Chapter 4
As suspected, the New Year’s Eve at the bar was incredibly busy.
It didn’t start out that way, though. A relaxed dinner shift lulled Kian—our only less-experienced staff member—into a false sense of security.
Several hours later when people were swarming the bar, he grew frustrated with himself, despite all of us telling him he needed to take it easy.
He needed more time to recover his stamina after the attack a few months ago.
I mean, even a hungover Shiloh worked circles around him.
When a cocktail shaker fell to the floor behind me, splattering the backs of my jeans with liquid, I spun to make sure he was okay.
Shiloh beat me there. They snatched a towel from the rail, scooping up the ice from the dropped cocktail. “Can you restock the napkins?”
Kian’s attention went to the very full napkin holders, then slid back to Shi. “We don’t need any—”
“Kian, please just get them. And it might take you a minute. They can get buried sometimes.”
I bit back a grin; not because he was beginning to falter, but because The Great Napkin Escape was something of a rite of passage at Liz’s.
On one of my first shifts, it had been Dani who halted me in my fuming state and sent me for cocktail stirrers we didn’t need to save me from losing my shit in front of customers.
Then, months ago, I’d offered Shi that very same out when they’d become stressed.
The smile at the memory faded all too quickly. Not that long ago, I thought Dani was dead… only for her to try to kill James and me.
Again.
After I’d plunged a knife into her side, she’d vanished. I had no idea if she was dead or alive, and I didn’t know which was worse.
“They’re right, Kian,” I interjected, sliding a tray of shots over the counter. “You can never have too many napkins on a night like this.”
Flustered, Kian dropped his half-mixed cocktail into a dish basin and rushed down the hallway. When Shi caught me staring, they blushed and began remixing the unfinished drink.
They hadn’t said much to me since they left that morning.
To be fair, Liz’s had been so busy that we didn’t get a chance to say much of anything that wasn’t order-related.
By the time midnight rolled around, everyone had their drinks and were crowded around the TV to watch the ball drop in New York City.
James leaned against the entry that led to the hallway.
To everyone else, he seemed calm, cool, and collected.
No one but me would have noticed the rigid set of his jaw or the way his eyes darted between me and Shiloh all night.
If they’d divulged anything to him on the drive, he hadn’t repeated it to me.
The two had seemed more comfortable with each other this evening, but I had no doubt that my vampire was still beating himself up over kissing Shi without permission.
I strolled over to James as the countdown started. With my arms around him, he finally relaxed. He guided me in for a brief kiss with a hand in my hair, and the clock struck midnight. I could taste him on my tongue, and I stole a moment to press my lips to his one more time.
“Happy New Year, love,” he whispered, before returning to the office.
I stared after him, feeling like I was being watched. When I turned to my right, Shiloh wrenched their attention away. Returning to the bar, Kian elbowed me to get my attention. “What’s that all about?”
“I’m not sure yet,” I said, a plan beginning to form in my mind. Someone approached the bar and ordered a margarita—a drink that he still needed some practice making. “You want to take this one?”
He reached for the wrong bottle and offered me a bashful smile when I swapped it for the correct one. As much as I wanted to take over myself, he wouldn’t learn if I did so every time. Instead, I stood back and watched. It took him a while, but the customer gave him the seal of approval in the end.
Still, his shoulders fell and he slumped against the bar. “Am I ever going to get it right?”
“You will. It took me years to master the perfect margarita—and I still get people who send it back.” I cleared some empty glasses from the bar.
“It’s not skinny enough, or it’s too skinny.
They want Tajin but not too much Tajin. Or, my personal favorite: ‘I don’t like tequila.
Can you make it with vodka instead?’” That, at least, got him laughing.
After we closed that night, I pulled another one of Dani’s moves.
Kian had tapped out the second we locked the doors—unwillingly, I might add.
We all noticed the signs of him being in pain long before Hannah arrived to pick him up.
She’d had a long day of classes, and the threat of her coming in herself and dragging him out seemed to scare Kian into going home without further complaint.
I was closing down the register, and Shiloh was wiping down tables. As I stacked the receipts and stapled them together, I caught their attention. “Could you take these back to James?”
They were immediately suspicious. “Something wrong with your legs?”
“You’re welcome to inspect them if you want,” I offered with a lewd smile. Cue that beautiful blush. I loved this time of night, when the three of us had the bar to ourselves. “James really enjoyed your attention last night. I thought you two might like some alone time.”
Shi somehow managed to redden even more. “Oh! Um, you’d be okay with that?”
“Of course.” I crossed the room, trading the stack of papers in my hand for the cloth they held.
“Okay…”
I smiled as they took themself to the office. James had been feeling guilty, though it had eased a little after this morning. The more time the two had alone, the better he would feel.
I was finishing cleaning the tables when I heard the office door open again. Before I could react, a hand grabbed my shoulder and whirled me around, arms wrapping around my neck.
“Thank you,” Shiloh said, tucking their face into my neck.
“You’re welcome,” I said, chuckling. I dropped the cloth on the nearest table in favor of settling my arms around their waist. “What in the world for?”
When they pulled back, their pretty eyes were glossy with unshed tears. “James told me everything that happened last night, and what you two did for me. He downplayed it, but…” They choked out a disbelieving laugh. “You saved my life! I can’t thank you enough.”
“Well,” I said, deflecting, “your life happens to be pretty important to us.”
“I can’t believe I crashed your engagement night, demanding that you pay attention to me, and then—”
“It’s not crashing if we want you there, Shi Baby.”
Another laugh bubbled out of them. “I could kiss you.”
