Chapter 20
Raven
I had to walk away from all of it. I’m glad we found Marco, but that just means Luis is out there still dealing with whatever the fuck Bret is dishing out.
Seeing Marco all bruised and beat up, triggered something, and I’m not sure I’m ready to see Luis if he looks even close to that.
I will lose all of my shit. So I came to take a hot ass shower, the melt your skin off kind.
Just as I drop my towel, the bedroom door swings open.
I half expect to see the guys, but it’s Naomi who’s standing in the doorway.
“Can we go somewhere?” she says, walking further into the room.
“Anywhere you want to go, babe, I’m down,” I reply, walking to my dresser and grabbing clothes.
“Doc gave Marco meds to sleep. I know the guys are here and that he’ll be safe here regardless.
I just want to sneak out, me and you, kind of like old times.
I need to just take a beat,” she says, sitting on my bed as I finish getting clothes on.
This is nothing new for us. We’re best friends, so of course we’ve seen each other naked way too many times to count.
“Sneak out?” I chuckle. “Like away from the guys?” I raise a brow at her.
“Yes! Just me, you, and some alcohol. I see you retreating into yourself and I won’t let it happen.
So, get your cute ass out that door.” She stands and walks over to the double doors, opening them both.
Laughing, I grab my phone and wallet from my nightstand, following her as we both walk out the doors and onto the balcony.
It’s one place I used to sit and let my mind wander, but now I can’t let my mind wander too far.
Tiptoeing down the stairs, past the side of the house to the driveway, we’re both laughing as we take off running to her Challenger. I slide into the passenger seat and she starts the car and pulls down the driveway.
“Why does this make me feel like we’re teenagers again?” I chuckle, and look over at her as she pulls through the gates.
“It does, huh? Eddie would get so mad, but he was always tracking us. He really thought we didn’t know.” She laughs, speeding off down the road.
“I don’t know how great our sneaking tactics are these days, guess we will see,” I reply, and turn on the radio.
“With your guys, I’m surprised you don’t have a tracker implant yet.” She looks at me and raises her brow.
“God, please don’t give them ideas. I’m sure they’d be down to do that,” I reply, and shake my head. After this, they just might do some shit like that.
“You know we can’t go to our normal spots here, right?” she says, and I put my hand under my chin, thinking about somewhere we could go.
“Umm, we could always go to the town over. They always have those small country bars.” I shrug, and she nods her head.
“Yes, bitch! Get completely out of our element.” She laughs, getting on the interstate. Pulling up my music, I scroll through and play DJ.
An hour later, we’re pulling into some little hole in the wall bar called Mud Riders.
A huge neon sign under the name makes it stand out.
I take a deep breath, and we both get out of the car.
Here’s to one more scare for the guys. The parking lot is full, so maybe this is the best spot in this town.
“You ready?” Naomi asks, rounding the front of the car and grabbing my arm.
“As I’ll ever be, babe.” I chuckle, and we make our way to the building.
We walk through the door and there are people everywhere.
Men in Wranglers, women in tight-fitted dresses or jeans.
I definitely feel out of place here. Like, the way we dress screams, ‘we aren’t from here.
’ Stopping, I take in the scene. There are pool tables, a mechanical bull, and finally, I spot the bar.
Naomi drags me with her, grabbing the last two bar stools and sitting down.
“What can I get you girls tonight?” the bartender asks, coming up to us.
“Just a couple shots of tequila and a beer for both of us,” Naomi answers her, and the bartender nods, walking off.
“I think we picked the perfect spot. Ain’t no way the guys are coming to a country bumpkin bar to find us.” I chuckle.
“Damn skippy.” She laughs, and I just roll my eyes.
“Here ya’ go girls. My name is Maggie. Whatever you need, just holler,” the bartender says, sitting the shots and bottles down.
“Thank you,” I reply, as me and Naomi pick up the shot glasses and toss them back.
We’re both sitting here, cutting up and laughing, when two dark-haired girls walk up to the bar and start talking to the bartender.
They glance over at me and Naomi, and it’s then that I realize they are twins, hot ones at that.
Both have long black hair and the prettiest honey-colored eyes.
We start up a conversation with them, and of course, Naomi and her big mouth just has to let the new girls know I have multiple boyfriends.
Nothing is safe with her when she’s drinking.
Just as they go to walk off, I grab the girl closest to me by the arm.
“I’m Raven, by the way,” I say, holding my hand out. She looks at my hand on her arm, then up at me.
“I’m Blakely, and that’s my sister, Sawyer,” she replies, shaking my other hand as I let go of her arm. She walks off, and I sit back down next to Naomi.
“You trying to make new friends?” she asks, and I look over at her.
“No, but never know when you need to know someone in another town. Plus, there is a darkness in that girl and it piques my interest.” I shrug, and grin back at her.
We down our beers and stand, walking to the dancefloor.
Naomi leaves me in the middle and walks over to the DJ, whispering something into his ear.
Next thing I know, some Flo Rida song comes on, and you can tell everyone is stunned for a second.
But then they dance to the beat of the music, so apparently, we might be a bad influence here.
Song after song, we dance, me and Naomi grinding our bodies together.
Then when a country song comes on, we get in line and do the dance the locals do.
I feel my phone vibrating in my pocket, so I pause and pull it out, then look up at Naomi.
“Oh shit, we’ve been caught.” She lets out a full belly laugh. It’s been hours, so I’m sure they knew I was gone.
Reyes:
Babygirl! Where the fuck are you?
Damien:
You think we can’t find you?
I show her my screen, and we both can’t help but laugh.
“Fuck, tell them you are just fine.” She laughs, and starts dancing again.
Me:
Catch me if you can boys ??
I slide my phone back into my pocket, and Naomi grabs my hands, as we slow dance to some country song. She doesn't know it, but this is exactly what I needed. We’re all sweaty and non-stop giggles when some cowboy comes up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist, and Naomi's eyes widen.
“Thought you girls might need a drink,” another one says, handing us a beer with the top already popped off.
I spin on my heels and push the one off of me, pinning the other with a stare.
“First off, don’t touch me. I’m not single. We also don’t accept open drinks from strangers, so it's a hard pass,” I quip, but the damn guy grabs my arm and pulls me against his chest.
“The way you dance says you want to be touched. I can please you, however you like,” he says against my neck. Lifting my leg, I knee him in the balls, and he lets out an oomph sound. The other guy backs away from us, grabbing his friend on his way.
“I said fuck off,” I spit at their backs, and grab Naomi’s arm, walking us back to the bar.
“Well, that went great. Good thing the guys really aren’t here or there would be blood all over that dance floor.” She chuckles, and I just shake my head, already sobering up from the adrenaline rush.
Movement catches my eye from the far corner of the bar, and low and behold, there stand two guys. I know who it is before they even emerge from the shadows. My guys. Well, fuck.