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“I take it all back,” Podge slurred, distracting me from their antics. Leaning heavily against my shoulder, he tossed back another shot of Jameson and grinned. “This was a fantastic fucking idea.”
“Where’s Alec?” I asked, roughly shrugging him off. I fucking hated being touched, and this drunk asshole knew it. I also detested the smell of whiskey. It did shit to my head. Made me feel on edge.
“He went upstairs with some posh girl with a huge rack,” Podge replied with a big grin, still leaning heavily against me. “Lad, these rugby-heads know how to throw a party.” He waved a hand, gesturing to the mob of bodies surrounding us. “This is unreal, Joe.” He pointed to where some older lad with speakers and decks set up in the far corner of the room had switched songs to 2Pac’s “Changes.” “I’ve never seen so much drink and food in my life.”
“It’s easy for them to have it,” I replied bitterly, still nursing the same bottle of beer I’d been handed when I walked through the door. “When they have their fathers’ wallets to pay for it.”
“Ah, loosen up, Joe. It’s not their fault they’ve got a few bob in the bank.” Podge chuckled, looking like something a Christopher Lee Dracula movie shat out with the big bloodshot eyes on him. “You did good tonight.”
No, I did what I had to do to feed my family.
“Have a smoke and relax,” he encouraged, handing me another bottle of beer from a nearby table. “A few drinks and a smoke won’t hurt.”
I arched a brow and set the bottle back down. “Coming from the fella who almost pissed himself when I told him that I was still smoking.”
“Yeah, well.” He grinned at me and shrugged. “I’ve been reminded of the perks of being your best friend.”
“Yeah.” I smirked. “Damn straight, asshole.”
“Stay out of their medicine cabinet, though, ya hear?” he warned, holding a finger up. “And don’t go losing the run of yourself.” He reached up and slapped my chest. “If you get tempted to score, just think about the girl whose name you’ve got tattooed over your heart…”
“Best friend or not, if you put your hands on me again, I will rip your arm off,” I warned, batting his hand away. “And if I wanted to get fucked up, that’s exactly what I would be doing, but I’m not. So I don’t need any lectures or advice from you, and I don’t need any reminders of what’s at stake, either. I’m a big boy, Podge. I can handle my own shit. I’ve been doing it my whole life, so don’t start trying to mother me, ya hear?”
“I hear you, Joe.” He chuckled good-naturedly, holding his hands up as he backed away. “I hear you, lad.”
Jaw clenching, I watched as he slipped into the crowd.
This wasn’t easy for me, and I needed him reminding me of that like I needed a hole in the head.
Fuck.
I finished my bottle and set it down, refusing to pick up another. I didn’t need the complications that I knew would follow.
“Because he’s only using you,” I heard someone say, and I turned my attention to where Hughie was in a heated discussion with another familiar blond.
This one wasn’t his sister Claire.
No, this girl was Shannon’s other little friend.
I couldn’t remember her name, but I had a feeling it was Lilly.
Or maybe it was Izzy.
Either way, she was standing near the doorway, with her arms folded across her chest glaring up at Hughie Biggs, who was glaring back at her, while he flailed his arms around in obvious exasperation. “You can’t seriously be considering going upstairs with him.”
“Like you give a shit,” she said. “At least Pierce doesn’t act like I’m invisible when he’s with his friends.”
“You know I give a shit,” he was quick to counter. “If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t—”
“You wouldn’t what, Hugh?” she cut him off by hissing. “You wouldn’t treat me like an afterthought? Because, news flash, asshole, that’s exactly what you’ve been doing.”
Taking it all in with sober eyes, I briefly considered telling them that if they were trying to conceal a hookup they were doing a pretty terrible job, before remembering these assholes were not my monkeys and this was not my circus.
Shaking my head, I stepped around them and headed through the impressive kitchen until I found the back door.
Slipping outside, I ignored every other asshole in the back garden and wandered over to the far end of the yard, sparking up a cigarette as I went. Temptation was all around me and I needed to keep my head.
“Got one of those to spare?” a female voice asked, and I turned around to find Shannon’s friend that had been fighting with Biggs moments before. “Remember me?”
