We reached the bottom of the stairs, and the women, who’d already done the ‘oooh’ thing when the lights switched themselves on, were already wandering around the room, checking out the bar and the various forms of entertainment.
“You need to see what’s behind that door,” Ice was saying to the others, while Nate groaned and shook his head.
“Come on, man. We’re family,” one guy said, a creepy kind of guy with a shaved head and a tattoo of a skull on it. A back to front skull, so really unnerving. It was like having eyes in the back of his head, only eye sockets instead.
“Don’t worry about him, he’s mine and he’s a pussycat.”
“Who are you calling a pussy anything, baby?”
There were too many of them. None of these men were small or diminutive, and I was starting to feel a little penned in with so many people here, even though the downstairs was huge. It wasn’t quite the size of the full house, but that was because of that metal door Ice was tapping his fingers on.
“Can we not? It’s not exactly a fucking sideshow!”
“Come on, Henley. We’re brothers. I wanna see.”
“Wait until Grease knows about this. You’ll have to watch him, or he’ll be fondling them like extra dicks.”
Oh god.
A hand folded around my elbow and tugged me away from the men, and onto the sofa, beside a dark haired woman who had curled up in the corner and hugged a cushion.
“Sit with Caroline, you two can hide together.”
“Tori, that’s kinda rude.”
I tried tuning out the noise and all the people and that’s when I realised the girl beside me was trying to speak to me. And it wasn’t a cushion she held, but an adorable puppy. The little sweetheart squirmed in her arms, flicking her tongue at my fingers when I reached them toward her.
“Sorry. It’s so loud in here. This is Nixie, by the way.” I tickled the pup’s ear as she introduced her to me.
“SHUT IT, you lot!” The noise in the room lowered a little at the shout from the woman standing with the one called Tori.
“That’s my cousin, V. She’s so confident,” the girl beside me said, and from the low volume of her voice, I found myself settling with a kindred spirit. Once upon a time I’d have been the loud one shushing them like that, but now I was the one hiding from the noise.
“I’m Caroline,” she said next, and I forced myself to focus on her, and not the rumble of multiple voices arguing by the metal door, or the women popping open bottles of wine and laughing together.
“I’m Glor… Gloria.” I groaned. “No, fuck that. I’m Glory. I will… I will be.”
I must have sounded like a headcase, but she just smiled.
“You will be. You are. You’re Glory.”
“Ah, but is she also Ben?”
Another woman sat beside us, and at our blank looks, she groaned. “Not Buffy fans? Never mind.”
She rolled her eyes, and we both smiled. I actually was, but I’d been surprised by anyone making that reference.
“Is everyone here really stoned?” I replied, and the woman started giggling.
“I’m Elise, and thank god you got that reference. I figured I’d just made a real bellend of myself.”
The other women sat down with us, and wine was passed around, but once I had mine in my hand all eyes were on me, and I felt trapped and overwhelmed by the attention.
Caroline leaned forward, pointing to each woman in turn, while the pup tried to squirm out of her lap once more.
“So yeah, like I said, that’s V, my cousin, and she’s with Rocket. That’s Grace, she’s with Torch. Elise is with Has-Been. Tori is with Ryder. Oh, and I’m with Harley. I think you know Lissa already, and Ice.”
Oh god. They knew.
