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Nathan seethed for a minute, staring out the window at the house. “We’ll ask,” he said. He dug his phone out of his pocket, and stabbed at the screen. “Kota? We’ve got a problem. Yeah, another one.”
???
A couple minutes later, Nathan and I followed Kota’s instructions, heading toward the house. We were being sent in to investigate. Kota was on the way and was going to reach out to the others to help.
“Stay close,” Nathan said as we wound our way around the cars in the drive. He found my hand, squeezing it. “Stay by me.”
The moment we entered through the side door of the garage, we were stopped to a dead halt due to the barrage of people standing around the entryway to the living room. To me, it didn’t even seem like my own house any more. There were people on the orange sofa in the family room, the rest were standing nearly hip to hip. I didn’t understand where the music was coming from until I recognized my stereo, the one Mr. Blackbourne had bought, sitting on the fireplace mantle, blaring a rock song.
Nathan started to cut through the throng, then shook his head, turning around toward the back stairs. I stayed behind him. There were people sitting close together on the stairs. I saw a couple of people in the laundry room sitting on top of the washer and dryer.
We had to walk over the people on the stairs, climbing to get to the upstairs hallway. The bathroom door and the bedroom doors were closed. A couple of people were standing outside the bathroom. A guy knocked on the door, asking the person inside to hurry up.
Nathan went to my bedroom door. He caught the handle, found it locked. He frowned and then fished out the stick pin that had been in the wall to unlock the door.
Inside, the light was off. I wondered if maybe Danielle and Marie had closed and locked the doors so people wouldn’t go in them.
Nathan smacked the light on.
There was a couple on my bed. A girl was half naked, her breasts hanging out over the top of the dress she wore. The guy on top of her was kissing them. They separated when the light exposed them. She gasped and shifted her arms over herself.
“What the fuck?” The guy on the bed said. “Can’t you see we’re...”
“Get the fuck out,” Nathan shouted. “Get the fuck off. Get out.”
The guy reeled back. The girl, covered herself, fixed her clothes and jumped off the bed. She made a beeline for the door. The guy grunted and cursed but adjusted his pants and followed.
The moment they were gone, Nathan slammed the bedroom door, pressing his back against the frame. He raked his fingers through his hair. “Shit, Sang...”
I vibrated where I stood, my heart in my throat. I didn’t know where to start. “There’s so many people,” I said, overwhelmed.
I had a small thought, wondering what would happen if my stepmother could see this. It felt so wrong. Maybe she was wrong to cut herself out, but this was still her house and she wouldn’t like it. Guilt swept through me, wishing I’d known. Could I have stopped it?
After the guilt subsided, I had fear. The police would be called. They’d know in an instant my parents weren’t home.
Anyone who may have followed us, Mr. Morris, may know now my parents weren’t home.
“Sang,” Nathan walked over to me. He grabbed my shoulders, holding on to me. “Listen to me. Stay here. Don’t open this door for anyone, okay? Lock it behind me when I leave.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to start breaking up the party,” he said. “It’s still early. There’s a chance the neighbors are being more forgiving and the police won’t be called if we can get them cleared out.”
“The police?”
“Listen to me,” he said. He dropped his forehead until it was touching mine. “I promised you I’d take care of you and I am. Okay? Just stay in here. If anyone tries to come in, you tell them to go away. If you have to, go hide in the attic. If you really have to, get out and go back to Kota’s house. I’d send you there now, but I’d have to take you back through all this mess.”
I nodded.
“Kota will be here soon,” he said. “He’ll help me.” He swallowed. He slid his hand down my arm, caught a couple of my fingers and brought them to his mouth. He kissed a knuckle, then slipped a couple of fingers into his mouth and nipped. “Don’t come out until one of us comes to get you.”
“Be careful,” I said. I wanted to help, but I didn’t know what to do and the amount of people in the house really did paralyze me. I didn’t know anything about how to break up a party. What did I know about parties?
Nathan kissed my hand again, and dashed to the door. He locked the handle before he ducked out. I couldn’t hear where he was going with the music and the voices in the house were so loud.
