24. Losers Lounge #2
"You called me a coward, Cam." But she was fighting a grin, and losing bad. "On a livestream."
"And yet." I kept my face mean for the room, jabbing a finger in the air between us like I was making a point that'd end careers. "Here we are. You're welcome, by the way."
"Don't push it." She flicked her chin at someone watching too closely, sold them a glare, then dropped her voice again. "That was diabolical. I almost couldn't keep up."
"You kept up fine. Half a second, tops." I leaned in like I was hissing a threat. "We make a good team when you're not blocking me."
"Keep talking and I'll block you again." But she said it soft, the venom all for show, and held the rope aside for me herself.
The VIP steps were six feet off. Quieter up here, but not empty. Label heads, old money, and the assistants trailing them, any one of could've had a fake Chattr account and rent due.
Romi clocked them same as me. Kept her chin up, kept the scowl on.
"All this," she said, eyes sweeping the room for followers. "You do all this just to get me all to yourself?"
I jabbed a finger at the air between us, meant for the room. "Yeah I did!" Then, holding her eyes for the rest: "Maybe I missed you."
Romi chewed her lip and dipped her head to cover it. She crossed to a velvet sofa at the far wall, back to the room, and I dropped down beside her. The tension in her shoulders had relaxed.
As soon as the coast was clear, I spoke. "Is this the losers' lounge, or just the anti-fun section?"
She smirked, eyes on the crowd. "If it was the fun section, they wouldn't have let you in."
"That's fair," I said. "You look like you'd rather be at In-N-Out."
She turned and met my eyes. "You think I eat In-N-Out?"
"Pretty sure everyone does. Even queens need fries."
She let that sit, then shrugged. "Eh. I could go for a burger. Haven't had one in years."
It was dumb, but the image made me want to laugh. I didn't. Who doesn't eat burgers for years?
A runner passed by and handed her a drink, clear and smelled like the lime wedge on the glass.
She sipped it, eyes tracking the room. She crossed one leg over another, and the slit up her dress was all legs.
Long, brown, beautiful, glimmering and moisturized.
White polish on her toes. I wanted to trace inside her leg, from toe to thigh with my tongue right here, in front of everyone.
Instead, I said, "Stacks looked good up there."
She glanced at me, then back at her drink. "She did. You okay with it?"
"As okay as I can be." I gave her a small, honest smile. "Are you?"
Someone got too close, and Romi fixed them with a look until they backed off. She turned to me and spoke a little too loud. "If you wanted to say I should've won, you could just say it."
"I don't care," I raised my voice back. "You got it."
"Liar."
I shook my head, but she didn't press it. We watched the VIP crowd for a bit. Mostly people smiling too big, acting like they were on the verge of inventing the next big thing. It was weirdly peaceful. I tried to relax into the sofa, but my legs jittered against the cushion.
Romi said, low, "You can leave if you want. Unless you win, nobody really cares that you're here."
That caught me. "You trying to get rid of me?"
"Never," she said, a tiny break in the steel. I felt if we had been alone, the two of us, the air would be different. "Just figured you had better places to be."
I looked at her. The line of her neck, the dip of her collarbone under spaghetti straps, which looked like it wanted my kiss pressed against it. The way her hands were perfectly still, except for the tap of her nail on her dress.
I let my hand drift over the velvet between us. For a second, I thought about reaching for her. Closing that space. Instead, I set my hand palm-down and flexed my fingers.
She noticed. Of course she did. Her eyes flicked to the space between us, tracked down my chest to my legs where my dress left nothing but tattoos visible. Then up to the mirrored wall to check if anyone was watching. Nobody was, not in the way that mattered.
I wanted to say something—anything—but the words pressed behind my lips.
Romi broke the tension with a laugh. "We are so bad at this."
"At what?" I tried to keep it breezy.
"Pretending we don't want to."
She didn't even have to finish that sentence.
The words detonated. My mind went there immediately. All the ways we could fit together. Side by side. Her legs on my shoulders. Bodies hot and tangled. Kissing, grinding, eye-fucking each other until we couldn't breathe.
I cleared my throat, and it still came out pained. "You want to get out of here?"
Her eyes went impossibly dark. My heart already pounded so hard I thought everyone could hear it. I reached into my bag and pulled out a hotel card in an envelope, my room number scribbled on the back.
I slid it across the velvet to her, needing the feel of my fingers brushing hers. "If you want," I said, trying to keep my voice even.
Then I walked out of the lounge, forcing myself not to look back, even though every instinct screamed at me to turn around and see her reaction.
But she didn't follow. Couldn't.
Back at the hotel, I took the elevator alone, watched the numbers flash, then disappear.
By the time I got back to my room, the gap felt wider than ever.
I pulled off the night. My eyeliner, eyelashes, my dress, all of it.
Drained a bottle of water. I steamed what was left of the night off in the shower, then stood there so long I barely saw my reflection in the bathroom mirror.
I wiped a circle clear, moisturized, changed into pajama shorts and a hoodie, and tried to pretend I didn't care.
Whatever. It wasn't that deep. Maybe I'd rub one out and call it a night. Work off whatever that dress with the criminal slit had wound up in me, get my head right, forget the whole thing by morning. Cheaper than therapy. More reliable than Romi, clearly.
I was ready for bed when I heard the door click.
Romi walked in wearing the dress I'd been thinking about all night, with the slit and her legs out, brown and impossibly smooth. She stood there like she knew exactly what kind of fantasy she was.
"I do this a lot," she said, deadpan, "sneak into strange women's hotel rooms."
I rose to meet her with a comeback ready. She kissed it right out of my mouth.