“Yeah.” She patted his head. “He’s just going to take a little nap.”
“You’re crazy…” I blinked in surprise.
“Do you need a drink too or will you stay out of my way tonight?” She fastened her jeans and put her hands on her hips.
“Have your party.” I held up my hands. “I really don’t care.”
“Good.” She grinned and walked past me. “It’s just a few friends—no big deal.”
This could turn out to be a blessing in disguise.
The first indication that the party was going to be bigger than Jenny let on was the truck that pulled up outside with several kegs of beer. A few minutes later, there was another delivery, and I watched from the top of the stairs as two guys brought what appeared to be four boxes of liquor into Sinn Manor. I probably should have intervened at that point, but I didn’t—and before long, the guests started to arrive. She definitely invited more than a few friends—I wouldn’t have been surprised to find out that everyone she knew had gotten an invitation.
I tried to drown out the music and ignore everything that was going on, but after a couple of hours, I started to get really worried. Guests were still arriving, and it sounded like a full-fledged concert was going on in the living room. I made my way downstairs through a sea of teenagers that were already drinking and found Jenny in the kitchen with a couple of her friends. They each downed a shot of tequila and bit into a slice of lime as I walked through the door.
“Jenny…” I raised an eyebrow. “There are a lot of people here.”
“Relax, Leigh!” She pushed the bottle of Patron towards me. “Have a drink and enjoy yourself.”
“I’ll pass.” I shook my head back and forth.
“Don’t blame me because you aren’t having fun.” Jenny pushed past me, and her friends followed her.
Sinn Manor was party central for the evening, and I had no idea how to handle the situation. I told my mom that I wasn’t going to be Jenny’s babysitter, but it seemed like she needed one—technically, Pennington was supposed to be taking care of that, but he was still passed out in the living room. Some of the guests had decided to use his face as a canvas, and he had a couple of crude drawings that were sure to piss him off when he woke up. I checked for a pulse just to be safe but finding out he was still alive didn’t make me feel any better about what was going on in front of me.
Jenny had a keg in the foyer, a keg in the living room, and bottles of liquor everywhere. The doors were hanging off the liquor cabinet—it did appear that Edgar locked it, but that didn’t stop anyone from getting in. Edgar’s humidor was standing open, and someone had written Free Cigars on the inside of the lid. There was already enough smoke in the air for me to know that some of the people at party were indulging in his private stash. I could smell marijuana mixed in with the tobacco smoke, and that was topped off by various fruits and custards from the teenagers that were vaping. I finally found Jenny again—in one of the side rooms trying to convince a guy to do a keg stand.
“Come on, Dylan! You always do a keg stand!” Jenny gave him a nudge.
“I shouldn’t even be here…” He looked around nervously. “I didn’t realize you were going to invite your entire school.”
“If you do a keg stand, I’ll go get Anna.” Jenny winked at him. “I bet she would be impressed.”
“She’s got a boyfriend.” He scoffed. “You conveniently forgot to tell me that.”
“They’re not using labels.” She shrugged. “It’s never going to work out anyway. Bolt is going to get a scholarship to play football somewhere—and we both know it isn’t going to be at Carson Cove University.”
“Fine…” Dylan shook his head. “One keg stand, and then I have to go. I don’t want to be here when the fucking cops show up.”
Jenny got a crowd for Dylan’s keg stand, including the girl she referred to as Anna. The group pretty much cut me off from Jenny, so there was no way that I was going to be able to talk to her. I had never seen anyone do a keg stand before in real life, but it was pretty impressive—Dylan didn’t even need any help doing it. His shirt slid down his stomach when he balanced on the keg, which revealed washboard abs—that got a few cheers from the girls in the room, and if Anna had a boyfriend—she wasn’t bothering to look away. I decided to wait until Jenny wasn’t busy to try and talk some sense into her. I thought Edgar’s office would be safe, but when I got to the end of the hallway, I saw a guy sitting in one of the chairs in front of Edgar’s desk. He appeared to be more preoccupied with his phone than anything else that was going on.
“You’re not in the mood to party?” I walked into Edgar’s office and sat down behind his desk.
“I have a beer.” He reached down and held one up that looked like it had barely been sipped.
“If that’s your first one, then you’re way behind.” I laughed under my breath.
“I guess.” He sipped his beer and looked up at me. “I don’t think we’ve met. Do you go to Carson Cove High?”
“No.” I shook my head back and forth. “I’m Jenny’s stepsister. My name is Leigh.”
“Ah, okay. She said you were going to be here.” He nodded. “I’m Gavin. Most people call me Bolt.”
“Bolt?” I raised an eyebrow.
“It’s a nickname from football.” He smiled. “I’m faster than lightning.”
“Interesting.” I nodded.