Page 31 of Inceptive (Ingenious #3)

31

WILL

I n a few minutes, Will would give his final performance at the Wild Pony Saloon. He pushed aside thoughts of Zach, who was now married and locked in the honeymoon suite with his bride. Those images tightened his throat, and he planned a special finale for Max and his friends, who believed they’d be watching Will in a billowy red shirt and tight black pants.

Will watched from the shadows while Max ordered drinks for his men and settled the tab with Davis. Max lolled back against the bar and wrapped an arm around Quiggs. “Five days alone in my quarters on the barge. No brain fogs, or I swear I’ll?—”

“Buy you a drink, commander?” The sultry voice startled him. Unaccompanied women weren’t invited to the finale. Her gloved hand traced his bicep. She wore a tall flowery hat and a cloak.

Max removed the hand. “Perhaps you don’t know who I am.”

“Commander, we all know your reputation. Is it true that you’re an inexhaustible lover in bed? That your manhood spills a cup of seed, and you bay like a hound when you come?”

Max glared at Quiggs, who shook his head at spreading intimate lies. Then at Beau, who thumped a fist over his heart. “Never a word, my commander.”

No one looked closely at the lady’s face; they were busy accusing each other. But when Max did look, he flinched at the garishly painted face. “Madame, if you’re in dire need of a coin, I’ll gladly give you one to forget what you’ve heard. I do not escort women upstairs in a saloon.”

“How about if I paid for your manly favors?” Her loud voice drew all eyes their way.

“Quiggs, remind her that I’m wedded to you.”

Laughing green eyes saw through Will’s face paint. “Can I watch?”

“Oh my. I do charge when others watch.” Will reached out and gripped Max’s ass cheek.

Max yelped. “Beau, do something.”

Beau displayed his claws. “Shoo.”

Orange legs unfolded from the flowered hat, and a beak clacked at Beau. He fell back against Jagger, his hair flying in all directions at the joke played on him.

Will batted his lashes and smooched the air. The stage manager shone a lantern on him and shouted, “Clear a path and welcome back the amazing Miss Glorianna!”

Will bumped hips with the men as he sashayed to the stage. The curtain parted, and the cloak slid off, revealing his restored slinky red dress slit to mid-thigh and his strappy gold sandals.

“Well, fuck me,” Max cried out, in disbelief of falling for the trick.

“Later.” Quiggs laughed at him and beat a path to the front of the stage with Beau right behind. They whistled, hooted, and pounded the stage floor with their palms like a couple of baby cadets instead of acting like mature men in their early thirties with husbands.

Will opened with a song and dance to a recorded drumbeat, Belle shaking her tail feathers in rhythm. The audience cheered and tossed cash onto the stage. Will sang ballads and love songs, then invited Beau and Quiggs on stage to boogie hop with Belle. Max and Jagger face-palmed at the exhibition.

Will took a short break to wipe off his stage paint and change into his usual costume of stretchy black pants and blousy red shirt before returning to end the show at midnight with the touching classic Going Home. His a cappella ranged six octaves. Eyes filled with tears, as his audience had never heard this song that expressed a gentle farewell to the deceased, who’d dreamed of finding a land to call home. When the song ended, a haunting silence filled the room, then thunderous applause.

Will kissed his hands to the audience, then bowed to Max.

The curtain closed, the lanterns dimmed, and the homesick audience left, boarding buses across the bridge to air shuttles waiting to fly them to the lake. Davis swept the cash into a pile and smiled at Will. They’d carry a nice sum to invest in a second saloon when the barges departed at noon.

Will packed his instruments in their cases and wondered if Zach had swallowed blue tincture to initiate his bride tonight. Had the consummation happened while Will had performed?

In the moments of silence after his song, he’d heard the crack of his breaking heart. The crack would mend, and over time, it would ache like a worn joint.

His four friends slipped through the side of the curtain and congratulated him. Jagger handed him a mineral supplement, and Beau fed nuts to Belle.

