Page 12 of Raze

“You smoke?” He asks, resting his shoulder against Raze’s door frame and looking at me through his dark, hooded eyes.

“No.” I shake my head and remain still as he takes another toke and moves even closer. So close that his nose is almost touching mine.

He blows the smoke he just inhaled directly into my face and laughs as I splutter and choke on it.

“So our new prez is keeping ya here, hidden all for himself.” He backs away with the smirk still on his face.

“No, he’s just looking out for me,” I explain.

“Looking out for you,” he repeats with a chuckle. “and I’ll guess he’s doing that outta the goodness of his heart.”

“Seems that way.” I shrug, I get that it sounds a little unbelievable but all my instincts are telling me that I can trust Raze, that, and the fact that right now I have no other choice.

“You’re as naïve as you are pretty.” He laughs some more and it starts to really piss me off.

“Did you come here for a reason?” I snap back. “If you're looking for Raze, he left about an hour ago.” I make it clear that he’s outstaying his welcome.

“No, I just saw a pretty girl looking lost on the beach and thought I’d offer to show her a good time.” He shrugs casually.

“Well, I don’t think your idea of a good time matches mine.” I put it to him straight.

“Guess I’ll just leave you here alone then. Let all those secrets ya got tick over and over in your head until you slowly go crazy.” He turns to walk away and when I register what he just said I quickly chase after him.

“Wait, what do you mean? How do you…” I stop to take a breath before I out myself. “What makes you think I have secrets?” I challenge him.

“It’s obvious, your eyes give far too much away.”

“They do not,” I argue with him, starting to feel anxious.

“Darlin’, don’t kid yourself. I can read you like the bible.”

“You’ve read the bible?” Now it’s my turn to laugh.

“Old and New Testament… twice” he holds up two of his fingers to give me a visual.

Who the hell is this guy?

“Okay then, what are these secrets I’m supposed to have?” I test him some more. There’s no way this complete stranger could know what I’ve been through.

“You’re not as innocent as those big, green eyes and your purdy smile suggests. I’d guess that you’ve taken a life and that you’ve thought about taking more.”

“That’s not true.” I shake my head defensively as the accuracy of his words cause a cold tingle to drip down my spine.

“But the person you want to hurt most is still out there, and they’re still in here.” His pointer finger taps at my temple and the glint in his eyes gets a little wilder. “You tell yourself you’re over it, but you ain’t, and you’ve thought many times about surroundin’ yourself with chaos and danger, hopin’ for a new trauma, because you’re sick of the same old nightmare.” I feel my palms start to sweat and my pulse accelerate.

“You’re full of shit.” I shake my head at him in denial.

“No, darlin’ I leave that to the rest of the world. The one thing you can guarantee outta me is upfront, brutal honesty.” He takes another toke of his blunt and glares at me like he’s waiting on something.

I don’t react, just stare at him blankly while his words sink in.

“Now, I came here to offer you a little bit of that chaos and get ya wasted. But if you’d rather spend another day lettin’ the voices in your head take the reins, there’s plenty of other people around here that I can piss off.” He goes to walk away and for some inexplicable reason, I start to panic.

“Sinner,” I call out his name because suddenly what he’s suggesting sounds like something I need.

“Raze told me… I’m not allowed to go to the clubhouse,” I point out.

“And is Raze at the clubhouse?” He cocks his eyebrow at me.

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