Page 95 of All Along

Chloe shrugs. “She’s a mermaid. She won’t fight me. I’m a smuggler.”

“I think you mean thief,” Paisley mutters.

Nova holds up her drink. “Here’s to the bootleggers. Masters of sneaky sips and secret stashes. Thanks for keeping the party alive.”

“To the bootleggers!” we shout as we lift our glasses and down the shots.

“Here,” the bartender arrives and slams a bottle of moonshine on the table. “This ought to keep you from stealing other people’s drinks for at least an hour.”

“Thanks, Sloane.”

She wags her finger at us. “No dancing on the tables, no stripping off your clothes, no getting into fights.”

Sophia bats her eyelashes at Sloane. “We’re on our best behavior.”

Sloane snorts. “Your best behavior caused you to lead a strike against the science department in high school.”

“Because you told me I wasn’t allowed to slap the biology teacher.”

“Why did you want to slap the biology teacher anyway?”

Sophia growls. “He told me I was only on the honor roll because my dad was a millionaire and he was buying my grades.”

“But everyone knows you cheated on the biology test. You didn’t buy your grades,” Chloe says.

Sloane throws her arms up in the air. “And I’m out. Don’t make me phone your brother to come arrest you.”

“Joke’s on you,” Sophia hollers after her. “Weston isn’t on duty tonight.”

Chloe pours another round of shots. “How many of these do you have to drink before you tell us what fish crawled up your ass?”

“Two more,” I say.

She slides two more shot glasses toward me. “Bottoms up.”

I balk. “I was joking.”

“I wasn’t. As you very well know.”

It’s true. Chloe doesn’t joke about drinking or confessions.

“Arrest a smuggler,” I mutter before downing the first shot. Chloe nudges the second glass closer toward me. I glare at her as I pick it up. “Happy?” I ask when I finish it. She slides the next shot glass closer. I narrow my eyes and throw daggers at her as I drink it.

“Now.” She rubs her hands together. “Tell us what happened.”

Nova elbows me. “We’re worried about you, Maya.”

Ugh. She’s bringing out the big guns. I don’t want Nova worrying about me. She worries too much as it is. She’s over her hypochondria but she still worries.

I motion to Chloe to pour me another shot. I’m already feeling warm and a bit woozy from the earlier shots but I need some additional courage before I pour my heart out to my friends.

“Caleb and I had a fight last night,” I say when I finish the shot.

“About what?” Sophia asks.

“Cone of mermaid silence?” I wait for everyone to nod before continuing. “He found out yesterday that he can’t return to active duty.”

“He’s far too injured to return to active duty,” Paisley says.

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