Lost Til Midnight
The Last Drop is newer and shinier than Jinx has ever seen, but mostly it feels like home. The nightclub Silco turned it into never felt right, a shimmer-stained bastardization.
All three of her fathers are at the bar, her first dad sitting on a stool, Vander and Silco serving drinks. Her mom is there, too, bouncing baby Vi.
It’s fucking weird. Everything about this is crazy, even by Jinx’s standards, but she’d take all the crazy in the world to see Silco and Vander again. They’re so young—and still friends, no betrayals between them.
Jinx tugs her hood lower over her face and makes her way closer to the bar. Vander has disappeared down the other end to tend to an arguing couple, but Silco stands nearby, polishing glasses.
She always knew Silco was handsome—had noticed it more than she should have—but she never imagined he was once beautiful too. He keeps his wavy dark hair pulled back in a low bun, which Jinx immediately feels compelled to take down. If she gets the chance, she might never stop running her fingers through it. His skin is clear and unlined, his thin lips quick to smile, sea green eyes bright with mischief when he says something that makes Jinx’s mother laugh.
Who is this man? This stranger-but-not, wearing a face she loves but barely knows.
His eyes flick up, searching out the intense stare he can likely feel coming from her direction, and Jinx retreats into her hood.
Damn.
She checks again after a moment, only to nearly jump out of her skin.
Silco is coming straight for her.
Jinx gets eyes on the exit, a moment from shimmering out of there when an absurdly strong hand wraps around her upper arm.
“Are you following me, darling?”
Her chest tightens, breath trapped and throat closed. Darling. Thank fuck her blushes never show anymore.
“Well?” he asks, his smooth, deep voice sharpening a bit.
“I just heard this was the place to be,” Jinx says. “Was I told wrong?”
“You were told?” Silco pulls her an inch closer. “By the same person who told you about me?”
She can smell him, a mix of whiskey and cloves, nothing like the cigar smoke and fine cologne she’s used to. Different, but entrancing in its own way.
Get it together.
“You gonna interrogate me all night, or can I get a drink?” Jinx asks.
That pisses him off. But it does something else, too. It’s not an expression she recognizes from her world’s version of Silco. Something that makes his gaze heavy and slow, like suspicion but sexier.
“Your name?”
“Jinx,” she says, because it doesn’t matter in a world like this. The truth means nothing and everything, but at the very least, her name is worthless.
“Your real name.”
She grins up at him, the dazzling smile that always throws her enemies for a loop. “I’m as real as they get, toots.”
~~~
Excerpt from a Jilco time travel AU I'm co-writing with NextToSomething aka @reylotrashcompactor 💜💜💜








