Page 28 of Underground Prince

“It’s about…” My tongue had gone thick, a natural response to the reluctance of admitting the truth. “Getting rid of what’s inside.”

“What? I can’t hear you.”

“Ladies!” The guy behind Verily now had a group behind him. The bar was at least four deep, and Verily and I were taking up prime real estate. “Are you going to order or what?”

“Sure, I’ll order,” Verily replied with a wide smile. “How many shot glasses can you fit up your ass? Three? Five?”

“Move, bitch.”

“Get out the way,” she sang, echoing the famous song.

“Jesus Christ,” his friend mumbled, who seemed more exasperated than pissed. He tried to find a partner in me. “Do you mind?”

“I’ll order for you,” I said. “Along with ours. What’s your poison?”

Verily sulked, but if I let her go she’d be flinging insults until two in the morning. If anything, our side job was gifting us with some colorful language.

We grabbed our beers and the ones for the four guys behind us, for which Verily held out her hand and waited for their payment before we gave them over. The mean one said something under his breath as he slapped his bills down. Verily heard and replied, “Only in your dreams, bud. And I do a lot more than that.”

She gave him a sanguine grin as we departed.

“How was Antarctica?” Jamal asked as we arrived. “I hear it’s cold. And a long-ass trip to get there.”

“Met some dudes,” Verily supplied. “Had to castrate them.”

Jamal nodded. “Gotcha.”

I sipped my drink, chatting with Erin and Jamal, joking with Lila, and throwing peanuts at Verily. It was almost like it was, and I found my shoulders lowering, my heart beating more softly, as they surrounded me with their voices and quips and clinks of glasses.

Matt and Marissa were still around somewhere, and Noah was a quiet yet never abandoned spirit at the table. They added an unavoidable pall to the atmosphere, made all the more weighted by the fact that I did this to myself.

“Shoot.”

Verily’s comment had me lifting my head from a game of tic-tac-toe on a napkin with Jamal. “What?”

“Text message,” she said while she thumbed a response. “They want me to go in tonight.”

“As in…” I lowered my voice. “In in?”

Verily sighed, clearly impressed with my clandestine abilities. “Yeah. Sasha’s sick.”

“For a caterer’s server,” Erin piped in, “You work stupid late hours.”

“It’s the only time I can,” Verily said in that flawless way that meant she’d answered this question many times. “I need to make time for studying, too.”

“How ‘bout sleep?” Jamal asked. “I hear that’s pretty good.”

“Sleep versus money?” Verily cocked a brow. “My parents may allow me an apartment, but they don’t grant me swag.”

“Say that in ten years,” Jamal said. “When the bags under your eyes take over your face.”

“Let me do it,” I said.

Verily had opened her mouth to say something to Lila, but was halted by my words. “Huh?”

“Me,” I said. “I’ll go in. Take the shift.”

“Since when are you a vampire waitress?” Erin asked.

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