Connected (Connections, #1)(90)

“Bell!” I yell, my patience with her running very low.

She comes around the bar and pulls me by the arm away from Nix.

Something clings to my head as she opens the sliding glass doors. The balloons are in my face and so is Bell.

“You,” she says, handing me the white strings. “Cut the shit and start helping.”

I can tell by her tone she’s had enough, so I decide to cut her some slack and see what sort of great job she has in store for me. It’s cool that she did all of this, but all I really wanted was a small get-together for the evening. I figured we'd sing Happy Birthday, eat some cake, the guests would leave, and then I'd get some alone time with my birthday girl.

Clearly that's not the plan now, so inhaling a deep breath, I look at my sister and raise my hands in surrender. “What do you need me to do?”

Glancing around, I see Xander busy sucking face with some chick he brought with him.

“See all these balloons tied together? They need to be untied and strung around the chairs.”

“Chairs?” I question because I only own the chairs around the outdoor table, and there are way more balloons than chairs.

Pinching my chin, she turns my head down toward the pool. “Those chairs, the ones you’re going to unfold and put around thooooose tables.” She points to a stacked pile of round tables over at the other side of the pool.

“Just how many people did you invite?” I have to ask because there are a lot of f*cking tables and chairs down there.





Pacing back and forth between the party that is now in full swing and the empty dining room, I continue to look out the window. She should’ve been here over an hour ago.

Earlier, we exchanged a few texts:





Aerie has issues with my clothing choices and insists we make

a stop on the way. Be there shortly :)





Maybe it should’ve been a clothing optional party ;)





Hopefully later it will be. ;) <3





I haven’t even seen her yet, and I already want to skip the party and go directly to the later.

The music is thumping out all different tunes, so I decide to put in my song requests. There are so many people here; I can’t even see the Hollywood sign that Dahlia loves so much through the glass doors.

Stopping to talk to a few friends I haven’t seen in a while, I finally make my way over to Daniel, at least I think that’s his name. He’s my sister’s new boyfriend and he’s DJ’ing the party. Bell is busy filling the dozens of different types of glasses that she bought with wine, mixed drinks, and who knows what else. Garrett and Phoenix are busy staying far away from her so as not to get roped into being waiters at the party.

I head to the kitchen, grab a bottle of beer from the fully stocked refrigerator, and go sit on the couch next to Xander and some blonde. I can’t remember her name, but I know he’s been out with her before.

“Oh my God, River!” she says, and I instantly regret sitting here. Her tone is like a whiny teenage girl and her giggle sounds like a five year old.

Taking a swig of my beer, I lower my bottle then raise it in her direction. “Hey, great to see you again.”

Xander is grinning at me as he says, “Chloe.”

He really can be an * sometimes. Calling me out that I didn’t remember her name wasn’t necessary. I mean really, he has a rotating set of girlfriends with him almost every time I see him, and this one isn’t one of my favorites.

Her voice is so high pitched it actually makes my skin crawl. “So River, I love your new house. When did you move in? Do you have a decorator because my BFF is one and I could so introduce you!”

Her lips are moving, but I’m not even listening. She lost me when she actually used the letters BFF in a sentence, but I smile nicely at her. “Sure, that sounds great.”

These are the kind of girls I could never stand. The ones who try to be seductive but sound more like a whining toddler. They think they are sexy but they couldn’t be more wrong. I feel like I dated a never-ending slew of them before I reconnected with Dahlia. She is nothing like those girls, and I couldn’t be happier.

My phone starts buzzing in my front pocket, setting my beer on the new coffee table, I stand up and pull it out. It’s a text from Dahlia.





I’m sorry we’re so late. Pulling in the driveway now. :)





Glancing at Xander and his over-bubbly brunette, I indicate with my chin that I’m heading toward the door. “Excuse me a minute, Dahlia’s here and I want to say hi before she hits the door.”

“Dahlia? Who’s Dahlia?” Chloe asks Xander.

Xander looks at me and answers, “The girl that has my brother *-whipped.”

I just shake my head and shoot him a dirty look. I’m not going to argue the semantics of *-whipped versus love with him, especially in front of the Valley girl.

“Aren’t I right, Loverboy?” he shouts at me as I walk away.

Opening the door, I brace my hands on the frame and watch her get out of Aerie’s car. The driveway reflectors shine upward and highlight her amazing shape. The shameless blaze in my eyes must be apparent, but I don’t care who sees it. She looks hot as hell in that little black number that Aerie must have talked her into buying.