Of Fae and Hate

“A little what?” I ask, my face scrunching. “Is that some sort of code for orgasms? Because if so, then yes.”

Clemmen places a hand to her forehead, shaking her head. “No,” she mutters, before slapping a hand against Lithern’s chest. The smack is loud but he doesn’t even flinch. Instead, he laughs, and when I take a closer look at his face, something in his eyes isn’t quite right. It’s too laxed. “No,” she says again before looking at me. “No.” A long sigh. “O isn’t code for orgasms, which you won’t be having with Lithern anyway, considering he’s so fucked up that he probably can’t even get it up. O is Olix, a party drug for the fae.”

“Oh, so ecstasy?” I ask her. I’m not ashamed to say that I’d experimented with party drugs when I’d snuck off to a couple of clubs while in high school. I thought they’d be a way to loosen up, because while I liked, no loved, sex, I hadn’t ever wanted to really take the jump of being around so many people without something to lighten me up.

Unfortunately, the ecstasy hasn’t done shit for me. If it weren’t for the fact that, Rachel, the one real human friend I’d had, hadn’t gotten so messed up from the same pulls, I would have been convinced that the guy hadn’t just sold us advil.

“Yeah, but a thousand times worse,” Clemmen says. “And Lithern is my cousin, so I know for a fact that the shit he has will have you forgetting who the fuck you are for the next two weeks, another reason why you can’t sleep with him.”

“He’s your cousin?” I ask as the guy continues to smile at us. I’m starting to think his face may be stuck in that position. Which means the shit he has is really good. “Wasn’t he just flirting with you?”

She snorts out a laugh before waving a hand. “No, Lithern looks at everyone that way when he’s on O, including his own damn mama.”

Lithern’s laugh is giddy. “Come on, Time, I’ll give you the family discount,” he says to her. He reaches into his pocket before pulling out a little clear bag. There’s a blue powder inside and it literally sparkles.

“How about a five finger discount?” a voice asks from over my shoulder before a hand is reaching out to snatch the bag. And then Lithern is being pushed right into the pool, his dread whipping through the air.

I blink, watching as he sinks to the bottom of the pool. For a few alarming moments, he doesn't resurface and I’m just thinking someone is going to have to save him when he finally floats back to the top. He spits water out of his mouth in a near perfect arc, before moving his arms as if he’s making a snow angle, in the fucking water. He’s not pissed in the slightest about being jacked or pushed, shit, with the way he closes his eyes and smiles, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t even remember what just happened.

“Thanks,” Clemmen says over her shoulder before moving over to the cooler to finally grab her drink.

“No problem, Clemmsies, though I can’t say I had completely pure and gentlemanly intentions.”

I finally turn around to find Brynsyn standing less than a foot away. He’s forgone the leather jacket tonight, only wearing a pair of jogging pants. There’s a necklace with a black stone hanging from his neck, sitting right between his ripped pecs. His dark hair is slicked back and when his eyes find mine, he smiles. The little bag is nowhere to be found so I suspect he’s put it in his pocket.

“Of course not, Bryn,” Clemmen says, “You’re the least pure thing I’ve met in my life,” she says, moving over to us. She holds out a bottle to me. “If you’re a lightweight, I don’t recommend drinking this whole thing,” she warns me as I take the cool glass bottle from her.

I nod, but my attention is still on Brynsyn, who’s watching me as well. Again, that feeling to be closer to him is overwhelming and I can’t help it when I inch a little closer to him. His eyes flash with excitement.

Clemmen clears her throat and it pulls me from the trance I could already feel myself falling into. She raises a brow, her nose wrinkling slightly before she looks between Brynsyn and I.

I rub the back of my neck with my free hand.

Brynsyn’s lips twitch before he reaches forward, placing a hand on my hip. His grip is warm and firm and I lean into the touch as tingles move through my body.

When he leans forward I do the same, anticipating his lips touching mine as they move closer, but at the last second he turns his head, those smooth lips only glancing along my cheek. It's enough to make my skin flush. His mouth brushes up against my ear for the briefest moment, the unmistakable flick of his tongue along my flesh.

“When you’re ready for some real fun tonight, come find me,” he says. He pulls away so suddenly that I nearly go falling forward but I manage to catch myself. He winks at me before moving past me and heading back inside of the house.

When he said fun did he mean sex or the drugs?

Because with him, I’m down for either.

“Listen,” Clemmen says and I turn to find her watching me. Her bottle is open but she hasn’t taken a sip from her. “I like Brynsyn, and I’m not one to judge, but as much as I joke about fucking him, it’s not a place I think you really want to go,” she says.

My brows pull together. I’ve never been a prude when it comes to sex so I don’t mind talking about it openly or express when I’m interested. “Why not?” Clemmen doesn't seem like she’s one of those friends who’d try to pull some shady shit by giving bad advice but I’m genuinely curious why she’s apprehensive of me sleeping with Brynsyn, who she doesn’t dislike.

She sighs, finally taking a sip of her drink. “I’ve just heard that sometimes when people fuck him they don’t fair right afterwards.”

Okay, this sounds good. “In what way.” I pop the cap off of my own bottle.

“They always come out of it a little twisted. Take Mariano Callas, for example, she was always a sweet girl, but the rumor is she fucked Brynsyn, a couple of times last year. Afterwards, she was a completely different person. In our first year, she cried after I stepped on a spider, and in my defense, I didn’t see it. Anyways, after she fucked Brynsyn, the chick completely flipped the script, started getting into fights and her roommate said she tried to stab her over the last apple.”

My eyes widen. “What happened to the girl?”

“Sprouse eventually expelled her after she threw a bad potion on Misslyn Clarkton in class. She’s the potion control teacher so she was able to concoct something to stop it before it did permanent damage but it burned her up pretty bad. It took months for her to heal properly.”

I wince.