Page 30 of Wolf Cursed
“Kai Stone is someone you want to steer clear of,” Idrissa said, but the warning wasn’t necessary. I’d already learned the hard way.
“Believe me, he’s not someone I plan to befriend.”
Then another thought dawned.
“You two haven’t… I mean.” I stopped, face heating as I felt the nosiness of my question.
But Idrissa’s eyes widened. “Hell, no,” she said with enough conviction that I knew she meant it. Isaac hooted with laughter.
“Idrissa and I used to be friends with Kai,” Isaac explained when he saw my expression.
“Used to,” Idrissa echoed.
“What happened?” I asked.
She looked away, her expression hard.
“Kai started running with Silas and Presley,” Isaac said with a shrug. As if that explained everything.
“He parties, takes what he wants, and doesn’t care what anyone thinks,” Idrissa added.
“Sounds like everyone else in this town,” I said.
She snorted. “He’s angry as hell and doesn’t care who he takes it out on.”
“Doesn’t mean he isn’t delicious,” Isaac said.
I shrugged, refusing to allow them to see just how much I was fighting off the drool when it came to Kai. “I like my men without all that toxic rage,” I said.
Isaac responded by making the sign of the cross. “The ovaries want what the ovaries want, though. Am I right?”
I snorted. “You’re so dramatic.”
He chuckled and threw an arm around my shoulders, leading me toward Bo’s. “Kai Stone makes us all dramatic,” he declared. “Now, come on. We’ll introduce you to the seedy underbelly that is Ridley Falls, North Carolina.”
Before we could even make it to the door, the bikers sitting out front whistled. A few catcalled but the two girls from earlier only glared.
“Hey, new girl,” called a male voice. “You want to stay in this town, you gotta earn it.”
I averted my eyes, increasing my pace.
Maybe the twins were used to places like this, but it only reminded me of a world I wanted to leave in the past.
“Shut your cakehole, Devon,” Idrissa snapped.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched the guy grin. “Make me, Dris.”
“You fucking wish,” she muttered and then to me, “Come on.”
Idrissa held the door.
The three of us walked inside, and I stopped, blinking to let my eyes adjust to the dim lighting. The smell of cigarettes and whiskey and stale bodies washed over me. It reminded me of my dad enough that I faltered.
Grief hit me like a wave, pulling me under. The scent of our trailer after a night of one of his benders. The dirty laundry I’d carry to the laundromat when our car broke down. His pillow. All of it blended together into a scent memory that hit me like a brick now. I couldn’t breathe.
Idrissa appeared in front of me, frowning.
“Ash,” she said sharply, and I realized she’d called my name more than once already.
