Lilly
Lilly and Mindy were on one side of her bed, Lucy and Carrie were on another and Raven and Ryan were on the other. They had separated into teams to play Disney trivial pursuit and Lilly and Mindy were kicking ass. Lilly wasn’t one to tamper with when it came to Disney movies. She’d seen every last one of them and could basically recite them word for word. After an hour of trivia, and losing to Lilly, they finally quit.
“I’m done,” Ryan put her hands up, surrendering.
“Us too,” Carrie agreed.
“Alright, alright. It was fun while it lasted.” Lilly’s smug grin didn’t go unnoticed.
“That’s ‘cause you kicked our ass. No one should know that much about kids’ movies!” Lucy threw her hands up, laughing.
Mindy grinned and nudged Lilly with her elbow. “My best friend had a lot of time on her hands before she met Cass.”
Lilly rolled her eyes, but couldn’t disagree. She didn’t have anything to occupy her time prior to him. A few guy friends here and there, but nothing serious. And she preferred to watch Disney over horror since she lived alone for so long.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Lilly dismissed Mindy’s statement, but smiled at her. Mindy knew how things were for Lilly before Cass. It was crazy to think of a life before him. One that he didn’t exist in. It was such a foreign thought.
“I still can’t believe he bought you a fucking house!” Mindy squealed, admiring the large bedroom.
“Lucky bitch,” Carrie smiled.
“In all fairness, when he asked me to move in with him, I thought he meant move into a house that was already his. I didn’t know he was buying one for us to make a home out of. It is pretty fucking cool, though, isn’t it?”
“It’s beyond that. It’s amazing. I’m so damn happy for you.” Mindy leaned her head on Lilly’s shoulder and Lilly ran her fingers lightly over Mindy’s head.
“Oooh, yeah. Keep doing that,” she leaned more of her weight onto Lilly, relaxing while she played in her hair.
Lilly chuckled at Mindy, but couldn’t stop. Mindy had been through so much and if this one simple gesture was going to comfort her, then dammit she’d play with her hair for the next ten hours. As she was playing in Mindy’s hair, Raven and Ryan were yapping back and forth about the beach trip she missed out on and Carrie and Lucy were talking about Leo and Shorty’s family. Lilly had learned that Leo and Shorty were actually half-brothers, which she thought was cool since they were “brothers” in the club, too.
One of the prospects from Mobile came in, disrupting the vibe in the room and drawing their attention toward the door where he stood. He was in his mid-thirties, heavy set but stocky, with strawberry blond hair and a clean-shaven face.
“Cass is looking for Gater. Which one of you is his ol’ lady?” he asked, his voice soft.
“I am.” Ryan raised her hand like a school girl while wearing a “why the fuck are you asking” look on her face.
“Have you heard from him?” he asked.
She shook her head back and forth. “No, not since we left the house this morning.”
“Damn. Okay, I’ll let Cass know.” He left the room and closed the door behind him.
Everyone looked at Ryan silently because they didn’t want to ask. She grabbed her phone and typed viciously into it before setting it down and looking up at them.
“What?” she asked, looking at each one of them, an eyebrow raised as if to ask why the hell they were staring at her.
“Nothing,” Lucy muttered. A pining grin crossed Carrie’s face as she cleared her throat, gaining her the attention of the room.
“I’ve got something we could do, now that we’re done with that,” Carrie said, lifting her purse from the floor on side of the bed.
She pulled out a small baggie that was filled with a small green nugget of weed and a multicolored pipe. She opened it and the strong aroma hit Lilly like a sucker punch. She hadn’t smoked since they were on the beach in Mississippi, seeing as it wasn’t a regular thing for her, but it sounded pretty damn good.
“Let’s walk outside. The patio is beautiful and it needs to be smoked in, anyway.” Lilly smiled and opened the sliding glass door that led to the pool. Beside the pool was an outside bar underneath an open patio complete with brick arches and a beautiful patio furniture set.
Cushioned chairs and a loveseat were amongst the iron table and chairs that were scattered beneath the patio. Lilly and Mindy piled on the loveseat, while Carrie, Lucy, Ryan and Raven pulled up the cushioned chairs, forming a half circle. Carrie took the first two hits then passed it around, everyone hitting it but Ryan.
