by Naomi West
“Oh,” said Carey, her voice small.
“Why?” he asked.
“I think our little, sheltered friend is a little intimidated by the boys you hang out with. And I don’t blame her—who says I want to spend my birthday with your fucking criminal thug friends?”
“Please,” said Liam. “You might hate us for the shit we get up to, but you know there’s no denying that we throw legendary ragers.”
He turned back to Carey, his blue eyes like less brilliant versions of Owen’s. “But seriously, what’s your deal?”
“Just what she said,” explained Carey. “Just not my usual crowd.”
The answer seemed to satisfy Liam.
“You’ll learn to love ’em,” he said before looking around, pulling out a small flask from his jacket, and dumping a little booze into his coffee.
“Ugh, you’re such a damn degenerate,” said Lily, slapping her brother on the arm, the impact of her palm on the leather of his jacket sounding out.
“Anyway,” he said, “I got shit to do. This Saturday, kiddos. Be there or be as square as it gets.”
With that, he snatched his coffee off of the table and headed out.
“What a dork,” said Lily. “Anyway, let’s get one of these apartments picked out already; I need to get out of the house. Like I said, the townhouse is my favorite, but …”
Lily’s voice sounded far away to Carey. She was having trouble processing the news that she’d soon be around Owen again, and at a keg party no less.
The next few days passed quickly, and soon it was the night of the party. Carey and Lily were at their new place, having picked the townhouse sublet to move into for the summer. The two girls were in Lily’s room and trying to decide on just what to wear.
“What about this?” asked Lily from inside the walk-in closet.
She stepped out, revealing an outfit of a crop-top shirt and about the tiniest pair of cut-off shorts that Carey had ever seen.
“Are you serious with this?” asked Carey, her feelings somewhere between feeling scandalized and wanting to burst out into laughter.
“What?” asked Lily, looking over her shoulder in the mirror.
“You have to be kidding,” said Carey, her tone one of disbelief. “You’re going to a biker party dressed like that?”
“It’s not a ‘biker party’,” she said. “It’s my birthday party. And so what if I want to show off a little? I’ve been wearing pretty much nothing but that stupid work uniform all week and I want to dress like a real person for once.”
“You’re dressing like a ‘real person’ who’s about to get a million roofies slipped into her drink.”
“Oh, please,” said Lily. She then turned her eyes to Carey’s outfit. “And that’s what you’re wearing?” she said, pointing a limp finger at Carey’s clothes.
“What?” asked Carey, looking down at her outfit of a long-sleeved dark blue T-shirt and slim-fit blue jeans, finished with a pair of all-black Chuck Taylors.
“You look like you got lost on your way to the book club.”
“I think I’m dressed fine,” she said.
“Of course you think that; you’re the one who picked out your outfit. And can you wear your contacts for just one night? You have such pretty eyes and you’re always hiding them behind those glasses of yours.”
Carey’s hand instinctively reached up to touch her glasses. She felt her face turn a little red; though she liked to hide behind her big glasses, she didn’t like when people pointed them out. They had always been to her like her armor, her way of avoiding attention. But as she thought about it, she didn’t really know if that’s what she wanted tonight. After all, she considered, Owen would be there.
Her stomach flip-flopped at the idea of seeing Owen again. Carey had no idea what she’d say to him, how she’d react to being in his company after their previous time together. Part of her wanted to just skip the whole party altogether, to pretend she was sick or some such excuse and just stay home.
“Okay,” said Lily, “here’s the deal. You put something on that’s a little less ‘middle-aged librarian,’ and I’ll lose the crop-top. Deal?”
“Deal,” said Carey.
She went off to her room and looked at her clothes. Sifting through them, she scoured for the right article of clothing, finding in the process that she had very little in the way of party clothes. She settled on a shirt that was likely the only low-cut thing she wore. Back in Lily’s room, she was greeted with an impressed whistle.
“There we go,” she said. “Show off the girls a little bit.”
Carey glanced in the mirror, feeling a little embarrassed at the idea of showing off cleavage.
“Fine,” Carey said. “But I’m keeping the glasses.”
“Then at least get your damn hair out of your eyes,” Lily said, pulling Carey’s hair back into a ponytail. “There—you look at least a little like a girl who’s interested in guys.” Then Lily turned her eager eyes back to Carey. “Now, let’s do it!”
They caught a cab to Liam’s place, which was a large house just out of town. The place looked like it had seen better days, but was fitting for the sort of guy Liam and his friends who lived there were. The party was already in full swing, and Carey felt her stomach tighten a little as she caught sight of the rows of motorcycles parked out front and the groups of rowdy-looking men and women gathered around them.
“I don’t know about this,” said Carey, looking out of the window of the cab.
