Page 90 of A Taste of Bliss

Oh, is that dramatic?

Simon saunters over to us, clearly a drink or two already into the night, and slings an arm around me. “Bliss! You made it! I was worried the Phantoms didn’t invite you all.”

Amelia huffs and throws her hair over her shoulder. “Succubi are always invited to the party, little human,” she says, putting her finger under his chin and tipping his head up. She’s not taller than Simon, but somehow she looks it.

I duck my head out from under Simon’s arm, my cheeks bright pink. Amelia notices and gives me a questioning look, but I just shake my head and point at Simon’s drink. “Where’d you get that?” If he’s here, I definitely need a drink.

He gets very excited, as a drunk person naturally does at the prospect of others drinking. “Right this way, my sexy succubi friends!” He turns around, suddenly very serious. “Is that okay to call you?”

“No, I’m extremely offended that you would think we’re sexy,” Amelia drawls.

But drunk Simon apparently doesn’t understand sarcasm. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” he splutters.

“She’s messing with you,” the brown-haired vamp that was on the slide with us earlier says, clapping a hand on Simon’s back. He looks at Amelia. “Right?”

Amelia just grins, winking at the both of them. She heads off to seek out drinks.

“I’m Benny, by the way,” the vamp says, holding out his hand to me. I shake it.

“He’s another of our techs,” Simon says with a cheesy smile that I’ve come to realize is a tell. I take in Benny’s blue eyes and his height. He looks around six foot—definitely the right height to be Poison, but I won’t push.

“Nice to meet you,” I say. “I should go find my sister,” I add, seeing that she and Reese have already made it to a kitchen island stocked with booze.

I head over there and unfortunately for me, Simon is at my heel. “So, Bliss, long time no see,” he says.

I turn around and make a face at him, my pathetic attempt at flirting momentarily forgotten. “We saw each other earlier today.”

“Oh right, well, I just mean…” He stumbles over his words again. “I just mean that we didn’t get to hang out much.”

Amelia pours us drinks, even filling up Simon’s cup some more. I feel into my power reserves. There’s not much there, but there’s a tiny bit. I reach for it, my voice growing a bit huskier. “You seemed so busy, especially at the scavenger hunt yesterday,” I say with the barest hint of a pout. Amelia—being able to sense exactly what I’m doing—sniggers and makes some excuse to be somewhere else. Thankfully.

“Yeah, about that, I’m really sorry. If I could have spent some time with you yesterday, I would definitely have. Being band manager is a lot more work than a drum tech, and honestly I miss that.”

“Well, it seems to me like you’re doing a good job,” I say, taking a step closer and letting my hand rest on Simon’s upper arm.

He blushes and a super goofy grin spreads across his face. Obviously my powers work a little easier on fae and humans when they’re drunk, but it’s odd that they’re working today when they didn’t work yesterday.

Maybe he was just super stressed yesterday and my powers just couldn’t pull out his lust?

“Thanks, Bliss, that actually really means a lot. I don’t want to let him down.”

“Let who down?” I ask softly, smiling at him encouragingly and letting a bit more of my power seep from me.

“Wrath,” Simon lets out. “He’s my oldest friend and I— I just don’t want to ever let him down. He’s been through so much, ya know?”

“I don’t know,” I say, stepping into his space more. Stars, this is so unethical. But if I can pull this off, I’ll be free. “Simon, would you do me the biggest of favors?” Sugar coats my voice so thickly I almost laugh. I don’t sound like myself at all.

“Anything, Bliss.” His eyes are on my lips.

I’m a horrible fae.

“Would you introduce me to him?” I tug on my bottom lip with my upper teeth and let it go. My eyes wander between his eyes and his lips.

“Yes, absolutely,” Simon agrees. He leans in. “He’d be so lucky to meet you.” Simon is so close to kissing me and I’m about to let him because my powers are now almost completely zapped.

But before we can, Simon is thrown through the air, hitting the wall and crumpling to a heap. I scream, looking around for his attacker, and my eyes land on Jordan.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Simon not moving.