“Really? They don’t seem it?” Jax says, staring at me strangely, and I have no idea what he’s thinking.
“It’d be good for her to meet people her own age.”
“You just wanna go flex in front of Lucy,” a guy I remember Torch calling Briar says, joining us.
“Fuck you,” Beast growls, and with his voice hoarse, he sounds what I imagine a bear would sound like when he growls. “I told you to drop it.”
“Drop what?” Jax asks.
“Lucy has the hots for our man, Beast.”
“Christ, you are like an old woman.”
“Isn’t she a little young for you brother?” Jax asks, and I wish I could kick him.
“She’s not too young. Hell, she’s out of high school and more than legal. I think she might be good for our boy,” Briar says. “Might put a smile on his ugly mug again.”
“Not if Sabre and Latch get a hold of him,” Jax says.
“I’d think they’d be glad that Lucy has someone so amazing in her life,” I tell them and Beast’s hand flexes on my forearm as he puts his arm around me.
“Let’s go, ladybug,” he says gruffly.
“Ladybug?” Jax parrots annoyed.
I don’t answer him, I couldn’t anyways, because Beast leads me toward the picnic table where Lucy and her friends are gathered around. I spare a quick glance at Jax, his eyes are appraising me, but he makes no move to stop me from leaving.
The talk immediately stops when he gets close. I have to fight to keep from squirming when I feel all their eyes on me. I don’t like crowds. Especially crowds that I don’t know…and crowds I’m pretty sure I won’t like.
“Lucy, this here is Skull’s niece, Aubree.”
“Oh. Hi, Aubree,” she greets me sounding friendly enough. Her dark hair frames her face in feathered layers. Her green eyes shine with warmth.
“Hey, Lucy. It’s nice to meet you,” I tell her.
“She’s new here, I thought it’d be good for her to meet you and your friends,” Beast explains our interruption.
“You go to school here?” One of Lucy’s friends asks. Her dirty blonde hair hangs in waves over her shoulders.
“I go to London-East,” I tell her, naming one of the three high schools in the area.
“O.M.G.! you’re still in high school?” That comes from one of Lucy’s friends. Lucy blushes, and I start to feel a little better about her, because she’s obviously embarrassed. Maybe she’s not the snob I gave her credit for. “Getting ready to graduate,” I tell her.
“Beast come over here for a minute,” I hear Skull demand, and I immediately want to go with him.
“I’ll be back,” he says, not giving me the chance to tell him not to leave me alone with them. You can really tell his voice is bothering him now, because there’s squeak at the end of his words. You can tell it’s painful. I watch him walk away, wishing I could help him somehow.
“Thank God he’s gone,” one of her friend’s sneers.
“I know, right? Someone really should introduce him to hair conditioner,” another one says.
“Or a good barber,” the last one adds. I look over at Lucy. I expect her to take up for Beast. I don’t know...I mean Briar said she likes him. She should say something. But, she doesn’t, instead she’s laughing.
“Yeah, he’s pretty hideous. You can’t hardly see anything but hair.”
“Girl! I know. You have to wonder if he’s that hairy everywhere.”
“Yikes,” one of the other bitches’ cries, and I’ve about had my fill.
“We better hush. We’ll hurt Lucy’s feelings. Everyone knows she was crushing on Beast hard.”
“Yeah, she was going to be his Belle,” another one adds, sarcasm so thick in her voice it makes me sick.
“Drop it, Kathy,” Lucy says softly.
“What? She’s just telling the truth. You were all gaga over him before we went to France.”
“Yeah, but Lynn have you seen him now? He’s repulsive. A woman would have to be drunk to want to be with him, and then that might not be enough,” Lucy adds on at the end of the conversation. That apparently is when I go past having enough because I reach out and slap her so hard it feels like my hand is on fire.
“Wow, really? That’s how you repay someone who has only been anything but good to you? I happen to think his scars, hell, everything about him is amazing. It shows how deeply he loves,” I snap at her, all of them really.
“Whatever,” another girl says and they all look at each other like I’m insane. Lucy is holding her cheek and looking at me, it’s not anger I see in her eyes, but something else. Still, she doesn’t say anything else which just condemns her further in my eyes.