Gin, the Spider, didn't have a ruthless reputation for nothing.
Even though there had to be at least two dozen people waiting for their drinks, the bartender ignored everyone else and quickly made theirs. He slid a mojito over to Bria, then poured some clear liquid over ice, adorned it with a fat wedge of lime, placed the glass on a white napkin, and carefully handed the whole thing to Gin before bowing his head and backing away from her.
Gin took a sip. She gave the bartender an approving nod. A big, goofy grin spread across his face. After a moment, one of the waitresses nudged the bartender, breaking Gin's spell on him, and he hurried to catch up with the rest of the orders. But he kept right on grinning and sneaking glances at Gin as he started fixing drinks for the next customers.
"Please tell me that she's drinking something other than gin," Phillip murmured.
I smiled. "Probably not. She likes the irony."
His eyes dropped to the glass of gin on the table, the one that I'd ordered, the same thing that I'd been drinking all night long. "Apparently, someone else does too."
I kept my face blank, but I pushed the glass a little farther away.
More murmurs rippled through the club, and once again the crowd parted, this time in appreciation of the beauty of the woman walking through their midst. Black hair, flawless features, toffee-colored eyes and skin. Her body would have made any model envious, not to mention the graceful way that she moved. She wore a dark green pantsuit, the sort you'd expect to find in any corporate office, but the fabric did little to disguise her lush curves. I knew her too. Roslyn Phillips, the owner of the club and one of Gin's friends.
Roslyn made her way over to the bar. She, Gin, and Bria all hugged, then exchanged a few quick pleasantries before Roslyn moved off into the crowd to greet her other customers and make sure that everyone had what they needed.
Gin swiveled around on her stool, her drink still in her hand. Bria did the same, and they both looked out over the club. Eyes wary, faces flat, shoulders tense. Looking for any danger, trouble, or problems that might be heading their way. After a couple of minutes, Bria seemed satisfied that they were in the clear. She started sipping her drink and talking to her sister, but Gin kept scanning and scanning the club, from the Ice bar to the dance floor to the booths in the back. On alert, the way she had to be simply to stay alive these days.
Finally, her gaze met mine.
Her eyes narrowed the tiniest bit, as though she were surprised to see me here, but she kept the rest of her features smooth and blank. Gin had the best poker face I'd ever seen. She rarely gave away anything she was feeling - except for the terrible hurt that I'd caused her. Even now, it flared in her eyes, shimmering with a strong, accusing light. Or maybe that was just my own guilt that I saw reflected in her gaze.
We stared at each other for the better part of a minute before I finally smiled, lifted my hand, and waved at her, as though we were two casual friends who'd spotted each other across a crowded room instead of . . . well, I didn't know what we were now. Estranged lovers sounded so formal, so doom-and-gloom, but I supposed that was the closest thing to the truth.
After a moment, Gin smiled and waved back, matching my friendly façade gesture for gesture. Bria turned her head to see whom she was waving at, and her mouth puckered with displeasure. Bria didn't like me much these days, but I couldn't blame her for that after the way I'd treated Gin.
Not after the horrible way I'd hurt her time and time again.
"You should go over there," Phillip said. "Offer to buy her a drink. Another gin for Gin, as it were." He snickered.
"Look at you," I deadpanned. "Being all clever with your words."
"You're the one who said that she liked irony."
I grinned at him. "She also likes sticking her knives into people who annoy her, something that you seem to excel at."
Phillip shuddered. "Trust me, I remember. I thought she was going to slice me open that night in my office on the Delta Queen."
That had been back at the beginning of this whole sordid story, when Salina had first returned to Ashland and had tried to kill Phillip before Gin stopped her. Back when I'd still wrongly thought that Phillip had tried to rape Salina, my ex-fiancee, when we were younger. But really, all Phillip had been doing was protecting Eva from being cruelly tortured by Salina's water magic. I'd walked in on Phillip fighting with Salina and stupidly believed her claims, and I'd almost beaten him to death as a result. Even now, weeks after Salina's death, the thought of how wrong I'd been about her made my stomach twist with guilt and self-loathing.
I don't know why, but Phillip had forgiven me, even though I didn't deserve it or his friendship. My gaze stayed steady on Gin. There were a lot of things that I didn't deserve now.
Gin saluted me with her drink again, almost as if she were saying good-bye. I did the same, and then she turned and started talking to Bria, focusing on her sister instead of me. But I kept watching her. I couldn't take my eyes off her - and neither could the other men in the club.
Over the next half hour, a couple of guys approached Gin, sidling up to her with smarmy smiles and offering to buy her a drink. But she ignored them all and kept slowly sipping her own gin. The men quickly turned their attention to Bria, but she sent them away too, since Bria was involved with Finnegan Lane, Gin's foster brother.
But there was one guy who was more persistent than all the others. He was a giant, almost seven feet tall, with a lean, wiry body. His baby-blue T-shirt was so tight it looked like it would rip down the center if he drew in too deep a breath. His dirty-blond hair was spiked up over his forehead, then smoothed back and down over the rest of his skull. His tan skin made his pale eyes seem that much lighter, and his white teeth gleamed in the semidarkness of the club. Most women would have thought him attractive. In fact, I saw more than one give him an appraising look. I snorted. Pretty boy. Probably couldn't take a punch in the face for fear of ruining his perfect smile.
He leaned down and said something to Gin. Instead of shooing him away, she actually smiled up at him, as though he'd amused her. He gestured at the dance floor. My gut twisted and my hand flattened out against the tabletop. After a moment, Gin shook her head.
He said something else and gestured at the dance floor again, obviously thinking that he could win her over if only he tried hard enough. My fingers started tapping out a quick pattern, but Gin shook her head again.
He kept talking, obviously not wanting to take no for an answer. My fingers stilled, then curled into a tight fist.
Apparently, Gin no longer found him amusing. She gave him a cold, flat look and started to say something, but Bria pulled her gold detective's badge off her belt and flashed it at the guy. That was finally enough to get him to back off. He gave them both a sour look before storming off into the crowd.