“And then she totally licked his balls under the bleachers,” Lindsey said, finishing up a story about a girl we went to high school with.
“Did anyone see?”
“Nah. But it definitely happened.”
I stifled a yawn and glanced at my watch. It was almost midnight, which surprised me. The hours flew by imperceptibly.
“I’m getting a little tired.”
“Tired? The night’s still young!”
“I know, but that doesn’t change anything.”
She pouted. “Come on, just another hour. Then we’ll go.”
“I don’t know. Are you okay to drive?” She didn’t answer. Her gaze was suddenly drawn to something over my shoulder, and her face shifted slightly, a big smile creeping across her face. “Linds?”
“You said you wanted to meet my boyfriend?” she asked.
“Boyfriend? You didn’t say boyfriend.”
She gave me a look. “Want to meet him or not?”
“Yeah, absolutely.”
“Okay, good, because he’s coming over.”
I turned just as three guys came striding out of the party toward us. They were the same older-looking kind of guys I had been noticing all night, but they looked even more intense. The two guys walking slightly back were almost nondescript with their brown hair and brown eyes, and they looked almost bored.
But the guy up front was scary. He had tattoos all over his thick, muscular neck. In fact, he looked like one giant ball of muscles, and his intense brown eyes were taking in me and Lindsey like he was hungry for us.
“Hey, Jay,” Linds said, walking over to him.
“Lindsey,” he grunted.
I watched as he grabbed her by her waist. She giggled as he pulled her against him and crushed her mouth with his, kissing her deep and hard.
They broke away after a second. The two guys that had followed wandered a few feet off, apparently watching the beer pong game. Everyone around us was a little quieter, a little calmer.
“Jay, this is my friend Becca.” Lindsey nodded at me.
“Nice to meet you,” he said, his accent a thick French Canadian mess.
“Hi, Jay. Good to meet you.”
He smiled and held out his hand. We shook, and his grip was strong in mine. I pulled my hand back quickly, a strange fear mounting in my gut.
Lindsey hung on his arm and smiled stupidly. “I’ve known Becca forever.”
“Is that right?”
“Sure. Her brother is Climber.”
Jay paused after she said that and then looked back at me, his smile much larger.
“You are Climber’s sister? I have heard a lot about this Climber.”
I nodded. “Reid is pretty popular, I guess.”
“You guess? You must know how popular Climber is. Everyone loves Climber.” He leaned back and laughed.
I felt profoundly uncomfortable. Lindsey was looking at Jay like she was a love-struck puppy dog, but there was definitely something sinister beneath his exterior. Everything about him screamed bad news, from the tattoos down to the way he held himself. There was just something off about his look and the way he smiled, almost as if he did it just to fit in, not because he felt anything.
“Do you know where this brother of yours is?” he said to me.
“Uh, he’s not here.”
He gave me a look. “Are you sure about that?”
Before I could respond, someone appeared at my side. I looked up and my mouth dropped open as I saw Reid standing there, staring down Jay like an angry bull.
“Reid, what the hell are you doing here?” I said, surprised.
“Jay,” he said, ignoring me. “What are you doing?”
“Just meeting your lovely sister.”
“You two know each other?” I asked.
Jay grinned at me. “Only just.”
“We should get going, Becca,” Reid said, looking at me.
I blinked, surprised by his intense expression. I knew something was strange about what was going on, but the way he looked at me suggested it was much worse than I realized.
“Um, I’m not sure.” I looked at Lindsey. “Are you ready to get going?”
Jay laughed. “She is fine here. Yes, Lindsey?”
“Sure. I’m fine, Becca.”
Jay slapped her ass and laughed loudly. Lindsey just smiled at him stupidly.
“Oh, okay.”
“Come on, Becca.” Reid grabbed my arm.
“Sure you must go, Climber? We can have one drink?”
“Another time.” He started pulling me toward the car.
“Ow, relax your grip,” I hissed at him.
“See you around, Climber,” Jay said.
Reid led me quickly away from the group and back toward the cars. “What the hell was that?” I asked him.
Once we were safely away, he relaxed his grip but didn’t let me go. “That guy is really bad news.”