“It’s that easy?” Macy asks, shaking her head in bewilderment.

“My mom and dad—and my mom’s parents before them—worked really hard building up the Dragon Court into something formidable and independent and rich. It means a lot to her that she can give back to her people like this, means a lot to her that there’s even this money to give.” He inclines his head. “So yeah. It’s that easy…and that important.”

“And I thought witch history had a lot of land mines,” Macy says. “But dragon history is obviously just as complex.”

Then she reaches out a hand and pulls down a gold charm bracelet with several different gemstone charms on it—including a charm in the shape of a wolf.

Luca pulls down a gorgeous Breitling watch with a black crocodile band while Eden goes for a key. “Is there a locker around here somewhere that I open with this?”

Flint just laughs. “It’s not that kind of key, Eden.”

She narrows her eyes at him. “Well, what kind is it, then? I’ve never drawn a key before.”

He takes it over to the nearest wait table and dunks the key chain in a leftover pitcher of water. We watch in amazement as a gold logo that looks kind of like two lions and kind of like wings appears on the key chain.

“It’s an Ecosse?” Eden all but screeches. “You’re lying. That’s just the key chain, right? It’s not actually—”

“Oh, it’s an Ecosse,” he tells her with a huge grin. “Take this to my mom’s secretary tomorrow, and she’ll give you a choice of which one you want—depending on which ones have been claimed by that time.”

Eden looks like she’s about to jump out of her skin with joy, and I feel completely confused. “What’s an Ecosse?” I ask.

Macy looks as lost as I do, but the other four turn on me like I’ve just stabbed them in their backs…and their hearts.

“Only the most kick-ass boutique motorcycle in the world,” Eden tells me. “Titanium chassis, carbon-fiber wheels, the most gorgeous, custom paintwork in the business—well, except for the Harley Cosmic Starship, but nobody can ride that. An Ecosse!”

“That’s awesome,” Macy tells her, giving her a huge hug…even as she makes a just go along with them face at me behind her back.

“Totally awesome,” I agree.

Eden just rolls her eyes. “I’ll take you for a ride on it. You’ll understand.”

“I can’t wait,” I tell her sincerely. And yeah, my parents used to have a no-motorcycle rule for me, but I figure if I can fly on a dragon and turn to stone on command, maybe I can handle a motorcycle ride after all.

“Your turn,” Luca tells me with a wink.

I look at all the stuff flying around, and then I think of how powerless and panicked I felt when I tried to imagine having the money to start up a Gargoyle Court. So I let all the keys pass me by and pick an envelope.

It comes right to me, like the others’ choices did for them, and I open it expecting to find the same five thousand dollars that Flint found. Instead, there’s a stock certificate. For 1,500 shares of Alphabet Inc.

“Holy shit,” Luca says. “Seriously, holy shit. That’s Google.”

“Is that good?” I ask. “I mean, I know it’s good—Google is huge, obviously, but…”

“Sure it’s good.” Hudson shrugs. “If you think three million dollars is good.”

I choke, swallowing my own saliva. “I’m sorry. What did you just say?”

“You heard me. Each share is trading at somewhere around eighteen hundred dollars. So yeah, almost three million dollars in your hot little hand.”

“I take it back,” Flint teases me. “You’re buying breakfast.”

“Umm, yeah I am…as soon as I can feel my face again. Or my hands. Or any other part of my body.” I stare at the stock certificate in shock. “This is for real?”

“It’s for real, New Girl.” Flint picks me up and whirls me around. “You’re a millionaire.”

“What are you going to spend it on?” Eden asks with a grin.

“Apparently, breakfast,” I tell her as I start to believe that maybe this actually is happening. “And the beginnings of a Gargoyle Court?”

“Oh, hell yeah, you are!” Macy squeals.

We all laugh, and then I turn to Hudson. “Your turn.”

He shakes his head. “I’ve got everything I need.” The fact that he’s staring at me when he says it doesn’t make my stomach flip at all.

