Page 122 of The Fake Divination Offense
“You’re my biggest source of strength, too,” he whispers.
A blush heats my face, but he’s already diving into the car.
I slip in on the driver’s side and peel out of the parking lot.
Bel settles into the seat, but when I don’t drive toward the apartment, he perks up. “Where are we going?”
“Wow.” I click my tongue. “It took you this long to ask that? Do you blithely trust every strange man you get into a car with?”
He grins. There’re those dimples. “Only the really sexy ones.”
“Lucky me, then.” I wink.
“Oh, did you think I meant you?”
I reach across the console to pinch his thigh and he chirps a laugh.
Traffic is light, so we make it across town in no time, and I parallel park in a spot right out front.
Lights are on in the bar; a few people are already there, moving beyond the glass.
That was one of the calls I made earlier: offering the Silver Hound’s owner pretty much anything they asked for to reserve the whole bar on short notice.
Bel studies the exterior, his perusal transforming into a beaming grin when he recognizes the bar where we first met.
“Karaoke date night?” he asks, clearly in love with the idea.
I rest my wrist on the steering wheel, half my lips relenting in a smile. “Sort of.”
He’s unbuckling his seat belt, buzzing with excitement already, but stops. “Sort of?”
I rub my hand over my chin and look at the bar again.
I recognize Seb’s outline through the winter-fogged window. Maybe Marlow’s, too? My stomach swells with an anxious fizz I’d been doing my hardest to keep at bay through the service, but now, here, I’m hit with the same twisting worry as months ago.
It was short notice. No one might come.
Bel takes my hand. “Orok, what’s going on?”
“The night we met,” I say in a rush. “I’d asked the team to meet me here. The lawsuit verdict had just come out, and—” I scrub at my face again, jaw gaping in unspoken words.
Bel leans closer. Doesn’t push. Just watches me until I lift my eyes and give a self-deprecating smile.
“I never felt any connection with the Chimeras,” I tell him. “Never tried to. Neverwantedto. Then I not only got traded, but got tradedhome, and I wanted it to be better. With the new team. I wasn’t sure itwouldbe, after that night—no one came out. It’s dumb. But… in other ways, they’ve been night-and-day different from the Chimeras, so I thought we could use a team break. And with allourstress, you and I should blow off some steam. So. I invited them out again tonight. For a party.”
“That sounds perfect,” he says, his smile genuine. “For them and us.”
I shrug. “They might not come again. I only let them know a few hours ago, and itisthe holiday season, for more than just Urzoth’s religion, so they probably all have plans to—”
Bel puts his free hand over my mouth. “Hey. Babbling is my thing.”
“You don’t babble.”
“I do so. I babble so much I should sue you for copyright infringement.”
I smile into his palm and press a kiss there.
He lowers his hand. “Should we go inside?”
