No Quarter (NOLA's Own #2) (13 page)

“Yeah. Still no actual sex, but we’re waiting on that. I have a feeling it won’t be much longer, but I just want to make sure it’s the real deal, you know?”

“Sure, sure.”

She sighed. “I really like him. Maybe more than like. He’s so funny and thoughtful and caring and just…yeah, all of it. He reminds me of—” She stopped and turned pink.

“Who?”

“Well, his sense of humor is a lot like Connor’s, to be honest. Just that sort of up-for-anything kind of mentality. I like it.”

I nodded. “I think Connor is going to shit himself when he finds out who our boyfriends are.”

She smiled, but it lacked a certain warmth. “Yeah. Have you told Da about Phil yet?”

“No. I think he’s been doing some hauls up in Canada. Haven’t heard from him in a couple of weeks. He’ll call on Wednesday though. I can tell him then.”

“What about Gloria?”

“Yeah, I mentioned to her that I was seeing someone. I didn’t elaborate though. I think that I’m still in shock about whom I’m dating.”

She laughed. “Yeah. I’m in the same boat as you on that one.”

Halfway through the backyard, we saw the sliding glass patio door open on the big half, and X, Jason, Sheri, and Phil spilled out of the house.

“I guess Flipper is with Vivian. He spends a lot of time with her,” Alys whispered.

“That’s a seriously bizarre relationship. You think they have sex?”

“You know, I’m really not sure I
want
to know,” she replied.

“Yeah, maybe that’s for the best.”

Neither of us had called them to let them know we were coming over.

Phil spotted us first. His face split into the Lady Killer, and my uterus quivered.

He’s just so fucking gorgeous.

I hadn’t realized just how much I missed him today, what with being so busy. But the moment our eyes met, the world burst into Technicolor all over again. He bypassed the others and made a beeline for me.

Alys laughed. “Well, I’ll see you in a bit then.” Hurrying ahead of me, she waved to Phil and headed straight for X.

“Hey,” said Phil when he was close enough to wrap his arms around me. “Fuck, I’ve missed you.”

He proceeded to plant a highly erotic kiss on me that rendered me mindless.

My arms snaked around his neck, and I pressed my chest to his. “I missed you, too.”

With one arm, he anchored me into him while his other hand buried itself in my hair, holding my face to his chest. His heart thrummed with excitement. I felt it pulsing into me.

“We got us a table at the Lotus House for dinner tonight,” he said softly.

“Lotus House? Really?” It was
the best
sushi place, and I’d eaten there only once because it was stupid expensive.

“Yeah. I thought it’d be nice to let someone else make food for us.”

“We usually go to Sushi Point. It’s much cheaper—”

“For fuck’s sake, Kenna. You don’t have to worry about that shit anymore.”

I snuggled in deeper into his embrace. “Yeah, all right. Oh! I’ve got a present for you when we get back to my place tonight.”

“Oh, yeah? What is it?”

“A
present.
You’ll see it when you open it.”

He pulled back enough to look down into my eyes, and I felt as though I was falling into his, finding myself
wanting
to get lost in them, never to be found. It hit me hard that what
was
between us really was something amazingly wonderful, unique even, that whatever it was
shouldn’t
be held back from or taken slowly because it wasn’t ever going to stop. There was no end. Just a spiral of completion in an eternal sense.

“
Goddamn
,”
I gasped, a little dizzy from my revelation.

He exhaled slowly. “Yeah. Somethin’ like that.”

“You felt it, too?” I whispered.

“I always feel it when I’m with you.”

Well, no wonder he’s a madman.

Sheri left for her appointment with her shrink half an hour later, and Alys, X, Phil, and I headed over to the Lotus House in X’s Jeep. Jason had declined to go with us, saying that he was worn out and needed some sleep. I had the feeling he wanted to be home when Sheri got back.

“
Kanpai
!” cried the sushi masters as we walked through the door to the restaurant.

Phil and X threw their arms in the air and shouted back, “
Otsukaresama deshita
!”

