“Stop!” I pointed to Luca. “We’re here for Cece, remember?” Shifting to the side, I looked right into Niko’s eyes. “Niko’s girlfriend and my best friend.”
Niko’s smug grin fell slightly before he hid his grimace behind the tall glass filled with bourbon.
I shimmied the Polaroid camera in front of his face. This may have been a shit small-town club, but Sissy had always kept the tradition.
Always keep a Polaroid in the bathrooms to plaster on the wall.
“Come on,” I said in my drunken stupor. “Humor me?” I batted my lashes at both of them and Luca moved into the stall with me easily, keeping Niko leaning against the door, his eyes still on mine. I flashed the camera at him and batted my lashes again, this time giving him my biggest dropped lip sulking face that I could muster.
Niko pushed off the wall, his eyes rolling to the back of his head with a groan that did things to me it really shouldn’t. “Fuck, baby G. You’re killing me.”
He moved into the stall and I pointed to the closed toilet.
“You know this is going to look like we’ve just had a threesome, right?” Luca mumbled, inspecting the toilet as if he might be able to see the germs crawling over the porcelain.
“Everyone already thinks I date both of you on occasion.”
They both sat down without a fight as I rolled the cherry stem around in my mouth and lay across both of their laps. I raised the camera up just as Niko bit into my jaw while looking up at the camera and Luca grabbed at my tit. I smirked as I slid the tied cherry stem out between my teeth and snapped the photo.
I shake myself out of my memory lapse and fight the urge to break tradition and steal the photo.
Seven years bad luck, I remind myself. Seven years bad luck if you ever remove a shot.
Cece stands to her feet and waddles back out the door, turning on one of the taps and splashing water over her face.
Mira chuckles, jumping up onto the counter. “I’m hungry. Can we get food? Brian will be pissed at me if I go home this drunk. He’s such a nana.”
“Mi, your husband needs to be a nana, because you’re a fucking firecracker.” I look back to Cece. “You okay? Ready to leave?”
“Yeah.” She swipes the smudged eyeliner from beneath her eyes. “I’m ready now.”
I open the door as Cece and Mi follow behind, but just as I’m about to walk through, Niko is right there.
Sissy’s throat is cozy against the palm of my hand as the girls’ bathroom door opens and my past slaps me in the face.
Meraki’s almond eyes collide with mine and I’m momentarily distracted. If she sees me with Sissy in a choke hold, she’ll start swinging. If there’s one thing that will never change about Meraki, it’s her willingness to help people.
I don’t notice Cece and Mira behind her until she looks over her shoulder. My ex looks fucking terrible.
“Always been a messy drunk, Celia.”
Celia’s eyes snap to mine before she exhales. “I’m not in the mood, Niko. Maybe in another ten years when we see you again, I’ll be ready to tie your dick in a pretty little bow and send it to whoever you’re putting through hell. Poor bitch.” She pushes past Meraki and Mira follows behind her, leaving Mer and me locked in the stare down of the fucking century.
Her body turns and she goes to follow her friends, but my hand shoots out at the same time that I shove Sissy away and into Smoke to handle.
“Hey.” I squeeze her arm, but she spins around and slaps me hard against my cheek.
“Fuck you, Niko!”
She goes to swing at me again, but I catch her fist midair and slam her up against the wall with a firm grip around her throat. I squeeze, leveling my eyes on hers until the tips of our noses touch.
“You fuckin’ done?”
She tries to turn her face away from me, but I squeeze harder, keeping her eyes on mine.
“I said, are you done?”
“And I don’t have to answer you, Nik. Fuck you.”
“You already said fuck you.” I smirk down at her, though I’m fighting everything inside of me not to drag her ass out of this club by the strands of her hair. “Beginning to think you wanna. Again.”
Her mouth slams closed and her eyes flick to mine, a defiant kind of darkness clouding over her. I release her throat, stepping backward.
“Get the fuck out of this club, Ruckus. Fuck.”
Her face pales, and I know it’s because of my use of her nickname. Hadn’t said those sinful syllables since I left all those years ago, and you know what they taste like right now? Like fucking acid.
She scatters off behind me and I take three deep breaths before turning back to Smoke, who still has Sissy in a semi-choke hold.