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Oh my God, I’ll have to hide from all of them—but they come into Millie’s! I’ll have to quit?—
Sighing heavily, and cutting off Cilla’s mental downward spiral, Stephie released Cilla’s chin, and turned to pick up the pair of jeans that she must have bought in the juniors’ section of Macy’s.
“You’ll see,” she sing-songed. “But first, get dressed. We have a party to attend.”
In all the rush and frustration of getting ready, Cilla forgot to ask Stephie where the party was. And she’d regret it.
NINETEEN
The third red flag should have been when Stephie waited until Cilla was trapped in the passenger seat of Stephie’s car, before the devious woman pulled out the blindfold.
“You have to put this on,” Stephie commanded, ignoring the horror on Cilla’s face.
Cilla raised her hands to ward of the woman who was once her friend, and shouted, “What the hell, Stephie? Where are you taking me that I have to wear a blindfold? Is this some weird sex thing? Stop grinning like that, it makes you look crazy!”
Stephie giggled, waving the blindfold in Cilla’s face.
“You wear it, or we don’t go, and you know that if you don’t go to this party, I will never forgive you. You don’t want that, Cilla. You don’t want to disappoint your best friend, do you? Not after all we’ve been through together….”
Mouth agape, Cilla stared at her friend, flabbergasted by the woman’s blatant attempt to sucker her into wearing the blindfold.
Cilla chuckled without humor, shaking her head slowly. “You really are something else….” But Stephie was still Cilla’s best friend—her only friend, and despite all the red flags waving in her face, Cilla knew that Stephie would never do anything that would hurt Cilla. Make her uncomfortable as hell? Yes. But she’d never lead Cilla wrong.
Rolling her eyes, Cilla snapped her teeth, then grunted. “Fine. Gimme the freaking blindfold. And I just realized you promised to tell me where we were going if I put the stupid clothes on.”
Stephie grinned, handed Cilla the mask, and watched her put it on. Once the world was dark and Cilla could see nothing, she could feel Stephie reach around her to tighten it.
“There. That should do it—and I know I promised, but this is waaaay more fun,” Stephie remarked, sounding satisfied as all hell. “It won’t take too long to get there, and I promise that once we’re there, everything will work out just fine.”
Cilla swallowed, suddenly feeling like things weren’t going to go as she thought they were.
“Why does it sound like less of a party and more like an intervention?” Cilla asked, hating how the mask felt on her face. She was completely blind, going into a situation that made all her alarms ping, but she had to admit that whatever the hell was going on was better than sitting around her house, pouting, moping, and missing her biker.
At least this would take her mind off of Patriot.
You’d think so….
Ugh, that freaking voice!
“Just trust me, Cilla. This is going to be ah-may-zing!” With that, Stephie started her car and pulled out of Cilla’s driveway, and they were off!
Maybe fifteen minutes later, Cilla could feel the car taking a slow left turn onto a gravel road. Another two or three minutes passed before the car slowed to a stop. Cilla sucked in a fortifying breath, her mind whirling with the possibilities of what could be beyond the blindfold.
“Okay, we’re here,” Stephie said, then paused, almost like she was steeling herself for what came next. But why? “You can take off the blindfold.”
Hesitating for a moment, just long enough to tell herself to grow some balls, Cilla reached up and pulled the blindfold off. She blinked, and stared through the windshield.
“Uh, where are we?” she asked, peering warily at the small ranch house in front of them. She looked out the window beside her to see a line of trees behind a long, wooden fence. The house sat on a grassy lot, with a gravel patch just in front of the porch where Stephie had parked. The house looked well maintained—no peeling paint, no weeds around the porch, the porch itself wasn’t sagging.
Stephie cleared her throat. “This is Horde’s place.”
Cilla jerked her head to look at Stephie. “What! Why are we here?”
It was then that sounds finally carried through the window and the fog in Cilla’s brain. Music. Loud laughter. Voices. This really was a party. At Horde’s house.
Did that mean…?
“Is Patriot here?” Cilla asked, her voice a thick rasp. Did she want the answer to be yes or no?
