Akeira nodded. “You let him know he gotta earn your trust even as you open up to him. That’s different fromjust giving in.”
“And keep your eyes open. Love ain't about being stupid,” Emory added.
Hyacinth raised her glass. “Hallelujah. Asé and amen."
Emory glared her. “All that over liquor, Hy?”
“It ain't like God don't know we in a bar,” Hyacinth shot back.
I giggled, tipsy as hell. That girl was incorrigible, irreverent, and just plain ignorant, but I wouldn't trade her for the world.
Epiphany smiled at me. “Don’t give up on him yet.”
I laughed again. It wasa little drunk and a little too emotional. “Y’all making it sound like I’m in one of my own books.”
Hyacinth snorted. “Baby, we told you. Your lifebeendramatic enough to get optioned for a blockbuster.”
I was about to answer when a shadow fell over me.
“Excuse me.”
Ugh. I looked up and immediately knew I didn’t have the patience or sobriety for this. The man standing there was handsome enough with his nice suit and his blindingly white veneers. He also had eyes that had already overstayed their welcome on my chest.
“Yes?” I asked flatly.
He smiled wider. “I just had to come tell you you’re the most beautiful woman in here.”
Hyacinth leaned around me to look at him. “And yet somehow, she was surviving without that information.”
I bit back a laugh.
He glanced at her, annoyed, then looked back at me. “Can I buy you a drink?”
I held up the one I had. “I’m good. Probably done had too many.”
“Probably?” Pip muttered.
She was on one tonight.
“Maybe when you finish that one.”
“I won’t want one then, either.”
He chuckled like I was flirting. I hated men like him.
“Come on, pretty. Don’t do me like that.”
Epiphany took a leisurely sip and said, “Oh, she definitely about to do you like that.”
He ignored her. “You here with somebody?”
Before I could reply, Hyacinth smiled sweetly. “Yes. Death. She's here with Death.”
“Hy!” Ev hissed, half laughing.
“What? I’m trying to help him.”
“And she’s actually not lying,” Pip added.
