3. Three
THREE
My best friend Antoinette “Toni” Huntley had texted. She was at The Spotted Cat Music Club on Frenchman Street. Locals never visited Bourbon Street bars unless they were in a hurry or meeting someone from out of town. We knew where the real jazz could be found, and that’s where we migrated.
The Spotted Cat was like home. I waved at the bartender, and she nodded back. She was busy and would get to me eventually. The bar was busier than I’d seen it in weeks.
“What’s going on?” I asked Toni as I sat between her and Lex, who looked as if he wouldn’t be hanging with us long.
He was on the prowl. The way his gaze moved over every female in the bar proved that, and we tended to ruin his game because women always assumed he was with one or both of us.
As a lesbian, Toni found it insulting that anyone would assume she was with Lex. I just let the assumptions roll off me.
“Battle of the bands,” Toni replied. She had her eye on a pretty blonde at the bar.
Toni was a serial monogamist, jumping from girlfriend to girlfriend at regular intervals.
She abhorred the idea of settling down, but didn’t like dating a different person on a weekly basis. It was a comfort thing for her.
“What happened to … ?” I searched my memory for the name of her last dalliance.
“Sunshine?” Toni asked.
There was no way the last woman she’d dated had been named Sunshine. I never would have let her live that down. “That can’t be right.”
“But it is.” Toni laughed at my befuddlement. “Her name was Sunshine.”
I looked at Lex for confirmation.
“Why are you asking me?” he complained. “I can’t keep up with her girlfriends. I can barely keep up with my own.”
“You don’t have girlfriends,” Toni said.
“You have conquests.” Her relationship with Lex wasn’t as tight as mine.
In fact, they often rubbed each other the wrong way.
Toni was convinced that Lex suffered from a severe case of toxic masculinity — she wasn’t entirely wrong — and Lex was uncomfortable with Toni’s rampant feminism, which he took as male-bashing.
In truth, neither was perfect. Lex did look at women as conquests and worked overtime to avoid anyone he thought might cry in his general vicinity.
It made him distinctly uncomfortable. He also had a hero complex and wanted to run to the rescue of any woman who might need a broad shoulder to lean her head on.
Not cry. Never cry. But if a woman wanted to flutter her eyelashes at him and call him manly, he was all for that.
Toni, on the other hand, needed complete control in relationships.
She came from a rich Garden District family, the exact opposite end of what Lex and I had grown up with.
My parents were rich now, but that didn’t happen until I’d left school and was out on my own.
It was as if a switch had flicked in my father’s head once Holly was gone, and he started accumulating wealth the way a Kardashian does shoes.
Lex and I had similar backgrounds. His family actually bought my family’s old home in Marigny after Holly’s disappearance.
My parents couldn’t tolerate living there any longer.
The memories were too much. They made friends with the Cortland family, however — Lex was one of six boys — just in case Holly were to ever make her way back.
Lex and I had bonded when we were older. He was a child in a man’s body. He could Hulk out when he shifted, but he had a calm, well-muscled demeanor otherwise. He was a closet comic book geek, but I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone, including Toni.
Toni and I had bonded as children despite her family’s wealth.
Certain things were expected of her, but she never followed through.
She was a prominent member of the New Orleans art scene and owned her own gallery, which had been purchased with her father’s money.
She went out of her way to give her mother anxiety attacks and to see if she could make her father blow steam out of his ears.
Sometimes she succeeded. Other times they just waved their hands and said, “She’s Toni, what are you going to do? ”
“Can you guys not fight tonight?” I complained as a server appeared with a cocktail for me. I hadn’t ordered, but the staff here knew me well. “It’s been a long day.” I sipped the cocktail and sighed. It was called Cat Nip, a mango vodka and juice drink I loved.
“He was just telling me about it.” Toni jerked her thumb at Lex. “Sounds like you got lucky he was with you. Otherwise, you would have died.”
I narrowed my eyes and swung my gaze to Lex. He didn’t slide lower in his chair or act embarrassed. He just shrugged.
“It’s true,” he said.
“Let’s just say we wouldn’t have survived without one another and leave it at that,” I replied blandly.
“I knew you were lying,” Toni, glaring at Lex, said. “I’ve never met anyone fuller of himself than you.”
