The bar was lined with silvery, reflective pieces of sheet metal, and the countertop was a black marble, all the taps and appliances a copper-tone. The floors were a polished, concrete stone, and the walls were black, except for one at the far end where a huge mural of the Celtic Beasts, a dark blue dragon on a silver shield, was painted. They had strips of dark blue fluorescent lighting running up along the black walls, and it gave the place a sort of sinister feel. They had several round tables with the same dark marble tabletops, two blue felt pool tables by the mural wall, and booths lining the far wall, the leather a silvery grey like the couch I was on. The walls were decorated with framed portraits of Harley Davidson motorcycles and Celtic Dragons graffiti'd around them.
On top of all the fancy refinishing, Raya and Helen had hung up pink and yellow streamers and white balloons all over the place. The couch I was sitting on had a 'Happy Birthday' banner on the wall overhead, and a low table piled high with gifts. A long, narrow folding table was set up at the opposite wall from me, and was covered with a bunch of potluck dishes people had brought. Despite my reservations about having the party here, and how I felt about the men that were involved with the club, I could not help but admire and appreciate what their wives had done for me.
The other girls gathered around the moment Shay had dropped me off on the couch, and started yammering away, but I couldn’t hear a word as someone started blasting some Pearl Jam over the sound system. I peer through the crowd until I see Helen and Raya and waved them over. Both women were at least ten years older than my mother, and when they come rushing over, I can see the tears in their eyes. Despite the age gap between them, they’d been close.
“Oh, honey!” Raya steps forward first and wraps her arms around me. “You’ve grown into a beautiful young woman! Happy birthday, hon.”
“Happy birthday!” Helen said from my other side as she joined in the hug. “I hope you like red velvet cake.”
“Is the sky blue?” I raise my brows at them.
They both chuckle and kiss my head and I can’t help the lump that rises in my throat. For just a moment, I feel like I’m being hugged by my own mother…
“Mina!”
Several figures break through the throng of people and I freeze at the sight of Cody, Gavin, Aron, and Leif. Don’t think about it… don’t think about it… don’t think about it… I chant over and over in my head as they surround me. Oh God, the last time I saw them… DON’T THINK ABOUT IT!
The girls scatter as the four men move in and take their places on the chairs and sofa. The guy to my left wraps an arm around my shoulders and pulls me in for a tight, sideways hug. I tilt my head back and fight the sick feeling in my stomach when I recognize Cody. He looks the same, with his dark wavy hair, blue eyes, and dimpled smile. Except now, I can see a bit of a tattoo peeking up under the neckline of his shirt, and he has filled out with a little more muscle. Oh God, he had been in the security booth with that girl before I had walked in here…
“Hey there, Precious.” He grins at me, showing off that dimpled smile that all the girls, including the ones my own age, have always swooned at. “Happy seventeenth!” His dark eyes look me up and down, and I can’t help but feel a little icky at the leering sort of look I can see behind his smile. “Holy shit, you’ve grown up! Haven’t seen you in forever. Why haven’t you been by?”
“Well,” I mutter, trying to wiggle out from beneath his heavy arm, “Seeing as the last time I saw you, you were cheating on your girlfriend, I kind of woke up to reality. And it wasn’t one I wanted to be a part of.”
The douche just chuckles. “Sorry, baby. But that’s life. And it’s our life. You’re stuck with us.” He puckers his lips and blows a kiss at me.
“She’s still in high school, fuck-face.” The guy on my right reaches behind my head and smacks Cody in the shoulder. Begrudgingly, he releases me. I turn and recognize Aron at once, despite the fact that he’s changed a lot over the years. He used to be a skinny guy, but has obviously been bulking up, judging by the size of his muscles under his shirt and cut. His usual curly, pale brown hair is smoothed back and hidden beneath a blue bandana, and he now has a scar running down his left brow and partially down his cheek, like he’d been slashed by a knife. But his eye appears normal, the same hazel colour he’s always had, so he had gotten lucky in a fight, I guess. He grins at me, his gaze not as leery as Cody’s dark one, and he gives my hair a little tousle. “Happy birthday, kiddo!”
“Thanks.” I roll my eyes, unable to hide a grin as I shove his hand off. I fight back a repulsive shudder, remembering how Aron and Leif had been together with a girl on one of the old pool tables… I resist the urge to gag as I quickly shake that thought away. Speaking of Leif, he leans back in a lounger chair and kicks his booted feet up on the coffee table, nudging one of the larger gifts aside with his toe. Gavin sighs and leans forward, moving the gift out of the way from his friend's dirty footwear. Leif is pretty much the same, with honey brown hair, pale blue eyes, and arms that are decorated in tattoos, which are on full display with his sleeveless tank top and vest cut. However, he has nothing on Gavin. Gavin looks like he comes straight out of someone’s nightmares. His hair is dyed black and styled into a messy faux hawk, both sides of his lips are pierced, as well as both eyebrows, and, out of all the guys, he is covered with the most tattoos. But of all of Shay’s friends, Gavin has always been the nicest and most brotherly to me, always the sensible one. Seeing him be mindful of my presents doesn’t shock me in the slightest. Now that I think about it, I don’t remember seeing him that day when I’d stumbled into the party at the club.
Gavin grins at me, “Happy birthday, Precious.”
I can’t help the genuine smile that curves up on my lips. I wish he and Cody had switched seats. “Thanks, Gavin.”
“Storm.” He corrects me, his voice sounding incredibly hoarse, as though he’d been shouting for hours on end.
I’ve always addressed the men in this club by their real names. It’s something that has been difficult for me to adjust to as I’ve gotten older, especially when these four guys, who I’ve known since I was a little kid, have only recently been approved as full members of the Celtic Beasts and given new road names. Shay earned his road name years ago when he was a prospect. The name 'Manic' just suited him. But I refused to address him as anything other than his birth name. I liked it more. As a kid, just hearing him addressed as Manic sent shivers down my spine. It alluded to so much that I didn’t want to know about him, and the work he did for the club.
Hearing Gavin’s new road name, I decide it does suit his visual appearance and his quiet, dark, broody nature. But underneath it all, he is more like a gentle spring rain, rather than the forbidding, threatening torrent that he is now addressed by, “Do I have to call you that?” I ask him.
Cody chuckles beside me and lays an arm along the back of the couch behind me. I ignore him.
“Only you don’t have to. Everyone else can fuck off.” He glares at Cody for some reason, who smirks back.
“James drove you here, sweetheart?” Aron asks from my other side.