"Oh! Him!" Jesper pointed toward one of the Dregs passed out on the bar. "Work your magic on him."
He slammed his shot glass down onto the table and Nina felt the bubble of laughter easily brush past her lips. It'd been so long since she'd laughed. The whiskey flamed in her blood again and she relaxed further back into the booth eyeing the dwindling crowd. It was rare for them to celebrate. Especially when her guilt over Matthias always weighed down her heart and her hands were always busy trying to earn her favor from Kaz. But, it had been a successful endeavor and both Jesper and Inej were looking particularly joyful at what this new heist had accomplished.
"It doesn't work when they're passed out," Nina laughed again as even Inej gave her a radiant smile. She'd do anything to see her friend smile more. It was quite gorgeous, made even rarer by how little anyone ever witnessed it. A wicked thought threw to the front of her mind and she quickly positioned her hands under the table and then narrowed her drunken attention at Jesper.
"Shame, he owed me money," Jesper muttered, eyeing his fellow Dreg like he might go pick his pocket in his compromised state.
"You stole Inej's croissant last week, didn't you?" Nina point-blank asked and felt his heartbeat hammer away in his chest. Jesper looked utterly surprised. Too many years working with Kaz gave everyone a master class in deception.
"Never," he locked eyes with Inej. "Never."
"He's lying," Nina flatly replied, joy filling her drunk heart as Inej's eyebrow lifted slowly on her forehead.
"Now that isn't quite fair, innit?" Jesper glared at Nina. "I thought we were all having fun."
"This is fun," Nina smiled smugly back. "Anything else you want to ask him?"
Inej shook her head, ducking her head toward her glass to hide her smile.
"By all means," Jesper leaned back in the booth. "I'm an open book. Ask me anything."
"Tell me all the secrets of your heart, Jesper," Nina said dramatically, wiggling her fingers at him and the three of them burst into another round of laughter. Far too happy. Far too drunk. Something was sure to muck this all up.
"Do all men have secrets?" Inej wondered. Nina and Jesper gave her both their most sympathetic faces.
"Well, all men have hearts," Nina offered right as Kaz stormed into the Crow Club, dripping with rainwater and smacking his cane at the barstool of the Dreg that'd passed out. His eyes connected with them. "Even the Bastard of the Barrel."
Kaz's cold eyes locked onto Inej and then with a tiny nod of his head he moved toward his office and she'd already disappeared from their booth like the stale cigarette smoke that hung in the air around them.
"Should we tell her?" Nina couldn't help wondering aloud, the whiskey now overpowering everything in her system.
"To run? Little late for that." Jesper reached over and grabbed Inej's drink. "You know something I don't?"
"Always," Nina drawled. Jesper snorted back at her in return, his distracted gaze flowing across the club.
She'd wanted to tell Inej from the moment she'd noticed it. How Kaz's breath would catch, his blood pressure would rise, his heart would hammer in his chest when he looked at her friend. How his dark eyes watched every move she made. But then he'd blink it all away. All men have hearts and even more secrets. But they weren't always Nina's to tell. Yet.