Page 11

Chapter 11

M y goal wasn't to make Asher jealous . Who was I kidding? Of course it was.

I smirked at myself in the floor-length mirror as I slipped my feathered dangly earrings into place.

I hadn't had many reasons to dress up lately, but wearing something striking and form fitting to remind Asher of what he was missing was one of the best. Twirling, I whipped the hem of my forest green dress out so far that the shorts I wore underneath showed. Coupled with some winged eyeliner and a pair of ankle boots, I intended to turn a few heads that night. Bonus points if one of them was my ex.

"Enjoying yourself?" Penny asked, leaning toward my vanity mirror to apply her mascara.

"Not as much as I will later. Are you trying to pull tonight?"

Penny had gone with a bright red strapless number which exposed the smattering of tattoos across her shoulders. A wand, a key, and a few stars from left to right, all inspired from her tarot cards. I still hadn't gotten my first tattoo, although with my standard biker girl aesthetic, it was about time.

"No sex with random strangers for me, thank you." Penny raised a judgemental eyebrow at me in the mirror as she holstered her mascara. "I just want to go and have some fun."

"Well, if you're going to be that way, I guess I won't go find some strangers of my own to make out with," I said, feigning a big sigh as I sat down on my bed.

Hecate looked up from her nap to glare at me before setting her head back down.

"Do you even want to or are you just trying to make Asher jealous?" Penny whipped out her lipstick.

" Obviously it's to make him jealous. I've sworn off men."

"Well, if you want a wing-woman, you know where I am."

I got up again and hugged her from behind, almost making her draw lipstick all over her face. "You're the best."

Someone knocked on the door and when I called for them to come in, Edward poked his head inside.

"Are you ready to-?" Edward abandoned his sentence when he caught sight of Penny, and she froze under his awed gaze. "Dios mio."

I frowned at Edward as he straightened up and stepped properly into the room, smoothing down his blue shirt. Since when did he speak Italian?

Penny's cheeks didn't flush visibly under the layer of foundation but her body temperature rose so suddenly I unwrapped myself from her.

"I don't believe we've met," Edward said, lowering into a bow. "I'm Edward and you must be Penny."

"I am." Penny giggled as Edward took her hand and kissed it as if he were a smitten viscount from yester years.

Rolling my eyes, I turned back to the mirror to make sure I hadn't missed any details in my outfit. There was a good chance my wing-woman was going to be preoccupied this evening.

We walked the short distance to town together, buzzed from a few pre-drinks. Laura and Priya had gone all out with their outfits as usual, but the boys had settled for the casual shirt and jeans look. Asher kept his hands in his pockets as we walked, his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, exposing his vaguely muscled forearms. The scent of his potent cologne left a trail behind him that caught me right in its path. It was my favourite stuff, too.

What a try-hard.

We started the night at Laura's favourite bar; a supernatural joint that billed itself as exclusive in order to exist on a human high street. The bouncers shone lights from special crystals over us as we waited in the short queue. Once they glowed green, the bouncers allowed us inside.

Penny tapped her feet excitedly on the parquet floor as we entered. Speakeasy Now had a reputation for its novelty; every waiter and bartender donned an outfit from the 1920s and the bar's two floors had the look of a prohibition era establishment. Wood panels lined the walls, some of which were hidden doors to the toilets and private rooms. The bar was a monstrosity, all wood and brass, with fabric-topped barstools dotted up and down it, and its back wall held a dizzying array of colourful liquors, some of which smoked inside their decanters.

It was time to get something high in alcohol and magic content.

"First round's on me," I said, as we gathered around the bar. "Birthday girl chooses for all of us."

Laura clapped her hands together like a child who had just gotten a new bike for Christmas. "Oh, you're all gonna die tonight."

If she hadn't have said it herself, I would have wondered if Laura was trying to kill us.

After three rounds of shots, I sneaked Penny and me a glass of water each so we might actually survive until the next morning. We danced in pools of multicoloured light to music that I had never heard of. Was I so out of touch with the music scene already? It didn't feel like five minutes ago that I knew every song that came on the radio, human or supernatural.

Penny and I danced together while Edward edged his way closer across the dancefloor, eventually offering Penny his hand. She paused before taking it, shooting me a question with her eyes.

"Go on," I mouthed, rolling my eyes for good measure.

"Thank you," Penny mouthed back.

The moment she took Edward's hand, her face lit up at the sight of him gazing at her. I had to admit, as I watched them slink off toward the bar, that they looked cute together. It would do Penny the world of good to have someone in her life who was as artsy as she was and be an even worse influence on her than me.

Priya nudged me as she bopped next to me and wiggled her eyebrows. I grinned and shrugged.

Without Penny to distract me, my gaze flickered over to Asher who had found himself two girls to dance with. They had even less on than I did, wearing sparkly crop tops and skirts. His lips moved, ever-smiling, as they chatted over the music. I turned my back on them only to find a man sliding his way over to me.

He smiled at me, his blonde hair neatly combed and only the top button of his black shirt undone. I smiled back with the corner of my mouth. He was cute enough to dance a few troubles away with, and if it made Asher jealous, all the better.

We danced for a while, nearing each other with every song that passed. Then, out of the blue, his hands grasped my hips. My skin prickled, but not in a good way. I wanted to feel ready for a one night stand to clear out whatever cobwebs I had leftover from my relationship with Asher, but I wasn't.

I took his hands and tried to prise them off me, but he held me firm and yanked me against him so hard that we stumbled. My fingers dug into his hands, hoping my fingernails would give him an even sharper indicator that I wasn't into it. I met his gaze with a fierce frown, all the rhythm dropped from my movements. But he stared at me with indifference; the kind that let a girl know that he didn't care what protests I had.

I dropped one of my hands, preparing to raise it to give him a solid slap. But before I could lift a finger, one of the guy's hands flew off my hip which gave me enough wiggle room to slip out of his grasp completely. I took a step back only to collide with someone else behind me; someone who had the guy's wrist in a vice grip.