“Quit being such a baby,” said Lily, giving Carey a poke. “Maybe you’ll actually find a man tonight? Now that would be an amazing birthday present.”
Moments later the girls were making their way to the front doors of the house. On their way there, they both caught the attention of just about every guy there, each of them looking them both up and down with hungry eyes. Carey scanned the crowds eagerly, hoping and not hoping at the same time to spot Owen. But he wasn’t there.
Lily stepped into the room like the center of attention she was, and her friends from high school all rushed up to greet her. During the introductions, Carey did her best to be friendly while she glanced through the packed interior of the house looking for Owen, the loud rap booming from the speakers nearly drowning out her thoughts.
Before she could spend too much time scouring the scene, Liam rushed up to the two, his blond hair bouncing around his shoulders, a red drink cup in hand, and a big drunken smile on his face.
“There’s the birthday girl!” said Liam, bounding up to his sister like an eager puppy and throwing his arms around her.
“Hey, bro!” she said.
Liam gave Carey a quick but enthusiastic hug before turning his attention back to the crowd. Carey was a little overwhelmed by the crowd; she guessed that there had to be, between the inside, out front, and out back, over a hundred people here, easily.
“All of these people know you, Lily?” asked Carey.
“Like, barely any,” she said. “I have no idea who half of them are.”
“You know how it goes with parties like this,” said Liam. “You tell a few people, and they tell a few people, and then you got the rager to end all ragers.” He glanced down at Lily and Carey’s hands. “And you two don’t even have a drink yet!” he said. “Hold on.”
He stepped away, returning a few moments later with a couple of red drink cups filled with some kind of boozy concoction. Carey took a sip, her eyes going wide instantly when she realized just how much alcohol was in there.
“What is this?” asked Carey, looking down into her drink.
“That’s fun juice right there,” said Liam. “Drink a couple of those and you’re guaranteed to have the night of your fuckin’ life.”
Carey wasn’t sure if that’s exactly what she wanted, but she took a sip anyway, hoping to at least do something about the nervousness taking hold of her.
“Anyway, you kids have fun!” said Liam before heading back into the crowds.
“Fuck,
yeah!” said Lily as the two of them made their way through the party, the men around them lavishing attention on the pair. “I’m ready to get wild; how about you?”
Carey continued to look through the crowds for Owen, hoping to spot that shaved head and those piercing blue eyes. But still, she spotted neither hide nor hair of him.
“Um, should we go out back or something?” she asked, her eyes still on the crowd.
But there was no response. Turning to her left where Lily was, she found that her friend had left her. Looking through the crowds, she spotted Lily in the midst of a dancing group, her drink raised in the air as she let out a long “woo!”
Great, thought Carey, taking a nervous sip of her drink. Now what?
She wandered through the crowd a little more, eventually making her way out back where it was, while still crowded, a little less hectic than inside. A roaring bonfire a little further behind the house cast the nearby crowds in an eerie glow. Carey took a seat on a deck chair and drank another long sip from her red cup. A quick scan of the crowd revealed that Owen wasn’t out here either.
Is he not going to show up tonight? Carey thought, the alcohol already having a muddling effect on her thoughts.
Before she could spend too much time wondering, however, the roar of an arriving group of motorcycles cut through the air. As if by instinct, she shot to her feet and headed back into the house, eager to see who was coming. Standing on her tiptoes and looking out of one of the windows, she saw that the incoming group was around ten bikers, all with women hanging off of them as they pulled their bikes onto the front lawn.
Then, Carey’s heart skipped a beat—one of them was Owen.
He climbed off of his bike with the manly swagger of a hero returning from war. But on the bike with him was a slim redhead with a gorgeous face and cleavage bursting out of her low-cut crop-top. Once Owen was off of the bike, the girl hurried to his side and followed him into the crowd. Then, to Carey’s surprise, most of the other girls, all rowdy biker-chick-types on the other bikes, did the same, leaving the men they’d arrived with to catch up with Owen and form a tight little group around him.
Soon he was gone into the crowd.
Carey was crushed. She felt like there was no way to compete with girls like those. After all, she considered, they were likely the kinds of girls that Owen preferred—wild women covered in tattoos and eager to have a crazy night of partying. Taking another long sip of her drink, she made herself another one before hurrying out back to the same deck chair where she’d been sitting before.
After a time, the crowd that had gathered around Owen made its way out back. Carey watched the scene from afar, noting how everyone there wanted to be around him, man or woman, and wherever he went seemed to be the center of attention. The crowd gathered around the bonfire, and even from where she sat in the distance, Carey could see the brilliant blue of Owen’s eyes.
“You look like you’re having a blast.”
Carey looked behind her and spotted Liam. He plopped down into the seat next to Carey and quickly sized up what she was looking at.
