Page 109

I went along easily, a smile threatening. “Sure, we’re friends, aren’t we?”

“No, I wouldn’t say so,” Juniper said, leaning in for a kiss that was over before it really started. “Plan that date, would you?”

Surprise stuttered through me, but before I could have time to overthink it, I caught the lapel of her jacket, pulling the vampire in for another, longer kiss.

“I’ll get an itinerary to you ASAP.”

dana

. . .

We’d foregone movingvehicles and trying to find parking a few blocks away from Kaylee’s, ordering pizza as we walked, and with a couple of bottles swiped from the bar tucked into Elsie’s oversized tote, saving us from needing a liquor store run.

Fucking the owners of a bar came with perks!

I finished mixing a pitcher of a tropical cocktail, dubbed the Stressless by the shitty dive I used to bartend at in college that tasted like Kool-Aid and was a surefire way to get obscenely fucked up.

The damn thing was a built-in triple—peach schnapps, coconut rum, and vodka accompanied by cranberry and pineapple juice. Delicious, but also hangover city if you were sensitive to sugar.

I set the pitcher and some glasses on a bamboo tray to carry over to the square coffee table the girls and Cole were sitting around.

Dana nudged a pizza box out of the way, making room for me to place everything down. She put a gentle but firm hand on my arm, pulling me to sit beside her.

“You aren’t working, darling; let me serve you.”

She let her hand slip away, taking up the pitcher and pouring me a generous glass before moving to do the same for the others.

“Hey, Vi?” Kaylee asked, and my eyes snapped away from Dana to her, catching a faceful of camera flash.

“Kaylee!” I complained, rubbing my eyes to make the stars disappear from my vision. “No stupid group chat updates, for the love of god.”

She laughed, too loud thanks to already being a little tipsy. “The people need to know.”

Elsie slid me a plate of pizza, looking at Kaylee with interest.

“What group chat? Can I join?”

“You’d kind of mess up the research,” Kaylee teased, showing Elsie her phone. “We’re keeping track of how many of you Vi is fucking.”

“Oh! That’s easy,” Elsie said with a roll of her ruby eyes, taking the glass Dana offered her. “All of us. One on one, two on two, sometimes two on one… Depends, really.”

I choked on the bite of pizza I was attempting to swallow, spluttering.

Dana smirked, thumping me on the back. “Careful, you need to breathe, you know?”

“Let’s play a game!” I gasped once I regained my composure enough to speak. The last thing I needed was to spend all night dissecting exactly how many people I was seeing.

Ren, certainly. With a label and everything.

Elsie, well, it was… unsettled. There was attraction there, and I thought she was amazing, but we hadn’t really talked about a follow-up to our impromptu Valentine’s Day thing.

Dana? Not exactly complicated… But how would I go about the dating convo following up getting finger blasted in a photo booth?

And Juniper? That was even more complicated.

My lips still tingled when I thought of her, the memory of our unexpected kiss making me feel warm all over.

I longed to get between her thighs, to feel them tremble as I used her soft hips to pull her back onto a strap. Or maybe use her delicious extra padding to make scissoring less uncomfortable.