Page 100 of Lost Lyrebird

She nods at him.“Double dog dare you, baby.”

He smirks and shakes his head.He grabs a couple of shot glasses and pours shots for everyone.Then Hodge holds up his shot, and we do the same.“To new hot-as-fuck friends who know how to keep a secret.May you never have enough of them.”

We all repeat the mantra and clink our glasses together before throwing them back.

“Jesus.”Hodge wipes the back of his hand across his mouth.

“Motherfucker,” Bodie groans.“What the fuck did I just drink?”

Which is pretty much how the next hour goes as we tell stories and banter with one another.One story brings to mind another, and all too soon, my own inner red flags start waving.Because not only have I drank way too fucking much, laughed to the point my sides hurt, but I begin to spill details about myself.Like how I got started dancing—as a small child in all the many pageants my mother entered me into.Where I’m originally from—Georgia.And that I have only been back once since I was a teen, which tells them a whole fucking lot about my early life.

Somewhere in the middle of it all, I have a moment where I take stock of the people, the feeling of kinship, and the fact that I have a genuine smile on my face.At some point, I dropped the act without even realizing it.I’ve been participating in the conversations around me with natural enjoyment and interest in their lives.I stopped playing a role and have completely stepped out of character.Sure, my head plays tennis as I watch these people bicker and joke around, which eventually makes me a little dizzy, but I also kind of love it.

Like a stamp on that statement, Bethany grabs the nozzle connected to the soda and aims it at her husband.“Keep tellin’ the bar about our sex life and you’ll be wet the rest of the night, and not in a good way.”

He holds up his hands and walks away to help more customers while smiling like a fiend.

A throat clears behind me.I nearly slip from my stool when I look back to see a whole lot of muscle packed into a tight navy shirt.Looking up, I read the rank patch on his cut and then peer into light blue-gray eyes, which are so sharp they could cut glass.

He’s not looking at me, though.He’s looking straight ahead.

Bethany turns back to us.Her face pales, and she slowly lowers the nozzle from view.

Dozer clears his throat.“Didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Bethany visibly swallows, and she grabs a hand towel on the counter.Her fingers clench around it.“What can I get you?”

“Another round of beers for everyone.”

“Sure.”

An uncomfortable silence settles around our little group as Bethany walks away to grab the beers and pop the tops off.It sticks for a few long seconds after she hands them off to Dozer, and he leaves.Hodge watches the interaction.A scowl quickly replaces his joyful expression.His gaze swings from his wife to his HOC brother and back again.Bethany shakes her head and grants us a fake smile.

“What just happened?”Because you know, my filter has vanished at this point.

There’s complete silence until Raven muffles a cough and says, “Bulldozed.”

“Yep, pretty much,” is Bethany’s reply.

The jovial mood sobers, but there’s still plenty of good conversation, and I learn a little about the people I’ll be spending the next few months of my life getting to know better.

I’m half-perched on my stool, waiting for Dozer to take his shot, when I spy the last woman I expected to see tonight sitting at the bar.The sight stirs my blood, and has my thoughts spill out of my mouth.“What’s she doing here?”

“Who?”Bodie asks, and his gaze follows mine when I lift my chin toward the bar.

Meanwhile, I’m eyeing Lily’s ass in those jeans, and the tattooed wings covering her back, revealed by her top.She’s sitting next to Raven, and the two are chatting up Bethany.

It suddenly makes sense why the men around this side of the room started migrating one by one toward the bar, because Bethany, Raven, and Lily together make quite a sight, like damn Charlie’s Angels.

“God almighty!Would you look at that!”Bodie jumps off his chair.“I need another drink.You comin’?”

I give him an annoyed stare.He shrugs it off and makes his way through the bar.Halfway to his goal, he’s waylaid by a busty brunette.He doesn’t miss a beat and pulls her into him.As if he knows we’re watching, he turns to us, and smiles cockily.When he eventually breaks away, he hollers, “Wish me luck!”

“With any other group of women, he’d be golden.But those three…” Cap, our president, shakes his head.“Got a twenty that says they’ll eat him alive.”

“I’ll bet you a hundi that he doesn’t walk away alone,” says Kendra, Septic’s loca little old lady.She’s sitting on my other side, and has been watching her old man kick all of our asses at pool the entire night.

Catching on to her words, everyone in our group cranes their necks to watch the spectacle play out.