Page 89 of Flock
“A party.”
Annoyed, I glance around and look for a sign of either Sean or Dominic and come up empty. The longer I look around, the fewer faces I recognize. My garage guys are also nowhere in sight.
She sees my panic and does her best to study me. “You have nothing to be afraid of. This is just a meetup. It happens once or twice a month.”
“Like Masons?”
She nods sharply. “Sure. Like a club.”
“But you can’t tell me about the club? Like rule number one of Fight Club?”
“What’s that?”
“A movie,” I run my hands through my hair in frustration. “Never mind. So this is a club?”
“Sure, and I guess you could say this is the club-
house.”
“So that necklace . . .”
“Means I belong to someone or am with someone in the club.” She grimaces. “Right now, it’s my brother.”
“So, who is the leader?”
“There’s no leader at a party.”
“I thought this was a club?” I counter.
“A club party.”
More evasion, another thousand questions popping up that I have no doubt will go unanswered.
“This is so weird,” I mutter as an outburst of laughter sounds behind us.
“I thought so too, at first.”
“And now?”
She shrugs, pulling a joint from thin air and lighting it. “It’s a way of life.” She exhales a plume of smoke and offers it to me.
“No thanks.”
“Sure? It’s going to be a long night.”
“Yeah.”
I need to keep my wits about me. What in the hell am I doing here? The question spins in my head constantly as I survey the party. Alicia walks with me as we talk in circles and I get nowhere with answers until commotion breaks out on the other side of the fire. We both strain to search for the reason around the volcanic flames. A second later, we hear the roll of engines.
“Shit, this should be interesting. Come on,” she grabs my arm and I allow her to drag me to the other side of the circle to see Dominic’s Camaro roar to life along with two other waiting cars. “One of them belongs to one of the Miami crew, the other is Tallahassee’s ride,” she continues on.
Sean appears at Dominic’s side and they exchange words. Dom gets a clap on the back from Sean before he steps away and starts his own car.
“Where are they going?”
“To play tag.”
“Like a race? On these roads?” I turn to see Sean searching the party for me behind the wheel before his eyes land on the two of us. I hear the stutter of Alicia’s breath as he looks from me to her, and I know she’s got it bad. The smile he casts in our direction lights me up, and I know I do too. And I’m not sharing him.
