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The conversation stops as we arrive home. Sure enough, the girls are right, and Miller and Jessica seem to have this coordinated dance they play with Martha who is thrilled to have their attention. They make her sit and put her feet up and pour her a glass of wine while telling her that she is overdue for some spoiling. She just twitters at their attention and gladly accepts it, putting on some asinine reality show while Miller and Jessica take over dinner. I just shake my head and go upstairs. They obviously have a plan, and who am I to interrupt it?
“Oh, Mac, dear,” Martha calls out to me, and I stop on the first step. “Fridays are very casual around here. James has his weekly poker night and won’t be home until late, and the kids tend to take turns cooking, giving me a break.”
“Okay, thanks for letting me know. I’ll just put my stuff upstairs and go see what’s happening in the kitchen.”
Dinner is a noisy but fun affair. Even Jessica puts her hostility away as we all make our own burgers and wait for the fryer to make the fries golden and crispy. We all join Martha in the lounge for a movie afterward. It’s one I’ve seen before about a boy wizard, but it’s fun, and we turn it into a game, saying all the famous lines from it. Jessica and Miller keep filling Martha’s glass with wine, so by the time the movie wraps up, she’s snoring. Sally shakes her awake, and she and Stephanie help her to her room, while Jessica hurries upstairs. We leave the boys to watch the next movie in the series, and Cassie stays with them. Miller stops me before I can enter my room.
“Martha will be out like a light, so when we leave, we can go down the front stairs. James won’t be back until late, but we will have to climb up the tree when we come home. Ry is going to pick us up at the end of the driveway in about half an hour. Make sure you’re ready. We can’t take the bike because Jessica will ask questions.”
“Okay, see you soon,” I tell him. He looks like he’s going to say more, but he snaps his mouth shut and runs up the stairs to the attic without looking backward.
Jessica has on a pair of skinny jeans and a cute top, and she is sitting on her bed, pulling on her shoes, when I walk into the room. She looks up at me and studies me closely before sighing.
“Shit, I’m only telling you this because you look like a pathetic mess. Be careful who you take a drink from or get cornered by. Some of them aren’t very nice, and they don’t like to hear the word no.” With that, she grabs her little bag of makeup and goes out to our shared bathroom, leaving me to get dressed in peace.
Well, maybe Jessica isn’t so bad after all. She didn’t need to say anything. Maybe she’s just trying to fit in, and in this cesspool of a town, I guess being an asshole is what works.
I hurry and get ready, wearing a pair of skinny jeans, a long-sleeved, fitted top, and my faithful combat boots. I pull my long black hair into a ponytail, and when Jessica returns, I take my own turn to put my makeup on. Before long, we’re all walking down the driveway to wait for Ryland. Jessica’s arm is in Millers, and she’s talking excitedly about who’s going to be at the party.
I listen absently, more focused on my first shift at the bar tomorrow night, though I should probably get my head in the game. To my surprise, Bishop came home and told the team about Billy’s offer, but not that it was directed at me. He kept that to himself, substituting some random girl instead. That pretty much sealed his fate. They told him to go along with the plan in case it was a test from Billy, and that it might be another lead for the ring. He has to be getting his drugs from somewhere, and he might help facilitate the kidnappings. We want Billy to trust Bishop. Bishop also said Billy hinted at being able to get easy and free pussy whenever he wanted, and he didn’t have to work for it like you did with high school chicks.
Ryland’s car is waiting for us at the end of the drive, so we hurry up. When we get there, I slide into the back with Jessica, and Miller gets into the front.
“Hey there.” Ry turns around to smile at us. “You ready to have some fun?” He’s looking at me, but it’s Jessica who replies.
“So ready.”
I don’t think Ryland means the kind of fun that Jessica thinks he does.
“Come on, we’re going to be late,” Miller grumbles, back to his surly self. The guy gives me whiplash. I must remember to ask Ryland if he feels the same way.
In the dark, I kind of lose track of where we are, but we pass the school and drive around the oval at the back. There is a parking lot back there, and about a dozen cars sit in the lot. Ryland pulls into a spot, and we get out before he presses the button to lock his expensive car.
“Don’t people realize there’s a party going on?” I ask, surveying all the cars. Miller and Jessica have started walking toward the woods, but Ryland hangs back and walks with me.
He shakes his head. “Mostly yes, but they don’t care. It’s another one of those weird, small, tight-knit community things. The adults pretend they don’t know and never attended such a thing when they were in high school, and the teenagers pretend the adults don’t know and they are being sneaky.”
“So Martha and James know we’re sneaking out?” I ask, and he shakes his head.
“James probably does, but I doubt Martha would be okay with her foster kids going to this kind of party, or at least that’s the impression I get. Martha is a good, church going citizen, and she frowns at lewd and animalistic behavior. There is a circle of women who have typical, judgmental, small-town mentalities.”
We’re quiet as we walk a little farther. I can hear the faint echo of music, the throbbing bass loud in the silence of the woods.
“Hey, can you do me a favor?” Ryland asks. “Michelle and Lucy have their eye on Lathan. He’s freaking out because he’s a nice guy and he hates to let people down. If you could latch onto him, maybe be seen making out with him, then they might leave him alone.”
I stop and raise an eyebrow. “Are you pimping me out?” I ask dryly, and his mouth drops open, and he shakes his head vehemently.
“Fuck no, I just don’t want Lathan to be put in an awkward position and blow the case. I wasn’t suggesting anything.” He sounds stressed, so I decide to let him off the hook.
I chuckle and nudge him with my hip. “I’m just fucking with you. Of course I’ll help Nerdy Sexy. It’s no hardship.”
Ryland glares at me in the low light. Thankfully the moon is bright above us so we can at least see each other and where we’re going on this path. He steps toward me, but Miller’s voice interrupts whatever he was going to say.
“Hurry the fuck up,” he grouches.
“You will keep,” Ryland promises me, and then he grabs my hand, hurrying after the other two.
The party is in full swing when we reach the clearing and the abandoned ranger’s house—not that it looks all that abandoned now. There are party lights strung up on the verandah and lots of seating for everyone. The fire pit in the middle of the clearing is blazing brightly, music is pumping out of some speakers set up on either side of the patio, and there are people everywhere. I recognize some from school, and there are others that are unfamiliar and quite a few who look like they may be college-aged kids.
