Flock (The Ravenhood)

“Let’s get you a beer,” Layla says glancing over at Sean. “I’m taking her for a minute. Girl talk.” Sean only nods, his eyes still fixed on me, his tongue tracing the ring on his lip.

She pushes past the wall of men and pulls me into her side as she walks toward the guy manning the keg. He pours us each a beer. And Layla remains quiet as I survey the crowd of at least twenty guys. “What’s going on tonight?”

“Waiting on Dom, as usual. He takes his fucking time, on no one’s schedule.”

“Are we late for something?”

“Not really, a meetup.” She looks me over. “You look good, girl.”

I tear my eyes away from Sean, who’s now talking animatedly amongst his circle, and study Layla. Her dress coordinates with mine. She’s in jeans and a tee that shows her toned midriff. Her blonde hair is sleeked back in a high ponytail. “Thanks. So do you.”

“Couldn’t miss that exchange if I was blind. So, Sean, huh?” She gives me a knowing grin.

And Dom. I hide my flinch at the knee-jerk thought, and she reads my posture.

She draws her brows. “Undecided then?”

I take a sip of my beer. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“Do they…am I?” I shake my head, frustrated. These are clingy chick questions.

“They?” She reads my face, my posture. “Ah, oh, okay, I got you,” she says through a laugh.

I just told my secret, in a look, with a single stuttered sentence. A part of me is relieved, the other is horrified I spilled it so easily. I’m not good at this, not at all.

In truth, I’m relieved. I’ve been bursting at the seams for a little female perspective, other than my own.

Layla isn’t close to me, so this is as good as it can get. She taps the bottom of my cup, encouraging me to drink. I take a hearty sip and exhale.

“Okay, first of all, don’t freak out, I’m no saint. Not by a long shot. Second, I’m the vault. Whatever, and I mean whatever, you tell me will never, ever reach anyone else. That’s code. But let’s get some distance to make sure I’m the only one who hears it.” She walks me over to the abandoned side of the garage, where everyone is out of earshot.

I’m still unsure of what questions I truly want to ask. She helps me by speaking up. “Sean is an open book in a sense. He’s going to be honest with you, about everything he can, even if it hurts. And you won’t have to do too much to try to read into him. Dom, well, he’s a different story. He’s both bark and bite and trust me—you don’t want to be on the receiving end of either one. But he’s got heart, and we’ve all glimpsed it at least once, but rarely twice. He’s literally the male version of Fort Knox, a born loner.”

I sip my beer and she tilts her head. “What do you really want to ask me?”

“Am I just another…” one. Just another one. But I can’t bring myself to say it.

“That I can’t tell you, but from what I’ve seen, the house has been quiet lately.”

“Quiet?”

“Dom has been quiet and so has the traffic in his bedroom.” She grins at me. “It started right after the party.”

Faithful. She means faithful. To me? Before he even had an idea if there was an us? Does it matter?

The tug in my chest tells me it does.

“Try not to dwell on it, but look,” she pulls me over to the edge of the garage and scans the gathering. “How many women do you see?”

I examine the crowd, silently counting. Four, five, and the two of us amongst the twenty or so.

“There’s a reason you’re here.” The serious lilt in her tone has me searching her face, though I can’t see much due to where we’re standing. “And there’s a time and a place for fraternization and it’s definitely not on meetup nights.”

“Meetup nights?”

“You’ll see. But do yourself a favor and keep your wits about you, even though it will be hard. Especially with those two distractions.”