Page 129 of See Me

I nod slowly. “All mine.”

He grabs my hand and moves to drag me through the crowd. “Say goodbye to your friends.”

I laugh and tug him back. “We can’t leave. It’s our party.”

“It’s my party and I can haul my hot as shit viking girlfriend out of here and fuck her if I want to. I heard it in a song.”

“You got some of the lyrics right but that’s not quite how it goes.” I pull him down into a kiss and he grabs my ass and hauls me flush against him.

“You’re lucky I’m wearing these leather pants or you’d be fully penetrated by now. Maybe Enzo had that right idea with the kilt.”

“I’m sure that went into the planning of his costume.” I look around the bar and don’t see him anywhere. “I just hope a mud pit doesn’t show up at some point.”

“If he ordered one, it was on his dime. I checked all the accounts for unauthorized Enzo purchases and didn’t see anything.”

“Funny how we both got the same feeling he was up to something,” I say with a sigh, resigning myself to the fact that we’ll find out what it is when everyone else does.

“You all serving cocktails or do we have to settle for mead?” I turn at Ashley’s voice and gasp when I see her. Her skin shimmers in the light and contrasts the gold eyeliner and lipstick. She’s wearing an intricate black headpiece that sits across her forehead and matches her boots and the buttons and ties on her knee length dress. She looks like a viking princess.

I lean in for a hug. “Oh, you look amazing.”

“Thank you. I’m so wearing this to work on Monday.”

Alex comes up behind her wearing head to toe brown leather with a cape and horned helmet. “At least creepy pants, Waters, won’t corner you and try to buy you with goats.”

“So glad he’s gone,” Ashley says.

“Actually, I heard he got escorted from the lobby again. He keeps trying to just walk in like he still works there. They’ve had to add more security to the building.” Alex leans in and kisses my cheek. “Hey, gorgeous.”

“Hi. You guys look phenomenal,” I say.

Jen and Cassie join the group and pass out drinks. They are both dressed to kill in metal studded leather armor, looking like badass viking warriors.

I grab a drink and sip it out of the horn shaped glasses Enzo insisted on. “Please tell me you guys don’t walk in and out of work alone. That guy scares me.”

Alex nods. “We’ve been meeting in the morning and walking in and out together every day since the third murder victim was discovered.” He puts arms around Cassie and Ashley. “I got these girls.”

Jen covers her mouth with her hand. “What if it is Mark? The Doorman?”

“Nah. I don’t think he’s disciplined enough to pull that off. He’s too unhinged,” Alex says and squeezes the girls to reassure them.

“I just don’t understand. It can’t be one guy. The victims are too spread out,” Cassie says, biting her lip. Her journalist hat firmly in place.

“If you think about it, they’re all still within a few hours of each other. He wants you to think they’re too spread out, but it’s totally doable. Maybe he travels for work.” We all fall silent at Alex’s words.

We turn at the cheering near the half-ring. Enzo set up a ring toss with one person wearing a giant helmet with blow up horns.

“So glad we talked him out of the ax throwing,” Luca says, coming up behind me.

Ashley clears her throat. “There’s jousting in the alley,” she says quietly, sipping her drink.

“What?” Luca shouts. “Jousting? Idiot fucking juvenile…” He storms off toward the back door.

Cassie wrinkles her nose. “I hope that sword is just a prop.”

“Guaranteed Enzo talks him into it. And he’ll do it just to beat his ass.” I can’t help but laugh at the imagery. “Enzo is full Scot in a kilt too. The crowd’s gonna get an eyeful if Luca puts him on his ass.”

Ashley quirks a brow and her eyes dart to the back door. “You wanna watch?”

---