Chapter Thirteen

Champagne, Shots and Boob Hats

Rafe

It was strange seeing all the wrestlers in their human skins for the first time.

Kenneth the cyclops, whose wrestling persona was the Optometrist, now had two eyes in his bald head instead of just a single bulbous one. Mads the gorgon's snake hair was gone, replaced by dark curls. She looked like she might be of Greek descent, with dark brown eyes and lightly tanned skin.

Brian was almost as tall and muscular out of his werewolf form, but now I could see that he had thick black hair, pale skin and bright blue eyes. He still seemed painfully shy, and when we got to Gargy's, he and Kenneth got comfortable at the end of the bar and looked in no hurry to move.

I'd done the same the moment we arrived, quickly situating myself on a stool at the bar. I'd found my port in the storm, and my plan was to sit here until it was an acceptable time to leave.

Holt had ordered a bottle of champagne and swiftly poured me a glass, then left the ice bucket in front of me despite my weak protests.

Unfortunately, I was prone to latching on to repetitive and therefore soothing gestures when I was feeling wildly uncomfortable—stuff like biting the skin around my nails, fiddling with my eyebrow piercing, cracking my knuckles. And sipping a drink if I had one.

I didn't even notice that I'd drained my flute while listening to Kit talk about their moth romance game concept until Holt reappeared and poured me a fresh glass. Then Kit produced their phone and started flicking through the sketches they'd drawn, and I kept sipping for something to do while I awkwardly leaned in to look.

"So this is what I imagine the loading screen will look like…" Kit zoomed in. I nodded dutifully and gulped down more champagne. "And this one is—" They swiped to the next pic, and my brows rose when I caught a glimpse of what looked like a crude drawing of a mothperson with gigantic tits. "Oh shit, sorry, I got distracted drawing smut."

They chuckled and swiped again, then huffed. "Fuck, this one's porn too. Hold on."

I hastily leaned back and sipped my drink as I looked around the bar while Kit frowned down at their phone, hurriedly flicking through their images.

Holt and Taylor were sitting with Seb, Larkin, Carl and Mads. Larkin was perched on Seb's lap, and the big werewolf didn't seem to mind in the slightest that his fae boyfriend kept fidgeting and bouncing while he talked to Holt, almost smacking him in the face every time he gestured animatedly. Taylor, Carl and Mads seemed to be in deep conversation.

Frank and Beans were here too. No one had wanted to share a cab with them. They'd bought a ridiculous amount of shots and were standing on the chairs at their own table, seemingly having a competition to see how many they could each drink. They didn't look any less creepy in their human skins, to be honest. And for some reason, they'd changed into matching red boiler suits and fedoras.

Corey and High Lord Crossbody were lounging at a table together sipping martinis. The huge orc was no less impressive in his human form, his skin now tanned instead of mossy green, but his long black hair still as thick and glossy as ever. He was wearing pink eyeshadow, false lashes and dangly earrings that glittered every time he moved his head.

He'd managed to convince the bar staff to bring him several cushions that he'd stacked on the empty seat beside him, so his little Pomeranian could curl up on them and nap.

Crossbody was just as tall and lean and regal as ever, his hair still a sleek waterfall of gold down his back. He was wearing an emerald green silk shirt and high-waisted pants, one leg crossed elegantly over the other as he looked around the bar with a bored expression on his face.

His gaze seemed to snag on something, eyes narrowing slightly as his lip curled. I followed his line of sight and felt my belly dip when I saw Ewen sitting at a table with Vince, Heidi, Val and Susan.

I'd already seen his human form countless times, and he looked pretty much the same except his head was firmly attached to his shoulders. Vince did too. Like me and most other ghouls, he just looked like a very pale human with somewhat gaunt features.

Still handsome, though. Was he better looking than me? I flushed as soon as the thought crossed my mind, because what did I care either way? It didn't matter if he was handsome. And sitting close to Ewen. Who cared? Not me.

I had piercings, though. So my face was definitely more interesting, at least.

Heidi was just as broad and strong in her human form, with a round face and rosy cheeks. She had a big, booming laugh that competed with the music in the bar, and she was already on her third pint of ale but didn't appear to even be tipsy. Val was almost out-drinking her, whereas Susan was smiling dopily down at her phone as her thumbs flew across the screen.

I looked at Ewen again and gulped down more champagne. He said something that made everyone at the table laugh, even Susan, who looked up from her phone.

Ugh. My lip curled. He was all… outgoing and sociable and confident. Gross.

