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I smiled at my friend’s expression as it softened, and she popped up on her toes to give Laeth a kiss. “We’ll find you in a little bit, baby. Have fun with your girls. Love you.”
“Love you back,” she said with a blush, then proceeded to watch his ass as he walked away from us.
“If I didn’t love you so damn much, I might hate you for being so blissfully happy,” Wynn announced on a salty grumble that made the rest of us laugh.
“Aw, come here, love.” I hooked my arm around her shoulders and started guiding us down the rows of booths. “I’ll be your date tonight.”
“You have to be. We’re the last two standing. The rest of our friends are all disgustingly in love.”
“I wouldn’t say I’m disgustingly in love,” Shane countered. “More often than not, I’m planning where I could possibly hide Jensen’s body.”
Deva giggled. “Oh, I’m disgustingly in love, and totally happy about it.”
“Same,” Willow added.
“I hate all of you,” Wynn lamented, but there wasn’t an ounce of sincerity in those words. We all knew she was happy for every single one of her friends.
“Oh, don’t act like you couldn’t have yourself a sexy badass if you wanted.” Shane narrowed her eyes at her. “The tension between you and Gage when you’re in a room together could be cut with a knife.”
She wasn’t wrong about that. Although, it hadn’t gone unnoticed that something had shifted between the two recently. They’d always claimed they were nothing more than friends, but I’d never known friends to have a chemistry as strong as theirs, so intense it singed those of us around them. Nowadays, I got the impression Wynn was trying her best to avoid the man.
“Yeah, what’s going on there?” Deva gave her a curious look. “Laeth says Gage has been uncharacteristically moody lately.”
Shane let out a snort, and I couldn’t miss the way Wynn had stiffened beside me. “That’s a nice way of putting it. Jensen says he’s been a prick and he’s this close to punching him in the face.”
We all looked down at Wynn with curiosity. Her face was set in a flat, expressionless manner, but there was no missing the heat of anger flashing in her unique violet eyes. “I don’t want to talk about it, so change the subject,” she announced in a tone that brooked no argument.
I looked around at my friends, all of us wearing similar expressions of concern and inquisitiveness. As much as we wanted to push, we all knew Wynn well enough to know that she’d shut down completely if we didn’t let it go.
Reaching into the back pocket of my jeans, I pulled out the strip of tickets I’d grabbed from the library’s booth before taking off.
“I have drink tickets,” I announced in a sing-song voice, hoping it would lighten the mood.
Wynn snatched them out of my hand in the blink of an eye. “I’ll take those, thank you very much. Be back in just a few.”
Shane let out a sigh as she watched our friend start off in the direction of a food truck that advertised the long list of cocktails it served. “I’ll go with her, make sure she doesn’t get herself in trouble. We’ll catch back up with you guys.”
She jogged after Wynn, and I felt some of the tension leave my shoulders with the knowledge that there was someone looking after her. Willow, Deva, and I started bouncing from booth to booth, sampling as we went. The chili made by the local fire department was just a bit too hot for my liking, but the chili the owners of Bad Alibi, Buck and Darla, made had the perfect amount of heat and salt. Some were so damn hot they made my eyes water, and I had to chug back half the beer Wynn and Shane had given me when they caught back up to us, but for the most part, my little town was pretty damn good at making a nice bowl of chili.
My protesting stomach was finally happy about halfway through the cookoff when I spotted Alexis standing behind one of the tables.
“Lyric, hey!” she called out, waving me over. I smiled big, heading in her direction when I noticed the apron she was wearing and let out a long laugh. It saidI don’t think you’re ready for this chili.
“Love the apron.”
She snickered and pointed to her husband who was wearing a baseball cap that said the same thing. “My mom’s idea. Each year she comes up with a pun and makes the whole family wear it. She was on a bit of a Beyonce kick this year, obviously.”
“Hey, who doesn’t love Beyonce?”
“I’m fine with it, but I think the men in the family are planning to revolt if she doesn’t stop.”
“You let me know if you need help fighting back the resistance. I’m your girl.”
“You keep being awesome and I’m going to owe you a free bowl of chili. Speaking of...” She used a metal ladle to scoop chili from a gigantic pot and poured it into a disposable bowl before sprinkling it with a bit of shredded cheddar and chopped onions. “Try that out and let me know what you think.”
I stirred the contents with a plastic spoon before taking a bite. My eyes fell closed on a moan as the flavors exploded on my tongue. Out of everything I’d sampled so far, this had to be the best chili, hands down. “Oh my God,” I said before stuffing another bite into my mouth. “This is the best thing I’ve ever tasted.”
My friends joined me, each of them sliding over a few bills for a bowl of their own. As it turned out, Shane and Willow, being life-long residents of Redemption, already knew Alexis. “Lexi’s family wins first place every year,” Shane informed me as she scooped up her own bite.
