Page 67 of The Alien's Private Redemption

Charlie snorted.

Ordering myself to forget about Reece, we headed out of the gated football field. He still had his arm hanging loosely over my shoulders. “I hate coming to these things,” he bitched. “Every single time we have to park out in the field. We’re going to be covered in ticks.”

I smiled up at the starry sky as we trudged through the calf-high grass. “You probably have twelve attached to your legs right now.”

“Man, that’s fucked up.” He dropped his arm and shoved me.

Stumbling to the side, I giggled, knowing he was going to make me check his scalp when we got to his parents’ house later. “I want to watchNever Been Kissedtonight.”

Even in the dark and without looking at him, I knew he rolled his eyes. “That movie is so old it needs to be retired.”

“Never!” I yelled as I jumped over a rock someone almost parked their truck on. “That guy is hot.”

“That guy is really old now in real life,” he shot back.

I flipped him off. “Don’t ruin it for me.”

Shoving his hands into the pockets of his shorts, he shook his head. I could see Charlie’s car, parked next to a van that hadn’t been there when we showed up.

“Hey,” a voice called out. “Where are you guys heading off to?”

I twisted at my waist, looking behind us, and swallowed a groan when I saw who it was. Henry Williams. He wasn’t alone. Two friends flanked him. All three of them were in a grade higher. All three were total douche bags. Especially Henry. He was a special kind of douche bag. The kind that was good-looking and totally knew it, therefore the latter totally zeroed out the former.

“Just keep walking,” Charlie said under his breath.

I didn’t listen. Facing the boys, I planted my hands on my hips. “Nowhere you all are invited to.”

Charlie muttered something as he stopped, turning around. I think he said something about my mouth getting me in trouble, but that wouldn’t be the first or last time I’d heard that.

One of Henry’s friends laughed, and the sound grated on my nerves. It was high-pitched, much like the cheerleader’s voice was, but this laugh reminded me of a cat getting hit by a car.

Henry was absolutely unfazed by my greeting. He swaggered up to where Charlie and I stood, puffing out his chest like a peacock. “You’re looking good tonight, Roxy.”

I arched my brows at him.

Charlie sighed.

“I’m looking good every night.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

He smirked as his gaze crawled over me, leaving behind a sensation of ants marching along my skin. It really was too bad he was such a pinhead, because he wasn’t bad to look at. “That’s true.” He passed a baleful glance at Charlie, and my spine stiffened. “So, what are you doing tonight?”

“We’ve got—”

“I wasn’t talking to you.” Henry cut him off, and it truly was like I had an internal bitch switch inside me, and he’d just flipped it into the on position. “Why don’t you drop this homo and hang out with—”

“Excuse me?” I saw red. “What in the fuck did you just call him?”

Charlie grabbed my arm. “Let it go. You know there’s no point in arguing with stupid.”

There was no way in hell I was going to let it go.

As I pulled myself out of the events of that night, I sat back and rubbed my palms along my cheeks, just below my glasses. Guilt coated my skin with clammy sweat. Lowering my hands, I stared at Charlie. His head was turned just slightly, like he was looking at me, but his gaze was focused over my shoulder, at the window.

Let it go, he had said.

If only I had listened.

Friday night was busier than usual with just Nick and me behind the bar since Jax had taken the weekend off to visit Calla in Shepherdstown. Despite the fact I looked like a hot mess with my hair pulled up in a messy bun and wearing an old tank top that was about two sizes too big, I was grateful for the fact the night was flying by. Lack of sleep was catching up with me, and my already crappy mood was somewhere between “fuck me land” and “fuck off town.”