Tamed (Torn #5)(64)

“I’ll go get it. You just…stay here with Drake,” Chloe said as she stood.

“Um…okay.”

“I don’t want you to be alone tonight.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m a big girl. I can handle being called a whore a few times without breaking out into tears or curling up into a ball.”

“Stay.” She shot me a look before walking away.

Once she was standing at the bar, Drake spoke, “You want to talk about it?”

I snorted. “Really? You want to sit around the fire and talk boys with me, Drake? Why don’t we paint each other’s toenails while we’re at it?”

“We can if you want. I prefer purple over any other color though.”

I grinned at him. “Smart-ass.”

He stared at me for a moment, making me squirm. Drake had never looked at me like he was now. I felt like I was under a microscope.

“I think I know what happened between the two of you,” he said.

“And I’m sure whatever you’re thinking is wrong.”

He shrugged. “Maybe, but I doubt it. You started to care about him, didn’t you? And when you told him, he freaked.”

I raised an eyebrow, surprised. Maybe Drake paid attention more than I’d realized.

“You two were together a lot, and then you f*cked it up with feelings. Am I right?”

“Nope, not even close,” I lied.

“Did you ever think that he freaked because he felt the same way?” Drake asked, pretending not to hear my denial.

“Here you go,” Chloe said as she appeared with two drinks, effectively ending my conversation with Drake.

Unfortunately, his words continued to play over and over in my head.

Chloe handed me one and dropped back down onto the sand. “And look who I found.”

I looked up as Jade and Logan sat down on Drake’s other side. Logan gave me a small smile before turning his attention to Jade. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his lap.

Great. I’m the odd one out—as usual, I thought to myself as I stared at the two couples.

I lifted my new drink and took a healthy swig of it. The vodka burned my throat, but I ignored it. At least the bartender had made it strong. I had a feeling I was going to need a lot of strong drinks to get through this night.

Dusk turned to darkness quickly. I watched my friends and the people around me. Almost everyone was drunk, including myself. My eyes kept darting around, searching for Adam. I caught sight of him a few times, but he never ventured near our little group. Every time I saw him, he had his arm around a different girl. I pretended that it didn’t bother me.

Eric joined our group just as I walked back from getting my fifth drink. Or maybe it was the sixth. I’d lost count. He nodded hello at me, and I gave him a small smile. I didn’t know Eric at all. He was the quiet one of the group, but whenever he spoke, everyone would listen.

I watched the fire crackle and pop until I was lost inside the flames. I felt my eyelids drooping, the vodka hitting me hard. I was a sleepy drunk. Go figure.

“Hey! Wake up!” Chloe shouted at me as she shoved my arm.

I opened my eyes and flipped her off. “I wasn’t sleeping.”

“Sure…” she slurred as she leaned further into Drake.

I grinned when she turned her head and grabbed his face, pulling him in for a kiss. She was obviously drunk, and she fought to turn in his lap. Once she managed to straddle him, I looked away. I did not need to see them banging on the beach.

“I gotta pee,” I mumbled as I tried to stand. I laughed ridiculously loud as I fell back down. “Fuckin’ beach keeps moving.”

Logan laughed at me. “I’m sure it’s the beach.”

I flipped him off, too, before trying to stand again. “Hush.”

I wobbled away from the fire, tripping as I went. The only thing that kept me going was the fact that I was about to piss myself. A toilet would be nice, but that would require me to go into Adam’s house. That so wasn’t going to happen.

I moved farther down the beach until the party was nothing more than background noise. The moon was barely more than a sliver, giving me almost no light to see with. That was fine with me. If I couldn’t see, no one could see me.

After relieving myself, I slowly walked back toward the party. I’d made it no farther than thirty feet when someone stepped right in front of me. I bumped into a hard body and staggered.

“Whoa, sorry,” I mumbled as I tried to move past the person still blocking my path. My temper flared. I was having a hard enough time trying to walk as it was. I didn’t need another obstacle to go around.

“Excuse me,” I said. I tried to move, but the person blocked me again. “What the f*ck, *?” I glared up at the person in front of me. I sucked in a shocked breath when I finally saw who it was. Even with almost no light, I recognized him.

“What the f*ck are you doing in California?” Adam demanded. His speech was slurred, telling me he was just as drunk as I was.

“Move.” I tried to push past him.

He grabbed my wrist and pulled me back. “You don’t belong here. No one wants you here.”

“Back the f*ck off of me!” I jerked my arm free. “I’m here with my friends. Seeing you was just an unfortunate accident.”