Honeyed Words Read Online Free PDF

her face set in a very stern expression. She leaned in and whispered something that no one but Ari heard.
    “Right,” he said. “Can we get back to the party?”
    Katie stepped forward and hugged him, to his obvious surprise. Several of the seated women rose up, their hackles raised. “Been too long, you snot,” she said, pushing him back to the crowd. “Try not to break too many hearts.”
    What the hell?
    “Who’s your hot friend there?” he asked, stepping back toward Katie and looking me up and down.
    Katie watched me, a smirk on her face. “You don’t remember Sarah?”
    Ari glanced at her, then back at me. “I think I’d remember a hottie like her. She’s stacked.”
    Katie choked back a laugh and I felt my blood rising. “Last time I saw you,” I said, stepping forward into his personal space, “you were having trouble holding your pants up after Gwendolyn left you hanging in a horse trailer.”
    He squinted, pushing his face forward and looking up toward my eyes for the first time. “Did my brother sleep with you?”
    This sent Katie into full-blown laughter. I wanted to pound them both.
    “Never mind,” I said, turning away. “You aren’t worth my time.”
    He jumped a little skip into the air, waving his hands around. “Right,” he said, shaking his head. “You’re that dyke blacksmith.”
    Katie stopped laughing.
    A red haze fell across everything as I moved at him. I reached for Gram, ready to fight him, and then I realized I didn’t have the sword. Instead I grabbed him by the front of his silly-ass pirate shirt. I pulled him close, leaning in to whisper into his face.
    “You need to learn some manners.”
    Time shifted back to normal, and someone behind Ari shrieked.
    Suddenly, two very large, hairy, tattooed men were scrambling toward me.
    “Whoa there, boys,” a voice called from behind me. Everyone paused and looked over to Cassidy Stone, the lead singer of The Harpers. “Everybody needs to just calm down.”
    The crowd mellowed at his words. I could feel the power of it washing over me. The wall of anger that had flashed into existence receded at his words. Freaky.
    “Let him go,” the singer said, his voice mellow and sweet. “I’m sure he didn’t mean nothing by it.”
    I glanced at Stone and gave a half shrug, pushing Ari away from me and into the arms of one of the bouncers.
    “You okay there, son?” Cassidy asked, not looking too particularly concerned. His Scottish accent gave me a bit of a shiver. That’s when I realized Cassidy was on the far side of thirty.
    “What the hell’s your malfunction?” Ari yelped, his dulcet tones lost in a moment of panic and fear. “You got no right…” The roadies took another step toward me, and I stepped back into a fighting stance.
    “Oh, Ari,” Katie said, walking over to me and looping her arm into mine, wrecking my stance, but settling down the crowing voices in my head. “Didn’t you ever get the hint? I wouldn’t sleep with you at the faires, and neither would Sarah. It’s not just because we prefer girls.” She leaned in and kissed me full on the mouth. As her tongue danced across mine, the battle voices began to slip into nothingness.
    The crowd buzzed for a moment—or maybe it was just the way she held the sides of my face as she kissed me—then she let me go and spun back to the crowd.
    “But as cute as you are, you are still a clueless prick.”
    No one moved for a moment; then someone began to laugh. Then one of the roadies joined in. Soon everyone else was laughing and coming to Ari’s aid, offering him beer, wine, clove cigarettes, and several kisses.
    Thus distracted, he slunk back to his web of groupies, and I stepped back to face Cassidy Stone.
    “Thank you,” I said. “Didn’t mean to pop off like that.”
    Cassidy shrugged. “Boy needs to be taken down a peg or two if he wants to survive this game.”
    I nodded once and stuck out my hand. “Sarah Beauhall.”
    He wore a band of gold on