Écarté (Lost Birds Book 4)

Part 15 Finally

"Lick, drink, lime." Tao said looking pointedly at Cameron and I as he sprinkled some salt on to my wrist. Cameron followed his example by applying salt to his own wrist.

Sab set two tiny glasses on the counter next to me and Theo handed each of a lime.

"Ready?" Tao asked.

"Wait. Wait." I said. "Sab doesn't have salt or lime neither does Aydan."

"Someone has to drive." Tao said inclining his head toward Aydan. "And Sab does his straight up."

"Should we toast?" Cam asked.

"To family." Theo suggested holding his glass up.

"To family." The others echoed touching their glasses together. They paused and waited until I raised mine as well.

"To family." I agreed touching my glass to theirs. I followed Tao's example swiping my tongue over the salt on my wrist and then dumping the contents of the tiny glass into my mouth. The burn was intense. I gasped and coughed. The rush of air seemed to fuel the burning sensation as it seared down my throat.

"Lime." Tao reminded me with a tap to my hand. I pressed the lime to my lips and sucked. The cool tangy juice helped to ease the burn of the liquor but I still cringed and shook my head.

"That was awful." I croaked.

"Yup." Cam snickered.

"Again?" Sab asked raising an eye brow at me.

I chewed my bottom lip as I debated his question. Now that my throat and mouth had stopped burning I could feel the slow spread of warmth in my stomach. It was pleasant and distracting. I wanted the distraction.

I nodded.

Sab's lips lifted into my favorite delicious smirk, Cameron groaned, Theo sighed, and Tao laughed.

"That's our girl!" Tao said waving the bar tender back over to our group.

The second shot went down a lot faster. I forgot the salt and I didn't grab a lime. Fortunately, Theo had remembered and pressed one to my lips as soon as I had the liquid in my mouth. I accepted the lime and gave him a grateful smile after I'd used it to suppress the burn.

"Does that get any easier?" I asked.

"Yup, after the fourth or fifth one it starts to go down smooth." Tao laughed. "But we're stopping at two for now."

"Why only two?" I asked. My shoulders drooped down in disappointment. There was no way for me to get better at doing something without actually doing it.

"Because it's time to dance." Tao said. He reached over pulling me off of the stool and up against him.

"Dance?" I chirruped. My pulse instantly shot up at the idea of being out there in the crowd of people bumping and grinding up on each other. The thought of some stranger that close brought on a cold sweat and I glanced over at Aydan for help.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Aydan said for me and I nodded in agreement.

"Why?" Tao asked pulling my attention back to him.

"It's a trigger." Theo said quietly.

Tao's face saddened and I dropped my eyes to his chest in hopes of being able to avoid seeing the disappointment.

"Is it the dancing or the touching?" Tao asked. He swiped his fingers across my cheek to pull my attention but I kept my eyes down.

"I don't know..." I admitted glancing out at the sea of strangers. "The touching I guess. I just..." I swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "I don't know them. I don't want... I don't..."