“Man’s got his own fuckin’ fan club wherever he goes,” said Liam, taking a pull from the bottle of whiskey in his hands. “Guess it’s good to be the boss.”
“And all of those girls,” said Carey. “I’m guessing he doesn’t have to worry about variety with his sex life.”
Liam let out a barking laugh.
“You kidding?” he said. “Owen doesn’t give a fuck about any of them. His attention’s on his crew, all the time. I can’t remember the last time I saw him take some girl home for a quick fuck. But that doesn’t stop these chicks from throwing themselves at him non-fucking-stop.”
Carey’s expression turned to one of puzzlement.
“Wait a minute,” she said. “Are you saying that he never sleeps with these girls?”
Liam shrugged. “I mean, he’s had a few girlfriends here and there, but if you think he’s got his own fuckin’ harem that he just picks and chooses from every night, then you’re wrong as shit. Way these parties usual go is that the rest of us dudes in the crew have to wait for the girls to figure out that Owen isn’t into them, then once they get the hint we can finally have our pick, you know?”
Carey struggled to process that information. If what Liam was telling her was true, then that meant that she was completely wrong about Owen. Could it really have been that he saw something in her that caused him to break whatever rules he had about casual sex?
“It’s fuckin’ crazy to me, though,” said Liam, taking another pull. “If I were on top like him, then, well, I’d be on top, you know what I’m saying?”
He let out another bark of a laugh. But almost instantly he seemed to realize who he was talking to.
“Uh, sorry,” he said.
“Don’t worry about it,” said Carey, her mind now occupied by other concerns.
“Anyway, go have some fun,” said Liam, getting up to leave.
Carey didn’t know what to do with herself. Had she really thrown Owen aside by just assuming that he had used her?
What if I was the one to hurt him? she thought, the idea sounding so strange to her that she could hardly believe it.
She glanced back at Owen, who seemed to be deep in thought as he sat surrounded by beautiful women and the rest of his crew. Sitting in front of the fire, he reminded her of some kind of ancient warrior chief, his appearance primal and raw.
Carey considered her options, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized that all she wanted was to be sitting at his side. Getting up, as if not under her own power, she made her way across the lawn towards the fire, her heart beating louder with each step. Soon she was on the outskirts of the crowd gathered around the fire, then making her way through it, then on the inside, to where Owen and his group were gathered.
When his eyes finally locked onto hers, it was like time stopped.
Carey felt small and helpless under the gaze of those crystal-blue orbs, like for a moment she was the center of the universe. She froze in place, not knowing what to do with herself. But after taking a second to get her head right, she moved closer to him. Owen, seeing what was happening, tapped the girl on his right on the shoulder and gave her a gesture to leave. She did without issue, and Carey quickly slid into the open spot on the log where Owen sat.
As soon as she was next to him, she felt the heat of his body, and that same intoxicating scent that she remembered from the day they rode together filled her senses.
“Been a while,” he said, his voice low and his eyes still on the fire.
“Yeah,” said Carey, not knowing what else to say.
They sat like that for a time, the party raging all around them as the fire burned.
“I was thinking I might never see you again,” said Owen.
“Oh?” asked Carey. “Surprised to hear you cared.”
“I’m sure there’s a lot about me that would surprise you.”
Carey wondered just what he meant by that.
Then, Carey’s eyes flicked down at Owen’s hand, and without thinking she slipped her own into it. Owen’s head turned quickly, his eyes locking on hers in an expression of mild surprise.
Instantly, Carey was gripped by fear. She was convinced that she’d done something very, very wrong. But to her surprise and relief, instead of rejecting her like he’d done to all of the others, he closed his large, rough hand around hers and pulled Carey close.
Her heart pounded as they sat like that, and time slipped by as the fire continued to burn. Then, her hand still in his, Owen stood up and made his way through the crowd, Carey in tow. She hurried along behind him, eager to keep up with his long strides. All around her, she watched as the girls who’d been lingering around Owen looked at her with angered, jealous eyes, as if they couldn’t believe that this mousey girl was the object of Owen Flynn’s attention.
If Owen was affected by their stares, he didn’t show it. All he seemed to care about was
leading Carey through the party. Soon, they were on the front lawn, then on the back of Owen’s bike. The engine growled to life, and then they were off. Carey barely had time to wrap her arms around Owen’s body as the bike cut across the lawn and on to the road leading back into town. But as soon her arms were back around him, her head resting on his back, there wasn’t a thought in her mind other than just how happy she was about where she was.
Owen drove the bike back into town, and soon they were back in Fiends’ territory. They arrived at a townhouse, one that seemed not too dissimilar from the one that he’d shown her on their date. This one, however, was more kept up, and the neighborhood around it not nearly as rundown.