Super weird.
Once Tink finishes Snow’s tattoo, we all decide we aren’t done with the evening. All the good shit in Boston is pretty much closed down at four A.M., so we went to the best place we knew to hang out.
The Poison Apple.
“I have to confess it’s kind of weird you guys still want to hang out here after you spent all night working,” Kai says, leaning against the bar. “And won’t your boss be pissed?”
“Rap loves us. She doesn’t mind if we hang out as long as we clean up after ourselves and don’t take advantage of hertoo horribly.” Goldie waves a dismissive hand before putting it back around Ted’s neck, who is sitting on a bar stool with his girlfriend draped all over him.
Unlike us, the big lumberjack-looking bear shifter is a morning person, but he doesn’t like Goldie being out late without him and is often coaxed out well past his bedtime to hang with us.
I am more than a night owl. I come to life. I live for the darkness to fall. It’s one of the reasons my heart sings whenever I step into Midnight. I’m covered, shrouded, and held in perpetual night.
Thankfully, Ted owns his own business and finds ways to manage the opposing schedule. For being a big serious, grumpy looking guy, he’s an absolute slave to the pink and leather bombshell that is my best friend.
I wonder if he really is trying to propose to her, and if he’ll catch a break. She deserves all the happiness in the world. Though I can’t help but notice how his hand keeps returning to a certain suspicious boxy outline in his pocket.
“Have we ever crossed the line of taking advantage of Rap too much?” Red asks, rounding the bar to pour herself a glass of red wine and a whiskey for Brex that she then slides over to him. She has a real, adult job as an accountant now, but once a lost girl, always a lost girl. She has the Poison Apple tat on her left arm to prove it. We all get it eventually.
“Maybe we aren’t trying hard enough,” I say, cracking my fingers in preparation. “Pumpkin spice martini, anyone?”
“I’ll try one,” Snow volunteers, though her gaze is still fastened to the new tattoo that spans the length of her inner forearm—a hand mirror. The ink practically springs off her smooth skin in glowing silver lines. The mirror is beautiful, broken, and hazardous all at once.
When Snow asked Tink what it meant, Tink shrugged and said the magic is in the pixie dust ink and it does the speaking for itself.
I intend to push the Lost Girls’ branding on our next visit. The Poison Apple logo with the words ‘pick your poison’ underneath it.
“That sounds dangerous,” Kai says, referring to my drink.
“I thought you were brave,” I shoot back as I pull out the RumChata, vanilla vodka, and Irish cream.
Snow, Red, and Goldie break out in a chorus of ‘oooo’s, letting him know I’ve definitely thrown the gauntlet down.
“In that case,” Kai says. “I’ll take two.”
I roll my eyes, but I can’t stop the smile spreading across my face.
“Holy fae fucks,” Kai says under his breath, even as the others continue to discuss Snow’s new ink.
“What?” I ask, even as I measure out a bit of syrup over the pumpkin puree.
“I just—I’ve never seen you smile.” Kai’s tone is full of shock and awe.
My brows pinch, but he’s right, I can’t keep my mouth from its upward curl.
“I smile,” I protest in defense.
“Small ones. Crumbs barely big enough for birds to eat, but this, this on your face is a real smile. I can see your teeth and everything.”
“Shut up,” I laugh.
“Forget the martini. I’d like to order a hundred more of these.”
“Smiles? You are the cheesiest, most ridiculous person I have ever met. And don’t you think the pumpkin spice might be the reason I’m smiling?”
“You want me to believe pumpkin spice has this much power over you?” Kai leans in until his delicious male scent wraps around me.
“Maybe it’s because I get to make my favorite martini, or maybe it’s having my friends gathered in one of my favorite places in the middle of the night.” He’s right. I am in a particularly good mood.
