Page 2 of Desert Rose

Robin leads me over to a girl sitting by the fire, peeling the label off an empty beer bottle. “Sup, Kit?”

Her eyes lift, searing me over. “That’s her?” She asks, eyeing me.

“Yep.”

She huffs. “Fine. You know my rate.”

Robin dips her hand into her pocket, pulling out two-hundred-dollar bills, slapping it into the girl’s palm.”

“Fine. But if her brother catches on. I’m out. He’s fucking terrifying.”

I roll my eyes. “He’s a total softie.”

“Mandy’s here.”

“She’s back?” I hiss. “I’ve never laid eyes on her. My brother is discreet. Never brings a woman back to the Clubhouse. He only hooks up on runs. But I did hear she’s the only one he went out with more than once.”

“… and she already asked a zillion times if Tarak was still single… which is totally hilarious since she had a fling with a Scorpion all summer.”

I pop my shoulder. “I’d puke right now at the thought of my brother with a Scorpion’s leftovers, but he always had eyes for that bitch and if his are eyes on her—they won’t be on me.”

“Exactly.”

“So, what’s the deal with her?” I shake my head at the girl sneering by our feet.

“She’s your body double? Same build. Hair. Skin tone. We’re going to tell Tarak, that we’ve entered the lawn games as a team. Her back will be to him for hours, wearing your clothes…. While we sneak off to the canyon, where the real parties at.”

My brow raises. My heart starts beating faster… this is exactly what I was hoping for. “Lead the way…,”

***

“Why is everyone so eager to get the fuck out of here?” I lay back, letting my head hit the desert earth. Exhaling, I watch I blow out the joint, watching the light smoke dissipate. “I mean, everything’s here. The stars. The sky. Endless possibilities…. We are at the center of the universe… the looking glass to eternity is right above us.”

“Because while the stars are free, we are trapped beneath them.”

I freeze momentarily, startled that a rich, heavy voice responded instead of my friends.

“She took off ten minutes ago. But you were too lost looking above to notice.”

I sit up, hugging my knees to my chest, the action bringing my hands in close proximity to the concealed knife in my boot. “There’s no better place to get lost then in the heavens.” I turn my head, tucking my chin so I can appraise the stranger standing behind me.

Our eyes meet. I swallow hard. His eyes are a sharp, clear. A shade of somewhere between blue and gray… it’s hard to tell at night. His arms are thick, veins pop from his ink covered biceps. He’s no boy. Older than me maybe fiver years, maybe ten. I can’t tell. He’s an old soul in a younger body. I surmise all this in mere seconds.

“Eagle took five. I’m on watch.”

“Parties down there,” I nod to the bonfire below our spot on the cliff where the rest of the teens are gathered drinking, smoking, and getting high.

He perches next to me. “Like you said… the view from here is second to none.” But he isn’t looking below, his eyes are solely on me.

“You move quietly for such a big guy. No one sneaks up on me, Ever.”

He plucks the joint from my hands, flicking it over the edge of the canyon. “It’s not safe for a pretty, little young thing like you to be alone out here.”

I shrug. “No one will fuck with me. No one would dare. I’m small but I have quite the bite. I lick my lips, then flash him a grin.

His eyes flare a bit. “Noted, little viper. Who are you here with?”

I look away from his awesomeness and focus back on the sky. I hate giving away info that I’m a princess in the Royal Bastard’s… especially that I’m Tarak’s little sister. It makes me a target, to kiss up and get an intro to Tarak or to use me to hurt the MC. “Robin. She invited me. I’m a friend of the Res… you could say.”

---