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“Thanks for indulging them, Tink. You—” She frowns. “You’re still Tink, right?”

Weird. Until this very moment, I hadn’t even thought about it. I guess I’ve been Tink for so long that the idea of answering to anything else seems…strange. Foreign.

“Yeah,” I say. “I think so.”

Treasure considers. “Yeah, you’re a Tink.” She snaps once at Ruby. “‘Nother round for the girls. On the house.”

Ruby gives her a salute. “Yes, ma’am.”

With the crowd dispersed, Zuzu gives me a sly look and an approving nod.

“Look at Miss Popular, here,” she says. “You make friends wherever you go, Tink.”

“Hah.” I fiddle with a paper coaster, suddenly self-conscious. “I dunno about that.” Honestly, it’s probably the most attention I’ve ever gotten from the Mermaids. Maybe because they realize I’m still zero threat to them.

Except…except no, I think, as Ruby sets down Zuzu’s third and my second. Up close and personal, girl to girl, they don’t really seem that keen on the Lost Boys. At least, not at the expense of one of their own. And that feels good enough to take another swig of my mai tai.

I’m just about to broach the topic of my…investigation, for lack of a better word, when the door swings open behind us and, for the second time that day, the Lagoon falls silent.

“Shit,” Zuzu whispers. I turn.

It’s Pan.

Oh.

I say nothing. I barely even acknowledge him, once I see it’s him, because what’s there to say? Pan, for his part, has a split second of looking crestfallen before he snaps back to himself and strides down to the farthest distant bar stool he can. I don’t know where he’s been all day—nor do I care—but something about him is below his usual one hundred percent. A duller gleam to his smile, maybe less product in his stupid hair, one fewer earring hanging or a few extra chips in his nail polish. Hard to say.

Hard to care.

“Pan.” Treasure sweeps in at the bar before Ruby can even make it there. “How’s my favorite Lost Boy?”

Zuzu glances back at me, eyes wide with suspicion. I give her a tiny head shake—let Treasure cook. Because yeah, even for the owner of a strip joint, that’s an awfully friendly tone for Treasure to take with anyone, let alone the thorn in her side that is Pan.

“Better now that I’m here,” comes his voice. He fixes her with a smile. “Whatcha pouring?”

“For you?” Treasure beams. “Got a special.” Again, she snaps for Ruby, who bustles over with a long-necked bottle of gold liquid—tequila, I think, some brand so fancy it’s got a wax seal on the label and dust on the shoulders from never getting opened. Deftly, she racks up a row of mini glasses, one two three.

“Special?” Now Pan’s smile seems more genuine, his confidence restored. Zuzu’s practically falling off her stool to lean in and see, and I have to admit, I am too, although a bit unsteadily from all the rum. “What’s so special about it?”

“Twenty-year aged,” Treasure says, gesturing for Ruby and Emerald to flank her. “Reserve.” She fills the glasses with a flick of the wrist, not a drop to waste, and then smiles. “Body shots.”

Even from the other end of the bar, I can see Pan’s eyebrows raise in delight.

“Well,” he says. “Can’t say I⁠—”

In perfect sync, the Mermaids lift the glasses and chuck the contents right in his face.

“Ope!” Zuzu bursts out laughing, practically falling from her stool. I’m too stunned to move at first—or I think I am until I feel my own face splitting into a grin.

And Pan just sits there, stunned, with two hundred dollars of twenty-year tequila dripping off his stupid, smug face.

“That’s for treating women like shit,” Treasure says calmly. “I’ll put those on your tab.” She plants both hands on the bar and leans in. “For now, I suggest you leave.”

“Bye, Pan!” Every Mermaid in the bar spins and finger-waves as he stalks out, and it’s all I can do to keep a straight face. When the door swings shut behind him, the DJ flips the track to something low and rhythmic, and a loud woooo goes up from the girls—myself, I realize, included.

“Dude,” I say, as Treasure sashays to our end of the bar, brushing some imaginary dust off her shoulder. “That was⁠—”

“I know, I know.” She straightens her tube top, grinning. “I’m good.”