Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
At first, I felt self-conscious dancing. Mac, on the other hand, had no problem moving to the music. Then Wyatt joined us. He came up behind me, put his hand on my hip and took one of my hands in his other, and I instantly relaxed. As we moved and swayed together, he felt like a shield.
When the next song played, I turned to face him and danced that way. Mac came up behind me and sandwiched me between them, making me laugh. I smiled so much that my cheeks started to hurt. I’d never thought any sort of pain would feel so great, but having fun was the exception.
After one more song, we went looking for Roe and our drinks. He and Reid were sitting next to each other at the bar.
Mac got between them to grab our drinks. She handed me mine and began chugging hers. Roe handed Wyatt his beer.
Wyatt eyed the beer Reid was holding. “You off for the night?”
Reid stared at me as he answered. “Yeah.” He checked me out from the ground up. When he reached my eyes, he found me waiting. I wanted to see what he thought, but I couldn’t read his emotionless face.
I looked away as I sipped at my drink. Mentally scolding myself for even being curious about him.
“I saw Bram,” Mac said. “He didn’t look happy to see me here for some reason.”
“I’m sure it’s not you he’s upset about,” Reid said.
Don’t look at Reid.
Don’t look at him.
I could feel him staring and the temptation to look back was strong, but I held out as I finished off my drink and people-watched. When it was empty, I grabbed my hair to lift it off my neck. Then I pressed my glass, which still had ice in it, just below my ear in the hopes of cooling off.
Mac snorted. “You boys are so fucked.”
I glanced back at the four of them. Reid was glaring at his sister. Wyatt was grinning down at the floor. Roe was staring at me. “Want another drink?” he asked.
“We should do another round of shots!” Mac said.
I smiled at her. “Okay.”
Mac pushed her way in between Roe and Reid again to stand at the bar. She raised her hand at the lady who had taken over for Reid. “Jackie, babe! Can you get me two shots of Fireball?”
Reid shook his head at his sister before setting his beer on the bar. “I’ll be right back. I gotta go talk to Noble.”
As soon as he left, Mac spun around with our shots. She handed one off to me and we both drank them. I was really feeling a buzz, which made it easier for the shot to go down.
“I think we need one more,” Mac said as she reached into her back pocket and pulled out a twenty.
“Let me pay!” I said as I dug into my wristlet. “I don’t know who’s been paying up to this point, but it’s definitely my turn to buy.”
“Nope. Just put it on my tab, Mac,” Roe said.
Mac glanced at him. “Everything has been put on your tab. Let me pitch in.”
Roe looked at her. “Don’t worry about it. Just have fun.”
She stuffed her twenty back into her pocket. “I’ll buy you food next time you come in.”
He nodded.
Mac and I did one more shot together, and she was talking about going back to the dance floor. “First, I need to pee,” she said, and looked at me. “Come with?”
I nodded. She took the lead. The thing I’d learned about Mac was that she was a very bouncy, bubbly person and she was quick on her feet.
When it came to weaving and dodging around people, she was fast about it.
I, on the other hand, was not. We got separated when three big Haven’s Rebels got between us.
“Sorry about that, little lady,” one of them said and quickly stepped out of the way.
“It’s all right,” I said with a polite smile. By the time I got around them, Mac was nowhere to be seen. Assuming she’d beaten me to the restroom, I headed in that direction. I’d barely walked three steps when someone grabbed my wrist.
“What do we have here?” a male voice said.
I turned around to find a man in his mid-thirties with curly black hair and a five o’clock shadow towering over me. His cut told me he was a Haven’s Rebel.
I tried to pull my wrist free to no avail. His grip was very strong.
“I haven’t seen you around before,” he said as he grabbed some of my hair and sniffed it. “You’re pretty and you smell barely legal.” He tried to grab at one of the ties on the front of my shirt.
Before I could get a hand up to block or stop him, a big arm wrapped across my chest like a seat belt, and I was pulled back against someone.
“Let go of her,” a voice like thunder ordered. “Right. Fucking. Now.”
The man holding my wrist released it and put his hands up in surrender. “Sorry, Prez. Didn’t know she was with you. Thought she might be a new sweet butt.”
“This isn’t the clubhouse, Donnie. Keep your fucking hands to yourself,” Bram ordered.
“Yes, sir,” Donnie said as he backed away a few steps before turning and walking off.
Bram’s arm dropped from around me and I turned to face him.
He didn’t look happy as his greenish hazel eyes bored into mine.