“I’m fine with that.” Lex stood and dropped a friendly kiss on top of my head. “No offense, you know I love you, but I’m never going to be able to pick someone up if they think I’m with the two of you. Toni gives off unfriendly vibes.”
“I do not,” Toni sputtered. “I’m way friendlier than you.”
“You have ‘bitch’ practically stamped on your forehead,” Lex countered. “I don’t know why you’re denying it. You get off on it.”
Toni opened her mouth to argue, then shrugged. “He’s not wrong,” she admitted after a beat, causing me to grin.
“Go do what you have to do,” I told Lex. “Just be careful.” I looked around the bar again. “Seriously, what’s going on here?”
“It’s a battle of the bands,” Toni replied as Lex ambled off in the direction of a group of women in the corner.
They were giggling and batting their eyelashes, telling me he might have a good night with more than one of them.
“Apparently, since business is dead this time of year, they’re hosting a contest for area bands to compete with one another to draw people in. ”
“It’s not a terrible idea.” I didn’t say what I was really thinking. Paranormals frequented the bar quite often, and most of them had impressive hearing.
“No, but you’re thinking the same thing I am,” Toni said. “Band battles are like karaoke, but with more people. Some of the bands will be good, and some of them will be like watching a floater circle the toilet.”
I burst out laughing without realizing it was going to happen, and shook my head. “I don’t think I would have phrased it that way, but I don’t disagree.” I was going to say more, but the hair on the back of my neck decided to stand on end at that moment, and my vampire senses kicked into high gear.
It wasn’t just any shifter entering the bar. It was one I recognized, by feeling if not scent. And, yes, my sense of smell is stronger than that of a normal human. Not as strong as that of a full vampire or shifter, but strong enough to have me sitting straighter.
Slowly, as if caught in a superhero movie directed by a guy who believed slow-motion reveals were the only way to go, I swiveled and found myself looking directly at Knox Cullen.
He looked exactly the same as he had the last time I saw him, when I smiled and waved him off after a big fight. That is to say, he looked good.
“Crap,” I muttered just as his eyes moved to me and held.
Toni followed my gaze and laughed. “Well, well, well,” she drawled, delighted. “Look who it is.”
She’d met Knox weeks ago, when we’d been forced to work together even though both of us were toxic loners. In the weeks since we’d said goodbye to that case, and each other, she’d been making offhand comments about him. She’d even suggested I track him down for at least one night of fun.
I, of course, shot down that idea. Sure, Knox was good-looking with his brown hair and eyes — and his body was pretty impressive — but I was not in the mood for a boyfriend.
I wasn’t in the mood for a one-night stand either.
I just didn’t have time for that, not with owning my own business and welcoming new partners into the fold.
No one had time for that, I reminded myself even as my body betrayed me and hummed in approval at the way he looked. He was just wearing jeans and a black T-shirt, for crying out loud. There was nothing special about him. That’s what I kept telling myself anyway.
Knox wasn’t alone. There was another man with him, one who boasted the same facial features and build.
It was his brother Dalton, who I recognized for a completely different reason.
Unlike Knox, Dalton was very involved in his pack’s politics, and I’d seen him at various functions over the years.
My father was big in vampire politics, and there was enough interaction that I could recognize him on sight.
I had never interacted with him at any of those events but knew his reputation.
I’d also met him, briefly, several weeks ago, thanks to my interactions with Knox.
He was respected. Knox was sort of the black sheep of his family because he wasn’t interested in playing nice with other paranormals.
“Don’t make this weird,” I warned Toni when Knox and Dalton headed in our direction after a brief whispered conversation.
“Oh, I won’t,” Toni said on a laugh. “You’ll do that yourself.”
“How would I possibly make this weird?” I demanded.
She laughed even harder. “Just wait.”
Determined not to be the person Toni believed I was, I straightened and adopted a polite smile for Knox’s benefit as they approached. “Good evening. Lovely night, huh?”
Knox’s lips twitched, and I could practically feel Toni vibrating with silent laughter across the table.
“See,” Toni said when I glared at her. “I told you.”
I ignored her. “Are you guys here to see the bands?” I asked. I was determined to be polite and nothing more.
“We’re here for a drink,” Dalton replied. “I don’t get out much because of the twins. There aren’t any open tables. Do you mind if we sit with you?”