Blue chuckled and tucked her long brown hair behind her ears. “By all means. If you want to deal with drunk Wyatt, be my guest. He’s past caring about threats. I don’t know if he’s more drunk on the alcohol or the carbs.” She nibbled on a piece of chocolate while staring at Christian. “Where did you come from?”
“He can’t ride his bike in this snow,” I quickly answered. “So I gave him a lift.”
Christian folded his arms on the table and watched Hunter beating the hell out of a blue pony. “I’m so glad I came for this. It’s the next best thing to the sanitarium.”
“Don’t be a grump.” Gem ducked when Hunter took another backward swing. “This is the most fun I’ve had in ages. Do you want a margarita?”
“I’ll have a pint of the black stuff.”
Gem pulled out the chair to my right and sat down. “That sounds wonderful! You can get it yourself.”
Blue spit out her drink.
Gem sat cross-legged in the chair before grabbing the tongs and filling her plate with fried churros. “I brought the desserts since I watched them make it, but I’m not your waitress. They’ll take your order at the front.”
Christian snapped his fingers at the waitress and frowned when she didn’t notice him.
I gobbled up a hunk of chocolate. “Welcome to the new era, Poe. Where women aren’t here to serve you.”
He scooted back his chair. “You have a tongue that could clip a hedge.” Then he wagged his finger at Gem. “And you’re getting too sassy for your britches.”
“Your comebacks are deadly,” she said in a mock Irish accent.
Amusement danced in his eyes as he swaggered out of the room.
Blue and Claude feasted on their desserts while Viktor rested his eyes. I kept staring at my plate, strangely detached. Things would have gone differently had I walked in and found Fletcher myself—seen him in the flesh. All this time, Christian had been torturing my Creator. Could I trust him after this? Had I made a mistake accepting his proposal? We still hadn’t told anyone about it since weddings weren’t big among most Breeds. What would I have done had he told me about Fletcher from the beginning, back when my nightmares were at their worst? I rested my elbow on the arm of my chair and took off my hat.
Gem touched my arm. “Are you feeling okay? I brought stomach medicine just in case.”
“No, I’m fine.”
“You just seem a little retro.”
I furrowed my brow as Hunter took another whack at the piñatas. “What do you mean by that?”
“Retro Raven—like how you were when we first met. Quiet. Brooding eyes. Antisocial. Pensive. Kind of like Christian.”
Claude lifted his head, and his nose twitched. When he swung his eyes up to mine, I scooted my chair back and stood.
“Viktor, I need to head out for a while,” I announced, deciding I couldn’t be around these people right now. “My phone’s charged if you need to get ahold of me. I think I’m with Niko on the sensory overload thing. Too much noise. Is that cool?”
Viktor waved, not even cracking his eyelids open.
I breezed past Hunter just when he smashed a hole in the blue pony. Candy trickled out onto the table and floor, and Shepherd clapped, a cigarette wedged between his lips. This was the worst place to be in my current state. If Claude didn’t smell my distress, Shepherd would feel it soon enough.
Christian met me at the brick archway with a glass of beer in hand. “Where are you off to?”
“I need to talk to my dad. You can stay here.”
“No. I need to be there for that.” He slowly gulped down his ale to the last drop and then set the empty glass on the table. “I might need another.”
When I entered the main room, I noticed Wyatt had lost the maracas along with his shoes. He sat barefoot, his shirt tied in a knot, strumming a guitar for a lovely señorita who was shaking her head at him.
Christian frowned. “That man is a walking advertisement for contraception.”
Wyatt had indulged in so many tacos and beers that he looked like an expectant mother. With the sombrero still on his head and a twinkle in his eye, he changed his tune and slowed the music down.
When he opened his mouth and sang the first few lines of “Open Arms,” I flung open the door and got the hell out of there as fast as my feet would carry me.
