Page 60 of Diary from an Inked Throne

“Duh da da da da…” I drunkenly sang, in the tune of the Beatles song.

She laughed. “Well, on that note, before this descends into a karaoke session—”

I grabbed her arm. “Yes! Let’s go to karaoke!”

I was drunk. No doubt about that. Because I doubted I would have ever suggested it if I wasn’t. But suddenly it sounded like the best idea I’d ever had.

Dax nodded, pulling out his wallet to throw some money down on the table. “So in. I’ve got an ‘Eye of the Tiger’ in me for sure.”

Luca picked up the money Dax had thrown down on the table, replacing it with his credit card. He handed the cash back to Dax. “Here. I’m paying you not to sing that song.”

Dax flipped him the bird.

Lynx mused on the idea for a minute. “I think I’m going to do some Black-Eyed Peas.”

Luca screwed his face up at him. “Unless you mean the legume, I’m going to beg you not to. I’ve heard you sing in the car.”

I tossed a soggy piece of lettuce in Luca’s direction. “You’re such a grump.” I pushed my chair back and rounded the table to drag him up from his seat. “We’ll find you a good country song to sing. ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’?”

He leaned in, so his warm breath ghosted over my ear. “I’d rather just take you home, princess.”

I shivered at the thought of that, but there would be time later. After I’d sung my little heart out.

I wasn’t ready to go home, where the house was too big, too quiet, and I was constantly reminded that below our feet was a room full of cages.

Cecelia ran Luca’s card, and he protested the entire way out of the restaurant. But Lynx and Dax were on my side, and once we were out on the street, I turned to Violet hopefully.

“You coming?”

She shook her head and hugged me tight. “No. We need to go relieve X’s parents from babysitting duty.” She pulled back and held me at arm’s length though. “The four of you go. But you walk, okay? It’s only a couple of blocks down, and none of you are in any state to drive.”

I kissed her cheek. “Yes, Mom.”

She rolled her eyes and held her hand out. “Keys.”

“We aren’t going to drink and drive, Vi.”

“Of course not, but that also means you are going to have to leave your car here for the night. X or Whip or Levi can drive it back for you and drop it off at your place on our way home, so you don’t have to come get it in the morning.” She laughed at us. “I think your hangovers are going to be pretty nasty, so trust me, you’ll thank us when you wake up.”

She made a fair point, and Luca had given me his car keys to hold. I fished through my bag, searching for them, while muttering about men needing to start carrying purses because why did the woman always end up carrying everything?

I found the key fob, and X plucked it from my fingers before Violet could take it.

“Dibs on driving Luca’s car! That thing is a beast!” He grabbed Violet’s hand, spun her in a little circle beneath his arm, and then dipped her backward, kissing her mouth. “Pick me up from the Guerra place. And then I’ll take you home and show you what a beast I can be.” He growled at her playfully.

She laughed, clearly loving it.

The rest of us screwed up our faces, because X was nothing if not corny. The secondhand embarrassment was real.

But I hugged him, Whip, and Levi quickly, and the guys all shook hands. X asked Luca if his car could get over one hundred, and Violet gave him a look that clearly said he better not try. X promised he wouldn’t, but we all knew he probably would.

We waved as Levi, Whip, and Violet piled into their car and started the engine. They waited for X to walk a little farther down the road with us, until he got to the car we’d brought. We said goodbye and kept going, me warm and safe between Lynx and Dax, Luca walking on Lynx’s other side.

Luca started humming, and it only took me a second to recognize the opening bars of

“Take Me Home, Country Roads.”

I pointed an accusatory finger at him. “Ha! You do want to be a cowboy!”