Page 167 of Psycho Gods
He had the audacity to wink.
I prayed for patience.
“What do you think?” he asked gruffly.
I stared at the man who had voluntarily gotten “Arabella” spelled out across eight of his toenails. It was white letters on top of dark blue polish. He also had snowflakes on his pinky toes.
“That is stalkerish and creepy,” I finally said.
He admired his feet. “I like them.”
Exasperated, I turned to the other kings. “We all match,” Orion whispered with a smirk as he wiggled his glossy black nails.
Scorpius snapped, “Do mine look good? Someone tell me.” He sounded gruff, but he curled his fingers self-consciously, like he was embarrassed that he couldn’t see for himself.
“They look good,” Orion and I reassured him at the same time.
“Thanks.” He sighed with relief.
I leaned over and patted his arm. “Seriously, they look great. I really like black on you. I think it’s your color.”
He grunted and dragged his hands through his matching hair. A small smile curled the edges of his lips.
“Getting your name was more impressive,” Malum announced confidently.
Everyone ignored him.
A few minutes later—after I’d tipped my nail technician generously and thanked her again for her amazing service, tied Sadie’s shoelaces for her, and redone her ponytail because she couldn’t—we left the salon.
“Wait,” a woman called after us, and we stopped in the middle of the mall.
She blushed prettily and held out a slip of paper for Malum, then she turned and ran back into the salon.
All five of us gathered around the slip.
It was a drawing of a stick-figure on fire, inside a heart. A house address was written below the picture in big loopy handwriting and said, “Visit me anytime you want.”
I pointed at it. “I like how she drew the eyes looking in two-different directions. She really captured your manic energy.”
“She’s so real for that,” Sadie said.
Malum frowned. “I’m sure that was an error.”
“I don’t know,” Orion whispered. “It seems pretty accurate to me.”
Scorpius laughed.
Sadie pulled me down to her level and growled into my ear, “If he goes, I can kill him for you. I can make it clean. No evidence. Easy—only fourteen small payments, subject to twenty-percent interest.”
I rolled my eyes and yanked away from her.
“If I was going to kill someone, I’d do it myself,” I said. “Also, I can’t believe you wouldn’t do it for free. We’re supposed to be best friends.”
She scoffed and blew on her ridiculous nails. “Please, I’ve got to make a living somehow.”
I rolled my eyes at her antics.
There was a burning sound, and we pulled away from each other.