Shimmying out of the booth, Bryce followed Jude’s somewhat coherent directions to the bathroom and pushed inside. A demon eerily resemblinga horse was washing his hands, and someone was giggling from the closed toilet stall. The horse demon brushed past Bryce muttering, “You’re lucky. They just finished,” as he left the bathroom.
Under the stall door, a pair of white ankle boots shifted beside two pink paws with black-painted claws. Apparently, Jude had been correct.
“Gem, put your underwear back on,” Rusty hissed, making the Araknis snort.
“No, keep them in your pocket. That’s so hot.”
Rusty laughed, a pleasant sound Bryce had never heard before. “You’re ridiculous.”
“Not in this dress I’m not,” Gem purred.
“I do like the dress,” Rusty agreed.
“I knew you would.”
After what sounded like a noisy kiss, the stall door swung open and Gem stepped out, straightening his dress. His hair was messed up, and his makeup was smeared. Rusty’s fur was going all different directions, and the lipstick missing from Gem’s mouth was streaked in the downy hairs around Rusty’s lips.
They caught sight of Bryce at the same time, and Rusty froze. Gem shrieked, all eight eyes wide and horrified. The three of them gaped at each other for several seconds before Gem recovered, leaning casually against the side of the toilet stall.
“Bryce, hey. What, uh, what’s up?”
Shifting his weight, Bryce tucked his hands into his pockets. “Not much.”
“Yeah, us too,” Rusty said, shooting Gem a panicked look. “We were just… uh…”
“Checking Rusty for ticks,” Gem blurted, and Rusty’s jaw dropped in offense.
“Hey!” he growled, and Gem glared down at him.
“Unless you have a better explanation?” He splayed his six hands in open invitation.
A slew of emotions flitted over Rusty’s face as they glowered at each other, but it was furious resignation that won. Growling deep in his chest, he kicked at the floor with his claws.
Grudgingly, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his baggy jeans as he muttered between clenched teeth, “He was checking for ticks.”
With a blinding smile, Gem nodded. “Yeah, but I didn’t find any. He’s parasite free.”
Rusty chittered, smacking Gem’s lowest arm. “Gem!”
“Oh my gods, what? It’s a good thing. Or do you want me to tell Bryce that you do, in fact, have ticks?” Several arms crossed over his torso defiantly. “Not that he’d judge you for it, if you did. He’s a vet. He probably deals with that all the time.”
“I don’t have ticks!” Rusty barked, and affronted, Gem stepped back, raising a threatening finger.
“I know! I literally just said that.” To Bryce, Gem gesticulated aggressively. “Can you believe his audacity? And after I just sucked his brains out through his dick. He’s such a fucking man!”
Striped tail high and puffy, Rusty fisted his paws. “So are you!”
Gem clicked his tongue and pointed at his dress with one hand as another flipped his hair like he was auditioning for a shampoo commercial. “Not right now, I’m not.”
“You are so infuriating,” Rusty bit out, and Gem batted his thick eyelashes alluringly.
“I know. Doesn’t it make you horny?” He winked at Bryce. “Seriously, this is practically foreplay for us.”
With a sigh, Rusty face-palmed. “Stop talking, Gem.”
Like he only now remembered that Bryce wasn’t supposed to know they were involved, Gem grimaced. “Fuck me. Um… on an unrelated note, Bryce, how drunk are you? Like on a scale of one to ten, how likely is it that you won’t remember this in the morning?”
“Zero,” Bryce said, and both Gem and Rusty winced. “I’m fully sober right now.”
