“Great!” Maya said and dashed off to make the drink.
Saffy leaned in. “What’s wrong with the cocktails?”
Kit chuckled wickedly. “You’ll see.”
A few moments later, Maya had returned with Saffy’s drink. After the matching expressions of horror on Aria and Kit’s face, Saffy put the drink to her mouth and took a sip. And immediately began coughing.
Aria turned away to face the wall as Kit slapped Saffy on the back.
“Must have gone down the wrong hole,” Saffy said after the coughing fit had subsided.
Her eyes started to water.
“Kit, Aria, do you want another cocktail?”
“I’ll take a beer,” they said at the same time. Saffy wondered if it was too late to swap her drink, too.
After Maya had gone off to grab their beers, Saffy leaned in closer to their little huddle. “Wow. Did she forget the soda?”
Aria’s shoulders shook as she laughed. “Strong, right?”
“I’ll say. If I get through all of this, Ramon is going to have to carry me out of here.” And then she shrugged. “Oh well. At least I’m not an angry drunk.”
“Weepy?” Aria suggested.
Saffy shook her head then leaned in again and whispered, “Horny.”
They seemed to find this hilarious, and threw their heads back, laughing hysterically. Saffy decided to blame it on the vodka.
“So, how much did Hawk tell you about us?” Maya asked when she got back with the two beers.
“Nothing at all,” Saffy said and then narrowed her eyes. “Why, is there a juicy story in there somewhere?”
All three sets of eyes widened, and they proceeded to tell her their stories. It turned out Maya’s brother was pretty much a petty criminal who had decided kidnap was a good way to earn money and he’d ended up arrested by Ramon’s SWAT team. It was how her and Gray had met. That might have been a niceish story apart from the bit where she was almost killed by bad guys. Her brother sounded a lot like Saffy’s brother. Sure, Mason hadn’t lowered himself to kidnapping yet, but there was always time. Then again, maybe she was doing Maya’s brother an injustice—he at least seemed to have seen the error of his ways. Saffy suspected she’d be waiting a long time for Mason to have a similar awakening.
Aria’s story was even more surprising. Aria worked in Maya’s bakery and that was how they knew each other and how she came to meet her mate, Nash, who was Gray’s friend and teammate. But before that, she’d been married—there was a whole crazy tale of which being kidnapped by bad guys seemed to be the least scary part.
Saffy couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She was starting to suspect hanging out with these guys led to trouble. Good thing she was a lion shifter, and plenty capable of taking care of herself.
“So, what’s your story, Saffy?” Aria asked.
Saffy shrugged. “Not much to tell, really. It kinda pales in comparison to yours.”
She told them how her family and Ramon’s had been involved in a feud for years and how her family wouldn’t accept Ramon as her mate. The more she talked, the more she took sips from her drink, and it wasn’t until she reached the part about being kicked out of the pride that she realized she’d drained the whole thing.
“I’ll get you a refill,” Maya said.
Saffy was so worked up by telling them about how her family wouldn’t accept her mate, she forgot to refuse the second drink.
By the time Ramon strolled over to her a couple of hours later and lazily wrapped his arm around her shoulder, she was on drink number three, which put her somewhere in the danger zone between drunk off her ass and sick as a dog.
“Hey baby, you having fun?” he asked.
She squinted at him. “Did I tell you how handsome I think you are?”
Ramon chuckled quietly. “You did, but it’s always nice to hear.”
“I think you’re handsome,” she said.
