Page 80 of Cold as Stone
“Maybe he had ulcers,” Poppy suggests.
“Maybe he was a serial killer,” Andi counters.
“He was definitely a serial killer,” Ginger agrees. “Steel, are you writing this down? This is important information we should pass on to Lee for Kya’s safety.”
“I’m not your secretary,” Steel says, but he’s fighting a smile.
The food arrives and we attack it like we haven’t eaten in days. Ginger steals everyone’s pickles, Andi and Poppy share the mozzarella sticks, and Mercy keeps checking her phone.
“Supply closet guy?” I ask.
“His name is Derek. He wants to meet up again later.”
“Derek!” Ginger shouts, causing the entire bar to turn. “Absolutely not! I’m not letting you sleep with a man called Derek!”
“Inside voice,” Steel pleads.
“I don’t have an inside voice! I have a Ginger voice and a LOUDER GINGER VOICE!”
An older woman at the next table leans over. “You girls having a bachelorette party?”
“No,” Ginger says seriously. “We’re having a ‘Lee’s out of town and Kya needs to remember she’s a bad bitch’ party.”
The woman laughs. “In that case, next round’s on me.”
Somehow she and her friends end up in our gang for the night as we drag Steel from one place to another.
The clubs begin to blur together until I’m lost in the chaos. Wherever we are has three floors with different music on each level, and more people than the entire population of Stoneheart.
“I love this place!” Ginger screams, dragging us to the middle floor where they’re playing early 2000s hits.
Poor Steel has positioned himself by the wall, looking like a bodyguard. Several women have tried to approach him, but he just points to us and shakes his head.
“You know what your problem is?” Ginger says, slinging an arm around me as we take a break from dancing.
“I have a problem?”
“You think too much.” She cups my face, her eyes serious despite the glitter someone threw that’s now stuck to her cheeks. “Lee loves you. You love him. Stop worrying about all the what-ifs and just BE HAPPY.”
“Ginger, it’s not like that. We already?—”
“It is EXACTLY like that.” She spins me around to face the dance floor. “Look at Andi. She overthought everything with Hawk and almost lost him. Now look at her!”
Andi is indeed dancing like no one’s watching, laughing as Poppy attempts to twerk with her baby belly.
“That boy would burn down the world for you,” Ginger continues. “And you’d do the same for him.”
“How do you know?”
“Because you get the same look Tank gets when someone threatens me.” She smiles, softer now. “Like you’d kill anyone who hurt him.”
“I already told him I love him, and he said the same.”
She blinks then laughs. “So my speech was unnecessary?”
“Yes.” Impulsively, I hug her. “But thank you anyway.”
We stay until the lights come on at 2 AM, Ginger somehow convincing the DJ to play “Closing Time” as we gather our things.