I paced the carpet, occasionally glancing out the window hoping to catch when Kota or someone else might get here. After a few minutes, I fished out my phone, using the special app to check the cameras in the house.
While the upstairs bathroom and hallway had cleared out, the downstairs was packed. I couldn’t see everyone in the rooms fully because of the way the cameras were set up. I scanned for Danielle and Marie, but I couldn’t pick them out among all the other kids. I didn’t know how anyone managed to talk to each other. People were holding red cups. Where did those come from? Did Danielle bring them? Who brought the drinks?
I didn’t see Nathan either. That made me nervous.
When the door rattled, I thought for a moment it was maybe the couple returning. I wasn’t sure what to say, but I thought if the door was locked, whoever it was would go away.
When the door was unlocked from the outside and started to open, I thought it was Nathan, or possibly Kota.
Rocky poked his head in. He was in a blue T-shirt and jeans. His muscled arms flexing as he held open the door. His soft brown hair swept into his eyes. The hard lines of his face softening in surprise as he noticed me.
“Rocky?” I asked, taking a step back. My hand found a spot at the dip in my throat to rub. “What are you doing? I thought you were going to be at the other party with the team.”
“When I found out you weren’t going to be there, I bailed,” he said. “Jade’s a bitch. Her parties are lame.” He stepped forward, closing the door behind himself. “Your parties aren’t too bad.”
I shook my head, waving my hands in the air. “No, it’s not... I mean...”
Rocky glanced around my bedroom. His eyes caught on the messed-up bed. “Nice sheets,” he said. “Not my color.”
I swallowed, not really caring about his opinion, but feeling strange having him in my bedroom commenting about my sheets. “I should go,” I said. I know Nathan wanted me to stay, but I thought I shouldn’t stay with Rocky. Maybe I’d go hide in Marie’s room.
Rocky side-stepped when I tried to walk around him, catching me with an arm around my waist. “Whoa. Hold on. I don’t bite,” he said. “Relax for a second.”
“I need to go find Nathan,” I said. When I moved, he went with me. “He was...
”
“I thought you were dating Silas,” he said. His lips twisted. “I didn’t think you were that kind of girl. I wouldn’t have pinned you for that, at least.”
“It’s not... that’s not...”
“What’s wrong, Sang?” he asked. His hand at my hip massaged, squeezing a little. “Look, I’m sorry if I said anything wrong earlier. I was just trying to give Silas a hard time.”
“It’s okay,” I said, trying to step back and ease away from him. “I get it.” I didn't really feel that way, but thought agreeing with him would satisfy him and that I could get away from him quicker.
“Hang on,” he said. He captured me stronger this time around my waist. His hair fell in his eyes a little. “I just want to talk to you.”
My cheeks heated up, and I wasn’t sure how to handle him. Silas needed for the team to get along. Did I need to get along with them, too? What would Mr. Blackbourne ask me to do? If I did something to make Rocky angry, would he retaliate against Silas? I didn’t know if Silas was popular enough to sway the football team to take his side over Rocky’s.
“Look,” he said, his face close enough that it made it difficult to look right at his eyes. “I’ve been wanting to get to know you, but you’re constantly around Silas and his friends. You’re a hard girl to reach.”
“Oh?” I said. I knew this was true. I wondered for a moment about other people, like Karen, who seemed hesitant to approach me when Nathan and the others were always around.
“Yeah. Is he that protective of you?” Rocky’s hand drifted up until he caught my chin. “He’s not hurting Rocky’s girl, is he?”
My mouth popped open. “I don’t... I mean he doesn’t...”
“You don’t have to put up with that,” he said. “Go out with me, and you’ll see. You’re my girl, Sang. Once you’re Rocky’s girl, you’re always Rocky’s girl.”
I flinched, taking a step back. This wasn’t good. I needed to get away. “I’m with Silas...”
“Come here,” he said. He captured me around the waist again, pulling me toward him until our hips met. He started grinding himself into me. I felt a hardening lump growing between us as his groin pushed back against my hip bone. “Give me a chance, Sang.”
