Des'Tai: Book Two

29: Faye

Pulling the party hat from my head, I placed it gently on the table and took stock of the room, everyone seemed to be pleasantly enjoying themselves. Knox, Artie, Derrik, and Willa were having a casual conversation across the room from where the younger crowd sat. I noticed Artie kept his eye on Luna as she flitted around the room, ever the entertaining host.

Rayne, Aja, and Juno, my anti-fan club, sat nearby. Of course, dear Aja had the seat next to Ty, but he'd done rather well ignoring her, as had I. She was such a waste of breath it was laughable. At some point, I turned my chair so I was facing Ty and he'd kept a hand on my body at all times throughout the evening. Rune stood beside Ty, asking for refills of the almost too sweet wine, each time Luna passed by and offered more. I noticed Senna steadily cleared plates and kept herself busy, but continued to pass quick glimpses at Nero who was always dancing to the tune inside his head, literally.

He was quite the singer, believe it or not. I caught him humming a tune I'd never heard, which wasn't all that unbelievable except to him. He couldn't believe I'd never heard of the Glass Neptunes and his 'favorite' song Euphoric, which just so happened to be about unrequited love. Shocking. I had quite liked the song when he'd handed me what looked AirPods except music was all preloaded right onto the small devices. It made me miss my phone, I'd had a lot of music on there.

Leaning forward so I could stand, Ty's hand slid up my leg from where it'd sat on my knee, settling gently beneath my skirt when I halted my movement. He looked as shocked as I had before his lips quirked up as he squeezed my thigh.

"Whoa, Faye, should probably get that bangle on your wrist straightaway," Rune noticed what had grabbed both our attention. Huffing, I shook my head while standing up and grabbed his flute, tossing back the remnants of his drink. "Don't be such a condom," I winked at him as I handed back the empty glass.

"What the hell?!"

I heard Tyron chuckling as he grabbed my hand, "And where are you off to?"

"Just need some fresh air, I'll be right back," I leaned down and gave him a kiss filled with a bit more tongue than I'd originally intended, but he tasted just like chocolate and mint. I couldn't help myself.

Wandering outside towards the grand patio, the night air helped cool me. I didn't drink often and two glasses of the wine, including what I'd just knocked back from Rune had me feeling rather warm.

"Faye?"

Turning around, I found Nero standing near the door. I was quite surprised he'd followed me. Although he'd been allowed to chat with me and was closer than he'd been in over a month, I hadn't heard his ban was lifted.

"Yeah? Having fun?" I grinned, taking a seat on a bench, tapping the seat beside me. "It's my birthday tomorrow, Ty will survive me having one male friend."

"Rune's your friend."

"Rune's a jackass."

"True story, bro."

"Bro?" I asked, knowing what it meant, but I hadn't quite heard that language around here. Then again, Nero wasn't from Amethyst Falls but from farther up North.

"Yeah, you know, like brother," he took the seat beside me, holding a small wrapped box in his hands.

"I gathered as much, but wouldn't I be more like your sister? Ya know, sis?"

"I don't have any sisters, I wouldn't know how to treat one. You're like the baby brother I never had."

Nero was the youngest of five boys, all of whom had flame-red hair and probably would drive their mother into an early grave if they were as goofy as he was.