Page 8 of Gratification in Gluttony

“Your wish is my command.”

Battling the crowd, Toni waited his turn to order drinks. He smiled and waved at familiar faces and chatted with a few acquaintances as they passed by. He recognized more than half the people there, which made sense; Toni Maryno knew everybody, and everybody knew Toni Maryno.

It wasn’t always a good thing; the Maryno name came with certain expectations and assumptions. But the way he saw it, he could decide what a name stood for, the same way he could choose what being a man meant.

Attention catching on several waving arms, Toni turned, and Gem pointed at the three people with him. Rusty stood on Gem’s left, wearing his usual baggy, black jeans with nothing on top except suspenders. His bright pink fur was thick but cleanly brushed, and his customary frown was trained on Gem’s hand wrapped around his wrist.

Toni resisted the urge to growl at him, knowing Rusty wouldn’t hear the warning, not with how loud it was in the club.He’d never liked the Pyclon—and no, it wasn’t because he was a Pyclon or because Toni had been able to smell the Flesh Street on him the second he stepped foot in the cafe all those years ago. It wasn’t even because Rusty was a bit of a downer most of the time.

Life was hard, especially for folks like Rusty. Even Toni had certain privileges compared to many of the species living in Lust. In any other circumstance, he would have offered the Pyclon a bit more sympathy, given the tough hand he’d been dealt.

So, no, Toni’s dislike had nothing to do with any of those things. It did, however, have everything to do with how Rusty treated Gem. He’d been nothing but a scrawny, punk-ass little shit when he’d started working at the cafe, and he’d had the fucking audacity to talk shit about Gem. Gem, who was literally the best person in the entire Pentagram. And that little bitch had sneered down his whiskered nose at him.

That, Toni could not abide. People could disrespect him all they wanted, but no one—no one—disrespected Gemae Akyllo. Not on Toni’s watch.

Even now, Rusty was sneering down at Gem’s fingers wrapped around his wrist, like the Araknis was somehow dirtying him or something. It made Toni want to rip off his fluffy, pink-striped tail and wring his chubby neck with it!

Instead of giving in to the murderous urge, he dismissed the Pyclon and looked to Gem’s other side where Oliver stood. He was taking in the club with wide, brown eyes, eyes that eventually met Toni’s. He grinned, and Toni lifted his hand and pantomimed taking a drink.

Gem and Oliver exchanged words Toni couldn’t hear, not without straining—which would just give him a headache given the noise of the club—so Toni took the opportunity to check out the cute, little human at Oliver’s side.

Jude was short, with narrow shoulders, wide hips, and a soft-looking tummy. His dark curls were windswept, and those ochre eyes that had captured Toni’s attention during their first introduction were locked on Oliver. Even at this distance, Toni could see the smattering of brown dots across his nose and cheekbones, only a few shades darker than his olive skin. Toni wanted to trace each one with his finger—or his tongue.

While Jude’s features sent Toni’s blood humming, his outfit was interesting. He wore khaki slacks and a sleeveless vest over a purple button-up. But the shirt had yellow cartoon animals all over it, each of them wearing rainbow party hats. Toni didn’t know what animal it was, but it looked weird. Four-legged and fluffy, but with a long-ass neck. He couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

It was so ridiculous and, honestly, a little ugly, but it made Toni laugh. He wanted to go over there and ask Jude what animal it was and why they were wearing party hats. He wanted to ask why Jude liked that shirt and where Toni could buy one. He’d have to rip the sleeves, of course, but he didn’t think it would ruin the look too much.

But before Toni could head that direction, Oliver was gesturing for Gem, Rusty, and Jude to go on without him, then he started Toni’s way. Ah, oh well. Toni would have to catch up with Jude later. Which he would. He was on a mission tonight, a mission to glide his way into Jude’s good graces, and if he was lucky, maybe into his bed as well.

Chapter three

Bulldozer, Baby

Fifteen minutes later, Toniand Oliver arrived back at the booth, drinks for their party in hand. As they distributed them, Toni made sure to grab Jude’s whiskey sour—whateverthatwas—so he could make his introduction.

Sliding the drink across the table, he put on his most charming smile as Jude’s attention shifted from whatever Willow was saying to the tumbler full of yellowish liquor. Then to Toni’s face, where his gaze locked on Toni’s mouth—or more accurately, the jaggedly sharp teeth inside Toni’s mouth. The human’s expression glitched, his heart rate sky-rocketing.

Shit, was Toni scaring him? That was not the plan. He wanted to seduce him, not terrify him.

“Hey,” he said, in hopes of distracting Jude from what was possibly a frightening facial feature common to Toni’s species. “Jude, right?”

“Yeah,” Jude said, clearing his throat as he smiled hesitantly up at him. “Hi.”

“I’m Toni. You know, the guy whodoesn’tfuck his best friend,” he said with a good-natured chuckle, and Jude’s smile widened.

“Right. Yeah, I, uh, I remember.”

With a grimace, Toni straightened and shrugged. “Yeah, I figured. That’s why I’m just leaning into it now.”

“Good strategy,” Jude said with a chuckle, lifting his cocktail to his mouth.

“The bartender didn’t know what a whiskey sour was.” Toni spoke up before Jude could take a sip, and the human hesitated with his glass in front of his chin. “But Oliver explained it. Hopefully it tastes okay.”

Jude took a cautious sip, then nodded. “Tastes good.”

“Good.” Toni propped his hands on his hips, still standing at the edge of the table as nearly everyone, except Tad and Oliver—who was focused on tasting his own fruity cocktail—stared at him.

After a beat of silence, Jude said, “Thanks. For the drink.”

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