Page 56 of Rebel Heart

I threw a peanut at his face. “Shut up or I’m blacklisting you from this place. I know the guy on the door, you know.”

Vaughn glanced over at Vincent standing guard by the entranceway. “Nah, Scythe and I go way back. He’d let me in, right, bro?”

I hid a smile. Vaughn hadn’t been around long enough to be able to tell Vincent and his alter ego apart. I wasn’t even sure when I’d started noticing the subtle difference between them. It was always obvious once they opened their mouths, but I could tell before that now, just from the way they stood.

Scythe would never just stand silently at the door the way Vincent was.

He looked over now at Vaughn, and then at me. “Just say the word and he’s gone. In whichever way you want the word gone to mean.”

Vincent always had my back. I smiled smugly at my stepbrother.

Kian elbowed Vaughn. “Don’t go getting us blacklisted please.” He glanced at Vincent warily. “Or cut up into little pieces. I still haven’t even been to one of the Psychos parties. Not to actually…partake anyway.”

I raised an eyebrow at him while I scrubbed out the inside of a beer glass. “You loser. How have you lived in Saint View your entire life and never been?”

He shrugged. “You need an invite. I didn’t know anyone to give me one. But since I have an in with their sexy-as-fuck bartender, maybe I could get one now?” He gave me his most charming smile.

I winked at him. “I dunno. We don’t just give them out to any old riffraff.”

Nash came out of his office and tossed a card at Kian. “There. You’re invited. Lord, anyone who put up with that loading screen for as long as we did deserves to get laid.”

Kian looked down and then back up, his eyes wide. “Fuck! Seriously? I feel like the kid fromCharlie and the Chocolate Factory. You just handed me a golden ticket.”

Fang raised his beer bottle to his mouth. “That would have been a whole different sort of movie if Charlie’s ticket had been to a Psychos party.”

We all stared at him.

“That was so wrong,” I told him. “So, so wrong. How dare you defile a classic like that.”

He just shrugged and took a sip of his drink.

Kian was still waving the invite around. “Hey, can Rebel get the night off so we can…uh…you know?”

Nash squinted at him over the pile of papers in his arms. “Don’t push your luck.”

Vaughn leaned over the bar and caught the sleeve of Nash’s flannel shirt. “Actually, Rebel needs Saturday night off. I know you need her for the party on Friday night, but I really need her for the night after.”

Nash went to answer, his frown set into his forehead.

But Vaughn held up a hand, cutting off Nash’s complaints. “Before you make a decision, can I add it’s because I bought box seats at the Paramore concert.

I gaped at him. “You what?”

Vaughn carried on talking to Nash like I hadn’t spoken at all. “I knew she’d want Bliss to go, too, but we’re all feeling a bit…overprotective since everything went down, and that you guys wouldn’t want her going solo, so I just went ahead and bought thirteen box seat tickets. One each for the four of us. One each for Kara, and her friends. And one for Bliss and the three of you…” He glanced over at Vincent. “Sorry, V. Only one of your alter egos can come.”

Vincent just looked at him.

Vaughn quickly turned away.

I couldn’t help but laugh, but I also really wanted to kiss him. So I leaned across the bar with wet, soapy hands, and hauled him in by his collar. Suds coated his cheeks. “Did you seriously? We just spent hours refreshing and couldn’t even get on the site before they sold out.”

He grinned. “I did. It pays to have old business connections and a newly topped-up trust fund that had more than enough to cover the cost.”

“Brooke’s dad actually paid you back?”

Vaughn brushed his lips over mine. “He did. I’m surprised too.”

Kian groaned. “Watch him go all Mr. Moneybags on us again. Should we start calling you sir? Or Your Lordship?”

---