She shrugged.
A few more feet, and the man in question stood with his back against the wall. Oliver stood stiffly beside him, jaw clenched, and hands shoved into his pockets. When he saw us, his face softened, and he blew out a breath.
“Finally, thank god,” Oliver said.
“Where’s Oscar?” I asked.
I threaded my arm through Bash’s.
“With Inu,” he said.
“She’s…” Oliver cleared his throat.
“Unexpected.” Ruby finished for him.
“She’s grumpy, but she’s not the worst,” I said.
Bash wisely kept his thoughts to himself, even though his lip quirked up. Inu and I started off on the wrong foot, but a few months forced to work together made for a decent truce.
“Are you ready?” Oliver asked me, ignoring Bash.
Maybe that was a Bailey thing to instinctively hate your sibling’s spouse, with the exception of Ruby’s husband. Or maybe it was the pirate thing.
I gestured to the wooden doors in front of us.
“Feed me to the wolves,” I said. “Let’s get it over with.”
Oliver nodded before giving what I thought was an attempt at a side eye to Bash. Poor guy looked like he was having a stroke.He went through the doors, no doubt preparing the room for our grand entrance.
“He seems like he really likes you,” Dilly said to Bash.
“He’s just mad he can’t duel him now that my honor is restored through marriage,” I said. “He was really looking forward to it.”
Ruby shook her head.
“You and Oscar are aging him rapidly,” she said.
“He’s kind of cute,” Dilly said. “I like the always on the verge of a meltdown vibe.”
Ruby turned to her.
“You seem very nice; however, we have enough pirates with the name Bailey,” she said.
“You can marry him if you want,” I said. “But it won’t be very much fun.”
Dilly shrugged, her lips pursed in consideration.
“You never know,” she said. “I’ll test his enthusiasm for mysterious creatures.”
With that, she followed Oliver through the doors. Suddenly, I was looking forward to this ball a lot more, if only to see Dilly tease my uptight brother.
Ruby turned, pointing a finger at me.
“No more pirates.”
She said it like I was bringing home too many cats.
“Just one more?” I squinted my eyes.