“I can’t. I just got a new job and I’m scared they’re going to drug test me.” Ryan passed the pipe to Raven who hit it a few times then passed it.
When it got to Mindy, she took two huge hits and nearly died coughing up her lungs after she blew the second one out. She almost dropped the pipe, which Lilly somehow managed to catch. Lilly took a few hits and gave it back to Carrie.
“Easy, Min. You just survived a car crash, try not to kill yourself.”
Mindy laughed. “And I quote, ‘Never in the history of niggadom has a nigga ever overdosed on weed.’”
Lilly almost snorted at Mindy’s quote from Katt Williams. “You’re right. Go ahead and hit that pipe some more.”
That’s exactly what she did, too. “I just want to smoke this shit instead of taking those funky ass pain meds they gave me. That shit makes me jittery. Who the hell gets addicted to that feeling?”
“I don’t have a clue. That feeling isn’t addictive, though, that’s for damn sure!” Lilly agreed.
“Anyone else’s husband…or boyfriend…been acting strange and hardly coming home lately?” Lucy asked, hitting the pipe again.
Ryan spoke first. “Gater’s been gone a lot, but I just thought he was out doing club shit as usual. Now I’m not so sure,” she sighed.
“He probably is.” Lilly tried to reassure her.
“I don’t know. He tells me everything, club or not. He hasn’t said a word about where he’s been or what he’s been doing the past few days. He’s just been gone. Didn’t even come home until last night.”
“They get like that, though, you know? Shit’s been getting real out there.”
“Yeah, Leo hasn’t been home in a few days other than to shower and sleep. Not even to eat or fuck, and it’s bad when he hasn’t been home to fuck.” Carrie sighed, shrugging her shoulders almost in defeat. From what Lilly knew of Carrie and Leo, they were sex fiends. She had heard that he was still a prospect because he was late for an event once because the two of them had pulled over and he fucked her on his bike on side of the road and he didn’t check in or answer his phone when they had called.
That was only one of the reasons he was the longest running prospect in the Hounds.
“Damn. Now that’s bad,” Lucy said.
Raven lifted her hand up slowly and leaned forward. “Mine’s been home and not acting strange.”
Lilly felt her high kick in, because what Raven said she found absolutely fucking hilarious. She started giggling so hard her stomach clenched up and she was doubled over. Why she found it funny, she didn’t know, probably because she was high. At least that’s what she was chalking it up to.
“Of course he hasn’t,” Lilly said through the tears that were streaming down her face mid-laugh.
Raven started giggling with her, and soon so did Carrie and Lucy. They were all laughing so damn hard, they couldn’t think straight.
When Lilly finally caught her breath, she took a few deep breaths in and looked around at the other girls who were all trying to catch theirs. Everyone except for Ryan. She wasn’t sitting with them anymore and was nowhere to be found.
“Where’s Ryan?” Lilly asked, looking around the patio toward the house.
“I don’t know.” Raven turned her head sideways, looking at Lilly then around.
“Something’s up. Did y’all see anyone standing outside when we came out here?” Lilly stood up, fully on guard now. At least as on guard as she could be, since she was high as fuck on that good ass weed Carrie had. If she would’ve known shit was going to get sketchy, she wouldn’t have gotten stoned.
“No, I didn’t see anyone anywhere. I don’t even remember the last time I heard someone other than us.” Carrie’s brows were knitted tightly, concern etched on her face.
“Where the hell are the guys?” Lucy was now standing, followed by Raven and Carrie. They were all looking around, semi-panicked. Lilly dug into her pocket and pulled a cigarette out, not feeling as stoned as she was a few minutes ago.
She lit it and enjoyed it as much as she could because she knew that whatever happened in the next few minutes was not going to be relaxing in the least.
“We need to get inside, quietly. And turn some of these damn lights out.” Raven flipped the light switch for the outside lights off and Lilly made a mental note to ask her how in the hell she knew that damn switch was there. Lilly didn’t even know that switch was there and it was her house.
