Page 77 of The Cruelest Chaos

She offers me her hand.

Maverick puts his arm around me, and she looks momentarily shocked, but she keeps the soft smile on her face. “This is Ella.” Maverick nods toward the girl. “Ella, this is Sid. Lucifer’s wife.”

Lucifer is beside her in a leather jacket and dark jeans, the same skeleton bandana I’ve seen on Maverick around his neck. He nods toward me, his dark blue eyes locking with mine for a few seconds.

He looks annoyed.

I drop Sid’s hand. “Nice to meet you,” I murmur. I wonder if she knows, about the other night.

She tucks a lock of hair behind her ear and I see a scar on her palm. “You, too.”

“Where are they?” Maverick asks Lucifer.

Lucifer wraps an arm around Sid, tugging her back and pulling her close. She lets out a little laugh but glances down at her feet, like she’s uncomfortable. I’m still clutching the empty beer in my hand and Maverick takes it from me and replaces it with his full one, all without looking at me, still talking to Lucifer.

“On the way.” He’s tall and lean just like Maverick, and the two of them together are a little overwhelming. They’re like gods in this bar, and I gulp down the beer in my hand to steel my nerves.

A few minutes later, when the silence between me and Sid becomes strained and the tension between Lucifer and Maverick is getting thick enough to choke on, more people show up.

I’m introduced to them in rapid succession, and I feel a little relieved when Atlas and Natalie come in, Natalie dressed in a flowery orange dress, her hair up in a braided bun on her head.

She pulls both me and Sid into a hug, and Sid seems startled but then just as relieved as I am.

I meet Cain, a big guy with light brown skin and dark eyes. His nose looks swollen, like he got punched in the face, but he seems nice enough. In the lights of the bar, I see Ezra has dark greenish eyes and his muscles are clearly visible in the grey sweater he’s wearing, his bicep flexing as he shakes my hand politely, as we officially meet. As if he didn’t have his hands on my…

I refuse to think about it, even as a small smile plays on his lips.

Neither Cain nor Ezra have girls with them, but it doesn’t take long for the girls that filter into the bar to start eyeing them.

Natalie drags me and Sid over to a small table. She waves a waiter over and orders tequila shots for each of us.

“Oh, no,” I say quickly, shaking my head. I’m two beers in and already feeling a little lightheaded. “I can’t do shots.” Ican, but I don’t want to get arrested for drinking underage and downing tequila shots might get me just that.

Sid smirks at me, her arms crossed, elbows on the table. She shoots her gaze to Maverick, who’s leaned against a pool table, his eyes on me as Ezra and Atlas are talking to him about something, all of them save for Maverick with drinks in their hands.

“If you can handlehim,you can take a shot of tequila.”

Natalie laughs, pats the bun on her head with her hand. Then she starts clapping excitedly as our shots are delivered. She puts her hand on the waiter’s arm.

“Keep an eye on us,” she whispers to him, waggling her brows. “Don’t let us run out of fun.”

The waiter smiles down at us, and his eyes lock on mine. I hold my breath, thinking he’s going to card me. But he just grins wider and walks away, glancing back over his shoulder.

“Oh, he is so into you!” Natalie squeals, pushing a shot toward me. “Just like Connor.” She picks up her shot, holds her lime.

Sid shoves her shot toward me. “You need this more than I do,” she says with a small smile. And then, glancing at Natalie, she asks, “Connor?”

I feel myself blushing. I don’t want to talk about The Ark. I don’t want to talk about my shitty mom or my social worker or my issues. I imagine neither of these girls have issues. They seem so…normal.

But then again, Lucifer had coke on his table at eight in the morning. He’s married and he was watching Maverick finger me just the other night.

Atlas has some part in this rich kid circle that can afford a place like the one we were at on New Year’s Eve. Maybe they’re all insane.

“I um…” I trail off.

“A friend of hers,” Natalie interjects, giving me a meaningful look. She leans in close to me and whisper-yells, “Be careful, though. Maverick doesn’t like to share.”

Sid snorts, then points to the shots. “Come on. Let’s make this night enjoyable, shall we?”