A horn honking had me turning to see what was going on, only to find a town car mere feet away. The back window rolled down, and Lyla stuck her head out. “Let’s go, sexy!”
Frowning, I walked over to the car and slid in beside her. “What’s going on?” I asked as I finished securing my hair with a scrunchie.
“Underground fight tonight.” She scanned her eyes over me, shaking her head. “Maybe I should have brought you a change of clothes.”
“There’s no time to change?” I glanced down at the shorts that barely covered my ass. At least my sweatshirt covered my middle, but I felt exposed. I’d seen other people wearing less than what I had on at the Underground earlier in the week, but I wasn’t a fan of showing off this much skin.
“Nope. This one’s a little farther out of the way than the one Tuesday. As it is, we’re already going to be late.” She gave me one more appraisal and shrugged. “It’s fine. I’ll take care of it. Barrick won’t lose his mind…I hope.” The last part was muttered half under her breath.
Laughing, I shook my head. Figuring I needed to check in with my mom before I went into the Underground, I texted her the entire ride, which lasted over half an hour. Momma was still in Seattle, and she was royally pissed about it because she was missing my brother’s second day of filming as a guest judge on some music show.
As much as she worked, Momma rarely ever had missed important events in our lives. I pitied whoever was causing her to miss out on this with Jagger. No doubt she was making them wish they’d never been born.
The driver pulled up in front of a warehouse similar to the one from Tuesday night, but this one was a little bigger from the looks of it. Definitely a lot more people, that was for sure.
I wasn’t surprised when someone opened the door for us, but I was surprised to see it was Braxton. I took his hand as he assisted me out, and his dark eyes, so much like his cousin’s, scanned me from head to toe.
“Yeah, you’re right. He’s going to lose his damn mind.” Shaking his head, he glared at Lyla. “Why didn’t you think of this before you brought her?”
“Um, because I didn’t think, period. She normally wears these cute little ballet things.” She waved a hand at my bare legs. “I wasn’t expecting a sexy vixen when I picked her up.”
“What’s the big deal?” I demanded. “I have more clothes on than half the other chicks here. Yes, I feel a little exposed, but it’s fine.”
Braxton clenched his jaw. “We have to get you some jeans or a skirt, something. Barrick will kill someone.”
That only had me laughing again. “It’s none of Barrick’s business if I show up here naked. Which I’m not. I have on clothes, damn it.”
“Howler probably has some sweats in his bag,” Lyla suggested.
“His left leg is bigger than her. They would fall off her even if we tied them in knots.” Braxton blew out a frustrated breath and glanced around. “You! Come here.”
I was so used to him being laid-back and all smiles, the command in his tone made me jump slightly. But a girl in the group behind us melted away from her friends and walked over to us with a dreamy look on her face. Dressed in skinny jeans and a long, baby-doll style top, she looked cute in her outfit but not sexy.
/> “Hi, Braxton,” she purred as she wrapped her arms around one of his and clung to him.
“You got panties on under there?” he demanded, and the girl actually started panting.
“Yeah, baby. Why? You want to see them?”
I wanted to roll my eyes and make a gagging sound, but Braxton only shook her off his arm. “I need your jeans.” Pulling out his wallet, he produced two hundred-dollar bills. “Now.”
My eyes widened. Her jeans weren’t even worth a quarter of that by the looks of them. “What are you doing?” I hissed at him. “You can’t buy some chick’s jeans for me. That’s ridiculous.”
“Barrick will pay me back,” he excused, waving the money in the girl’s face. “We got a deal or not?”
“Um…” She glanced between Braxton and me, then straight at Lyla, who took a menacing step toward her when she didn’t answer quickly enough. “Deal,” she squeaked, snatching the money out of his hand and then kicking off her shoes long enough to take her jeans off right there.
I cringed as she got catcalls and whistles from guys standing close by. I moved to shield her, giving her some privacy, but she actually seemed to eat up the attention.
Shoving the jeans in my direction, she folded her money and tucked it into her shirt before bouncing back to her friends.
“Hurry and put them on,” Lyla ordered. “We need to get you covered. Now.”
Sighing, I toed off my street shoes and then pulled on the jeans. They were a size too big, but they would do. My two friends seemed to breathe a little easier as soon as I started zipping them up.
Bending, I pulled my Converse back on, and when I straightened, I glared at them. “Happy?”
“Immensely,” Braxton said with a nod. “Now, let’s go. The fight is about to start.”