“I’d bet anything Ava and Eric found a dark corner somewhere. Those two, I swear, disgustingly in love.”

“You really think so?” Keiran asked, sipping his beer.

“This place has sentimental value for them. First date, first make-out session in the car park, first bathroom sex moment.”

Keiran choked on his beer. He wiped his mouth. “What?”

“Oh, yeah, my sis loves to overshare this shit.”

“Wow, I didn’t think Eric had it in him to do public sex.” He gulped at his beer as if it was too hard to wrap his mind around that.

The sudden jolt of their table signaled Ava’s return. Ava giggled as she tried to steady herself against the tabletop. Cherisse eyed the massive hickey on Eric’s neck.

“Whoops.” Ava held on to the table as she slid into her seat. She’d nearly knocked over the drinks, clearly tipsy. They had been hitting the drinks hard since they’d arrived at the bar. “Had to go to the bathroom.”

“And I, uh, helped her do that.” Eric didn’t even try for a good excuse. It seemed ladies’ night had been truly invaded.

“Did you see my sister in there?” Keiran asked.

Eric and Ava exchanged secretive looks, then both said, “Nope,” at the exact same time and busted out laughing like that was the funniest thing. Cherisse hoped the guys had a designated driver because either Eric was high on whatever fooling around he’d done with Ava, or he was just plain drunk.

Their crew had hired a taxi because Julia had to leave early, and the rest of them planned to get as tanked as they wanted. They were celebrating, after all.

“We saw nothing,” Ava sang out.

“We know nothing,” Eric added.

Cherisse glanced at Keiran, who shrugged. Guess he didn’t know what that was about, either.

“Hey, let’s dance!” Ava cheerfully proclaimed, dragging Eric over to Julia and Scott.

Cherisse took a big swig of her drink just as Remi returned and announced, “I really had to pee. Sorry to abandon you to this.” She waved at Keiran. “It was one of those neverending ones.”

“Thanks for that info,” Keiran said dryly.

Remi pointed a finger at him. “No one cares what you think.” She grabbed up the drink Cherisse pointed to, eyes extra-bright. Oh yeah, Remi was also on her way to Tipsyville.

So was she, because she didn’t bother to filter herself or her desire to rub Keiran’s loss in his face. The mini bar challenge wasn’t anything much in the grand scheme of things, but any little leg up she could get over Keiran, she would take it. “Keiran failed at getting CK’s attention. He thought he could beat me.”

Keiran’s brow creased, and that frown was a lovely balm to the tiny bit of lingering annoyance over his presence and his general existence.

He shook his head. “That entire challenge was rigged from the start.”

Remi laughed, and Cherisse emptied her glass, sliding it over to Keiran. “Be a darling and refresh my drink, won’t you?”