trap.”
I smirked. “What about you, Laurel? You go out much?”
She shrugged a shoulder. “Not really. I work a lot.”
Said every Vissimo ever. Royal families aside, I felt kind of sorry for everyone involved in Ingenium.
“I know you’re on the job tonight, but I hope you can still have some fun.”
Doubt entered her voice. “Maybe.”
Ding!
The doors had barely opened, and I was squeezing out to embrace my night of freedom. Tommy pushed off the opposite wall, looking killer in a rose-gold cami tucked into a leopard-print mini. If I wore that, I’d look like I charged by the hour. Tom looked adorable and elegant.
“Pulling it off,” I informed my friend.
“I wasn’t allowed to wear leather, but she can wear leopard print,” Laurel said, frowning.
I waved between the two. “Laurel, this is Tommy. Tommy, Laurel.”
Tommy stepped forward. “Basi believes that only Jessica Alba from Dark Angel can wear black leather.”
Laurel snorted. “That’s exactly what she said.”
I caught Tommy’s approving look. She was already team Laurel. But then my bestie accepted anyone who was decent to others, which was part of why I loved her.
“Where are we going?” I asked, itching to step outside the tower for a few hours of normalcy.
“I figure we’re both poor, so we should organise our crawl around happy hours.” She led the way out of the tower, glancing back. “Laurel, you’ll have to slum it with us tonight.”
She threw Tommy a small smile. “I don’t have much money anyway—I’m paying off my father’s debt.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. I pay for my pop’s retirement village bill and help with my father’s mortgage, so I feel ya. It’s a hard gig.”
Laurel threw her an inscrutable look. “Thank you. It is hard sometimes.”
Tommy cracked a grin. “Thank me by enjoying yourself tonight. And helping Basi to enjoy herself. She either loses the plot or takes forever to loosen up.”
“What! I do not.”
“She’s uptight,” Laurel agreed.
Given current events, I was allowed to be a little fucking tense.
Tommy hummed. “Always has been.”
I whacked her arm. “Don’t gang up on me.”
“Loosen up and we won’t.”
After consuming three bottles of wine recently, I really wasn’t ready for another bender yet.
We passed Montgomery’s and Tommy grabbed my hand soon after, dragging me down an alley.
I peered at a flickering street lamp as we passed. “Oh my god, I slept here once.”
Laurel made a sound in the back of her throat. “You what?”
Tommy scanned the area. “You’re kidding me. Here?” Laughter bubbled out of her. “I still can’t believe you did that.”
That Basi lived another life. “I didn’t know it was near a club. And to be fair, it was more that I accidentally dozed off from sheer exhaustion.”
Live music pounded out of two metal doors down the very end of the alley. A bouncer stood guard but ushered us in without checking IDs. It did make me wonder how old Laurel was though. Her eyes weren’t blazing, which I associated with greater control. Kyros’s didn’t blaze unless his emotion was heightened. Angelica’s eyes glowed a bit.
Was Laurel stronger than Angie?
I tore my eyes from the vampire as she slid me a curious look. Shit, I couldn’t let my guard down around her. Laurel belonged to Kyros—was literally Indebted to him. She’d repeat anything of importance. And who knew what her orders were when it came to me.
“Shots!” Tommy roared.
It was a shot night? Crap.
After knocking back a tequila, I settled into shouted conversations with the others over the acoustic band. Familiarity at last—even with the guest Vissimo. Tommy always had great work stories and had Laurel in stitches recounting the stains she’d found on the sheets that week. I could feel tension draining from me.
My best friend was magic.
I sipped at one of my two rum and Cokes—a happy hour deal I had to take advantage of on my budget because turned out I couldn’t afford strawberry mojitos anymore. That didn’t sting as much as I thought it would. Perhaps this moment was a munched version of what I wanted when I left the estate. In most ways, my independence was less than it had been. But this, buying a drink with money I’d earned, was cause for a small celebration.
Maybe a big one… “I need something with a faster beat,” I shouted. “Let’s go to Cooks.”
“But I’m laying groundwork,” Tommy complained.
I rolled my eyes at Laurel. “She’s after musicians at the moment.”
“So miserable, so in need of guidance,” my friend said, smirking over the lip of her glass.
Laurel wrinkled her nose. “You