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Tabi responds instead of me. “Nah, just waiting on my sister from an unknown mister to fucking implode and see if she’ll call my bluff. We’re headed to a couple of places I’ve heard about. And the kids are covered. There’s literally like 35 people to help my husband feed them.”

I get in her face. She looks down at me. “I’m not afraid of anything in this entire world because the worst thing has already happened. So, let’s do this. Do your worst. Try to rattle me. I have nothing.”

I take the bottle and swig, then Boomer tries to take it from me. I pull it back and smash it on the street. I step back inside to grab my newest phone off of the charger.

“Let’s fucking go, but you’re not allowed to say a fucking word to me about shit. And you--” I point to Boomer. “I’m fine.”

“Ma’am, um. No. You’re not.”

“I am.”

Tabi nods and leaves through the door into the night and I step after her, a shadow of who I was and a mystery of who I’ll become.

Chapter

Nineteen

Poppy

I push back on the guy trying to grind up on me and Tabi spins around. We dance around each other. We’re laughing at everything, and I know the joy is manufactured, but it’s so much fun. My jaw hurts. We’re in a drunk bubble of time and sweaty from dancing in this humidity. Tab’s tank top is soaked through. Thankfully, my corset is staying up. Her make up is running down her face. And even though my makeup has melted, I’m sure my false glitter eyelashes are still in place. Those don’t go anywhere. I can’t tell you how many mornings I’ve woken up hungover, or after a night of puking, and those fuckers scared the shit out of me when I caught a glimpse of them in the mirror.

I haven’t laughed this hard in forever.

“Costas keeps wailing every time he passes the white rosebush. He hung an evil eye on it. He never noticed it’s been dead for like ten years. I think I pissed on it once.” I bend over laughing at stories of her old world father.

I do love this insane woman. I grind into the air and bounce my ass to Get Low while Tabi squats to the ground. She’s not checked her phone once. She’s having a Tabi time, but she really is here for me. There’s a collection of assholes in this warehouse club. The tourists, locals, rednecks, and a suit guy, which makes no kind of sense in this heat. The humidity makes us all a sweaty, writhing mess, collectively pushing reality away. I’m slurping all the water I can.

Tab leaps up on the DJ platform and people swarm her, but she whispers to the DJ and he gets everyone to back off. Because no one says no to her. She takes the microphone and says, “Toss it back, bitches, then everybody on the floor. This is for Yia Yia!”

Yeah, Yeah blares from the speakers and I can’t contain myself as my eyes leak laughter because this joke is just for me. Her ancient Greek grandmother dances to this because she thinks they’re saying Yia Yia instead of Yeah Yeah. My vision is a little cloudy and blurry from the volume of liquor, but this shit is funny.

It’s been hours and the shots just show up as well as bottles of water. There’s many men and Tab’s so good about dancing around them and then blowing them off.

She gets close to my ear. “Wanna hit a different club? Or there’s this cop bar with like a speakeasy thing I heard about from some hot guy tonight: it doesn’t close. They have bowls of bacon on the bar.” Her eyes light up and I nod.

We settle up, then the bartender hands Tabi a bottle of water. She tries to crack the top open, but it’s already open and she flings it across the room. And the two of us cackle. We were taught well. Never drink something given to you if the top is cracked. Before we leave, she gets that look in her eye.

“Hey, Dark Willow, ever dance on a bar?”

“Don’t call me that.”

She whines. “Come on, sad Fiona, let’s go find a bar to dance on.” An incredibly cut man covered in tattoos smiles at me. I nod and keep walking. Tabi’s in my ear.

“You should nail him.” She points directly at the man who has that look in his eye I do not encourage.

I yell, “I don’t do that.”

The suit man at the far end of the bar catches my attention as she talks. “You don’t do bikers, or you don’t do men? What’s your pleasure lately? Let’s see who you’ve decided to be, Pop. Just trying to fucking learn your preferences.”

I’m a mess and push past some other men who anyone would drool over, but I need to get out of here and onto something else. I need air.

“Numb yet?” She’s still in my ear like an annoying gnat.

I explode, “No!”

She’s too close to talking about shit I don’t talk about. Tabi circles me and she’s back in my ear. “Fess up, Pop. You into girls, groups, or are you into some Sam BDSM type shit now? Not that he does that shit since Sammy disappeared.”

I twist away again, and hot tattoo arm guy tries to stop me. He smiles sweetly, but I push away and Tabi talks to him.