The next night we returned to the Boardwalk as usual, this time with Star and Laddie in tow. Anna was glad to see them both, and it was a consideration on my part to bring them along in a show of good faith. Anna had gotten us out of a bind last night.
"Come with us to the concert, Anna?" Star asked, taking Laddie's hand as he climbed down from the back of Dwayne's bike. Dwayne had already grabbed Anna up in his arms. I felt his jealousy. He really had it bad for Anna.
"I don't..." Anna began, but Dwayne silenced her with his lips against her neck. "No, I think I'm going to stay here with the boys." Dwayne grinned. I smirked. She'd taken another step towards joining us.
We split up and took Anna to the video store with us. I thought it might be smart to show her off to Max; he would want to know, of course. I smirked as we entered, the bell dinging at our arrival. Max looked up from the conversation he was having with some woman. Dwayne kept Anna in front of him, a hand on her hip possessively. Paul and Marko were getting a kick out of it.
Thorn snarled at us, like usual. "Bad doggy." Anna scolded him. Thorn stopped. That was different. I eyed Anna a bit, heading around the counter, the others following. Maria gave us her usual 'you got to be kidding me' look and shared a grin with Marko, before looking over at Dwayne and Anna. She could see the attraction between them too. This lead to more teasing from Marko and Paul; Anna retaliated with some hand gestures. That was my cue to step in.
I called them back to attention and headed toward the door, when Max looked up at me again. I stopped.
"I told you not to come in here anymore," he said. I smirked back. It was all an act. Mustn't blow our secret. I shot back a smart-assed smile and exited. The boys followed, mounting their bikes. Anna slid onto hers; I could feel Dwayne's disappointment. Anna rode off with us.
Max had given me a dose of his disapproval mentally. He didn't like Anna, didn't want another girl in the group.
Star was enough of a pain at times, why did we need another? And he questioned what this meant for his plans. I wasn't sure which plan he was referring to and dropped the mental link. We could deal with it later.
We parked the bikes down at the main entrance on the street and hung out, goofing off, waiting for Star and Laddie. Finally she and Laddie showed, with another boy just steps behind them. I frowned. I'd never seen him before on the Boardwalk. He was dark-haired, tanned, probably around our ages. Star slid her arm around my neck, and I helped her up behind me. The dark-haired boy stopped short, staring. I smirked at him.
I nodded to the others and we pulled out, engines roaring. Anna followed us home to the cave, much to the surprise of all of us.
"Aren't you going home?" Star asked her.
"I've got a bad feeling." Anna confessed. "I think I'd better stay here." I overheard their conversation. A bad feeling about what? It didn't matter; the sun cut short any time I had to question Anna. The boys and I descended down to our chamber to spend the daylight hours.