Her sparkly bag is lying on the floor near a side entrance to the building. Instinct kicks in and my pulse kicks up. I was right. She’s in trouble. I move through the crowd, quickly kneeling to pick up the bag, keeping it in my grip as I scan the edges of the room one last time. Nothing.
I head through the door into the darkness of a service corridor, the cool air a faint relief from the smoke and haze. Immediately, I see them down the hall—a nasty-looking bloke I don’t recognize has Josie up against the wall.
“Oi!” I yell, already moving toward them.
“Axe!” Josie shouts.
“Walk away, asshole,” he snarls. “This doesn’t—”
“—end well for you,” I finish as my hand shoots out and grabs him by his scrawny neck, flipping him before slamming him hard against the wall. He falls to the ground and then scrambles to his feet and runs away like a chickenshit. I turn to Josie. She’s a deer in headlights, her breathing quick and shallow.
“Did he hurt you?” I ask, my eyes roaming all over her. If he left a single mark, I’ll kill the fucker. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she says, though her voice trembles. But then hereyes catch what’s tucked under my arm, and she smiles faintly. “My purse? How’d you know—”
“It’s all sparkly. It had to be yours.”
This earns me a proper smile. “Thanks, Axe. For real.”
“We definitely need a stricter invite list,” I say, annoyed that security let in whoever that guy was. I shrug off her gratitude. I did the bare minimum. Josie should not be thanking me.
“How about next year you pick a better theme,” says Josie. “Like unicorns orCare Bears.” Then she shakes out her arms and does a shimmy as if to reset her body or energy or some nonsense like that. She’s ridiculously adorable.
“I pushed for narwhals, but I got overruled.”
“Hmm, maybePeppa Pig?”
“Or the Loch Ness monster. A proper Scottish beast,” I say.
“One Scottish beast per party is enough,” she says, poking me in the chest.
“Harsh but fair,” I say, and crook my arm for her to take so I can lead her back out into the safety of the crowd.
—
“Josie, I’ve been looking for you all over!” Honor’s on us as soon as we’re back to the dance floor. Her gaze flits nervously from Josie to me and then the door. “What happened?”
“Axe rescued me from the party pervert,” says Josie weakly. Her curls have gone wild, and they’re somehow as expressive as her face. “It’s not a big deal. Freddy Krueger wasn’t so thrilled that I kneed him in the balls.”
“You kneed him in the balls?” I ask, unable to keep the admiration out of my voice. This lass is full of surprises.
“Have you got your inhaler? Do you need a snack for your blood sugar?” Honor asks, ignoring me completely.
“Actually,” says Josie. “I think what I need is a drink.”
Now, that’s an order I can get behind.
I steer us toward one of the heat lamps—Josie’s mummy getup is flimsy at best, and I don’t want her to freeze—and I flag the bartender. Within a minute, a tray of lemon drops appears. Josie throws back one, then another, and is about to go for a third before Honor intercepts.
“You’ll thank me tomorrow,” she says, but I’m glad to see the color back in Josie’s cheeks.
“Yes, ma’am,” Josie says, and salutes Honor, but Honor still looks worried. “Seriously, I’m fine! I promise! Go find Strike and dance and be disgustingly in love. I’m leaving in a minute anyway.”
“Will you make sure she gets straight into an Uber?” Honor asks me, as if there was any way I’d let Josie out of my sight until I knew she was safely on her way home.
“Of course.”
Honor cups Josie’s face, searching her eyes one last time to make sure she’s really okay, before finally walking away.
