Stray Read Free Page A

unusual? I giggle again.
    Jamie tugs my hand. “Everton.”
    I love his low, urgent voice, the way his eyes get all intense, the vertical creases forming above the strong line of his nose, the concern parting his lips–
    Leonard steps forwards with his camera in hand, trying to be heard above the noise of the crowd.
    I can help. I blow on my fingers, a short, sharp, shriek of sound that makes everyone flinch.
    Leonard wiggles a finger in his ear and chuckles. “That’ll do it.” He waves at the staircase for couples shots.
    Jamie growls in my ear. “You’ve been drinking.”
    “Eric, Kaylee,” Leonard calls. The muscular, brown-haired centurion in breastplate, helmet and flowing cape is from Kaylee’s Spanish class. He looks almost dumbstruck by his luck and pleased to have the opportunity to put his arm around his date.
    “So?” I shrug at Jamie and smile at the antics on the stairs, still tingling from where his breath has warmed my skin. I want him to do it again.
    Jamie groans and lowers his face into his palm.
    “Pete, Kitty.” Leonard waves his daughter onto the bottom step. My chest flutters inside, the echo of an old anxiety, the wish for Kitty’s happiness. Pete has featured in Kitty’s late-night texts to me over the last couple of weeks. “Not entirely committed to the idea of Pete but open to it,” she’d said. I’m pro Pete, myself. Someone to take her mind off recent events. Someone to make her smile. I remember her flirting with Aiden and shiver a little.
    Jamie rubs his face. “Miriam will kill you.”
    “Pfft.” I raise my palms. “Who’s going to tell her?”
    Gil and Lila go next, delightfully disproportionate, his mass, her tininess, and I laugh with everyone except Jamie as Gil pretends to bite her neck. I wonder if tonight their flirting might become the real thing.
    Jamie sighs. “Miriam will kill me.”
    I swivel to look at him, my head sloshing with the sudden movement. “What are you talking about?”
    “Abe, Imogen,” Leonard calls and the flourish of Abe’s Phantom of the Opera cape catches my attention. My vision blurs as I follow the movement, my balance out.
    Jamie grabs me before I can right myself. “You’re drunk.”
    I roll my eyes and pretend not to wobble. “Hardly.”
    “Completely.”
    I pull away, coming out of my happy daze, feeling his frown like an affront. “Barely.”
    “Right, you two,” Leonard claps his son on the shoulder and the others turn towards us. Jamie cloaks his concern with immediate ease.
    “No cape, Skipper?” Gil calls.
    “Who needs a cape?” Jamie unfurls the thick length of the whip with a lazy flick. The lash of the tip cracks the air, parting the crowd. Squeals and shouts echo off the triple-height ceiling. Quicksilver adrenaline releases nervous laughter in the aftermath.
    Gil rescues his fangs and snorts. “Overcompensating.”
    Drawing my fake guns, I press against Jamie’s chest, not liking the turn in mood. Damn it, I had been starting to enjoy myself and everything. So what if I’m a bit tipsy? Big deal. I arch my back and lift my foot behind me, nearly losing balance in the pantomime. Jamie wraps the whip around my back, the cord as hard as bone, bracing me. I blush at my unsteadiness, needled by my own embarrassment. “I’m fine.”
    “Clearly.” He smiles at the camera and speaks through his teeth. “How much have you had?”
    “Relax.”
    Leonard lifts the camera strap from his neck. “I think that’s it.”
    “Limo’s here,” Kitty calls, darting into the living room to fetch jackets.
    “How much?” Jamie releases me from the whip.
    “I don’t know.” I copy his clipped tone. “A few?”
    “You don’t know?”
    Kitty brings me a floor-length pale blue coat with furred hood and cuffs. “Lara wears this when she’s on the ice.”
    “Small mercy.” Jamie slings the whip over his shoulder, snatches the coat from Kitty and has me in it before I know what’s happening. He starts buttoning