Page 155 of Broken Breath
I pull on the fresh jeans, buttoning them slowly just to make Dane sweat.
“What the fuck are you doing?” he asks sharply.
“Going out.” I stuff my feet back into my sneakers. “With Luc. Celebrating his birthday.”
“What?Where?”
“A club in Bonneville.” I yank on the laces, tugging hard. “His favorite one, apparently.”
Dane’s mouth opens like he’s about to bite the moon.
“Yourfakedriver’s license says you’re twenty, Alaina.”
“True, but as Finn here taught me when I was seventeen…” I jerk my chin at him, catching the twitch in his jaw, “… the legal age for drinking and clubbing in Europe is eighteen. So chill.”
Dane glares at Finn, who has the nerve to bite his lip like he’s trying not to laugh.
“Really?” Dane spits.
Finn lifts his hands. “I was beingeducational.”
I roll my eyes. “It’s not like I’m gonna drink anyway.”
Not that I could even if I wanted to. With the amount of pain meds currently running through my system, one sip would probably knock me flat.
Dane shakes his head before scrubbing a hand over his face. “How the hell are you even getting there?”
“Paul arranged a driver for Luc.” I shrug, already grabbing my phone, sliding it into my pocket.
Dane’s brow pulls tighter. “Paul? His team manager?”
“Yup.” I raise my eyebrows at him. “Piper asked if you wanted to come along.”
That makes him pause. “Piper’s going too?”
I grin. “So, you coming or what?”
His gaze swings to Finn, like he’s desperate for backup. “Are we going?”
Finn shrugs. “Sure.”
Ugh.
We pile out of the bus, and Dane goes straight for Piper,his eyes softer as he leans in with only a little hesitation. “Hey.”
She tilts her head up, smiling softly before whispering it back to him.
Oh, this is going to be interesting.
Luc glances over at Finn. “Well, look at that.PapiGreer’s coming too.” He tilts his head, eyes sparkling. “They let you out of the senior home for the night, old man? Or you gotta be back before midnight?”
Finn shoves his hands in his pockets and shrugs like he’s above it, but I can practically see him biting down whatever words he really wants to throw back.
With that, we head for the van, one of those smaller transport ones, and Otis claims the front passenger seat. Piper and Dane settle in the middle row, their knees bumping and heads bent together like they’ve already forgotten the rest of us exist. Finn slides in next to them and then crosses his arms over his chest, fixing his gaze out the window.
I look at Luc, but he motions for me to get in, so I climb into the back row first before he slides in after me, his thigh pressing tight against mine the second he’s seated. Luc reaches over, buckles me in as the van cranks on, and I gasp at his sudden closeness, but he just smiles to himself as he pulls back and takes my hand.
“Where’s Toulouse?” I ask, keeping my eyes fixed on where our fingers are tangled together.
