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“What were you thinking, inviting him tonight?” I demand. “Are you on drugs?”
Her eyes get a little brighter at the suggestion. “No, but I could be.” She winks. “I know a guy?—”
“Bee!”
She laughs. “Oh, come on, I’m just joking. Obviously. Unless…”
“Was inviting Dmitri another one of your jokes? Because I’ve got news for you: it’s not funny!”
She glances back over her shoulder. “I know he’s being a giant grump tonight, but?—”
“No, there’s no ‘but’! He obviously doesn’t want to be here and you obviously made him come. And I am obviously uncomfortable.”
She squints at me with something like pity in her eyes. “Come on, Wren. You’re a smart girl. Do you really think that Dmitri Egorov does anything he doesn’t want to do?”
It’s the exact same question I asked myself earlier in the night. But what, then, is the answer? Of course he doesn’t do anything he doesn’t want to. That would mean that he wants to be here.
But…
“All you have to do is take one glance at the man,” I protest. “He looks miserable sitting here between us talking about first boyfriends and pantyhose.”
She giggles. “How about we talk about our periods next? Really get him squirming.”
I laugh through my indignation. It really is hard to resist Bee. I may be surprised about a lot when it comes to the two of them, but Dmitri falling for her is not one. Hell, I’m as straight as they come and I’m half in love with her.
“Bee, seriously,” I insist once I’ve got a handle on my laughter, “why did you invite him?”
“You want to know the truth?”
“Yes, please.”
She squints at me over the rim of her third drink. “I didn’t invite him. I told him we were going out for dinner to celebrate your birthday and he insisted on coming with us.”
I’m having a hard time closing my mouth. “You’re… Are you…”
She nods with a smug little smile on her face. “He pretends he’s only here to ‘protect us,’ but I’ve known him a long time, Wren. You’re the mother of his child. And he’s here for your birthday.”
Suddenly, I feel flushed. And restless. And sweaty under the armpits.
Bee leans forward and puts her hand on mine. “He may come across as an asshole, but he’s anything but that. The only reason I’m even alive today is because he stepped in and protected me.”
I gawk at Bee wide-eyed as I try to process what she’s saying. But before I can get to any follow-up questions, Dmitri sits back down again with a drink so strong, I can smell it a foot away.
My thoughts are running rampant. Let’s just humor Bee here and pretend that she’s right about Dmitri being here because he wants to be. Clearly, he needs a fuck-ton of alcohol to do it. And really, does that even count?
“Wonderful!” Bee says suddenly, clapping her hands together. “We’re all back together, we’ve got a little buzz going, the girls have had some laughs at the expense of the prince of darkness over here… I’d say the evening is going swimmingly, wouldn’t you?”
“The time of my life,” mutters Dmitri.
But even his acidity can’t knock Bee’s shine. “There’s only one thing missing.” Turning to me with that same wicked smile on her face, she asks, “Do you know what that is?”
“Uh…”
“Stronger liquor,” adds Dmitri in another aside.
“Cake!” Bee squeals over him.
The moment she says “cake,” I hear the hiss and spit of sparklers going off. From my peripheral vision, a whole armada of waiters appears, bearing a gorgeous cake decorated with a metric shitload of candles and a huge 2 and 9 wedged into the center.