Then Vince leaned in to say something in his ear and the pair of them chuckled. My hand clenched tighter around the stem of my flute. I tipped it back to drain it, then quickly swivelled on my stool to face the bar as Ewen started to look up.

I swayed a little, blinking fast to clear my suddenly hazy vision. It was just because I was so tired, and it was nearing 2 a.m. Plus I wasn't all that used to champagne, having rarely drunk it before, so it was probably just the bubbles or something.

I stiffened when more raucous laughter drifted over from their table. Probably Ewen saying something charismatic and hilarious again. Whatever. I grabbed the bottle from the ice bucket and topped up my glass.

Why not? Might as well not let it go to waste, and I didn't want to piss off Holt when he'd paid for it. Besides, we hadn't been here long enough for me to leave in a way that was socially acceptable, so I might as well drink while I waited.

Kit seemed to have gotten distracted looking at their smutty artwork, because they were now hunched over their phone with their nose practically pressed to the screen. I sighed and drank more champagne. That stuff went down a little too easy.

"How's it going?"

Larkin appeared on my other side, hopping onto the empty barstool, his cheeks flushed and eyes still big and bright despite how late it was.

I set down my glass and twisted it around and around by its stem. "Fine."

"Noice." He leaned over to order another round of drinks from the bartender, then sat back and grabbed the champagne bottle to inspect it. With an approving nod over how much was gone, he poured more into my glass before I could protest.

"So, Rafe." He swivelled his stool around to face the room and leaned his elbows on the bar, swinging his long legs. "Having fun?"

Oh god, small talk. I reflexively grabbed my glass and had a sip. "Uh-huh." No.

"Been here before?"

"No."

Larkin chuckled. "Not a big talker, huh? It's cool. Neither's Seb."

Reminding myself that it was polite to actually make conversation back, I gulped down some more champagne and turned my stool to face the room too. It spun a little. The room, not the stool. "Uh, so how long have you two been together?"

"Just a few months." Larkin got a dopy smile on his face as he looked at his big werewolf boyfriend, who was talking casually to Holt. "Don't know how it took me so long to realise how freaking amazing he is."

"How long have you both worked at Goliaths?" I asked curiously.

"Almost two years for me, a little over four for Seb." He sighed and shook his head, still gazing at his boyfriend. "Fuck, bro, just look at him. I mean, don't look at him too hard, but still. Look at him. He is redonkulous."

I obediently looked over at Seb. He was definitely handsome. And huge. Way bigger than Ewen. Larkin was pretty tall too, although he was lean and lanky.

"Def gonna take that wolfman home and make some bread," Larkin muttered, then nudged my arm with a snicker, making me sway in my seat. "Right, broseph?"

"Don't know what that means." Was my voice a little slurred? I looked down and realised my flute was empty again. Oops.

"It means fucking, bro." He nudged me again. "So, you got a girlfriend, boyfriend…?"

"Uh… um, neither. At the moment." I felt a little frisson of exhilaration in my gut. It may have been stupid, but I hadn't really explored my newly discovered queerness yet, so even that tiny admission felt like something to celebrate.

Spinning unsteadily in my seat, I grabbed the champagne bottle to pour some more, vaguely noticing that I'd managed to finish the bottle. Huh.

"Any of the wrestlers caught your eye?" Larkin asked with a sly grin.

For some unknown reason—seriously, I had no idea why—my gaze darted over to Ewen. He'd changed into a long-sleeved shirt and jeans before leaving the office, and his big biceps strained against the thin fabric as he lifted his drink to have a sip, then chuckled at something Vince leaned in to tell him.

"No," I answered Larkin, a bit too defensively, then found myself blurting, "Do any of the wrestlers hook up? Like, with each other?"

Larkin blinked, looking a little stunned by the question. "Well, Gabe and Biff are together. I thought I told you that when you started."

"No, I mean… any of the others." My cheeks burned. Probably from the alcohol. I gulped down more champagne. To throw Larkin off the scent, just in case he'd noticed me staring at Ewen, I nodded at Crossbody and added, "Like Crossbody."

He snorted. "Crossbody? No way. He wouldn't bang any of the other wrestlers. He's probably betrothed to some royal from another Otherworld court."

I nodded, trying to seem like I was only mildly interested as my gaze darted back over to the table of wrestlers. "What about, uh, Vince? Or… I don't know. Dan. Or someone."

Larkin cocked his head as he thought about it, before his eyes flashed with excitement and he leaned in conspiratorially. "Ooh, I do remember hearing, just after I started at Goliaths, that one of the others had a threesome with Gabe and Biff."

