“You are.” Cassius grinned at her, pulling her into a hug.
“Just me?” She stared between us, chewing her lip, looking all fucking cute and confused.
“Yep.” I glanced at Cass’ arm around my girl, pointedly, and he released her. After he stuck his tongue out and threw up his middle finger at me.
Yeah, I returned the gesture.
“You two are so mature.” She rolled her eyes at us both, smiling.
“That’s why you love us, babe.” Cassius winked at her.
“Sure it is.”
“Stabby. You wanna follow me?” Mack cocked his head at Winter.
“Stabby? Did you just call me Stabby?” Winter frowned at him.
“Yeah. You got all stabby with your mum, or so I heard. Wouldn’t wanna cross you when you’re holding a knife.”
The room fell silent, Winter’s mouth set in a flat, unsmiling line.
“Too soon to joke about it, huh?” His face fell.
My girl kept up her façade for about five seconds before she cracked, a huge smile spreading across her lips. “You should’ve seen your face. Fucking hilarious,” she laughed. “But can’t you think of a better nickname? Like, I dunno, Blade or something?”
“That’s the name of that vampire guy,” Weston interjected helpfully.
“Wonder Woman,” Winter suggested.
“I’d like to see you dressed as Wonder Woman” was Cassius’ helpful input.
“I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that,” Winter said to him, and I tuned out their banter, knowing from experience they’d be there all day. I tilted my head at Z, reclined on the sofa with a coffee in front of him.
“Alright, mate?”
He looked up at me, his usual mask down, emotion glittering in his icy eyes. “Yeah. Just been thinking about shit. You and Winter. I—” He stopped himself. Then he dropped his gaze and sighed. “There was—fuck. Things got fucked up for me. Just…take it from me. You’ve got a really fucking rare thing with Winter. Hang on to her, okay?”
I stared down at him. He was staring into his coffee mug. Fuck, there was so much I wanted to ask him, but I knew him. If he didn’t want to talk, there was nothing I could say, and if I pressed him, he’d just walk out. “I will,” I said instead. “You know I’m always here for you though, right? I’ve got your back.”
“Yeah. I know.” A small smile flickered across his lips, and I squeezed his shoulder, before clearing my throat and deciding to change the subject.
“Thanks,” he added, his gaze flicking up to mine briefly before returning to his mug.
“Anytime. You thinking of getting any new ink?”
He seized onto the subject gratefully. “Thinking of it, yeah. You want to see how your girl’s doing? Does she have any idea what we’ve planned?”
I shook my head, grinning. “Not a fucking clue.”
“Rich boy! Get over here,” Mack called, at that exact moment.
“Guess that’s our cue.”
We moved to stand in front of the tattoo station. Winter lay back, Mack sitting next to her. Cassius had his phone out, high-pitched exclamations coming from the screen, and I peered closer to see Lena’s and Kinslee’s excited faces as they both watched what was going on.
“Your wrist, yeah?” Mack said.
Winter nodded. “Yeah. You’re sure it won’t look weird there? I just thought it might be nice there, since I have the other one on my other arm.”