Page 70 of Through The Woods

I applied sunscreen to my arms and chest before giving myself one last glance in the mirror. It was amazing what a good dress and a little red lipstick could do.

I heard the rumble of bikes pulling up as I got to the top of the stairs and I was only slightly disappointed that there wasn’t a handsome biker with dark hair waiting for me at the bottom. However, this wasn’t Titanic and I wasn’t a woman of high-class.

With a deep breath for courage, I opened the front door and stepped out into the sunlight.

Rooster was talking to a man from one of the other clubs, but stopped and stared when he saw me. I gave a shy wave and he held his hand up, frozen.

The other guy was still talking as if nothing was amiss when I walked up. “Hey, Rooster.”

His eyes pinballed up and down my dress more than once. “Holy fucking hell, Neve. Has anyone else seen you?”

I shook my head. “Is this not okay?”

He excused himself from his conversation and latched onto my arm, pulling me through throngs of people. The biker left behind stared longingly at me and I looked away, suddenly uncomfortable.

Charm was behind the smoker, a beer in hand.

“Charm. Did you want Neve to be somewhere special?”

He didn’t look at us. “Uh, no. Just tell her to stick with our guys.”

“Why don’t you tell her yourself,” I suggested playfully and he turned around, nearly dropping his beer when saw me.

Rooster chuckled. “I thought you’d wanna see.”

I smoothed the front of the skirt with my hands and waited for him to say something, while Rooster went to grab another beer, leaving the two of us alone by the smoker. If we hadn’t been surrounded by dozens of other people, it might’ve even been considered romantic.

“Jesus, honey. You look fuckin’ amazing.” He kept staring and I began babbling away to cover up the awkwardness.

“Did you see I have skulls right here?” I gestured toward the bust. “Just like you guys.”

He swallowed and nodded. “I—uh—I did see that.”

“They’re actually considered the center of individuality and archaeologists have found skulls dating back thousands of years ago, some even predate writing systems. This means that we don’t even know why they had them on display.”

Charm nodded again, the corner of his lip turning up into a slight smirk. “You’re doing it again, Neve.”

“Doing what?”

He chuckled. “Spouting off inane facts because you’re uncomfortable.”

Luckily, PD walked up before I had to explain myself. He actually did a double take when he saw me. “Holy shit, Neve. You look sexy as fuck.”

Charm growled. “Somethin’ you need, PD?”

He frowned and took a step back. “Yeah, actually. I need Neve—we’ve got a little situation.”

I looked around. “Where’s Doc?”

PD kicked at some loose gravel with his boot. “Well, the situation is Doc. Guy’s been drinking since last night and he is beyond fucked up. Said Neve owed him.”

I groaned. “Where is he?”

I was hoping to enjoy the party for a little while before having to take care of anyone.

“We got him up in his room, for now.”

Charm gave PD a look and he added, “I’ll take you up to him.”

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