I raised the drink to her. “I’m man enough for Sex on the Beach.”
Honey giggled. Blaire just rolled her eyes as I took a good, long sip of the sickly-sweet drink. Under normal circumstances, I would have sent the drink back and gotten a bourbon and Coke or a beer or something, but I couldn’t now. Even if this would bite me in the ass later.
Blaire had just plopped into the seat next to me and turned to talk to the girls. Honey looked torn on whether to talk to me or her boss but inevitably ended up hovering over Blaire. That was a relief to me. I loved my fans. I just hadn’t planned on dealing with any tonight. It took a good amount of mental energy to be on like that. I usually had to prep for it.
“What the fuck are you drinking?”
I turned back around and found my sister, Nora, striding toward me. She wore outrageously tall high heels everywhere she went. She was the event planner for Wright Vineyard and had orchestrated the entire evening. If she was back here already, that meant the night was coming to a close.
“Sex on the Beach. Want one?”
“That’s disgusting,” Nora said. “I thought you had taste.”
Hollin chortled. “Why would you think that?”
“Ass,” I grumbled.
Nora’s eyes darted around the backstage area. I thought on some level, she was looking around, still expecting to see August and Tamara—her ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend. She’d dated August for three years and been friends with Tamara almost her entire life. But then she’d found them hooking up last month and lost everything in the blink of an eye. She’d had to move out of her apartment with Tamara and into Hollin’s guest bedroom.
I was slightly disappointed that I hadn’t seen August since then because Hollin busting August’s nose wasn’t enough for me. He deserved a few broken bones for what he’d done to my sister.
“Are you still good for helping me move tomorrow?” Nora asked.
I groaned. “Can’t we hire movers?”
Hollin smacked the back of my head. “That’s what pickup trucks are for.”
“Yeah. Stop being so pretentious,” Nora said with a grin. “I don’t have that much stuff, and I need to get the fuck out of Hollin’s house.”
“Hey, it’s not so bad!” Hollin said.
“The walls are thin,” Nora told me with wide eyes.
Which meant Hollin and Piper were not quiet.
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll help move you out of the sex house.”
Hollin just leaned back with a self-satisfied light in his eyes and a smile on his face. He was so fucking happy. And I didn’t begrudge him for an instant.
“Bright and early,” Nora said, pointing at me. “Eight a.m. I want to get this done before it’s too hot.”
“I’ll be there.”
“Which means finish your girly drink and go home. I don’t want either of you hungover either.”
“It’d take a lot more than this,” I said, picking up the Sex on the Beach, “to get me drunk enough for a hangover.”
“That was not a challenge,” my little sister said.
I glanced at Hollin, and he nodded at me.
We raised our glasses together and said, “Challenge accepted.”
5
Blaire
I might have had too much to drink.
After Campbell had asked me out and then I had to sit around and pretend that his presence didn’t bother me all night, I’d maybe gone a bit overboard. I could drink like a tank even though I was only about five feet tall. My tolerance had always been high. I thought it was because I’d started drinking with my mom at a young age because she had all these psych reasons for avoiding binge drinking by not making alcohol taboo. It had mostly worked—I’d give her that.
Tonight was a different story.
Honey had left a half hour ago, and I was on Piper’s arm as I stumbled back to her Jeep.
“Do not throw up in my car,” Piper said. She was completely clearheaded. She’d only had one drink early in the night.
“I’m not going to…throw up,” I said with a hiccup. “I’m blackout girl, not throw-up girl.”
“Great,” Piper grumbled. “It’s been a few years since I’ve seen you this drunk.”
“Shh,” I said, putting a finger to her mouth. “It’s fine.”
Piper leaned me against the Jeep and then patted her pockets down for the key. She wasn’t carrying a purse. “Fuck. I gave the damn key to Hollin when I first got here. I’m need to run back inside.”
“I’ll be fine right here.”
She looked at me with pursed lips, as if she didn’t believe me. Then, her eyes darted around. “Hey, Abbey!”
I glanced up and saw that it was not in fact her boyfriend, but the other Abbey brother. Campbell’s head popped up at the sound of his last name. Piper waved him over, and he came forward almost reluctantly.
“I need to run in and get my key from Hollin. Can you make sure that Blaire doesn’t pass out or do anything really stupid?” Piper asked.