I nodded and stumbled to my feet. The bouncer remained out cold. Being engulfed by a horde of vermin in the ladies room could have had something to do with it. I remained very na**d. And while I’d never stolen anything, I reasoned that saving this poor sap’s life made it okay to commandeer his obnoxious T-shirt. I grabbed the edges of his shirt and yanked. The collar had just slipped over his head when he snapped to attention. His eyes widened. Since he was a good-looking fellow, despite his lack of neck, his shock caught me off guard. Surely this wasn’t the first time he’d woken next to a na**d female.
He tore away from me with a backwards crab-spotting-a-pelican move. “What are you doing?”
“Um.”
“What the hell are you doing?”
I was known for my muscle, not my flair. I shoved his shirt over my head while he gripped his man-boobs like they might fall off. Then I ran. Fast, like I-just-fought-off-a-witch-and-set-a-building-on-fire fast. The pebbles littering the path cut into my feet. But the bouncer’s birdlike screams pushed me forward. Despite my long lean muscles and tight abdominals, being na**d in front of a total stranger was not my thing. Neither was obliterating private property.
My sisters chased me. Taran swore behind me. Emme and Shayna begged me to slow down. I didn’t until I reached our Subaru Legacy. Dammit, this was supposed to be a night of celebration, not of getting into a smack-down in the restroom with a psycho witch and her freak-ass minions.
Emme wheezed and sputtered as she key-fobbed the door. She handed me the keys and we quickly scrambled inside. I floored it out of the parking lot of the former Club Ooo-La-La just as an ambulance screeched past us.
“Okay. That sucked,” Taran muttered.
Shayna whipped her head behind to watch the ensuing chaos. “Dude! We like . . . demolished a building.”
I could understand Shayna’s fear. Destroying a building was just plain nutso and irresponsible. We’d never even littered.
I swerved onto Route 80, my foot stomping on the gas. Once more, the lake came into view. I lowered my window and tried to take a few breaths to allow the mysticism of the water to settle my beast. Shayna’s face remained glued to the rear window. “Good Lord. Do you think we’ll have to pay for that?”
Taran crossed her arms. “We’re not paying for shit. They started it.”
“I’m sure they have insurance, Shayna.” I glanced over at Taran. “What happened, anyway?”
Taran shrugged. “The redhead tried to take my paper towel. I wouldn’t let her.”
“What?” I asked, certain I’d misheard.
“I reached for the towel and she yanked it out of my hands. I yanked it back and then she splashed my dress with water.”
Shock and humiliation left me as Taran’s words sunk in. I made a sharp turn off the road and into the beach parking lot. In the night, the lake appeared navy blue instead of crystal clear. I focused on how the waves licked against the large boulders at the edge and how the sound was more song than noise. Still, it did nothing to soothe me. I clenched my jaw and turned to face Taran. “Tell me you’re joking.”
Taran frowned. “What do you mean?”
My body shook with the need to rip the dashboard off and beat Taran with it. “Tell me we didn’t just take out an entire nightclub over a freaking paper towel!”
Taran narrowed her eyes. “I told you, she splashed water on me, too. I zapped her for being a bitch and then her stupid friend got involved.” She huffed. “I didn’t initially realize her friend was a witch. But even if I had, I couldn’t let her do that to me, Celia.”
The steering wheel dented beneath my grip. “I don’t believe you, Taran!”
“Celia—”
I veered toward her. “Don’t you dare try to justify what we did back there by—”
“Th-they were making fun of me,” Emme said almost quietly.
Taran’s head shot toward the back. “Emme, don’t.”