Approved belongings had been packed in crates and were taken to the barges earlier. Rising water levels indicated northern rainstorms advancing, and explosives were placed to incinerate the Island tomorrow. Engineers and workers would return in eight months to build an airbase and connect energy siphons to the rampart. The workers would include former Islanders trained for the job.

Davis opened the curtain for Will to step off the stage with his friends.

A lone patron sat at the bar, staring at the menu of drinks. “Show’s over. Beer’s all gone, and we’re closed for good,” Will called out to him.

“Got no spare money for drinking. Looking to hire me a good servant.” He tapped a paper on the counter.

Will’s heart thumped. “Z-Zach?”

Zach turned to face him. He wore his fancy black suit and white shirt. A glistening pomade softened his full beard, and his bachelor bangs hung over his brows. “How much to hire you?”

Will jumped off the stage, mad enough to crack a bottle of gin atop Zach’s head. “You should be with your bride. What are you doing here? Needing me to arouse you so you can breed Maya?” Will picked up the document, intending to rip it in half.

Only it wasn’t an indenture.

It was a certificate of wedlock with the Triangle’s stamp.

Zach smoothed the document on the countertop. “Fort Hope respects same-sex wedlock if performed outside the rampart by an officiant and registered in a couple’s home territory. It’s part of the treaty with the Triangle.”

Max spoke up. “I’m an officiant with the power to wed you now and register the license in the Triangle later. If you and Zach sign on the lines with witnesses, you can live in Fort Hope as husbands without being executed.”

“Go on and sign it,” Davis said. “But can I keep the tips?”

Quiggs, Beau, and Jagger crowded around them. Belle flew to the counter and tilted her head at Zach. She hopped from foot to foot. “I follow my Will.”

“Wedlock requires giving and receiving by the third day, with a medic verifying by examination,” Quiggs warned.

Zach’s pen slipped out of his hand. “Isn’t my word of honor good enough?”

“Man up,” Max said. “I did.”

“Hee-hee-hee.” Belle couldn’t hold in the chortles. “My Will fucks Zach. Now we have babies.”

Beau yowled. “Jagger gave you a bad chip. Men have babies with women. You promised me eggs.”

“Your hairs have fried your brain,” Belle squawked back. “I know my babies hatch from eggs.”

Beau frowned. “We’ll find you a worthy cock to mate with.”

“Don’t need a cock. Need a finger tickle inside, and I will lay.”

Beau jerked his hands behind his back. “Jagger?”

“Not in her chip. Belle’s pranking you.”

Will picked up the pen. “I can’t live here, Zach. You can’t leave.”

“Yes, I can. After resigning as mayor today, I donated my assets to the new hospital and divided my land rights among the men.”

“Is Astrid mayor again?”

“Temporarily. A landowner only has one vote now that the basin is idle. The public will decide on who’s mayor and who holds a seat on the council. Fort Hope can’t escape having a new beginning. My future begins with you. Wherever you go, I go. I love you. And you may serve beer and sing or teach, and I will farm, but we never, ever, finger tickle Belle.”

“Deal.”

Will and Zach signed the license. The witnesses’ signatures included Belle’s x-shaped footprint.

The newlyweds gazed at each other, holding hands, while witnesses ridiculed them for not kissing.

Zach apologized, “It’s tradition for public kissing to wait until after the groom has been shaved.”

The prudery disgusted Beau. “Maybe Zach hides a homely face.”

“Kiss-kiss-kiss!” Belle cried. “Love my Will, love my Zach.”

Will squeezed their clasped hands. “I don’t mind waiting… but where tonight?”

Zach pressed a chaste kiss on Will’s cheek and whispered, “The honeymoon suite where you stayed at the meeting hall. My belongings and shaving kit are there.”

“When did you plan this?”

“Right after the pool. You said you loved me.”

They rode a shuttle to the meeting hall, holding hands, thighs pressed close. Will sniffled back tears.

Max offered Zach a silver flask of gin for courage, murmuring, “Worked to get me through the stupid reciprocation.”

Quiggs took a swig from the flask. “Brings back fond memories. Of course, Max and I had bedded and lost each other several times before our wedding night.”