The Fangover (14 page)

Chapter Thirteen

TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN

“W
HAT?”
Wyatt grabbed the phone from Stella, mortified. He winced when he saw the image of himself, grinning the smile of the very drunk, his hair looking insane. He had taken off his T-shirt and put on Trudy the bartender’s corset. His chest was shoved up and spilling out the top. It was horrifying. “Nigel is right. Red is not my color.”

“And you look fat,” Drake commented with a crack of laughter.

“Why would I do that?” It just didn’t seem like his brand of fun, but if the guys had egged him on, it was possible. He just wished he could remember because it did look like they’d been having fun. Vampires cutting loose.

“I have no idea. Nor do I understand why Saxon is riding the mechanical bull.” Stella turned the phone and showed them Saxon holding on to the bull for dear life, Drake crouched down on the mat in front of it like he was spurring the fake animal on.

Wyatt laughed. “What the hell? Is that the Bourbon Cowboy? We never go to that place.”

“Am I the bullfighter?” Drake shook his head. “Why do I have the feeling the bull won?”

“Oh, he did.” Stella swiped her finger on the screen and they watched the progression of Saxon losing control and flying into the air while Drake raised his fist, mouth open on a yell. Then Saxon hit Drake as he fell, knocking him forward into the horns. In the next picture, he was holding his bloody mouth and they were both laughing. “You didn’t exactly take the bull by the horns.”

“I think we have an explanation for how you lost your tooth.” Wyatt shook his head. “Man, we’re idiots. Is there any video, Stella?”

Drake rubbed his jaw. “Seriously? I lost my fang on a mechanical bull? That’s not a good story. That’s lame.”

“It’s not like you fell and chipped it on your toilet,” Stella told him. “That would be lame.”

“No, that would be gross.”

“Here’s a video.” Stella held the phone out again so they could all see the screen. “What magical moment are we about to witness now?”

The camera was bouncing around, whoever held it not exactly steady, as the clip played. The back of Saxon’s head was in view, and not much else. The music of the street faded in and out as the cameraman walked, though Wyatt couldn’t pinpoint where exactly they were.

“Well, this is stupid,” Drake remarked.

“Seriously. Who taped this? I’m assuming Benny, right?”

“I guess,” Stella said. “It’s his phone. But then again, you all weren’t exactly behaving the way you normally do. How did Benny even end up hanging out with you guys in the first place?”

“I have no idea.” That was the real mystery, in Wyatt’s opinion. He couldn’t imagine any of them just dragging Benny into their group to hang out for the night. Especially dressed in a priest’s robe.

“Congratulations! Whooo!” a random female voice screamed out.

Saxon’s head moved slightly out of the way and they saw Katie, the mortal Cort had apparently turned the night before, smiling and waving. “Thanks!” she yelled back. When she turned, they all saw the
JUST MARRIED
pageant sash she was wearing. And heard Benny’s bodyless voice call out, “I married them!”

Well, that explained a thing or two. Wyatt glanced over at Stella. “I guess we should call Cort and tell him he’s not really married. I don’t think Benny is a minister of anything.”

Stella gave a small laugh. “Minister of muscles, maybe.”

Why did Benny’s muscles have to come up? Wyatt shook his head. “Still doesn’t explain why Katie is now a vampire and why Benny was even with us in the first place.”

“I’m guessing the answers to those questions are as stupid as the answers we’ve already gotten,” Drake said. “I think I’m going home. This is our last night off for four days and my tooth hurts like a motherfucker. It figures that even undead, going to the dentist sucks.”

“Alright. Feel better, man.” Wyatt clamped Drake on the shoulder and watched him head out the door. “We could probably give Benny his phone back and head out.” Wyatt wanted to take Stella back to his place and have a repeat performance of her on his lap.

“No, wait.” Stella was sitting on a barstool and she tapped Benny’s phone again. “There’s another video.”

Wonderful. What stupidity would they get to view now? “Am I wearing a dress this time?”

“No dress. Look.” Stella held it out for him to see. “It looks like
The Blair Witch Project
.”

It did. Benny was obviously running at full speed. They could hear his heavy breathing and he yelled, “Come on! Come on! Run!” The camera turned and they caught a bouncing shot of Saxon’s panicked face.

“Go, go!” Saxon said. He looked behind him, clearly scared.

