“She’s so beautiful,” Scarlet coo’s, cradling Micaela in her arms.
“Thank you,” I smile at Scarlet before Elena steals my attention.
“Are you excited for tonight?”
Not really.
Tillie
“Where are we going?” I ask as Nate drives us onto the main highway.
He smirks, dropping it down into third gear and flooring it forward. “On a run. You’ll see Madison and everyone there.”
“Ah, okay, but why are you taking me?” My fingers clench around the door handle. I can’t think of any reason as to why he would be taking me with him, and it makes me nauseous what with the brief conversation I had with Peyton, and with Nate’s track record.
“Did you have something better to do?” He clips back, and my attention snaps to him instantly. His jaw is slightly taunt and his fingers are flexing around the steering wheel.
“What? No. I’m just wondering why you would bring me with you.”
He doesn’t answer, so I hit the radio and let the music waft between us.
The drive is around twenty minutes, and it’s not long before we’re pulling into a long gravel driveway. Trees shade over the road with fresh cut grass spread behind as a backdrop. I can see a glass octagon shaped house right at the end with fairy lights hanging around the edges, beaming it bright.
“What’s this place?” I ask, leaning forward to get a closer look.
Nate hits the volume down slightly, but the base is still shaking the metal. “This is the meet. Stay close to me and don’t take drinks from anyone.”
“What?” I ask, horrified. “What is this place?”
“It’s called the meet. This is where the night starts and ends.” He pulls to the front of the entryway where a large man stands wearing all black and a clipboard in his hand. “Nate!” I whisper as he climbs out of the car. I grab the handle, opening the door wide. Swiping down my white short-shorts, I chew on my lip, second guessing my clothing. Its casual, but it’s sort of—tight.
Nate looks me up and down, and slowly comes closer to me, backing me up against the car. I can hear people in the background, but I’m so caught up in his eyes that I don’t break the cerebral contact. His hand comes to my upper thigh, squeezing me. “The Artist” by Jay Sean is spilling out loudly from the octagon shaped house thingy. Nate lifts me up by my thighs, his hand coming to my throat. He licks me across my bottom lip and then bites on it roughly. “No wandering off tonight, principissa mea. You know where this belongs.” He grins, his hand coming around to cup my ass as if to accentuate his point. He kisses me before looking back. “At least, while I’m around.”
He puts me back down to my feet, his eyes going over my shoulder, and I turn to follow his line of sight. Madison, Bishop and Brantley are there.
“Where’s everyone else?” I ask, nudging my head.
Brantley grins. “It’s our turn this week.” His eyes fly to Nate. “You’re a greedy bastard. Some shit does change.”
Nate flips him off. “Just with her.”
Brantley returns his bird flip. “Yeah? I’ll remember that next time you have the Raven jumping around on both of our dicks.”
I suck in a breath, hopefully not obviously. Who the fuck is The Raven.
Nate doesn’t seem bothered, and why would he be. I knew who he was when I decided to, as Brantley well put it, bounce around on his dick. I can’t deny the sting though.
Madison grinds her teeth. “Not sure I like her yet.”
“Who?” I ask, annoyed with being out of the loop.
Bishop chuckles, pulling Madison into him. “Chill, baby. She has nothing on you.”
“He’s lying,” Brantley rolls his eyes, walking past us. “She’s by far the hottest chick I’ve ever fucking seen. Isn’t that right, Nate?” I can almost hear Brantley grinning.
And I’m over this shit, but at the same time, I can’t show that it’s affecting me. I just have to stop Nate from being too hands on. Of course he’s been messing around with girls, but what annoys me is that this girl has obviously been a regular, and apparently he’s shared her with Brantley—no surprise there—and she’s nicknamed Raven and—big and—she has Madison pushing on the insecure side. No one, and I mean no one can make Madison insecure. Consider me intrigued.
Madison yanks on my hand. “Let’s get a drink, shall we? Also, ignore Brantley. He hasn’t gone there because—gross—and neither has Nate. They’re fucking with you. This time.” She whispers into my ear. I want to ask her what she means by “gross”, but she is already dragging me forward.
“Yeah.” I look right at Nate as I let Madison drag me toward the glass house. “Good idea.”
His eyes stay on me until I drag them away. No deal, buddy. No way am I letting him run playboy on me.
The big guy waves us through and as soon as we get inside “What’s Happenin!” by Ying Yang Twins is thudding loudly.
“Is this a club?” I lean into Madison.
She shakes her head, dragging me toward a table where around four other guys are seated. A couple are young, really young. I’d have to say around sixteen. Too young to be here. The entire area is circled with tables and small bars, and then you take a few steps down, and—I lean over the railing.
“Holy shit!”
There’s a massive UFC shaped octagon downstairs with a fight happening and people screaming, throwing money around. The rowdy people don’t surprise me. It’s the tables of immaculately dressed men surrounding those people, hidden in the shadows. Smoke drifts up through the air as they all watch the fight in unperturbed ease. One man in the corner with a fedora hat looks up at me and I stop. Immediately looking away.
Madison follows my sight, handing me a bottle of some pre-made drink. I