It completely stunned Alys and me, startled other diners, and thrilled the sushi dudes.

“What does that mean?” I asked Phil.

“That you look tired as fuck. It’s a compliment in Japan, trust me.”

“Yeah, all right.”

A tiny woman greeted us and led us to our seats before handing each of us a menu. Phil and X ordered a ton of sushi and two carafes of warm
sake. Alys and I dutifully refused to look at the staggering prices. If the guys wanted to pay, then…
why the hell not?

“So, what was it like for you guys, growing up here in La Place?” X asked. “What was high school like for you? Phil and I were pretty dedicated to the band from an early age, but we still went and did normal teenage stuff. What did you guys do?”

“We were the outcasts, on the fringes of the social norm back in the day,” Alys replied. “We weren’t popular at all. We had friends, but we didn’t really do anything mainstream. We spent most of our time at concerts, listening to music—”

“Taking mushrooms,” Phil casually injected.

“Yeah,” agreed Alys. “That kind of stuff.”

“We went to homecoming in tenth grade, just to see what it was like,” I said. “It was a waste of time, in my opinion.”

“Well, your date was gay, and your boyfriend was at his grandma’s fifth wedding,” said Alys dryly.

“I don’t think he would’ve gone anyway.”

“Why not?” Phil huffed, all offended for me. “I’d have been proud to take you.”

“You went to homecoming with a
gay
guy?” X asked, completely ignoring Phil.

“Yeah, Jimi. He’s one of our closest friends. We get our weed from him.”

X looked at Alys. “Did you have a boyfriend?”

“I dated. Nothing serious, like Kenna and Jaime. They were together through almost all four years. Lili was with Matt for a long time, too.”

“Too bad we didn’t meet you guys back then,” X said warmly. “I’d have made sure you had a boyfriend.”

“What? To break my heart when you guys went on tour? Pfft!”

He grinned at her. “I wouldn’t have broken your heart, Alys. I’d have taken you with me.”

“I went to college,” she retorted before knocking back a cup of sake.

“What was that like?”

She shrugged. “It was college. I probably had more fun than Kenna and Lili did though. Kenna went to med school and didn’t resurface until January this year.”

X looked at me. “Seriously?”

“I was pretty busy, yeah.”

“Your social exile was self-imposed,” Alys said. The sake was working on her already, loosening her up. “She spent almost six years wearing herself out, working her ass off. She and Lili only came up to visit a handful of times in four years. One time was to see you guys when you played at Wigglers—”

“You went to that show?” X asked us, startled.

I smiled at the memory. “We did. That show was fucking
amazing
, one of my favorites.”

Phil had a wounded look in his eyes, and my heart sank.

“I looked for you at a lot of our shows,” he told me quietly.

“I was at a few of them,” I admitted. “But I—”

Swelling with a deep breath, he let it go. He nodded and squeezed my hand, letting me know he was cool.

“Whenever we could, we’d see you guys,” Alys said. “You were—still
are
—our favorite band of all time, especially Kenna’s.” She looked at Phil and smiled. “Deep down, she wanted nothing more than to see you again. She tried to hide it, but she was secretly devastated when you guys left on tour.”

For the love of all that’s holy, someone take the fucking sake away from this bitch!

My face was on
fire.

Phil chuckled. “And you tried to make me think you weren’t madly in love with me—”

“Shut it, Phil I-don’t-know-your-middle-name Deveraux! I most certainly
did not
do anything of the sort!”

X and Alys cracked up.

“I was under the impression you thought it was
fuckin’
,” said Phil.

“Eh?”

“You call me Phil fuckin’ Deveraux.”

Alys lost it. “Yeah, she’s
always
called you that!”

His eyes sparkling with contained laughter, Phil leaned over. His lips next to my ear, he said warmly, “It’s Louis.” He pronounced it Louie, too.

“Philip Louis Deveraux,” I said, my mouth curling up. “After your dad. How sweet.”

“What’s yours? I can’t believe I don’t know.”

