The security guard climbs back into his cart. He gives me a look. “The next t
ime your cat goes missing, call me. There’s no need to put yourself in an uncomfortable situation.”
I open my mouth to speak, but Reyn’s hand tugs at the back of my sweater. It doesn’t matter anyway. Jerry’s already zipping down the road away from us, off to terrorize someone else.
I face Reyn. “God, he’s such a—”
“Douchebag. I know.” He takes a deep breath. He still won’t meet my eyes. “Well, I need to change, and you have a party to get back to.”
I nod but grab his arm and say, “You know that’s not true, right? I don’t feel uncomfortable with you. I never have, even that ni—”
“I know,” he says sharply, not letting me say it all the way. Quieter, he adds, “I know you don’t, V. Thanks.” He walks away and I stand there watching, not knowing what to say.
Disappointed, I walk toward my own house, stopping to pick up Firefly on the way. He’s pissed about all the people being inside, getting in his space. I carry him into the kitchen and drop him in the laundry room, shutting the door behind him. When I turn, Emory is waiting for me.
I freeze. Shit. Did he see what happened outside? Does he know I’ve been missing? Once again, I run my hands over my hair and tug at my sweater. He gives me a weird look.
“Where were you?”
“Oh, I uh,” I give an ambiguous wave toward the window. “I was just outside with Firefly.”
His mouth forms a line. “I’ve been looking for Reyn. Have you seen him?”
I decide to tell some of the truth, admitting, “Jerry was giving him a hard time out front.”
“What?” His eyes widen and he starts toward the door. “That fucking prick.”
I grab him. “No, it’s fine. I vouched for him and Jerry let it go.”
“You did?”
“Sure,” I say, my stomach twisting anxiously. “Isn’t that what you do for another Devil?”
“Yeah, actually, it is.” His expression smoothes. “I’m not saying Reyn never did anything wrong, but it’s hard for him, you know? He just has this need to take things that aren’t his.”
I fight a smile. “Yeah, I do know.”
“Well, I needed to talk to you, too. I just found out Sebastian is in a fight tonight. Seems semi-organized. Some dick from Northridge is starting a bunch of shit with the Preston crowd, so I thought maybe we could go as a group. Watch that kid get his ass handed to him.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “Go to an illegal fight?”
He shrugs. “It’s not like any of us have clean hands these days. I know it’s not something you’d normally do, so you don’t have to. I just thought it’d be cool for all of us to have his back.”
“It is,” I say. “I think it’s a cool idea.”
“Awesome.” He gives me a grin. This is new for us, doing things together—as equals, not just Emory looking out for me. “Let me go find Reyn and tell him.” He jerks his thumb toward the main room. “You go figure out how to ditch Sydney, because this shit is for Devils only.”
I nod, and watch my brother head out the side door. There’s a swell in my chest at the words, Devils only, a foreign feeling of finally belonging somewhere, with other people. I glance at my friend across the room. It sucks I have to cut her out of this. She’d absolutely flip over it. But there have been too many times she’s left me out, and like Emory said, this is for Devils only.
And I, like the tattoo on my leg says, am a Devil.
“How did you find out about this?” Afton asks when we meet up in the dark, gravel parking lot on the other side of town. She’s wearing jeans with a wide leg and a tank with lots of straps. She looks like a bad ass. I check out the other girls—they’re also dressed appropriately for the night. Jeans. Boots. Sexy tops. They all look like fashion models.
I glance down at my sweater and skirt—different from the one earlier today, but just as prim and proper—and immediately feel out of place. See? This is why I need Sydney. She wouldn’t have let me go to an underground fight looking like a massive dork.
“I keep up with Heston,” Emory says, tugging on his jacket. He stretches his arm over Aubrey’s shoulder and pulls her close. “He told me he’d be here tonight, and since it was actually planned ahead of time, that I should come.”
“What about the rest of us?” Carlton asks. “Is it going to be a problem for a whole contingent from Preston to show up?”