Page 36 of Tricky Girls

Especially Nic.

Kinda wish I’d been there for that little altercation. Not sure I wouldn’t have landed Nic on her ass for it though. I don’t care what her deal is, I know Tilda is one hundred percent undeserving of her wrath.

She rests against the stage railing as we wait for the music. I take the pendants around her neck into my hands, holding them up to the coloured lights to get a better look. She has a tiny vial of what looks like blood around her throat, as well as a death’s-head hawkmoth.

The first time I’ve seen her arms bare, she’s almost got as many tattoos as Elly on them. I take her hips, pulling her against me. ‘You’re like a literal piece of art.’

She smiles with delight, fiddling with the straw in her glass. ‘I wish my exes would have said anything close to that.’

‘Told you, I’d rock your world more than they ever could.’

‘I’m starting to believe it,’ she laughs.

The band comes on then and she turns back around, ass grazing my crotch. I keep my hands on her hips, loose enough that she can wriggle out if she wants to. But she doesn’t, keeping her eyes on the stage as she bops along with the masked musicians.

I love a girl who can lose herself in music. I might as well not be here. She’s only got eyes for them, slowly gyrating her hips in that intoxicating way girls have.

Fuck, she’s hot. And I’msoadding this to the table later. Take fucking that Elly. I give a brief thought to how she’s getting on at home. Clingy bitch. Can’t go a month without visiting those baby siblings of hers.

Then all thoughts of Elly are whipped away when Tilda looks over her shoulder at me, a wholly approving smile stretching those deep-painted lips.

‘Told ya you’d like them,’ I shout to her over the music.

She nods, spinning back round to watch the end of the first set.

We leave to get more drinks during the break, topping them up surreptitiously with those Sourz of hers. She’s got a Coke, Sambuca, cherry combo going on. She makes me taste it, smiling in surprise when I nod my approval.

‘You like aniseed?’

‘One of only two who do, apparently.’

That seems to get me points.

We take a breather in a booth, one in full view of the stage in case we decide to stay here.

I slide my glass between my hands on the table. ‘So, what do you think?Northbound Wolves?’

‘Good.’ She nods. ‘Super good. Reckon they’ll make it big after graduation.’

‘Those from Hazelhurst usually do.’

‘I know. That’s why I’m here.’ She watches the stage where the band are fiddling with their equipment. ‘Still dodge though, this place.’

‘Now, now, we don’t talk about that,’ I say with a grin. It’s kind of an open secret that the place is owned by a Mob family. The daughter of whom being a student here. Super shifty, that one. Very popular amongst the ladies. Nic’s sort of friends with her.

We basically just shut up to put up here, raking in the benefits once we’ve graduated and every company in the country wants us working for them.

‘What are your grand plans?’ I ask Tilda.

She shrugs. ‘Something. Not decided yet. Hoping something will jump out at me. Something creative, though. Somewhere where I can pretend. Or make other things pretend.’

‘Losing me here.’

‘Like filmmaking,’ she explains. ‘Or screenwriting. Maybe even animation? I just want to make things up.’

I regard her closely, trying to deduce the meaning behind all that. ‘I’m gonna unpick that one day. You running from something?’

She flashes me a smile. ‘Aren’t we all? Telling me you haven’t fucked anything up before?’

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