“We always do,” Ariel says a little sharper than normal.
I set the coffee on the bar in front of him. “Leave him alone, guys,” I say. “Everything is fine.”
“Bullshit.” Snow’s eyes volley between us.
Even Rap watches us now with a sharp eye. Or as sharp as her hangover allows.
Maybe I should tell them we were attacked by vampires.
But that would lead to too many questions.
The door flings open, and at first I don’t recognize the tall, muscular Black man in the purple satin suit. As he nears, fluttering massive false eyelashes and heavy eye makeup, I realize this is Dame Kiki out of drag. And she looks…errr…upset.
“Good, you’re here,” Rap says, rousing from her goblin slouch over the coffee. “Geanie,” she calls loudly.
“Oh this is gonna be good,” Snow crosses her arms as Ariel sucks in a breath.
Rap calls for him twice more before Geanie emerges from the back rooms. He slinks rather than walks, as if he’s fighting resentment with every fiber of his being.
Kiki pops a hand on her hip and taps her gleaming shoes. “Well?” she addresses Rap.
“Geanie,” Rap says in a low, threatening voice.
He pulls at the collar of his shirt, lips twisted as if he’s been sucking on an entire bag of lemons.
“We talked about this...” Rap pushes without subtlety.
He mumbles something.
“Come again?” Kiki cups a hand behind her ear. “I didn’t hear that.”
“I’m sorry,” he says louder.
“For...” Rap urges him to go on. She might as well have Geanie by the scruff of the neck. I almost feel bad for him, but I’m still not sure what this is about.
“For ripping off your wig during Goldie's bouquet toss.”
I turn to Ariel for confirmation, and she meets my expression with a solemn nod and a grimace that tells me it got even uglier than that.
Kiki sets her hands on her hips, narrowing her eyes. “You mean before ripping the stems straight out of my hands like a petty little?—”
“Kiki,” Rap interrupts in a warning tone.
Kiki backs off, clearing her throat of whatever other nasty insults had built up there. “Thank you for your apology,Eugene.” She says the name with as much pleasure as Geanie’s displeasure. “I understand it’s hard when you feel you are getting outshined…Well, I’ve never actually felt that but?—”
“Kiki,” Rap says sharply this time, and Kiki drops it. “Now shake hands and get over this petty bullshit before I cut you both off from the steady supply of free drinks you both so liberally enjoy.”
Despite being rivals, both Kiki and Geanie wear a matching open-mouth expression of scandalized shock and fear. Begrudgingly, they shake hands, and Rap nods with evident satisfaction before they part ways.
I feel Talon’s eyes on me, compelling me to look at him. It hurts. It hurts to look at him. To remember what slipped through our fingers. Even if it’s not his fault.
He sets the empty coffee cup down and leaves to take his spot by the door. The night is about to kick off.
I try to swallow down the pain as I polish the bar top with extra vigor.
“Can I get a coffee to go, sweetness?” Kiki asks, sidling up in front of me with an empty travel mug she’s pulled from her glittery tote. “And if you pour a bit of that Irish cream in there, mum’s the word. Got a hot night at the Pumpkin Coach Club tonight and I’ve still got to get glam.”
I nod, feeling like a hollow doll as I go about filling the bottom with Irish cream. Kiki will be on foot, and the club isn’t far from here, though we’ve yet to have a girls’ night there.
