Flock (The Ravenhood #1)(68)
I never used to drink, not like this. I blame the new men in my life and the nerves associated with them. She nods toward the guy minding the keg as we walk the few steps to get to him and hand him our cups.
“I’m Alicia.”
“Cecelia.” She’s taller than me by a few inches, definitely not a girl any male eye would pass over. She sizes me up just as carefully. “Did you come with anyone?”
“My brother,” she supplies. “We’re Virginia.”
“Oh.” Not from Virginia, no, she claimed a whole state.
“Dominic’s never brought…neither of them have ever brought a girl here. I thought you came with Dom, so I wasn’t sure which one you were with?”
I fumble with my reply because I don’t know exactly how to answer. And I decide I’m not going to. She smiles and does me a solid by taking the question off the table, so I do her one back, even with the lingering sting of jealousy.
“Sean is kind, considerate, smart, so smart, caring, sexy, funny, protective.” And mine.
“I thought as much,” she blows out a breath, pushing her waist-length dark hair away from her shoulder. The woman has the most beautiful head of hair I’ve ever seen.
“So, you’ve got a thing for him, huh?”
I’m graced with an apologetic grin. “He used to come to Virginia a lot when I was younger. I never said a word to him, but yeah, I guess you could say I do. Hope that doesn’t piss you off.”
It does, to a degree. But she’s being honest.
“He’s also bluntly honest, like you.”
“Yeah?” She smiles.
“But, I am with him.”
She nods. “I’ll back off. I just…he’s perfect, but you know that. Dominic too. But he scares the shit out of me.”
Me too. But in the way I can’t get enough of him.
“Yeah, they’re…hard to describe.”
“So, come on, girl,” she nudges me with her elbow, “what exactly did you do to get in that car?”
Fucked them both on a float. I cringe at my vulgar thought and burst out laughing despite it.
Who in the hell am I? Alicia gives me an odd look.
“Sorry, it’s been an interesting week. I met Sean at work and we all just started hanging out.”
“If my brother wasn’t such a dick, I could too.”
“Overprotective, eh?”
“Yeah, to the point I might kill him in his sleep.”
“Have you been to many of these?”
“This is my fourth.” She rolls her eyes. “Twenty years old and I still have to ask my brother to play with him and his friends.”
“So, what is the meetup about?”
She shrugs. “It’s just a party.”
I harrumph. Third time is not the charm.
“You don’t find it odd that every one of these men has the same tattoo?”
She lifts a shoulder, her face impassive. “Not at all.”
“Please, please tell me what I’m missing.”
She frowns. “You don’t know anything?”
“No. Is this a gang?”
She squelches her laughter after gauging my expression. “No, not like that. But if they were to bust us right now, I’m sure half of these assholes would serve time.”
“For?”
“Their crimes.”
Questions and evasive answers. It’s becoming an infuriating pattern and I can see she’s sympathetic. I go at her at a different angle.
“So why do you come here?”
“Because I believe in this.”
“And this is?”
“A party.”
Annoyed, I glance around and look for a sign of either Sean or Dominic and come up empty. The longer I look around, the less faces I recognize. My garage guys are also nowhere in sight.
She sees my panic and does her best to study me. “You have nothing to be afraid of. This is just a meetup. It happens once or twice a month.”
“Like Masons?”
She nods sharply. “Sure. Like a club.”
“But you can’t tell me about the club? Like rule number one of Fight Club?”
“What’s that?”
“A movie,” I run my hands through my hair in frustration. “Never mind, so this is a club?”
“Sure, and I guess you could say this is the clubhouse.”
“So that necklace…”
“Means I belong to someone or am with someone in the club.” She grimaces. “Right now, it’s my brother.”
“So, who is the leader?”
“There’s no leader at a party.”
“I thought this was a club?” I counter.
“A club party.”
More evasion, another thousand questions popping up that I have no doubt will go unanswered.
“This is so weird,” I mutter as an outburst of laughter sounds behind us.
“I thought so too, at first.”
“And now?”
She shrugs, pulling a joint from thin air and lighting it. “It’s a way of life.” She exhales a plume of smoke and offers it to me.
“No thanks.”
“Sure? It’s going to be a long night.”