I tensed. "Which one?"

"I think it was Vince. No, wait, Dan. Or maybe it was both of them. Maybe it was a foursome."

My hand clenched tighter around my glass. So Ewen had fucked Vince?

I didn't know why I was fixating on his relationship with the ghoul and not any of the others. It barely even registered that he'd possibly had sex with Gabe and Biff.

But with Vince?

They seemed pretty close.

Were they still fucking now?

Larkin took my silence to mean something else and chuckled. "Hot, right?"

I drained my glass and set it down with a thud, then tensed when a big group of people tumbled into the bar, laughing and talking loudly. They headed over, one of them leaning across the bar to greet the bartender and yell something in his ear. With a grin, he nodded and went to fiddle with the sound system. My shoulders hunched when the music got twice as loud.

I spotted a couple of werewolves in the group, as well as a guy I thought was an incubus. Several of them beelined for some empty tables, laughing and shoving each other good-naturedly, while one sidled up to Larkin and gave him a friendly slap on the back. I squinted, trying to place him. He looked mildly familiar.

"Hey, Chris!" Larkin said, and it clicked. He was the guy who'd dove into the ring during Vince and Ewen's match on Thursday, teaming up with the ghoul to take Ewen down.

He was the unicorn Ewen rode in on for his entrance. My mouth pinched as I took him in. He had shoulder-length, wavy brown hair, blue eyes and a stubbled jaw.

I guessed he was hot. In that really obnoxiously obvious way. If you liked that kind of boring classic beauty or whatever.

"How's it going?" he said cheerfully, giving me a nod before gesturing at his buddies. "It's my friend John's bachelor party. Dan texted to tell me you were all here, so we decided to stop by."

Ewen had texted him? Why was Ewen texting him?

"Shweet." Larkin nodded over at Ewen's table. "Dan's over there."

"Nice." Chris looked over and grinned, then patted Larkin's shoulder again with a chuckle. "Maybe I'll go sit on him for once."

Larkin laughed. I scowled down at my empty glass, then found myself watching from the corner of my eye as Chris ambled over to Ewen's table. Ewen and Vince both stood to greet him with the obligatory ‘manly' hand clasps and back slaps.

My lip curled. They looked like a fucking boy band. They just needed Larkin to go and pose beside them as the token sensitive pretty-boy.

Once Ewen had retaken his seat, Chris made a big show of plopping down onto his lap and getting him in a jovial headlock as Ewen laughed.

"I'll have another bottle," I heard myself blurt when the bartender finally returned with Larkin's drinks.

He nodded, pulling the empty bottle out of the ice bucket. "On Holt's tab, yeah?"

"Fuck yeah." Larkin slapped me on the back before picking up his tray. "These too."

The bartender swiftly popped the cork on a fresh bottle and filled my flute. "Enjoy."

"Want to come sit with us?" Larkin asked cheerfully. "Kit seems pretty distracted."

I glanced over to see that one of Chris' buddies, who may have been a mothman, had sidled up on Kit's other side and peered down at their phone with interest.

"Nice artwork," he said with a flirty smile. Kit looked up at him blankly, then grinned back.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." The guy nodded, leaning his elbow on the bar. "Great vein work on the dick. Really makes it pop."

That seemed to pique Kit's interest, because they turned their stool slightly to face him better and started fiddling with their hair. "Thanks. Modelled it on my own, actually."

The guy's eyes flared with heat. He leaned closer and lowered his voice to a lascivious, husky murmur. "Oh really?"

"Yep, I'll come sit with you," I told Larkin quickly, sliding unsteadily off my stool and grabbing my flute and ice bucket.

Chris was still sitting on Ewen's lap when I glanced over as I followed Larkin to the table. I clutched the bucket tighter and gulped down champagne. Then some more when Vince stole Ewen's beer bottle and took a sip. All intimate and familiar or whatever.

My flute was empty again before I'd even sat down.

—

Things got a bit hazy after that.

Larkin and I had a conversation about games that got progressively louder and more animated as I continued to knock back champagne. I drunkenly asked Seb if Holt really was involved in the mob, and I may have been yelling a bit, directly in his ear, because he winced but otherwise listened politely.

I may have also leaned over the table, almost spilling everyone's drinks, and told my boss that he looked like a gay pirate. At least he seemed flattered, tossing back his hair with a wide smile.

"I am in my billowing sleeves phase. I think I'd made a great pirate captain, actually." His pink-nailed hand slid along Taylor's shoulder to thread through his neat, dark hair. "And I'd have the sexiest little quartermaster."

