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Reindeer were not the Einsteins of the animal kingdom. They were no longer invited.
Around eight, the kids would be sent away. Neighborhood kids went home with a parent or some other trusted person and a couple of the patches would pile all the club kids into their trucks or the club van and ferry them to whichever patch’s house they were spending the night at.
And then the bacchanal would start.
Unless there was a compelling reason to stay—like a good convo with other club kids, or really good tea getting spilled in the throne room—Kelsey usually liked to scoot from any party once things started to get wild, before she had to see her aunts and uncles in ways she’d rather not have in her memory bank.
On this particular Christmas Eve, she was staying because Dex hadn’t shown up yet.
Since the other night, when she’d gone to his house and fixed what her father had done to his face, she’d felt raw and sore. Both mad and frustrated. She’d told him straight out that she liked him, and he’d never once said that he didn’t like her—in fact, he’d acted a lot like he did! Instead he did that infuriating thing about not being good enough for her. She hated that so much. When she’d called him on it, he’d brought up Greg, like being stupid about one guy meant she was stupid about them all.
Which … yeah. Not like she hadn’t had the thought herself.
But that didn’t mean Dex could make the call about whatshewanted, whomshetrusted.
Plus, the fact that Dex was a Bull waswhyshe trusted him. For all their violence and dangerous deeds, she knew the men of this club. She knew how they ticked, what they valued, what they tolerated in each other, where their honor was. She knew she had their respect, that they would always, always be there for her. They had proved it.Dexhad proved it.
If he’d simply said, ‘I don’t like you like that,’ she could have dropped it with nothing more than a slight dent in her self-esteem. Instead, he emphatically had said nothing of the sort, and had kissed her like he wanted to absorb her into his body.
It drove her absolutely nuts that he was hiding behind the whole ‘I’m protecting you by staying away from you’ thing. And now she couldn’t stop thinking about him or the situation.
It was stupid, and she hated herself for it, but perhaps a teensy obsession was forming.
Which probably—definitely—meant she should go home right now. At least go back to the throne room and sit with her mom. Instead, she was in the party room with Athena and Sam as things got louder and drunker, scanning the room every few minutes anddyingto ask somebody where he was.
Athena patted her arm. When Kelsey turned, Athena signedWho are you looking for?
Sign language was very convenient when having a conversation in the middle of a crowded, drunken party. Of course, it was harder to keep a secret if you were surrounded by other people who also knew ASL. Most of the Bulls family did.
Sam laughed and signed,My money’s on Dex.
With a curious frown, Athena made the sign that basically meantHuh?
And Sam answered.You didn’t hear? Mav caught—
Kelsey grabbed his arm. “Hey,” she said and signed. “Don’t gossip about me while I’m standing right here!”
“Sorry, K,” Sam said and signed, and managed to look slightly abashed. “But it is Dex you keep looking for, right?”
Athena clapped her hand sharply and signed,I’m out of the loop. Don’t vaguebook!
With Athena and Sam both looking at her like,Well?Kelsey sighed.
“Okay,” she said and signed. Shifting so her back was to everyone but them, she said, “I trust you two to be decent about it, and not blab around, please. I like Dex, but I don’t think anything’s going to happen with it.”
Dex? Our Dex? He’s old.Athena signed.
Kelsey shrugged. “Not to me.” He was maybe ten years older? She didn’t care about that. But Athena and Sam were only nineteen, which made Dex considerably older than them.
He is cute, though, for an old guy. Athena signed.Nice butt.
Sam rolled his eyes. “Okay, gross. He’s not gonna be here, anyway, K. He’s serving at a soup kitchen, my dad said. The one at the VFW, I think.”
“He’s not coming to the Christmas Eve party?” It was mandatory for patches.
Sam shrugged. “I guess not.”
Well, poop.
