I huff out an amused breath at that, the sound harsh, and hell, I’ve missed them. Not that I’d ever admit it aloud.
“Hell no. Girl like that has trouble written all over her. I don’t need that headache, Atlas. You two give me enough problems to handle already.”
Abandoning them, I leave to get a drink, needing literally anything to make this night fly by quicker. The crowd is much more manageable up here and it doesn’t take long until I catch sight of the bar, but more notably, the girl getting pushed off of it. She’s hopping up to sit on it a second time as I get within earshot and the bartender promptly shoves her right back off.
“You know the rules; only asses on the bar are if they’re getting bent over it,” he scolds, eyes narrowed in disapproval.
“Would it get me something from the top shelf?” She grins playfully, batting her eyes at the man as she leans in to rest her arms on the counter.
He snorts. “You wouldn’t know the difference between a Russo-Baltique and Everclear. Take your screwdriver and go back to the cave you crawled out of, heathen.”
She flutters a hand to her chest in mock indignation. “You wound me, Cy. Keep talking like that and people will think I’m some horrible witch.”
Cy jerks his head towards me as he notices me openly eavesdropping. He mumbles something low towards her, and I try to look away, really I do, but there’s just something about the girl that keeps drawing my attention back to her. She tilts her head to face us and I get my first solid look at her.
The hair at her scalp is a bright, sky blue, fading deeper to purple before blending into red. The tips end in a golden color, and I have never once seen someone with such eccentric hair in my life. It should look ridiculous, but she manages to pull it off flawlessly; like a hummingbird flitting around, unable to sit still and unaware of how entrancing it is to behold. That, coupled with her unnerving, piercing silver eyes, makes her look absolutely mesmerizing.
Motherfuck, she’s got trouble written all over her. And yet, I can’t seem to look away.
Dorian and Atlas come up behind me as she slams back her drink, raises the empty glass, and gets to her feet. “Thanks for the drink, but I’m calling it a night. Good luck in the cesspool, boys.” She turns and saunters away without so much as a backwards glance, heading towards the employee door on the far wall and disappears.
Atlas slaps my shoulder. “Good on you for trying though, Lucien. Sucks, but bound to happen a few times.”
I toss him a confused look over my shoulder. “I didn’t buy her a drink.”
Cy laughs. “No, you did.” He tosses Atlas his credit card and walks away to go help the building line of customers, cackling away.
“Son of a bitch.” I reach into my back pocket and open my wallet, finding my credit card missing too.
By Dorian’s sigh, I can only assume his is gone also.
“That little show of hers. That’s why she worked through the crowd; she was pickpocketing everyone.”
I didn’t even get laid and still got robbed.
“We might not have gotten lucky, but we sure got fucked over,” Dorian mirrors my sentiments, frowning.
Glancing up at Atlas from my seat, I glare at him like it’s his fault. And to be fair, it is; he’s the one that decided we needed to go out. He grinds his teeth, turning to stomp over to the bartender.
“Where can we find her?” he growls.
“Buddy, you don’t find Cambria.Shefindsyou,and lord help ‘ya if she does.” Cy walks away still cackling, leaving us no closer than we were before.
“Well, that was mildly alarming,” Dorian helpfully points out, taking things in stride.
I rise to my feet, glowering. “Come on, she can’t have gone far.”