I was about to thank him, hoping it’d ease his anger, when he said, “Go home, Charlotte. This is no place for you.” It was an order, and I was too intimidated—too taken aback to argue.
I spun around, planning on backtracking to Roe and Wyatt, but collided with a chest. I quickly glanced up and saw that it was Reid. Instead of pushing away or apologizing, I leaned into him. I fisted his shirt, needing…I didn’t know what I needed.
He didn’t push me away. Shockingly, he put an arm around me and glared over my head. “She doesn’t know who you are, Bram. Ease the fuck up.”
“Did you bring her here?” Bram questioned.
Reid exhaled heavily, like he was doing his best to stay calm. “She goes to school with Roe. They’re…friends.”
There wasn’t a response for a few heartbeats. Then I heard Bram’s voice over the music. “Find your sister and get them both out of here.” It was an order.
Reid’s arm dropped from around me and I looked up at him.
He didn’t look happy, either. At least with him, I knew what I was getting and there was comfort in that.
I didn’t know Bram at all. I wondered what I had done to make him so mad.
As I replayed the whole interaction in my head, something stood out.
“How does he know my name?” I didn’t mean to voice the question out loud.
Reid’s face became schooled.
“Did you tell him my name?” I asked.
“Why would I tell him your name?”
Right. That was a silly question. I could have sworn I hadn’t told Bram my name at the movie theater. I hadn’t even known his name was Bram until Wyatt had told me.
“Let’s go,” Reid said, pulling me from my thoughts. He walked ahead of me, leading the way back to Roe and Wyatt.
I was drunk and currently reading the million messages Brandon had texted me.
Wyatt had been right. He hadn’t responded to my text for nearly an hour.
At first, he was mad I had left. He accused me of lying.
Then he said it made him look bad to his teammates that I’d just left and it was almost an hour until he saw my text.
That it had taken one of his teammates to point out that I had been gone for a while.
After that, his texts were worded to make me feel guilty.
He asked why I wouldn’t tell him. Told me that he would have taken me home and stuck around to make sure I was okay.
He reminded me that he was my boyfriend, that I could rely on him.
As his messages progressed, I could see he was getting drunker and drunker because of all the typos.
Now I was receiving dirty texts asking if he could come over.
Brandon: Lit e come over
Brandon: I wAnt to fuk u so bad
Brandon: I cant fuk m y hand anynore
Brandon: I wan ttoo eat ur psusy
Each time he texted, my phone dinged.
“Shit, is that the boyfriend?” Wyatt asked from the front passenger seat. Roe was driving, about to cross the bridge to my side of town.
Back at Noble’s, Reid had given a vague rundown of what had happened with Donnie and Bram. Roe had looked furious and reached for my hand.
“Fucking Donnie. Why am I not surprised?” Wyatt had said. “You all right, gorgeous?”
I had nodded.
Reid had said he’d take Mac home and we’d gone our separate ways after that.
“I can’t deal with this right now,” I said as I slouched in the back seat.
Wyatt turned around and snatched my phone from my hand.
“Hey,” I said without any oomph because I was drunk and didn’t really care.
I watched as he read over the texts. With each one, his eyes got wider. “These are X-rated.” He chuckled. “He’s trying to guilt you into fucking him.” He looked at me. “A real man doesn’t do that.”
“Is that what he’s texting her?” Roe asked from the driver’s seat.
“Oh yeah,” Wyatt said as he continued to read.
I sighed exhaustedly. “He’s probably outside my house right now.”
“From these texts, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s knocking on your front door as we speak with his dick already out,” Wyatt said.
The car slowed to a stop and pulled to the side of the road. We had just crossed the Kendry Bridge. Roe just sat there for a second, staring at the steering wheel.
“You all right there, Roe?” Wyatt asked.
Roe put the car in park and turned to look at me in the back seat. “Spend the night at our place tonight.”
Wyatt’s brows rose for only a second before he quickly recovered and nodded. “I think that’s a good idea. You don’t want to go home and deal with this drunk piece of shit.”
I looked from Wyatt back to Roe. His expression was so serious as he waited for my response.
I was drunk. So giving in to my wants didn’t take as much convincing as it normally would. “Okay.”
Roe faced forward, put the car back in drive, and turned it around. We went back across the Kendry Bridge and headed for Roe and Wyatt’s house.
“My dad is still at the bar. He won’t be home for a few more hours and will sleep for most of the day tomorrow. He won’t even know that you’re here,” Roe explained as he pulled into his driveway.
As soon as we got inside, Wyatt asked Roe, “I’m guessing she’s sleeping in your room?”