Comes Now the Wicked Woodsman by Christa Wick Page B

Stepping back, she studied my face, but I knew she was trying to read my mind -- or my heart.
    Putting aside the make-up for a second, she took her phone out, opened up her music app and put on some Marilyn Manson, the music playing over her Bluetooth speaker covering our conversation.
    "You would have told me if you were hooking up with this guy, right?"
    "I told you about the other two," I answered, shifting uneasily on the small round stool she had plopped my overly generous ass on.
    "Yeah, but you weren't serious about them. You weren't worried about jinxing it or gushing over how much you were into them then have it all fall apart a few weeks or months later."
    "Neither of us has ever gushed over a guy." Swiveling on the stool, I looked in the mirror, the foundation only half applied. "Is this the planned look?"
    "Maybe," she answered, a smile evident in her voice. I found her reflection in the mirror and saw the matching curve of her lips.
    Spinning me back around, she resumed making up my face. "I never gushed over a guy because I haven't found one that makes my heart flip out."
    She slid a finger under my chin, all work stopping again as she tilted my head up and hooked my gaze. "We both know who makes your heart flip out."
    I tugged my chin from her grip. My hands snatched at the foundation bottle and sponge so I could finish the job myself, but Clover danced out of the way.
    "I get that he screwed it up somehow." Finished laying down the base, she took up a brow brush and some loose powder that matched my hair color. "But don't cut him out of the running yet. That's all I'm asking. He's been in charge of his life, and mine, since he was fifteen. And it doesn't help that he's an alpha, maybe the president of the Woodsmen when Taron steps down. It makes him think he always knows best."
    I closed my eyes, relieved that her working on my brows and eyelids gave me a chance to hide from her searching gaze.
    Clover had told me enough about her parents' death, the truth this time, for me to understand that she and Braeden had been on the run for their lives until they landed in Night Falls. They had no money, no family, were hunted by the prides or packs whose territories they traveled through, were unable to use human social services and were too young to get jobs, especially Clover. But Braeden had kept his little sister safe and healthy for over two years on his own.
    But however well Clover thought she knew her big brother, she was wrong about one thing. She seemed to think he wanted me for me. But that wasn't it -- it was all the qualities she had just mentioned, the protective role of a big brother and a pack alpha who "always knows best," that had led to him claiming me in the barn.
    Sighing, I watched her sort through her blushes.
    "If you think I'm supposed to be with Braeden," I asked, hoping for at least a slight change of topic "then why are you dolling me up for Rooster?"
    Her mouth quirked as her cheeks colored. "Who said this is for Rooster? Jailor man still has his ass parked in the living room."
    I looked at the window no longer covered in plywood.
    Clover wagged a finger at me, her other hand fisted on her hip.
    "You're not climbing out of that in a skirt!"
    I looked at the jeans I had on then back up at my best friend, one brow cocked and ready to fire. I had thoroughly intended to go as dressed, didn't want the make-up on, didn't want to look in any way like I was making an effort because Taron's idea was all kinds of fucked up.
    "You're wearing this," she said and reached into her closet to extract a knit aqua blue skirt that would have fallen to her knees but would hit me mid-calf. Placing it on the bed, she dug around in the closet some more and came up with a matching sweater and black leather boots.
    "This," she said, holding up the outfit, "is going to totally rock your curves."
    I nodded, dumbfounded and wondering if she had started planning from the moment Braeden had told her about Taron's plan.