Tales & Time (Lost Time Academy #1)(27)
"Shots?" Tavvy loudly asks me, getting to the table at the same time as me and grinning. I pick up the tequila bottle off the table as Tavvy gets three little shot glasses from the back that don’t look used. I look to my left as Ella comes to my side, her arms crossed in annoyance, and I smile at her. "Joining in, Ella?" Tavvy asks her in a daring tone.
"Go on then, fairy. Seems like I don’t have anything better to do," Ella replies, and Tavvy just glares at her as she pours the shots before handing them out.
"One, two, three," I count and then down the shot with Tavvy and Ella at the same time. We do three more shots that burn my throat and make the room seem even warmer before I pick up a bottle of beer, and Tavvy helps me undo the lid as we all chuckle.
"Dance time!" I shout, loving the warm buzz and how Ella and Tavvy cheer with me. We all head to the dance floor a few moments later. I’ve never had girls as friends, but I like these girls for some reason. I laugh as I dance around, losing myself to the music and eventually losing Tavvy and Ella in the crowd as I dance away, avoiding other students. I drink my beer, hating the taste as I move my hips and slowly put my hands above my head, swaying to the music that seems to speak to me. I put the beer on a table somewhere before swaying my hips to a slower song in the middle of a big bunch of dancing people.
"Hey, party girl," a guy whispers into my ear before roughly pulling me back to him, his hands tightening around my waist before I can move away.
"Let go," I demand, trying to push him away from me, but it doesn’t work, and he just holds me tighter. I try to wriggle out of his grip as he presses his head next to mine and kisses my ear. I start to feel my power in my fingertips just before the arms are ripped away from me, and I stumble a little as I try to stand up straight. I turn to see Knox holding a wiry young man in the air by the back of his jacket, but Knox’s angry eyes are on me. There is silence as Knox lifts a beefy fist and punches the guy hard in the face. The jerk falls to the floor with a smack, and he doesn’t get up. It should scare me, but the whole alpha thing just seems to do the opposite. I like this side to Knox. He is definitely the darkest one of the brothers now. The music is suddenly cut off as Knox walks to me in big strides and swiftly picks me up, throwing me over his shoulder before I can protest about it.
"Let me make this clear while you are all listening. Madilynn Dormiens belongs to the Tale brothers. Anyone touches her, and they deal with us." Knox's words seem to make everyone burst into whispers as Knox carries me out of the room.
"Put me down, Knox," I grumble, smacking my fists onto his back and trying to wriggle. His arm is like a vice grip on my thighs though, and I don’t move anywhere.
"Nope. You are drunk, and I don't trust you not to fall over or throw up," he says, walking down the stairs which actually does make me feel sick with every movement as my head bounces against his back. We get out to the corridor and instead of going towards my room, he turns and walks to the other stairs in the corridor, banging my head more against his back as we go up it.
"My room is back there," I tell him, my fuzzy head making everything a bit uncertain. Do I have a room upstairs? Who knows?
"I know. I said I don’t trust you not to be sick, so I am watching you for the night in our room," he informs me.
"Our room? Won’t your roommate mind you are having a girl over for a sleepover?" I say and then giggle to myself. “Well, not girl-girl over for the night. We don’t do that. Do we?”
"Dear god, stop talking, Sleepy. My brothers and I share a room like we always have done," he tells me, and I nod my head, even though I’m slightly aware he can’t see me do it.
"Where are the others?" I ask him. "In the room?"
"No. They are out for the night doing something important. We take turns making sure you are okay, but I didn’t expect you to be the party animal like I found tonight," he says, his words gruff. “Also, where the hell did you learn to dance like that!?”
"You should lighten up, Knox, and join the party! We could have danced together!" I say, and he chuckles.
"You are drunk as hell, Sleepy," he says, and I hear him opening a door and walking us into a room. Knox gently places me on the floor, and I grin at the four different versions of him I can just see before the world blacks out.
Chapter 16
I groan as I wake up, rolling into the musky, chocolate-smelling pillow and stretching my legs out, feeling the silky sheets wrapped around me. It’s not until I blink my eyes open, hating the bright light from a window that is shining into my eyes, that I realise I am not in my bed. I sit up sharply to see where I am, immediately holding a hand to my head to stop it from pounding so loudly from the movement. A wave of dizziness overtakes me as I try to make my mouth less dry. I clear my throat a few times until the dizziness stops and I feel sure I’m not going to throw up. I haven’t felt this shitty in a long time. What the hell happened last night? I’m sure I didn’t drink that much, though I only really remember the shots with the girls…then everything else is a blur. I likely don’t want to remember, considering I’m in someone else’s bed. Another wave of dizziness hits me as I try to move again, and I squeeze my eyes shut.
“Oh god, I’m dying,” I groan and hear a set of very familiar chuckles. I blink one eye open to see Noah and Knox in the room with me. Knox is lying on the floor with a pillow and blanket, whereas Noah is in the bed opposite me in the room. Both of them have messy sleep hair, and they are shirtless. Why is Knox on the floor? This must be their room. There are two sets of bunkbeds, two wardrobes, a chest of drawers, and their room is massive. There is even another door open in the room, and it leads to a bathroom.