The phone dropped to the ground, the voices no longer clear. Benny obviously picked the phone back up, but the video stopped there.

“What was that?” Wyatt asked. “They both look terrified.”

“I have no idea.” Stella rubbed her forehead. “What’s terrifying is that all of this happened and none of us remember it. Not that I was there for this, but where was I? It’s so damn frustrating and unnerving.”

“Agreed.” Seeing yourself moving on camera when you had no memory of it was a truly bizarre experience. “And where is Saxon, by the way? He should have been back here by now.”

“Do you think he’s in danger?”

“I don’t know what to think,” Wyatt said truthfully. “It feels like nothing out of the ordinary has happened in ten years and now all of a sudden everything is crazy.”

“I know exactly what you mean.”

The bartender tapped Wyatt on the shoulder. “Are you ordering a drink or not? Because about nine thousand people would like this stool.”

Wyatt glared back. He knew bartenders worked off of tips. He did, too. But the guy didn’t have to be a dick about it. And hadn’t he tried to get drinks ten minutes ago and been ignored? “We’re leaving.”

“Wonderful.”

“Let’s head toward Saxon’s. If he’s walking back, we’ll pass him on the street.”

“Okay. Let me give Benny his phone back.” Stella walked over to the other bar and passed the phone to Benny. She got a kiss on the cheek for her efforts. Wyatt refrained from rolling his eyes. After all, he could totally understand digging Stella. He suffered from the same problem himself.

“Let’s go.” Stella gripped the strap of her purse and tossed her red hair back.

“I’m going to have Cher stuck in my head for the rest of the night.” Wyatt stepped out into the fresh night air. Or as fresh as Bourbon Street got. He wasn’t the least bit sorry to leave Bounce behind.

“Don’t be hating on Cher. She’s awesome.”

“I’m not hating. I just said it’s going to be stuck in my head all night. That’s not the same thing. Though I have to say no one was at all friendly in that place.”

“I know. It’s like they were drinking Hater-ade.”

Wyatt laughed. He put his arm around Stella. “I’m glad to see you haven’t lost your sense of humor even if it is goofy.”

She made a sound of irritation and elbowed him in the side. “I’m not goofy.”

“No. You’re gorgeous.”

She stopped walking.

Wyatt looked down at her, curious to why she’d stopped in the middle of the street. What he saw made his eyes go wide. She was looking at him like she cared about him. Like she wanted nothing more than to be in his arms, kissing him. Her lips were parted, her eyes were dark and glassy with desire, and her body leaned toward him.

It was a look filled with more than lust. There was a raw emotion there as well, an intimate longing, and Wyatt didn’t have a choice. He had to kiss her right here, on the street.

Not that it would be the first or last time someone had shown affection on Bourbon, but it was a first for him. Using one hand, Wyatt cupped her chin and tilted her head up toward him. Then he bent down and kissed her gently, wanting his lips to convey how much he admired and respected her. How much he loved her.

Because he loved her.

He could admit it.

Hell, he’d already admitted it.

She had run then.

But she wasn’t running now.

She was kissing him back, with more tenderness than passion, and Wyatt felt his heart swell. She was giving in, he could feel it.

“Wyatt . . .”

“Yeah?” She was going to say something important, he was sure. Something that would change the course of his immortal life.

“Ack!”

That wasn’t it.

Stella stumbled as someone plowed into her, and Wyatt grabbed her arm to keep her upright.

He was ready to give attitude if whoever bumped her didn’t apologize, but when he focused on the intruder, he swore. It was Saxon.

“What the hell are you doing?” he asked indignantly. He and Stella had been having a moment, damn it. Trust Saxon to ruin it.

“Sorry, Stella.” Saxon put his hands on her shoulders to stabilize her but then took off running down the street.

“What are you doing?” Wyatt called after him.

“Gotta go. Trouble.”

Looking around, Wyatt didn’t see any obvious reason why Saxon was running. There was no one after him and no one else on the street looked concerned. He was about to ask Stella if they should follow Saxon when she took off.

“Well, that answers that question.” Wyatt starting jogging after both of them.

Saxon was running full steam, yelling, “Ahhhh,” the whole time.

Wyatt wanted to laugh. It was just too ridiculous.

“Saxon! Stop!” Stella shouted, her arms pumping as she ran to keep up with him.

