Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 109477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
The only other person in the kitchen was Zorn, sitting at the end of the table with a scotch on the rocks, or some other brown liquor. He wore sports sweats and a white T-shirt, like he was just about to go to bed. His gray eyes missed nothing as they assessed her.
“Hey,” she said as she pulled out a chair. “What’s the occasion?”
Thane’s eyebrows lifted. He thought that was a stupid question.
“Do you want a drink?” Zorn asked. He wanted the gossip. They probably all did. Tomorrow, Lexi or Mordecai—or both—would probably lecture her. She had a great many mother hens in this outfit.
“Sure, why not?” she said breezily, sitting. “A nightcap might be nice.”
“You didn’t have one of those earlier with your new beau?” Thane asked, his voice laced with a growl.
“Another nightcap, then.”
Thane’s expression darkened.
“On it!” Bria gently slapped the island. “What’re we havin’?”
“Whiskey on the rocks, please,” Daisy replied.
“Outta whiskey.” Bria pushed to standing, wobbled, then gave Thane a thumbs-up. “See? I’m good. I have the tolerance of a Scotsman at a wedding.” She grabbed the Jack bottle by the neck. “Here we are. Here’s a balm for terrible decisions.”
Thane scratched his cheek with unease. “Daisy, you know Lexi won’t be okay with your dating a Chester-killer, no matter how hot he is.”
Daisy lifted an eyebrow at Zorn. She hadn’t told Mordecai about the bartender’s appearance. She had told Zorn, and he’d clearly passed on that nugget of information.
He hadn’t known why she’d really gone, though. The fae had apparently deadened her devices. She hadn’t filled him in on all their dealings.
He didn’t show any expression, but his eyes started to sparkle. He found humor in some part of this.
Bria took a glass from the cabinet, wobbled a little harder, then stared at the fridge. “I’ve done this in the wrong order.” Bottle down, she zigzagged to the fridge with the glass. “Don’t scratch, Thane. You sound like you have fleas.”
“He probably does,” Dylan said with a grin that didn’t reach his troubled eyes. He leaned back. “How’d…it go?” he asked Daisy.
“Don’t ask the secretive little gremlin such vague questions, Dylan. Don’t you know anything?” Bria’s ice cubes missed the glass. “Balls.”
“Sure, yeah, great tolerance.” Thane huffed and shook his head.
“That ice didn’t pass muster.” Bria pushed her platinum-blond, shoulder-length hair out of her face. She’d been on the booze train for a while, it looked like.
The next fistful of ice cubes tinkled as they hit the bottom of the glass.
“You gonna clean up the ice you spilled?” Thane pointed at Bria’s feet.
“Then what would you do to help?” she replied, heading for the bottle again.
He grinned and stood. “Give me some too, yeah?”
“Yup.” Bria stopped and stared at the cabinet, swaying. She then looked down at her hands, one with the glass and one with the bottle. “First thing first,” she muttered. “Daisy, you’re into Coke, right? Coca-Cola, I mean. Not the hard drug. You like to water it down, right?”
“You don’t water down with Coke.” Thane bent for the ice, his shirt sending up the white flag as it struggled to stretch across his muscled girth. “You Coke it down.”
“I’ll Coke you down,” she muttered, pausing with the glass held up. “But I’ll switch the ‘e’ to a ‘k.’”
“You’ll cok— Oh.” Thane frowned at her. “That’s not how you spell—”
Bria wheezed out a laugh, folding up on herself. Daisy couldn’t help chuckling.
“Anyway.” Bria straightened and assumed a very dignified expression. “What is the verdict?”
“Straight, thanks.” Daisy swished her fashionable dress to the side just to see it move. It really was a work of art, custom-made by an up-and-coming designer. “Coke is bad for the teeth.”
Daisy faced forward as Bria leaned over her. The glass hovered near the table, touched down once, came back up like a helicopter not sure if it really intended to land, then settled. “Nailed it,” she murmured. Her breath could’ve ignited fire.
Thane retook his chair, his gaze coming to land on Daisy once again. “Seriously, it isn’t smart to date a guy like him. All he has to do is look you up and he’ll know what you are. I’m surprised he hasn’t already.”
“He has a fake name. He did look me up and got the corresponding fake profile. My face doesn’t come up in Google searches any more than yours does, you know that. Amber is thorough. It’s fine. I’m just having fun. Blowing off some steam.”
He leaned forward. His muscles bulged. He meant business. “You could blow off steam with anyone.”
“Yeah, but he’s really cute.” She winked at Thane, whose face turned red in frustration.
Dylan adjusted in his seat, highly uncomfortable. He was clearly just as worried but letting Thane handle it.
“He is also a Chester-killer,” Thane reasoned. “Those types initially think of it as a sport. Then a high. It becomes less about Chesters and more about killing, so when they run out of easy pickin’s, they go for the low-hanging fruit in the magical world. Fruit like your fake profile. It would only take one moment of you not paying attention for him to slip you something that would render you vulnerable. Just one moment. This isn’t smart. You need to either deal with him permanently or give me the name and I’ll make sure our offices handle him.”