I couldn’t fight the smile that curled my lips then. “Well, I wouldn’t say no to that. We can’t let you miss out on a New Year’s kiss, can we?”
Not even the fluorescents in the kitchen could outshine the sparkle in Shiloh’s eyes.
James’s voice suddenly came from behind Shiloh.
“Why am I not surprised to see my fiancé works much faster than I do?” Shi jolted at the sound of his voice, all but leaping into my arms. For my part, I pretended the word fiancé hadn’t sent a shiver down my spine.
“Of course, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t also want a New Year’s kiss with you.
What do you say, Shiloh? No pressure, of course. ”
Shi’s attention whipped back and forth between us, as if they couldn’t believe the words coming out of our mouths. Only once they realized we were serious, they swallowed hard. “Only if both of you want it. I’m not making a choice between you.”
Over Shi’s shoulder, I met James’s gaze. He smiled and nodded, and my heart sped up. This hadn’t been my intention in sending Shiloh to James’s office, but apparently the universe was rewarding me for my good deed. I should try being selfless more often.
“Close your eyes,” I said.
Shi obeyed, but they kept their hands on my shoulders.
James stepped in close, boxing them against me from behind.
His head dropped into their curls, causing them to shudder between us.
They tipped their head back as he inhaled deeply, which caused their neck to arch and their lips to tilt toward me.
Without wasting any time, I hooked a finger under their chin and leaned in, bringing our mouths together.
With a low sound of pleasure, they clenched my sweatshirt and hauled me closer.
I let our tongues tangle briefly, then pulled back.
Shi let out a quivering breath and as I parted from them, their eyes fluttered open.
Then they spun in our grasp, grabbing the side of James’s face and hauling him down into a second kiss.
I was pleasantly surprised at Shi’s boldness, and doubly so when they started prying more out of James than the tender kiss he went for.
Where ours had been breathless and playful, their kiss was hungry, and I found myself watching with building lust as Shi folded into my fiancé’s touch.
I was all but pressing myself into Shiloh’s lean back when they finally parted. Damn, why was I panting?
“Happy New Year, Shiloh,” James said.
Shi was still hungover, and now drunk all over again on our twin kisses, so James insisted that they go home. We assured them we were happy to finish the cleaning, and they gratefully accepted our offer.
The two of us couldn’t stop grinning as we switched the music to the slow, twangy baritone we both loved.
I finished scrubbing down the surface of the last table, humming along to the song.
James and I worked in concert, like our bodies were the notes to the song.
I could practically track each step he took across the room, right up until he curled his hands around my hips and moved in behind me.
“Thank you,” he murmured, pressing his lips to the mark on my neck that tingled beneath the touch.
I knew what he meant, but I wasn’t about to turn down his praise. “What for?”
“Earlier… with Shiloh.”
Rotating in his arms, I dropped mine around his shoulders. The move seemed to be his favorite, allowing him to mold himself into every curve of my body.
“Does that mean you feel better about everything?”
James grimaced. “Sort of. I can’t help but think that they only want you.”
“Even after they demanded a kiss from both of us? Do you plan to ask them?”
Bashful, James looked down at his feet, backing me against the table I’d been cleaning. “No.”
“Because you’re scared of their response? Or because you know you’re being silly?”
Crimson eyes peered up at me through dark lashes. I lifted an eyebrow, and James tucked his head into my shoulder. “I thought I was supposed to be the know-it-all,” he murmured. “Wisdom with age and all that.”
I ran my fingers through his sideswept hair and pressed a kiss to his temple. “It’s okay to be nervous, baby.”
James nearly purred, leaning into my touch so my nails could scratch at his scalp. “Keep calling me that, it helps.”
When he raised his head, I made sure to brush my next words across his lips. “Get me out of here and into bed, and I’ll call you whatever you want.”
James pressed his mouth to mine, keeping the kiss brief. “Does that mean we don’t have to argue over who’s taking out the trash tonight?”
“Oh, how romantic.”
James laughed, sending tendrils of pleasure licking across my skin.
“It’ll cost you,” I added.
“I can afford it.” He pointedly glanced at my crotch before walking away.
I shivered, then braced for the bitter New England cold that would slam into me as I tied up the trash and tossed the bags outside.
After propping the door open, I carried the bags one by one to the dumpster.
As I approached with the last two, movement in the back of the alley caught my attention.
Every hair on my body stood on end, goosebumps drawing across my skin.
Now, I was shivering for a third reason.
I heard a noise, but I didn’t dare move any closer.
I’d seen a dozen versions of this movie, and it never ended well.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Is someone there?”
“Ryder?” came a broken, almost eerie whimper.
Nope. Hell to the nope. I spun on my heel and beelined for the door, only to hear the voice again. “Ryder, wait!”
This time, I recognized it—and it was one I never thought I’d hear again.
Poised under the light at the back door, I let the person approach me. She seemed to shake a little more violently with each step.
“What’s going on?” The door swung open, and I was forced aside as James burst into the alley. He immediately put his arm around me and nudged me to stand behind him. Normally I would’ve argued, but this had the makings of a blockbuster horror movie written all over it.
“I’m not sure,” I muttered, heart pounding with her every footfall.
Dani.
“Oh, good,” she said to James, sniffling. “You’re here too.”
Her arms were wrapped tightly around herself. Even in a thick jacket, she trembled. James nudged me closer behind him. “Ryder, go inside.”
It didn’t take me long to figure out why he sounded so alarmed.
Salem in January was typically cold, but hers weren’t normal shivers, nor was her sniffling from any ordinary chill. When she stepped into the light, I saw it.
Her eyes were blood red.