Alys ripped a snort. “Oh, I’m so happy to be witnessing this!”

My face felt as though it had been torched with a flamethrower.

“Is it that bad?” Phil asked.

“You already
know
her middle name!” crowed Alys.

“I do?”

“Kenna is my middle name,” I said, glaring at my dearest, most beloved best friend, whom I was ready to stab in the face with a chopstick.

“Are you telling me I don’t know your
first
name?” asked Phil, sounding incredulous.

X’s orange eyebrows looked as though they were trying to crawl their way up to hide in his hairline.

“
No one
knows her first name, Phil. Don’t feel bad. She tries to forget about it herself.” Alys wiped a stray tear from her face. “Come to think of it, I don’t even know if Lili knows it.”

Lili totally knew it. Alys was only trying to make Phil feel better.

“What is it?” he demanded, his voice silky and lethal.

I huffed violently through my nose, mashing my lips together.
Thanks a lot, Alys.

He shoved his furious face right up in mine. “What is it?” His voice—so low, so soft—was scarier than his yelling.

My crotch pulsed something fierce.

I made my eyes meet his and glared right back at him. Clearing my throat, I replied in complete mortification, “Zephyr.”

“Bless you?” X said, sounding confused.

“My name is Zephyr Kenna MacGregor. My dirty hippie parents named me
Zephyr
, okay? And I hate it. By the time I was eight, I refused to acknowledge anyone who called me by it.
No one
calls me that, and only my mother ever slipped up from time to time. After I started med school, I made Kenna my legal name.”

“That’s why I couldn’t find you,” Phil spit, sitting back hard into the booth.

“I beg your pardon?”

“You fuckin’ well should! I hired a private fuckin’ investigator to fuckin’ find you, and there is
no one
in the entire fuckin’ state of Louisiana named Kenna!”

Alys was losing it again. “Well, there is now! This is too fuckin’ funny!”

“Screw you, Alys
Sunshine
Stuart!” I snapped. “At least
my
parents loved me enough to make sure my initials didn’t spell
ASS
!”

X gasped, and his electric-blue eyes turned to his woman. “Oh my God, they did that to you?”

Alys started to slip into a silent laughing fit. I couldn’t help it. I started to snicker. When she laughed like this, it was contagious. Phil seemed to be the only one who wasn’t amused at this point. He was giving me some serious evil eyes.

“What?” I barked. “I never even think about it anymore! It’s not like it’s information I just hand out, especially not to dudes I hook up with at a concert!”

“I’m not some fuckin’
dude
,” he hissed.

“Fine,” I said, snatching back my hand. “Be a pissy little bitch about it then.”

“Seriously, your middle name is Sunshine?” X asked Alys, his eyes wide with surprise.

Alys responded with some nostril flares.

“It really is,” I sweetly replied to X. “Alys Sunshine Stuart. ASS.”

Alys weakly lifted her hand and pointed at me, unable to breathe.

“Hey, you started it,” I told her.

Her hand dropped onto the table, and her head slapped the back of the booth, her mouth gaping and tears streaming down her face.

“Is she okay?” asked X, looking quite alarmed.

“Yep.”

Alys pointed at me again—this time, with a little more conviction.

“Oh,
I’m
the bitch? You totally got me into trouble. You realize this, don’t you? My boyfriend just started his rag because of you—”

“Oy!” barked Phil.

Alys flapped her hand at me.

“Bitch, I will smack you back.”

X leaned across the table and whispered to Phil, “I have no fuckin’ clue what’s goin’ on.”

“Get used to it,” grumped Phil. “These females have their own fuckin’ language.”

Alys flopped onto her side on the bench. I was fighting the urge to bust out laughing myself at her antics. I loved it when she lost her shit like that.

“Are you
sure
she’s okay? She’s not epileptic or anything, right?” asked X.

Other diners were now taking notice of us, and I had to bite my cheeks to keep in my laughter.

Phil tentatively reached over and took back my hand, his thumb stroking over my knuckles. “I think Zephyr is pretty,” he said softly.