Page 95 of Hunt Me

He glances at Percy and winks, making Percy frown in suspicion. Oleander ignores him and asks, ‘What you want?’

Nico interjects quickly, eager to get his order in. ‘Porn star martini for me, please,’ he asks in sign, fluttering his eyelashes.

Oleander definitely looks affected, and it takes him a moment to turn his attention back to me. ‘Same?’

It sounds really good, so I nod, then point at Archie, who shrugs and shakes his head, holding me a little bit tighter. WhenOleander meets Jasper’s eyes, I see his lips part as he sucks in a breath.

‘Whiskey,’ Jasper signs. ‘Neat.’

Swallowing heavily, Oleander turns to me. ‘Nice friends.’

‘They are,’ I tell him, leaning back into Archie’s arms.

As we wait for him to make everything, Archie’s hands trail across my stomach, his face tucked into my neck as if protecting me from everyone else. He must know how hard coming out tonight is because he isn’t letting me go.

Percy catches my eye a second later as he twists around to watch the crowd, and he looks impressed. ‘Nice place. Big crowd. You like it here?’

‘It’s my second family,’ I tell him. ‘And I love performing.’ I use kiss-fist instead of love because the show is everything to me, and fuck, I miss this so much. I miss feeling safe here. I miss when it was the place I could go to in order to get away from everything else.

The show hasn’t started yet, but people are up and about, some dancing to the beat beneath their feet and vibrating through their chests, others chatting, their hands loud as they sign with one another. There are a few hearing people who come here who don’t sign, but most of the patrons who show up do know ASL and use it exclusively.

It feels the same, but I also feel a little bit like a stranger right now, and I hate that. Taking a breath, I turn my attention to Nico as he bobs his head to the music, chatting with Oleander.

I can’t see everything they’re saying with the way Nico’s leaning on the bar, but I can tell they’re searching for mutual connections, trading names on who they know, and I’m not surprised when they finally land on one.

Nico grins and makes an exaggeratedyeswith his fist and then leans his head back and laughs. When he does, he knocksinto Jasper, who tumbles into the man next to him, causing the stranger to spill his drink on Jasper’s freshly pressed coat.

The man’s eyes go wide, and he stares down for a long moment before his gaze slowly trails up to Jasper’s face. There’s something in his expression I can’t quite read, but I can tell he’s entranced by Jasper. It must be a genetic thing, these guys. Like they have incubus blood somewhere in their line.

I tap Archie’s arm to get his attention, and he lifts his head and adjusts one of his earplugs a little deeper to cancel out the loud music. He raises his eyebrows as he takes in his dad’s wet shirt and jacket.

‘What happened?’ he asks.

The man beside Jasper looks apologetic, and his lips curve over his words, and it takes me a moment to recognize that he has an accent. One that I know, because I’ve actually met this man before.

Gabriel. Rome’s dad.

He’s been retired for a while now after Rome took over the business, but by the rings under his eyes, I can tell he hasn’t been getting a lot of rest lately. It’s been a while since I’ve checked in with Rome, and now I feel like a terrible friend because what if things have been going wrong and I’ve been checked out on my own problems?

I make a mental note to text him soon as I turn my attention back to the two older men, who are now cleaning each other up.

‘It’s fine,’ Jasper replies, his signs clipped as he addresses Gabriel. ‘No harm done.’

Nico is pretending none of this happened, slipping closer into Archie and me. Ignorance can be bliss when you want it to be.

Jasper reaches over and gets Archie’s attention, signing, ‘I’m going to the restroom.’

Then he stalks off, Gabriel looking slightly horrified at his spilled drink on the bar top. It’s dripping onto the floor, creating a puddle, and when he reaches for a towel behind the counter to clean it up, Oleander slaps his hand away.

‘No. I clean. You stay. I’ll make you another drink. That was not your fault.’

Gabriel rubs a hand down his face, and I can’t help but wonder why he’s here. It seems an odd place for him to be when he looks this…defeated. But I don’t have a chance to think too hard about it because Nico is leaning over to get our attention.

‘This song, favorite. Come dance?’

I don’t know what song is playing, but I do like the beat under my feet, though I’m not sure I should be on the dance floor right now. Archie looks annoyed, but he lets himself be pulled away by Nico, leaving me with Percy, who arches an eyebrow at me.

‘You want to go with them?’ I ask.