Page 34 of Fastlander Fealty

“It’s okay,” Silver said, not wanting to cause any more tension in the Crew. “It is on me. I popped at Captain and caused the fight, and the snowball effect after that is what it is.” Silver felt like the dirt on the bottom of a shoe right now as she shoved a handful of cheese crackers into her maw and chewed. “If it makes you feel any better, I have this effect on my Pride too.”

“That actually does make me feel better,” Gunner said from off to the side where he stood beside where Hallie was sitting. He was rubbing the scruff on his jaw and staring at Silver with an unsettling glare.

Gah, she felt awful. Silver dumped out the contents of the grocery bag, half-surprised at what she’d brought out here. She’d been panicking and just scooped what she could. “I have squeeze cheese,” she said pitifully, holding it up for anyone who wanted it.

No one took it, and it was so quiet in the clearing, so she sighed and popped the top, then squeezed a big dollop into her mouth and swallowed it down. And yep, the tears were genuine. They trailed down her face.

“Are you crying?” Captain asked.

“Fuck you, man,” Owen growled at him.

“I’m sorry,” she said, wiping her eyes. “It’s just I’m butt-naked in front of a Crew of monsters who are also strangers, and I almost got all of us killed and one of you can travel through space, and I don’t feel good, and I think I have burns, and my lungs hurt from all the water in them, and I’m confused because I’m supposed to be here gathering intel, but now I just feel really horrible that I ruined a fun river day. And that’s all. That’s my story.” She swallowed hard and wiped her leaking eyes again. “The end.”

There was a three-count of silence, and then Owen said, “I think you are really pretty when you’re naked.”

“Oh my gosh,” Corey muttered, and slapped him upside the head as she passed.

“What?” Owen demanded. “It was a compliment! Girls like compliments.”

“I do like compliments,” she uttered, swallowing down a sob.

“Come on, Traitor,” Corey said from where she was climbing the stairs of the porch.

“Me?” Silver asked, confused.

Corey pulled a face at her. “Do you see anyone else who is a traitor here? Yes, you. Captain, eyes to yourself. She’s not comfortable naked. She just said that. Piss off.”

“Come on,” Hallie said gently as she knelt beside her and helped her up. “Let’s go clean up. I am also not used to being naked around a Change. The boys are desensitized, but it’s a bigger deal for us.” And bless Hallie, she flipped Captain the bird as they made their way past him toward the house.

Once inside, all three of them stopped in the living room and looked at each other.

It was too quiet, so Silver broke the silence. “That was a disaster.”

Hallie pursed her lips against a smile and hung her head, hooked her hands on her bare hips. “We’re definitely going to be on the news tonight.”

“Oh no,” Silver murmured. That complicated things. Rook would see that mess. That seemed scarier than potentially appearing in all of her post-Change nudity on television.

“Screw it,” Corey muttered as she turned for the bedroom. “They’ll probably blur out our bodies.”

“How did Ace do that?” Silver asked as she followed them to the bedroom. “That was amazing, but I never want to do that again.”

“That’s a party foul question, Traitor,” Corey reminded her.

“Right. There’s extra clothes in the drawers if you all want to borrow some.”

Corey was already rifling through there, and Hallie was examining a cut across her cheek in the full-length mirror. “Damon is going to be pissed when he hears about this.”

“Will you be in trouble?” Silver asked.

“No, I mean pissed at Wreck,” Hallie said, catching a dress that Corey tossed her.

Knowing that would be another party-foul question, Silver just nodded and kept quiet.

“Hey, bright side, you look like you got cooked at a barbecue, and you just cried and also shot-gunned liquid cheese in front of Owen, and he still complimented you,” Corey said. “Pretty sure he likes you, if you’re into it.”

Silver belted out a single laugh, and was shocked by the sound. She was still getting used to it. The vision of her crying and chugging squeeze cheese in front of the man she had a crush on gave her another layer of mortification that she could do nothing with but laugh at.

“I am the belle of the ball,” she uttered.

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