“Never,” Maddie says proudly. “I’m not the cheating type. Even if he does deserve it. I’m going to be awrongfulmurder victim, thank you very much.”
Harper snorts. “I think it would bewrongof your insanely jealous Mafia-boss husband to murder you even if youhadcheated.”
“I can concede that,” Maddie answers thoughtfully, “but I still didn’t do it.”
“I don’t think I want to be a murder victim,” Harper says.
“Fraidy-cat,” Maddie interjects.
“But can I be one of the murderers?” Harper continues.
“Me, too!” Scarlett jumps on. “What if Harper and I are a travelling serial killer duo? We’ve been getting away with it for years—until we show up in your town.”
One of my eyebrows hitches. “That could be an interesting idea.”
Jasmine lets out a whine. “What can I be, then? The murderer and murder victim are already taken, and those are the two most interesting roles in a mystery book!”
“You could be a colorful side character,” Maddie offers sympathetically.
Jasmine pouts. “I guess …”
We keep laughing over ridiculous conversations, and the drinks keep coming. Before long, I realize I’m tipsy. My cheeks feel pleasantly warm, and it’s all too easy to keep the smile on my face.
“Hey, isn’t that Veikko?” Maddie says, nodding across the bar.
It is. Veikko is standing leaning against the bar counter, throwing back a shot. He slams the glass onto the counter and orders another one, which he downs just as quickly.
I know none of us girls are ones to talk, given how we’ve been indulging in alcohol this evening, but the way Veikko’s drinking seems … concerning. Probably because, even at this distance, he’s radiating a negative energy that’s clearly fueling his consumption.
We watch him make eye contact with a girl sitting near him. A strange look passes over his face, almost a grimace. Then he orders another shot, sucks it down, and sighs with a strange kind of resignation before he approaches her. It’s almost like he’s forcing himself to do so.
“What’s going on with him?” I ask.
Harper sighs. “I don’t know. But I know Sebastian’s been worried about him. He and Felix are having some giant spat that no one knows the reason for.”
But we’re all too tipsy and having too good a time to focus too much on the hunky Finnish hockey player. We keep drinking and keep laughing over absurd conversations. At one point, a song Harper and Maddie love starts to play, and the girls even succeed in dragging me onto the dance floor for a little while.
When we get back to our table, I’m sweaty, out of breath, and quickly graduating from tipsy to wasted. If I’m being honest, I’m probably there already. That’s confirmed when I go to use the bathroom and find that my ability to walk in a straight line is severely impaired.
On my way back to our table, my dizziness veers me off course, and I end up colliding with a hard, broad object. My alcohol-soaked brain soon realizes it’s a chest. A very well-built, manly chest.
For a moment, it makes me think of Jamie, and a fuzzy feeling glides through me. Then I look up and see that the man looking down at me with a smirk is definitely not Jamie. The feeling quickly retreats, replaced with a cold one.
“Sorry,” I blurt, taking a stumbling step backward.
The man’s hands rest on my shoulders, steadying me. My lips curl in a frown. I don’t like the way his hands feel on me. Not that there’s even anything objectively wrong with them. They’re just not Jamie’s.
If I were sober, my brain would be trying to convince me that there’s some other reason I recoil from this stranger’s touch. But my inebriated brain can do nothing but recognize the truth.
“Careful, sugar,” the guy says. He talks with a southern accent that doesn’t sound too bad on his smooth voice, objectively speaking.
“I’m okay,” I answer, shrugging out of his grasp.
“Hope our loss last week isn’t what’s driving you to drink so much tonight,” he says with a wink.
My brow furrows. “Loss?”
“The football game.” His grin notches higher. “Maybe it’s better if you didn’t watch this one. Watch next week. My knee’s feeling better, so you’ll get to see me make a couple sacks this time.”
