Cursed (Cursed Superheroes #1)(4)

Steph shakes her head. “Kara, sometimes I wonder how your big fat head fits through the door.”

“My big head.” Kara eyes Steph’s teased hair. “Look who’s talking. It looks like you have a bird’s nest growing on the top of your head.”

“I was talking metaphorically. Not literally.” Steph rolls her eyes. “Jesus, how much did you drink before we left?”

Kara wavers. “Um… I don’t know…”

“Please don’t start, guys,” Jane pleads. “We just got here.”

“I’m with Jane on this.” I slide my arm out of Kara’s so I can pick strands of her hair out of my mouth. Thankfully, everyone has stopped with the staring, starstruck thing so they don’t catch me digging around in my mouth with my finger. Although, I am curious what they’d do. Recoil in disgust? Offer me a toothpick? “I want to have fun tonight. Not spend the entire night playing mediator.”

Kara and Steph consider what I said then Steph sticks out her fist toward Kara. “Truce?”

Kara nods and hitches her pinkie with Steph’s. “Fine. Truce, I guess.”

“Well, I was going for a fist bump, but whatever. I guess this works too.” Steph moves her hand away and turns back to the crowd, unzipping the leather jacket she’s wearing. “So, where should we start first?”

Kara’s eyes skim the dance floor. “Jay’s on the dance floor so my vote’s there.”

“We agreed no more playing with Jay,” Steph warns Kara. You’ve already messed up that poor boy’s head enough.”

“But he’s such a fun toy,” Kara whines, jutting out her lip.

Steph shakes her head. “No more Jay. He can’t handle you.”

“We could go sit in the Jacuzzi,” Jane suggests with a glimmer of hope in her eyes. “No one’s in it right now.”

Steph grimaces. “Jane, I love you to death, but I can’t do another party where we just sit around on our asses in the hot tub. I want to have fun tonight.” She wiggles her hips, doing a dance.

“I love you Steph!” A guy shouts from the dance floor.

She winks at him then looks at Kara. “Okay, maybe the dance floor isn’t that bad.”

The two of them exchange a devious look and grin. I know what’s coming next. They’ll go to the dance floor with the intention of dancing with Jay and the guy who just shouted. But then they’ll unintentionally reel in every guy within a fifty-foot radius, and eventually a fight will break out over who gets their attention for the evening. And just like that, the party will come to a screeching end.

How do I know this? Because it’s happened at least a dozen times.

To a lot of people, I’m sure this sounds great. Having whatever you ask for, whenever you want it, what could be so bad about that? But there’s a dark side to drawing so much attention. Like Max Tavishson.

Max. Poor Max. Max was the reason I searched the internet for weeks upon weeks, trying to find reasons why someone would obey a person, no matter how ludicrous of a request they made. A lot of weird shit came up that freaked me out, so eventually I gave up. I’ve never told anyone about my fear that something might be wrong with me, like maybe I have mind controlling powers. But that fear plagues me every single day.

“How about this,” I chime in, trying to distract my friends from hot guys and dancing. “I’ll go to the hot tub with Jane. And Steph, you go with Kara to get us some drinks. Then we can meet up and figure out our next step.”

Kara scans the backyard until she spots the kegs and liquor area. Her eyes light up, probably because the entire football team is hanging out there. “Sounds like a fantastic plan.” She adjusts her tight-fitted dress, then heads down the porch stairs, swaying her hips.

Steph heaves a sigh, trudging after her. “I’ll go keep an eye on her.”

Once they vanish into the crowd, Jane turns to me. “They’re never going to make it to the hot tub with our drinks. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, probably.” I shrug then smile. “Oh well. I guess it’s just you and me.”

She laughs and then we start to make our way toward the hot tub. “I don’t know why Kara and Steph have to flirt with everyone.”

“It’s just who they are,” I keep walking and people scurry out of my way. They keep apologizing to me, which is just crazy. They’re not doing anything wrong. But I’ll admit, I appreciate that they’re making it ten times easier for us to get to the hot tub. “They like guys. A lot. It’s not that big of a deal.”

“Yeah, but I just wish that they’d pick one guy, at least for a little while. I don’t know why they think they have to,” she makes air quotes, “’sample all the tasty treats,’ before they pick one. It always causes fights wherever we go.”

“They don’t mean to cause fights,” I say, but I’m not sure if I believe my own words. Sometimes I think they do. But since they’re my friends, there’s not much I can do or say. “Did you wear your swimsuit underneath your dress?” I change the subject as Jane and I arrive at the hot tub.

She nods. “Did you?”

I nod, unbuttoning my cut off shorts. “Yep. I’m wearing my lucky plaid bikini. And you know what that means.” I wink at her then bob my head and shake my ass. “I’m bringing the nineties back.”