Lilly saw Raven’s hand slide beneath her shirt, knowing she was grabbing the piece she’d shown Lilly earlier. Raven led the way since she was armed, while the rest of them trailed behind her as quietly as possible. They crept inside through the same door they’d come out of. Once they were back inside, Carrie, Mindy, and Lucy sat down on the bed while Raven and Lilly made their way through the bedroom and into the small hallway, on high alert, listening.
Lilly heard chatter coming from toward the kitchen, men’s voices. Then, the sound of a gun wracking had the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. Raven’s frigid stance said she wasn’t feeling very welcome at the moment, either. Nonetheless, they continued to move throughout the house, sneaking behind the staircase and around the other side to a vantage point where they could see into the kitchen.
Around the bar, Ryan, Linc, Gater, Digger, Brock, and the other three guys stood. Guns galore were spread out on the counter. Lilly exhaled a breath of relief and tapped Raven’s shoulder, signaling that everything was okay. She walked past a confused Raven into the kitchen.
“Hey guys,” she said, approaching the bar. She looked at the array of guns on her counter. There were everything from nine millimeters to full on assault weapons. She assumed the duffle bag at Gater’s feet was filled with more, too.
“Hey, Lil,” Linc said as the rest of the guys fell back into their conversation, Ryan merely standing by and listening.
“Y’all scared the shit out of us. I thought y’all were supposed to be posted at every damn entrance, since there’s only four of ‘em.” Lilly eyed him curiously, but it was Brock that spoke up.
“We were, then you ladies were getting loaded and Gater showed up. So, we came in here, leaving you out there to enjoy your high. Y’all were in your own little world, anyway. You didn’t even notice me standing at the corner of the house when you went outside your bedroom door.”
Lilly’s face reddened as his words sank in. They were oblivious and paranoid for no reason. Had she been paying closer attention she would’ve noticed Brock standing there and probably wouldn’t have been so freaked out.
“Oh…I guess that’s a good point. What the hell are you doing here, anyway? And why’d you bring enough guns for the first infantry?” Lilly asked Gater.
He looked up from the gun he was showing Digger. “I brought them for the guys in case they needed them. Shit’s getting crazy with those Moccasins.”
“You need to give Cass a call. Straighten that shit out,” Brock said, his tone flat as he spoke directly to Gater. Whatever was going on, there seemed to be confusion and tension. Lilly hoped for Gater’s sake that he got it straight because Cass wasn’t in the best mood with all the bullshit going on, she’d hate to see Cass get his hands on Gater ‘cause it wouldn’t be pretty.
“I’m about to walk outside and do that now. I realized my actions didn’t reflect well on me, considering the war that we’re in the midst of.” Gater walked out of the kitchen and Lilly heard the front door shut behind him.
Raven was still standing quietly behind her. “You wanna let Carrie, Lucy, and Mindy know that everything’s okay?” she whispered behind her.
“Yeah,” Raven turned on her heel and disappeared toward the bedroom.
Lilly had gotten a feel for Brock lately and she felt like he would be more open with her than any of the other guys, mostly because he was older, and more laid back. Oh, and he had a patch for the past god knows how many years. She walked over to where he stood, a few feet away from everyone else who was admiring the cavalry of weapons, deep in conversation about which caliber was better and which one did more.
“Anyone ever tell ya you worry too much?” Brock asked.
Lilly sighed. “Every day. I can’t help it. I had this gut feeling and it hasn’t gone away. It feels like something is wrong.”
“Baby girl, that’s ‘cause it is. The man you love is leading the damn cavalry into war. I don’t know how much more wrong it can get than that.”
“I guess you’re right.” She smiled halfheartedly, but it didn’t reach her eyes. That wasn’t anything to smile about. If anything, she wanted to scream. Rip her hair out. Rip their hair out. Something. Instead, she was stuck here while people were out there likely dying for their club. At least their deaths would be honorable.
Brock wrapped an arm around her, pulling her into his side. She leaned into him, finding comfort in the father-like man standing next to her. “It’s all gonna work out. Don’t you worry.” He patted her upper arm where his hand lay in a reassuring gesture.
If only it were that easy…