“Which is?” I asked, arching an eyebrow. “You still haven’t told me what we’re doing. Hey. Corey.”
“Yeah?”
I winked at him. “Looking good, boy. If I wasn’t about to get married and you weren’t like a brother to me, I’d probably tell you that I wanted to put my face on your face.”
“Please tell me there’s more Jager,” Corey said, not looking away from me.
“So much more Jager,” Helena promised. She lifted a panel next to her that revealed a minibar with a familiar green bottle.
“It’s coming,” Dad said. “You can see it starting to spill over. It’s in the way he’s slinking lower in his seat.”
“That’s how sexy people sit,” Mom said. “I could never pull it off.”
“I’m doing it right now,” Nana said. “I can barely see over the steering wheel.”
“Paul, you should drink this,” Helena said, handing me a shot glass.
“Is that my sex juice?” I demanded.
“It is,” Helena said. “After this, it’s water for a while.”
“Bitches be tripping all up on me,” I said. I threw the shot back. “It’s how I do.”
“Remember when he was four years old and would sit in front of the TV watching Miami Vice and gnaw on a block of cheese?” Mom asked Dad.
“We did good,” Dad said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
IT WASN’T long before the limo came to a stop. Given that I was still wearing my sunglasses and the windows were tinted, I couldn’t see where we were. Helena wouldn’t let me out yet, saying that Corey would run in and make sure things were ready. I was a little bitter at that because I could feel Sexy Paul thrumming just underneath the surface, ready to break free and assume control. I had unbuttoned my shirt so it showed off my chest, briefly lamenting my lack of chest hair.
“It’s your fault,” I told Dad seriously. “You and your genetics.”
“What’s that now?” Dad asked.
“Chest hair. I’m trying to be Don Johnson, but I’m more like Cate Blanchett with my moobs and my paleness and my no chest hair. Damn you.”
“My bad,” Dad said.
“Like a pink hairless rat,” Mom said. “The both of you.”
“You’re sexy without it,” Helena said. “Trust me on that.”
“Damn right I am. Can I have my phone? I need to tell Vince something. Not something sexy. Or about breakfast.”
“What do you need to tell him?”
Sexy Paul cracked through. “Listen here, queen. You do me this solid, and I’ll make it up to you real nice.”
“Don’t you flirt in my direction, Paul Auster,” she growled. “That kind of power should not be wielded so lightly.”
I lowered the sunglasses on my nose so I could peer over them. I winked at her and licked my lips.
“Is he having a seizure?” Nana asked. “Because my limo insurance doesn’t cover that. My limo insurance doesn’t cover a lot of things. I actually don’t have limo insurance. This isn’t my limo.”
“I am a queen,” Helena hissed. “You think I haven’t been faced with Sexy Paul before? Child, please. I made Sexy Paul. I can unmake him just as quickly.”
Before I could turn up the heat, Corey opened the door again and leaned his head in. “It’s ready.”
Mom and Dad got out first. Helena started to follow, but I grabbed her wrist. “It’s happening,” I gasped. “I can’t fight it anymore. Sexy Paul is about to take over. You can’t let me do anything stupid. You know how I get.”