them as the token sensitive pretty-boy.
Once Ewen had retaken his seat, Chris made a big show of plopping down onto his lap and getting him in a jovial headlock as Ewen laughed.
“I’ll have another bottle,” I heard myself blurt when the bartender finally returned with Larkin’s drinks.
He nodded, pulling the empty bottle out of the ice bucket. “On Holt’s tab, yeah?”
“Fuck yeah.” Larkin slapped me on the back before picking up his tray. “These too.”
The bartender swiftly popped the cork on a fresh bottle and filled my flute. “Enjoy.”
“Want to come sit with us?” Larkin asked cheerfully. “Kit seems pretty distracted.”
I glanced over to see that one of Chris’ buddies, who may have been a mothman, had sidled up on Kit’s other side and peered down at their phone with interest.
“Nice artwork,” he said with a flirty smile. Kit looked up at him blankly, then grinned back.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” The guy nodded, leaning his elbow on the bar. “Great vein work on the dick. Really makes it pop.”
That seemed to pique Kit’s interest, because they turned their stool slightly to face him better and started fiddling with their hair. “Thanks. Modelled it on my own, actually.”
The guy’s eyes flared with heat. He leaned closer and lowered his voice to a lascivious, husky murmur. “Oh really?”
“Yep, I’ll come sit with you,” I told Larkin quickly, sliding unsteadily off my stool and grabbing my flute and ice bucket.
Chris was still sitting on Ewen’s lap when I glanced over as I followed Larkin to the table. I clutched the bucket tighter and gulped down champagne. Then some more when Vince stole Ewen’s beer bottle and took a sip. All intimate and familiar or whatever.
My flute was empty again before I’d even sat down.
—
Things got a bit hazy after that.
Larkin and I had a conversation about games that got progressively louder and more animated as I continued to knock back champagne. I drunkenly asked Seb if Holt really was involved in the mob, and I may have been yelling a bit, directly in his ear, because he winced but otherwise listened politely.
I may have also leaned over the table, almost spilling everyone’s drinks, and told my boss that he looked like a gay pirate. At least he seemed flattered, tossing back his hair with a wide smile.
“I am in my billowing sleeves phase. I think I’d made a great pirate captain, actually.” His pink-nailed hand slid along Taylor’s shoulder to thread through his neat, dark hair. “And I’d have the sexiest little quartermaster.”
