Page 51 of Red Flagged
“#Frabois,” Ivy confirmed. “Which is truly a hate crime.”
“Still sounds like a fungus,” Marco muttered. “Or a juice bar.”
“#Caurélie?” Ivy offered.
I shook my head. “Feels like it’s trying too hard. Like a misfired soap brand.”
Ivy pointed at the screen. “This one’s winning so far—CalAndAuri.”
There was a beat.
Aurélie made a face. “Did you just say calamari?”
Kimi nearly spat out his drink. “CALAMARI? Oh my God?—”
“No!” Ivy yelped, laughing so hard she clutched her stomach. “CAL. AND. AURI.Jesus.”
Marco was already howling. “Someone get this couple a squid sponsorship!”
“New merch idea,” Kimi added. “I heart calamari. With their faces.”
I couldn’t stop the laugh that tore out of me. “You realize I’d still marry her even if our fandom called uscephalopods?”
Everyone just stared at me.
“Cephalopods…” I explained slowly, “are a class of mollusks. Tentacles. Beaks. Ink sacs. Octopuses, squid, cuttlefish. You know. The smart ones.”
More silence.
Then Marco, “How the fuck do youknowthat?”
I shrugged. “Watched a documentary once. Got bored. Couldn’t sleep.” I took a sip and added, “Also Aurélie said I’d probably be a cuttlefish if I were an animal.”
She gaped at me, incredulous. “I said thatone time.”
“And I internalized it,” I confirmed solemnly, nodding.
Ivy sighed. “Romance is dead.”
“Long live calamari,” Kimi quipped.
Aurélie groaned and buried her face in her hands. “I hate all of you.”
I just looked over at her. The soft lighting caught the curve of her cheekbone, the glint in her eyes, the knowing tilt of her mouth. God, she was stunning. Even in a room full of unhinged lunatics, she was still the axis I orbited around and the center of my gravity.
And the dress… that fucking dress was going to be the death of me. Black like sin. Soft like temptation. And on her, it looked like a dare. Nothing like her usual paddock palette. Just this…dark, devastating silhouette that made my hands itch to wreck her.
I didn’t care how many publicists she had. Nothing was going to stop me from getting her out of it tonight.
Then her head jerked up.
“Wait a goddamn second,” she blurted.
Everyone turned.
Aurélie pointed at the iPad. “How the hell are they using our nicknames?”
I froze. “What?”
