Page 18 of A Taste of Bliss

I lift my shoulders and let them fall. “It’s my fault. I never tell him that I’m not, you know…” I make a hand motion so I don’t have to say it. Stars, that sounds ridiculous, and I brace myself for my sister to tell me exactly that. But after sex, Jordan and I snuggle and so, I dunno, I guess I’ve just never felt like bringing it up.

“It is absolutely not your fault,” my sister says. “And succubi should never have bad sex.”

“So I’m doing it wrong?”

“No, but obviouslyheis.”

“I don’t want to talk about this here,” I tell her, heat creeping up my neck and into my cheeks and ears. My sister is a succubus through and through. Sex, as a topic, is always fair game with her, even if we are in public.

“Well, I’m not dropping the subject, Bliss. This is about your healthandyour happiness. I’m not just gonna ignore it.”

“When we, you know—” I wave my hands, not able to bring myself to say the words out loud with other people potentially listening in, “—I still recharge my powers. It’s fine.”

“Barely,” my sister counters immediately. “You barely charge them. It’s like when you’re starving and you only have a couple baby carrots as a snack. You’re not nourishing yourself and you’re certainly notsatisfyingyourself.”

“Sometimes I…” I swallow and look around, seeing the rest of Amelia’s band approaching. Our band, I correct myself. I am their manager, after all. I need to think like it.

“Sometimes you what?” Amelia prods.

I lean my elbow on the table, resting my cheek on my knuckles as I lower my voice. “Sometimes I satisfy myself afterwards, so it’s fine,” I rush to say before the others reach us.

“That doesn’t recharge you, though,” Amelia argues.

Taser takes a seat next to me in the booth and I shake my head at my sister, giving her a look that I hope sternly says we’ll talk about this later

Taser bumps his shoulder into mine. “Oh, talking about recharging powers, are we? Please continue. I find the way succubi rechargefascinating,” he says, grinning at Amelia and I.

Reese sits across from me, snorting out a laugh, and Tubbs, our drummer, gets into the booth from the other side, foldinghis lanky frame in next to Amelia and accidentally knocking the table with his knees.

He shakes his head at Taser, his short locs swinging slightly with the movement. I put my head in my hands with a groan and Taser laughs, slinging his arm around me. “Kidding, Bliss, kidding. We can talk about how I recharge instead.” He picks up his Bloody Mary—with actual blood—and holds it out for us all to cheers.

“Let’snottalk about that,” Tubbs says, scrunching his face in disgust as he clinks his beer glass with Taser’s. Some of his beer sloshes onto the sleeve of his dark blue henley. The color compliments his darker skin.

“I’ll cheers to that,” Reese says. I laugh and hold up my drink as well.

The Antler is packed tonight. We managed to snag a booth in the bar area upstairs. Progressive metal music streams from every speaker in the place and everyone looks like they’re supposed to be here. No shortage of tattoos and black outfits. In fact, my eyes snag on any bit of color I do see. I glance down at my outfit, wishing, not for the first time, that I looked better in black. But I’ve never felt I could pull it off, so I always look a bit out of place with my sister’s band, even though I’ve recently taken on the role of their band manger. Instead, I’m getting looks as the only one in the club wearing a pastel lavender top, jeans, and cute pink platforms. The white ribbon tying my hair into a high ponytail probably doesn’t help.

“So Reese, how was that date you went on last weekend?” Amelia asks during a break in the conversation.

My best friend lets out a sigh. “Boring. I can’t date non-kindreds anymore. It’s so weird pretending fae and magic don’t exist.”

Taser grins at her. “Well, you know what they say, once you go fae…” He trails off with a shrug and winks, taking a sip of his beer.

Reese rolls her eyes. “Fae dicks are the same size as human dicks, just so we’re clear.”

Tubbs huffs out, like that couldn’t possibly be the case, and Amelia, Reese, and I all exchange a knowing look.

“Dick size might be the same, but fae dicks have magical powers,” Taser says, waggling his eyebrows.

“Bliss has always known that, that’s why she’s never felt the need to go anywhere else. Isn’t that right, babe?” Jordan says, coming back with a beer in hand, a few of his friends trailing after him. “We’re going to go grab a table over there. Come on, Bliss.” He waits expectantly for me to get up and follow him.

“I’ll be there in a minute. I wanna hang out with Reese.”

Jordan lifts an eyebrow at me. He looks pointedly to Taser, who’s sitting next to me, though not too close or anything. Jordan glares at him nonetheless.

“Come here, babe,” he says to me again. I sigh and get up from the booth, trailing after him as he goes to sit with Jinx—his best friend, a kitsune with electric blue hair—and a few other guys. I avoid looking back Amelia’s way, knowing she’s giving me a look. Anger mixed with disappointment.

“Have you ever been to a Twisted Limbs show?” Jinx is asking one of the other guys.