The others groan, and Eden may or may not make a slight gagging noise.

But Flint just grins. Then says, “Yeah, well, reach up there and grab an envelope for Grace, then. Apparently, we’ve got a Gargoyle Court to build.”

84

Slow Hands Are Good,

But Sometimes Fast

Hands Are Even Better

In the end, Hudson does reach up and snag another envelope for me. The one he chooses has a thousand dollars in it—which makes me super happy but gets him booed by Flint.

Still, middle-of-the-night hot chocolate and snacks are on me when we go up to the roof a little later—after changing into comfy sweats and sweatshirts. We’re all exhausted, but none of us wants the night to end yet, and there’s something magical about being up here, the city spread out below us.

I’ve never seen New York at this time before, and it’s shocking to me how quiet it is in the middle of the night. It’s like a switch gets turned off and the bright cacophony of the day and the neon fervor of the evening fade for just a couple of hours and all that’s left is…peace.

I can use a little peace right now, and so can my friends, I think. We’ve got a lot ahead of us, and this night—this stolen moment in time—feels perfect.

Eventually, though, they all start drifting inside. Flint and Luca head out first with a decidedly intimate look in their eyes. Eden heads down next, and Macy not long after.

And then it’s just Hudson and me on the roof—along with my rapidly cooling cup of hot cocoa.

“You ready to go down?” I ask as I dig out the last marshmallow from my cup.

“Are you?” he answers.

I should say yes. I’m cold and only getting colder, but…I don’t know. There’s something about being on this couch with him, the world at our feet and my favorite singer-songwriters’ playlist playing on his phone, that feels too special to give up. At least not yet.

So I shake my head and burrow a little deeper into the blanket…and into him.

“You okay?” he asks.

“I just won three million dollars,” I joke. “I think I’m doing all right.”

He grins. “More than all right, I’d say.”

“This whole weekend has been surreal.” I don’t know how it started with him being arrested and ended with me on this roof with Hudson, three million dollars richer.

“It’s been the best weekend of my life,” he says quietly.

I start to make a joke about how being arrested isn’t usually a bucket list item, but there’s something in his voice—something in his eyes when he turns to look at me—that has the words freezing in my throat.

And when Harry Styles’s “Adore You” starts playing (because he always puts one Harry Styles song in the middle of a playlist just for me), I can’t help myself. I stand up and hold out a hand to him. “Come on,” I whisper. “Let’s top off the best weekend of your life with a dance at the top of the world.”

He grins and takes my hand. Then he’s dancing me across the roof to one of my favorite songs, and I realize that Flint isn’t the only one with the fancy moves.

“I don’t know where you learned to dance like this,” I squeal as he spins me out and then pulls me back in perfectly.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” he answers, and there’s something in his voice that has my body aching and my throat closing up.

For a second, I’m afraid to ask the question he’s set me up to ask, but as the song comes to an end and he dips me with a flourish, I can’t help myself.

“Like what?” I whisper.

He pulls me up and into his arms just as “If the World Was Ending” from JP Saxe and Julia Michaels comes on the playlist. His hand slides down to right above the curve of my butt as he pulls me against him and spins the two of us right up to the edge of the roof, so that the lights of Manhattan glimmer below us.

And when he finally answers my question, his eyes are oceanic. “Like, I really want to kiss you right now.”

It’s all the invitation I need, my hands sliding up to tangle and tug at his hair as I yank his mouth down to mine.

Hudson groans low in his throat, and then he’s kissing me back, his lips and teeth and tongue ravaging mine like it’s the end of the world and this is the last kiss any two people will ever share.

And I ravage him right back, biting, licking, sucking, kissing, exploring every inch of his mouth until I can barely breathe, barely think. Until all I can do is feel.

His fangs scrape against my lower lip, and I moan. I tighten my fingers in his hair and try to pull him even closer.

It’s impossible—we can’t get any closer—but it makes him growl low in his throat. And this time when he uses his fangs on my lip, he nicks me…then licks away the tiny drops of blood that well up.