“Where'd you get beer from?” Jason asks, lifting his gaze from his phone.
“Took them from my stepdad's bar. I only take one or two at a time, so he never notices.”
I walk into my closet and push aside the box that hides my stash. Neil declines the offer, but Jason takes one from my outstretched hand, and wecheersbefore cracking them open.
Stirring awake, I stretch out in bed, hissing when I feel the pain from a kink in my neck. I squeeze at the tense muscle, wondering if my mom will be able to give me one of her awesome massages later. After a minute, I sit up, scrub a hand down my face, and swing my legs over the side of the bed, absently rubbing at the boner I woke with. That is until I notice Neil and Jason sitting on the couch playing Call Of Duty. I almost forgot they were here.
“Shit. What time is it?” I mumble, releasing my dick and instead running my fingers through my hair. “You guys been awake for long?”
Neil's attention swings to me for a second before returning to their game. “It's about eleven, I think.”
“For real?”
“Yeah, we've been up for a while,” Jason adds. “How much did you drink last night?”
I grab the water bottle from my nightstand and chug some down before leveling him with a glare. “I only had the one beer. I didn't sleep well 'cause I gave you two assholes my pillows.” I bend my neck side to side, trying to ease the tightness.
Neil chuckles, still focused on the TV. “You still had a pillow.”
“Yeah, but I like two under my head.” I stand from the bed. “I like thickness.”
“That's what she said,” Jason snickers.
Neil's body shakes with silent laughter while I smile, shaking my head. “You guys hungry?”
“Starving. I was about to go ask your mom to feed me,” Jason says, his lips tilting into a suggestive smirk.
“Don't be gross,” I tell him. “Actually, don't talk about my mom at all.”
“Yeah, yeah, we know you're a mama's boy.” He rolls his eyes. The guys are always bugging me about it. But I love my mom, so what?
I find a clean t-shirt and slide it on while the guys finish their game. Then I grab my keys from my discarded jeans pockets. “We'll take Jakey a coffee after and find out how successful his night was.”
I can't help but wonder if he ended up stopping at the party, if he saw Jennifer, or if he chickened out altogether and went straight to bed.
When we reach the bottom of the stairs, I poke my head into the dining room where I hear my parents' low murmurs to tell them that we're going out for food. But the second my stepdad locks eyes with me, he tells me to take a seat instead.
“What's goin' on?” I ask, slowly stepping into the room, noticing the tight expressions on both of their faces.
“You boys should get going home now,” my mom says to the guys while looking past my shoulder.
Whatever is wrong must be pretty bad if she's sending my friends away. Shit, maybe they noticed the beer I've been taking. Dread starts creeping its way up from the pit of my stomach as I think about the punishment Brian, my stepdad, is sure to inflict.
I turn to my friends. “Sorry, guys. I'll catch up with you later.”
They nod, looking back and forth between my parents and me before turning around and leaving. Slowly, I take a seat next to my mom. I'd rather be sitting on her side if this is about the alcohol. Naturally, I'm closer with her than my stepdad.
I've barely taken a seat when I ask, “What's wrong?”
“We got a phone call a few minutes ago,” my mom starts. There's an uncertainty, a shake to her voice that I haven't heard before. It has my heart rate climbing that much more with anticipation. “There was an incident last night . . . involving Jacob and Jennifer Lapman.”
I feel my forehead crease with confusion. “What?” My first thought is that he must have managed to see her after all, and I almost smile. But then I remember that she saidincidentin that sentence, and I start conjuring up differentincidentsthat she could be referring to.
Were they in a car accident or something?
Is he in the hospital?
Did he finally ask her out, but she happens to have a boyfriend that beat him up, and she somehow got hurt too?
