Darling - K. Ancrum Page 0,48

had sat behind Wendy in the dressing room. Bella was obscured by two giant iridescent blue and green fans made of ostrich feathers, and was wearing a towering headdress, nearly two feet tall, with plumes of even more feathers. Her fans were so large, Wendy couldn’t see any of her body besides her long-lashed eyes and her downy legs. She looked incredible.

Wendy heard a groan and knew it came from Fyodor, who evidently wasn’t prepared to enjoy this at all.

Bella fluffed her fans delicately in their table’s direction and began dancing. It was surprisingly adorable. When the base thumped, she bumped her hip to the side, showing the tiniest sliver of the bodysuit Wendy knew she was wearing. When the tambourines clashed, she fluttered the fans around, changing their position. The gusts from the fans blew the bubbles delicately and made the seagrass billow realistically as Bella moved. Suddenly she moved the fan she was holding lower so the audience could see her red-painted lips, but only for a second before she snatched the view away, fluttering her feathers flirtatiously. Wendy surprised herself by laughing in delight.

Peter’s eyes snapped back to Wendy, and he beamed at her.

Bella seemed to notice Peter’s attention shift, and she sashayed across the stage until she was directly across from their table. Then she fluffed her fans hard, and two great gusts of wind blew over their table. Peter turned back to watch her, and Bella’s eyes crinkled in triumph.

She twisted until she was at the very edge of the stage, then turned around and leaned, fans positioned at her front and her back until she was completely bent over in such a way that only Peter, Wendy, Curly, and possibly Charles and Minsu at the back of the table could see her whole face.

“Hello, old friend,” Peter said, grinning sharply.

“Old friend,” Bella echoed. “Better get going; the night isn’t as young as we are.”

Peter laughed loudly and slipped a hand under Bella’s waist to help her back up and out of her contortions.

“I’ll see you later, dove,” he said quietly.

Nibs and Curly were already starting to rise when Peter turned to the table.

“All right, let’s go,” Peter declared. “We have places to be.”

Wendy half expected both the Crocodile and Detective Hook to be lurking outside waiting for them, but the detective had left. The Crocodile was leaning against the side of the building, smoking, so out of the way and silent that Wendy didn’t spot him until he reached out a meaty arm and grabbed Peter by the wrist.

To Wendy’s surprise, Peter laughed in the Crocodile’s face and snatched his arm back. “You don’t have to get so testy,” he said. “I’ve never been late.”

Wendy looked frantically at Ominotago, but the other girl didn’t seem alarmed, just tired. Fyodor looked mildly disgusted, but also unsurprised, which made Wendy feel safer. Peter flipped open his messenger bag, handed the Crocodile an envelope, and turned away.

“More,” the Crocodile said to the back of Peter’s head with a voice that sounded like two boulders rubbing to- gether. “Tonight you’re a hassle.”

Peter scowled and whipped back around. “You’re always a hassle,” he snapped. Then he rummaged in his bag for his wallet and gave the Crocodile what looked like at least a hundred dollars.

“What the fuck?” Wendy started to say quietly, but Tinkerbelle tapped her and shook her head sharply. The Crocodile’s beady eyes snapped over to Wendy, jolting her enough for her to take a step backward. The bounty hunter looked them all up and down one by one before moving his grizzled head back to focus on Peter.

“See you next month,” the Crocodile rumbled. He flicked his cigarette, then pushed himself off the wall next to the restaurant and slunk back inside.

Peter took a steadying breath and turned back to Wendy. “Protection,” he explained. “Keeps the coppers off our backs.”

“That’s normal?” Wendy couldn’t help herself. She could make excuses in her head to rationalize a lot of things that had happened tonight, but this wasn’t one of them.

“It is for me,” Peter replied with a grin that didn’t reach his eyes. “Let’s go.”

CHAPTER 10

After Detective Hook’s outburst, it was a bit easier to see the dynamic of the group as a whole. Everyone was on edge and not doing a great job of hiding their emotions. Everyone but Peter, it seemed.

Wendy watched from the back of the group as they made their way toward the train station. Minsu and Charles were doing the least to disguise