How dirty are his hands? Is there blood on them?
Kaylah orders me her signature cocktail from the guy they’ve hired to tend the bar and before I know it, I can hardly remember my own name as we shake our asses on the dance floor, screaming out the lyrics to every Katy Perry song we know.
This is exactly what I needed.
Kaylah introduces me to a few of the girls she’s become friends with at Broken Hill. Tora comes and says hi and I stumble over an introduction as I meet her boyfriend, Nate. I mean, he’s wicked hot, but nothing compares to Noah’s green eyes and the ink covering his body, despite the fact that I’m livid with him right now.
I meet some other guys, Puck, Tyson, and Maxen, then this chick Brooke, but by the end of all the introductions, I have a hard time remembering who’s dating whom and how they all know Kaylah.
I shrug it off because a massive grin rips across my face. “Jackson,” I squeal, so freaking happy to see him again.
He barges his way past Jesse and pulls me into a massive bear hug. He kisses my cheek before introducing me to his girlfriend, Elle, and I pull her right in, feeling like she’s already part of my family.
As I watch Jackson with Elle, I can’t help but feel so freaking happy for them and realize that all those years I spent being boy crazy over him were a waste of my time. He was never meant for me just as I was never meant for him. I know my place now and that’s right by Noah’s side, even if it means beating a little bit of common sense into his thick head.
Tully shows up just after midnight and I storm over to her, pulling her in and demanding every ounce of her attention. “Where the hell have you been?” I question. “And what happened to your brother? I haven’t seen him all night.”
She shrugs her shoulders. “Who really cares what he’s doing? I need a drink.”
I resist telling her that I’m the one who cares what he’s doing and I hope to whatever god that exists above that he’s somewhere sulking about us rather than doing another job for Anton. “Come on,” I tell her. “You have to see this bar.”
We squeeze our way through the massive crowd that lingers at the backdoor, watching the people idiotically coming down the Slip ‘N Slide, and I have to tear Tully’s attention away. She’s been feeling a little reckless this week, but I’m drawing the line at an indoor Slip ‘N Slide.
“What’s up with you?” I ask before ordering us each a drink.
Tully’s eyes cut away. “Nothing,” she says, not ready to talk about whatever’s bugging her, but I shrug it off and instead, take my new drink eagerly and watch in amusement how Tully instantly throws hers back before ordering another and requesting a few shots to go with it.
I guess we’re getting a little messy tonight.
“Is that Monica?” Tully questions, looking over at the furthest corner of the yard and taking in the girl who has been watching me like a hawk all night.
“Yep,” I tell her, popping the ‘P’. Monica had no choice but to come tonight. Her not showing up would be admitting defeat after struggling to claw her way back up the social ladder the past few weeks, but little does she know, I’m about to knock her the fuck down.
Monica has kept her eyes on me everywhere I go. She knows something is coming and the fact that she doesn’t know what it is making her paranoid, which naturally, is extremely satisfying to me.
Candice showed up tonight which I wasn’t surprised by. She’s working hard to save face after my little stunt last week. When she walked in tonight, she even managed to give me a smile. It was forced and I don’t doubt that it nearly killed her doing it, but I respect the effort and appreciate that she’s stuck to her side of the bargain and left me the hell alone. Maybe she has a little more common sense than I gave her credit for.
I have to admit, watching Monica hurry to her side when she got here tonight was pretty damn funny, especially when Candice shrugged her off and walked the other way.
“Is this still going down tonight?” Tully asks, throwing back a shot of Tequila.
“Depends,” I grumble. “Will you still be able to walk in another few minutes?”
“Uh huh,” she murmurs. “I’m good now. Just needed to feel the burn, besides, if I can’t kick Rivers’ ass tonight, then I need to find someone else to go down and there’s no one better than Monica.”
“Good,” I tell her. “Because honestly, I was going to do this with or without you.”