Taylor blushed and smiled at him, instinctively leaning in closer.

"Who would be excellent at keeping a very close eye on my booty ," Holt continued in a lusty voice.

Larkin groaned and looked at me. "What have you started, bro?"

At some point, as I stumbled back from the restroom after taking a piss, I paused at Frank and Beans' table to ask how they were doing. Suddenly, I was feeling eager to get to know my colleagues better, even the weird ones.

They managed to coerce me into having a shot with them. I cringed after tipping it back, and then Beans leaned in and whispered right in my ear, "You're one of us now." He was breathing weirdly heavily as he said it, so I made a hasty escape.

Maybe getting to know those particular colleagues wasn't the best idea.

Elbowing my way through a group of Chris' buddies, I spotted the guy who had to be the groom, John, because he was wearing a sash and a pair of huge fake tits over his shirt. I stopped to congratulate him, and he thanked me with a grin and urged me to do a shot with him and his buddies.

A short while later, I found myself dancing like a dork with a bunch of guys I didn't know. At some point, one of them plunked their baseball cap on my head. It had a pair of tits on the brim that jiggled every time I bounced to the music.

Heidi and Val were moshing together. Frank and Beans were bopping up and down side by side in a weird synchronised dance that they'd clearly practised. Susan appeared to be lost in her own world, eyes closed and arms waving slowly above her head as she swayed to the music. Gabe and Biff were practically having full-blown sex, grinding together without an inch of space between their bodies.

Kit was dancing with the guy who'd complimented their smutty artwork, leaning right over and backing their ass up into his groin in time with the beat. He looked delighted and a little intimidated. Jokingly, I did the same to a centaur called Brody for a few seconds, then cracked up laughing as he grinned and spun me around under his arm.

"You're a good dancer," he yelled over the music, even though I wasn't.

"I recently realised I'm horny for dudes!" I yelled back for some reason, and he and his friends all cheered. "Hey, watch this!" I added, then proceeded to do the robot.

Eventually, I found myself sitting at a table with some of the bachelor party and challenging a huge werewolf called Gary to an arm wrestle.

He laughed, flexing his biceps. "I'll snap your arm, cutie."

"I can take you," I insisted, propping my elbow on the table and flexing my fingers. "This is my jacking-off arm, so it's got extra strength."

"Nice, bro." Brody laughed and briefly clasped my hand in a friendly gesture, then pulled my arm off the table. "But seriously, Gary will snap your arm. Guy's a beast."

I huffed and looked around for my drink, but got distracted when my gaze landed on Ewen's table. I'd managed to forget all about him for a while, but now I found myself staring at him in kind of a stupor, my eyes blinking slow and heavy.

The low light in the bar slid over his dirty blond hair where it hung loose around his wide shoulders. His jaw was all… annoyingly chiselled and dusted with stubble. His blue eyes looked darker than normal, and his lips were stupid and firm-looking as they stretched into a grin, showing off his straight white teeth.

He and Vince were still sitting together. Talking and laughing and stuff. All extra friendly. Maybe too friendly, if you asked me.

And what had been up with Chris sitting in his lap?

I suddenly remembered Larkin telling me the rumour that Ewen might have had a freaking foursome with his fellow wrestlers. My nuts tingled even as my chest tightened with some unpleasant emotion.

Stupid, sexy Ewen. He was so annoying, making my head feel all… weird.

Although that might have been the champagne. And the fact that I was so exhausted I was bordering on delirious.

When I started to tip over in my seat and Brody had to quickly prop me back up, I laughed. Oops. I was drunk. Hadn't even meant to drink. Hadn't I planned to make a hasty exit as soon as possible?

My pulse leaped, thudding heavily in my throat when Ewen suddenly rose from the table and sauntered across the bar, heading toward the archway that led to the restrooms and outdoor seating area. My bleary gaze meandered down to his ass as it flexed in his tight jeans with every step.

Why was he wearing such tight jeans? Stupid.

Why wasn't he wearing those tiny shorts still?

I abruptly lurched up out of my seat when Vince followed him. What the fuck? Were they going to bang in the bar restrooms?

"Bro?" Gary the werewolf asked hesitantly. "You good?"

"Gonna go take a piss," I heard myself slur, already stumbling around the table.

Ewen and Vince headed through the archway, but then they split up. Vince veered into the restroom, while Ewen pulled a pack of smokes out of his pocket and pushed open the door to the outdoor seating area.

I took another unsteady step in that direction and told no one in particular, "Actually, I might get some fresh air."