Page 82 of Faking It Right
Sawyer considered this for a moment. “I was definitely a phoenix. Fiery, dramatic, constantly reinventing myself.”
“And I’d be a griffin,” Gia decided. “Part eagle, part lion. Practical but fierce.”
“That suits you,” Sawyer nodded, clinking her glass against Gia’s. “To our mythological menagerie.”
“May we all find each other in every lifetime,” I added, raising my glass. “Especially when some of us have horns.”
Ryker sighed dramatically but raised his glass as well. “To finding each other, even when some of us are insufferable dragons.”
“Oh!” Sawyer snapped her fingers at a sudden thought. “Unicorns are just horses with a horn, right? What if the two of you did horse diving together?”
I blinked at her. “What the hell is horse diving?”
“You don’t know about horse diving?” Sawyer pretended to be shocked. “In the mid-1800s, people would ride horses, jumping off high platforms into pools of water. It was a whole thing.”
“That can’t be real,” Ryker said, but Gia was already nodding.
“No, it’s totally real,” she insisted. “In the 1920s, there was this famous horse diver named Sonora Webster. She went blind after a dive went wrong, but she kept diving for over a decade.”
I had a difficult time picturing it. “That’s both impressive and deeply concerning.”
“It would make sense if Ryker was the horse,” Gia added. “After all, it’s not that far off from an alpaca.”
“I’d ride you any day,” I whispered in his ear. His face turned a delightful shade of crimson.
“What? It’s the hot water,” he muttered when Sawyer arched an eyebrow at his flushed face.
“Sure it is,” she teased.
Ryker attempted to change the subject. “Why do you know about horse diving?”
His sister shrugged. “I watched a movie as a kid calledWild Hearts Can’t Be Brokenabout a blind horse diver. I loved it, but later, I found out she wasn’t a fan of the movie, which was a total bummer.”
“The things you learn in a hot tub. Horse diving. Reincarnated mythical creatures. The secret identity of Jack the Ripper.” The whiskey loosened my tongue. “Ooh, I’ve got another one. Vlad the Impaler.”
Ryker choked on his drink. “Why does it sound so filthy when you say it?”
“What?” I feigned mock innocence. “I’m just saying, historically speaking, he was quite adept at penetration.”
“You’re the worst,” he groaned, burying his face against my neck.
Gia perked up. “Wait, that reminds me of Elizabeth Báthory.”
We all stared at her blankly.
“Seriously? None of you know Elizabeth Báthory?” She looked disappointed in our historical knowledge. “Hungarian countess? Prolific serial killer? Murdered her servants and virgins to bathe in their blood for eternal youth?”
“That sounds like something Maylin would do,” Sawyer said after a beat of silence.
“Right? She’s got that ‘I’ll drain your life force to sustain my own’ vibe.”
“With Maylin, who knows?” I pulled Ryker closer. “Bloodbaths, yak herding, hot dog thievery? Your past lives have been quite the adventure, snookums.”
“Ourpast lives,” he corrected. “Apparently, we’ve been doing this dance for centuries.”
“And I’d do it for centuries more.” The words slipped out before I could stop them.
Instead of tensing up or pulling away, Ryker smiled and kissed me. “Same.”
