Page 106 of Revive
Alle ate him instead, causing Ronnie to howl in mock outrage.
“Killer. Now it’s compulsory you drink with me. Both of you. Standard sentence for murderous baby killers.”
“Ronnie, babes, I would, but Spook has this weird rule where he refuses to kiss me if I’m drunk. And I really like—”
“Spook, you’re gonna do vodka bears with us, right?” Ronnie held his thumb up at her boyfriend, who turned his head and gave a nod.
“Line them up,” Xane called back.
Ronnie treated her to another of his demented, elastic grins, and a flash of his pretty eyes. “Are you really gonna be the loser who sits out?”
She was definitely going to regret this. “If I have a bad head tomorrow, you have to go twenty-four hours without a single sweet.”
His jaw dropped. “But…”
“This I have to see,” Paul remarked. “I mean, what does Ronnie Bush sans sugar even look like?”
“She said sweets, not a sugar banner.”
“It’s true,” Allie admitted, twisting her lips. “A total sugar ban might kill him, and I don’t want to be responsible for Black Halo losing their keyboard player again. You’d all hurt me.”
“I wouldn’t worry about us. I’d worry about all the BushBabies. Seriously, have you seen this guy’s groupies? They’re all hot, and insane. They’ll end you.”
“But they’re so young,” Ronnie wailed. “Why are they all so fucking young? Can’t at least a few of them be over twenty three? Drink,” he said to Alle, “Or find me a BFWB. Your choice,” he ended sweetly.
It rather looked like she was drinking.
The rest of the band joined their huddle. “We doing these bears or what?” Xane asked.
“Will you kiss me if I say yes?” Ronnie asked, turning to face him, lips already puckering.
Xane flashed him a demonic grin. “No. Oh, lord, look at that pout.” He put his hand to his chest. “It’s heart melting.” He winked at Ronnie. “Get me very drunk and I might.”
“For real?”
“Probably not.”
“But why not?”
“Because he’s taken,” a diminutive figure said from behind him, then pushed her way between the guys to wrap her arm around Xane’s waist. “And there are strict rules in place about who he’s allowed to kiss and under what circumstances. Luthor, always. Spook, sometimes, Ash, only when spin the bottle is played, Rock Giant—”
“You’re okay.”
“—and the rest of the universe, never.”
Ronnie groaned. “That is deeply, deeply unfair, Miss Fosbrook.”
“Too bad,” she drawled. “Find your own rockstar boyfriend. This one’s mine.”
-EPILOGUEPART 3-
Allegra
Some time, and innumerable jelly babies later, Alle found herself outside. The night was fading into dawn, the rising sun painting pink lines along the edge of the horizon. She’d mislaid Spook a while back and figured it might be time to go to bed. Most of the guys had already headed in that direction after Ronnie had spewed in a flowerbed.
Xane was sitting alone by the side of a gently tinkling water feature. She hesitated, but he looked up and saw her, then crooked his head questioningly.
“I was looking for Spook. Do you know where he is?”