Saxon was dodging and weaving like a Dickens pickpocket, even going sideways to slide through a pack of women in skirts and heels. Stella veered around the women entirely and lost a few feet on Saxon. Wyatt was torn between wanting to hang back and see how this absurdity played out, and just tackling Saxon’s sorry ass to the ground. His foot landed in a puddle of God only knew what, splashing up onto his jeans, and he nixed the tackling-to-the-ground idea. He didn’t want to touch anything on the street with any part of his body other than the bottom of his shoes.

So he went with plan B. With a burst of vampiric speed, he passed Stella and fell in line with Saxon. When there was a break in the crowd he slammed into his friend, shoving him to the left until he had him pinned on the wall. “What the hell is going on?”

“Let me go! Raven is after me. He’s going to chop my head off and drain my blood. And then I’ll be dead. Like for real dead.”

Saxon’s eyes were darting wildly around Wyatt and he looked genuinely afraid.

“Raven?” Wyatt eased up on Saxon and also looked around. Stella had drawn up next to him and he moved closer to her, his protective instincts kicking in. He still didn’t see anything. No sign of the telltale shaved head. “Why would Raven want to kill you?”

“He says I owe him money.”

“Do you?”

“Not that I’m aware of. But I’m not always aware of a lot.”

That was the God’s honest truth. Wyatt dusted off the front of Saxon’s T-shirt. “Did he say why?”

“No, just that he was going to kill me if I didn’t give him the money. I told him I didn’t have it and he hit me. So I ran.”

“He hit you? What an ass.” Wyatt frowned at Stella. She looked worried.

“Did he say anything else?”

“Something about shooting Bambi. I thought it was Bambi’s mother who got shot. I’m so confused.”

“Where the hell is he then?” Wyatt wanted to have a word or two with him about roughing up Saxon. That was kind of like kicking a dog who was happy to see you. It wasn’t right, and Wyatt wanted to rectify the situation. He had some money and he’d pay Raven off if he had to.

The wording Raven had used earlier in the night came back to him.
“Watch your back.”
Wyatt could say the same to Raven.

“Bambi? Didn’t Nigel say that was the name of Johnny’s girlfriend?” Stella bit her lip in worry.

“Yeah.” That just added yet another piece to a very confusing puzzle. “Raven was working tonight. I’m going to take you two back to my place then I’m going to have a word with Raven. He must be about done with his break and I can head him off at the door.”

Stella shook her head. “We’re going with you.”

It figured. She was stubborn, no doubt about it. “Stella, no. This may be a bit of an argument.”

“Which is why you shouldn’t be alone.”

Yeah, that was stubborn. “I’ll be at Famous Door. There will be fifty people there, easily. And you know Sanford is the bouncer at the door. He’ll have my back.”

“Johnny was my brother. If he was in trouble, I have the right to know.”

Wyatt sighed. They could stand there all night arguing about it, or he could just give Stella what she wanted. “Fine.” He had a feeling he’d just caught a glimpse of his future. Funny how he wasn’t anything other than thrilled by that thought. He loved Stella as she was and he wanted to make her happy. Being with her made him happy. It was win-win, as far as he was concerned.

Saxon was slinking away. Wyatt shot an arm out and grabbed him. “You’re going, too, then.”

“Why? Do you have a death wish for me?”

“No one is going to kill you. Raven’s riff on ‘Crazy Train’ might damage your eardrums but nothing is going to kill you. Buck up, bro.”

“Fine,” Saxon grumbled. “Though I have to say I’d rather go home.”

“We all would, trust me.” Wyatt didn’t mean that he would like to go home. He was agreeing with Saxon literally. He would definitely like Saxon to go home and not encounter him for about a week, but that wasn’t going to happen. “But you live in the opposite direction and I’m not walking you back.”

Wyatt was getting sick of tromping up and down the street. If one more tourist threw beads down onto him from a balcony, he was going to jump up there and bite them. Hard.

Raven wasn’t at work and after a few inquiries Wyatt confirmed he was on break. They stood by the beer tub, prepared to wait. The cart was cold on the back of his legs as he glanced around the bar. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. Couple of women with big hair and short denim skirts tearing up the dance floor. Older guy alone creeping on a trio of thirtysomethings. Shot girls wandering around in hot pants and tank tops, trying to fob off watered-down Jell-O shots on horny men. The usual.