“I’m bored,” Tabitha said.
“Then read a book.” Daisy didn’t even glance up from the book she was reading.
“I’m bored with reading.”
“Then watch a movie.” Finally, her friend lowered her book. “Let me guess, there’s no movie you want to watch either.”
“You got it.” She dropped down onto the bed. “I suck, don’t I?”
“Why? Because you’re like most teenage girls and bored? Why don’t you text Simon or something? That’s what you do.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“He’s got this study thing he needs to do.”
“Ah, right, the study thing where you went crazy not too long ago because you thought it meant he was seeing another girl?” Daisy offered her a smile.
“You don’t have to be that way.”
“I’m not being any way, just stating a fact.” Daisy picked her book back up.
Tabitha recalled her deal with Anthony and groaned.
“What is it now?”
“Nothing,” she said. It was hard to get anything past Daisy. Rubbing at her temples, she looked at her best friend. “You know Darcy and Ink decorated their place for Halloween?”
“I know. I seem to recall helping them. I picked up what they needed, remember?”
Great. Daisy went back to reading her book, and Anthony would be pissed with her if she went back on a deal with him.
“So, er, don’t you just love Halloween? I mean with all the partying and the fun. Dressing up. I love it. I can be whatever I want.”
“No.”
“What the hell is the no for?”
“I know you, Tabs. I know you better than anyone. Even Simon. Believe me. I get it. I know what’s going on here and there’s no way I’m going to any kind of party. I don’t want to. Period.”
“Ugh! It would just be for me.”
“No.”
“Come on, what’s so wrong with going to a party?”
“I don’t like to party.”
“You’re being a royal pain in the ass.”
“And we both know the reason you’re upset and angry and pissed off is because you want to go and head out to the Quad.”
Tabitha was going to kill her friend. The Quad was where all the fights happened. She didn’t know if her father or Lash, the current President of The Skulls MC, knew of the place, but she and the gang frequented the place often. Tabitha loved to be able to unload, especially if she’d experienced a shitty day, which seemed to happen more often than not.
“This has nothing to do with the Quad. I need you to go out on Halloween with me, to go to the party, at the high school. Is that such a bad thing?”
“You want to go to the high school where the Dogs will be? Seriously? You know it’s bad enough going through a single day with them without you know, all the crap after school. I’ve seen them hanging out at the Quad as well. It’s like this joint school thing has given them permission to come onto our land. It’s not good.”
She started to smile.
“What?” Daisy asked.
“Just, our land and permission. You sound very possessive all of a sudden.”
“I am. Especially of the club. I’ve seen the way the guys are. Especially Luke and Ryan. They’re pieces of shit.”
“That I won’t deny.” She sighed. “This school thing. I kind of agreed with Anthony you’d be there.”
“Why the hell would you do that?”
“You know, he likes you.”
“Not that again. Please, not that. I can’t stand that. I’ll have to barf if you do that.” She rolled her eyes. “Anthony has a gazillion girls he could date. You’ve seen the way they throw themselves at him.”
“Yeah, but have you actually seen him kiss one? Hang out with one? Even touch one?”
“I don’t even know why we’re having this conversation. It’s completely pointless.”
“It’s not. Come on. You’d be doing me a huge favor by hanging out with him. You know you want to.”
“I don’t know that I want to. In fact, I think I’d rather forgo the whole Halloween dance. Dad is going to rent a bunch of movies and we were all going to watch. Halloween candy, some kind of drink he’s going to make up. It’ll be fun.”
“Sounds boring,” Tabitha said. “Come on, you’re only going to live once. Why not make it the best thing like ever? There’s going to come a point when we’re not going to be able to party and have fun.” She held her hands together, begging. “Please, please, please.”
There was a sudden knock on Daisy’s bedroom window.
Tabitha turned toward the sound to find Simon, Miles, and Anthony all waiting in the tree.
“Oh, look, some of the gang are here.” This Simon was her nephew, even though they weren’t that far apart in age. Something he hated to acknowledge as he was actually older than her, even though she was his auntie.
Daisy climbed off her bed. She wore a pair of boy shorts, exposing her thighs. Tabitha watched as Anthony climbed through the room and seemed to try to get as close to Daisy as humanly possible. How was it no one else saw this? She’d noticed Anthony’s obsession with her best friend years ago.
Her friend, as always, was oblivious to his devotion. It was kind of sad, but funny. For a long time, Anthony hadn’t really spoken. He did his glaring thing, which seemed to scare off a whole lot of people. Not her and the group though.
“What’s going on?” Tabitha asked, getting to her feet. She had yet to change her clothes for her pajamas.
“Big fight out at the Quad,” Miles said. “Dogs are fighting. I thought it was time for us to see them in action. We’ve seen a couple of their boys, but not with any real competition.”
“I can’t,” Daisy said. “My parents are downstairs.”
“They’re probably making out,” Miles said. “We know what they’re like, and with the Chaos crew just vacating, we’ve got time. We all know how this goes down with the parents. This is something we’ve got to do.”
“You know he’s right,” Tabitha said. “We’ll be back before midnight.”
“I hope you know my dad already knows when we sneak on or off. He’s got the whole place wrapped tight.” Daisy’s father, also known as Whizz, was amazing when it came to technology. He handled most of the security for the entire club and also helped to work the markets as he had a keen eye on investment. To The Skulls, he was the shit.
“Then what do we have to lose?” Tabitha asked. “They already know they’re here. Let’s go. Let’s do this.”
Daisy sighed. “Are we grabbing everyone?”
“No can do,” Miles said. “I already checked in. They’ve got shit to do. It’s got to be us.”
“Of course, it does. I mean, why would we be strength in numbers?”
“You sound a little pissy there, Daisy. You okay?” Simon asked.
“She’s fine,” Tabitha said, interrupting. “She’s just agreed to go to the Halloween party and we’ve now got to go shopping. Of course, this is all a treat on me.”