All the Inside Howling (Hollow Folk #2)(48)

“Vie,” he roared when he saw me, and he staggered again, going down on one knee. He laughed again, too. It was this big, booming, echoing laugh, like carpenter ants had eaten it out from the inside. “You won’t—you won’t fucking believe it—”

Crashing against me, he sent both of us to the ground, and his arms tightened reflexively around me. When we landed, he was on top of me, his cheek smashed against mine, his breath warm on my ear. For a moment, it was too close to what had happened between us in the past, and I shoved at him.

“Get off,” I said, trying to push him off me. “You’re wasted.”

He laughed again, soft this time, in my ear. “You won’t fucking believe it, but I got a fucking invite to this fucking party. You want to see?” He fumbled at his leather jacket.

“No, I don’t want to see. Get the hell off, right now.”

Ignoring me, he continued searching his pockets until he produced his iPhone. A fresh, jagged crack ran down the screen. It hadn’t been there the last time I’d seen his phone. I was guessing it hadn’t been there until a few hours earlier, when Kaden had sent out the Facebook invites to the party.

Sure enough, Emmett opened Facebook and jammed the phone in my face. There was the invite: Get your gayme on (come show Austin how much we love him) haters don’t bother.

Emmett collapsed into giggles again when I knocked his phone away. “Isn’t that fucking hilarious?” I managed to free an arm, and this time I was able to topple him and crawl clear. As I stood, Emmett rolled onto his back, shaking and wiping his face. At first I thought he was shaking with silent laughter, but suddenly I wasn’t so sure.

“It’s so goddamn funny.” Emmett got to his feat, weaving back and forth, and I was pretty sure that gravity was going to suck him back down, flat on his ass, without any help. “Haters don’t bother. Who would be a hater? Everybody loves fucking Austin Miller. Everybody. You know who loves him?”

“Everybody.”

“Damn right. Colton loves him. Kaden loves him.” His voice rose an octave. “Hailey loves him. Shelby loves him.”

“I get it.”

He tried to jab his finger into my chest, but I moved back, and he almost fell. “You. You fucking love him.”

“I’m going to have Kaden drive you home,” I said. “You’re going to wrap the Porsche around a tree, and you sure as hell aren’t staying here.”

“No way. No way, no way. I got to talk to the guest of honor. I got to tell him how happy I am, how goddamn happy I am for him, for kissing you,” his voice rose to a screech. “For kissing you behind my goddamn fucking back.”

I grabbed him by the collar and hauled him towards the Porsche. “Listen to me, you selfish prick.” I was tired, I’d had the shit knocked out of me, and I’d had it, completely had it, with Emmett Bradley. His feet spilled out from under him as he struggled to keep up, but I didn’t slow. I just grunted and kept dragging him. “You aren’t going to breathe one fucking word to Austin about anything. You aren’t going to drop nasty little hints. You aren’t going in there. You aren’t going to call him. Not tonight. Not ever. You’re going to sit in your fucking eighty-thousand dollar car until I get back and decide how I’m going to deal with the plastered piece of shit who showed up tonight just to cause trouble.” I popped the door open and tossed Emmett into the back of the car. Leveling a finger at him, I said, “Stay here.”

Pouting and sullen, he surged forward, but I grabbed a handful of his jacket and tossed him back. This time, his head cracked against the glass. He stared at me, rubbing his head, tears welling in his eyes.

“Stay.”

Without answering me, he curled into a ball, his face pressed against the seat.

Just to be safe, I took the keys from the ignition and marched back into the house. The party had gone from wild to raging: the house, packed floor to ceiling, reeked of cheap body spray, and music pounded against my aching head, and every inch of the floor was packed with sweaty, dancing teenagers. No one noticed as I slunk along the wall, trying to avoid eye contact or touch as I made my way to the kitchen. I stopped when I caught a glimpse of Austin, his face shining with happiness as he roared his encouragement for Kaden, who was trying to do a keg stand. They were the only two I needed to talk to, and they were both on the far side of the room. And they were both, judging by how things were progressing, going to be wasted before long.

Damn it. I didn’t know anyone else here, at least, not anybody I could trust to drive Emmett home. If I could get across the room, get Austin’s attention—but the thought of pressing through that crowd, of being psychically mired in a hundred different people’s worst memories, stopped me. Maybe Eva. I didn’t know if she was old enough to drive, she certainly didn’t look old enough, but maybe she could go tell Austin I needed to talk to him and— As I turned, I crashed into someone. Beer soaked my shirt and sweater, and a deep voice swore. But, in spite of having touched someone, I didn’t feel myself pulled into a vision. That meant this was someone I’d already come into contact with. I looked up at Colton. He was a big, bruiser type, built about my size but looking a hell of lot more like a tank that could crash through six feet of cement and just keep going. Colton, along with Kaden, was Austin’s other best friend. On my first day at school, he had given me a black eye. Unlike Kaden, he’d never made any effort to patch things up. Right now, glaring at me, his hair still done up in that ridiculous black faux hawk, he looked like he wanted to give me another black eye, and I wasn’t sure it was because of the spilled beer. I didn’t know what Colton thought about Austin and me. I was pretty sure he didn’t like me, but did that extend to Austin now too?