Because tonight isn’t just a party. It’sthe night.
The night I finally sleep with Kolson Kennedy.
I slowly scan the sea of bodies packed around us, but my search comes up empty, and I can’t help the sinking feeling deep in my chest.
Where is he?
Mia gives my hand a squeeze. “He’s probably waiting to make his grand entrance,” she says, rolling her eyes dramatically as she sips through her straw.
Kol and Mia have never gotten along, and she’s never hidden that she thinks I can do better.
I don’t know if you could call what Kol and I have a relationship. He hasn’t officially asked me to be his girlfriend or anything, but Kolson Kennedy doesn’thavegirlfriends.
He’s dated, sure—if that’s what you call having a new model or influencer on his arm at every event or party.
Butnevergirlfriends.
He comes from a very prominent, affluent, and powerful family and they’re…particularabout who they associate themselves with—Kolson included.
I don’t know why I try so hard.
Once, Kol was on the front page for a week after being photographed buying a box of condoms from a gas station at one a.m.
I cried that entire weekend.
Not because I was shocked. I knew he was sleeping around. I wasn’tthatdelusional. I cried because he wasn’t using them withme.
But none of it mattered. I didn’t care about his last name, or his money, or the painfully beautiful girls he paraded around. I wanted to bewantedby him.
Even if it was only once.
“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.” The words tumble out before I can stop them, half-lost in the thrum of bass and murmurs.
A sudden tug on my shoulders yanks me out of my spiral. I stumble back, heart skipping, and look up into a pair of deep brown eyes—Tori.
“Sadie Marie Becker,” she says, voice sharp, playful, impossible to ignore, as she holds me in place.
“Not even my middle name—“
She leans closer, her red hair brushing my shoulder. “We’re here to havefun. Forget about him! Dance, flirt, find someone who is actually worthy of your affection.Oh, shit!I think that’s the guy fromThe White Lotus. I’ll be right back.”
“Halle-fucking-lujah,” Mia quips, completely monotone, before turning back to me. “She’s not coming back.”
“Nope,” I reply, popping the P. “But she was right. This is our last summer together and we are here to have fun.” I shrug.
Mia grins, pulling me deeper into the crowd where we dance, getting lost in the heavy thump of the bass.
“Ihavetopee!”I shout to Mia, my voice barely audible over the pounding music.
“What?” she shouts back, pointing to her ear.
“Where. Is. The. Bathroom?” I mouth, over-enunciating each word in hopes she can read my lips.
Her mouth forms an O, and she points toward the hallway behind the DJ’s setup. “I’ll come with you,” she yells over the music.
As we weave through the crowd, her hand is suddenly ripped from mine. I spin around just in time to see Mia thrown over the muscular shoulder of some guy who clearly has the build of a professional athlete. I don’t know his name, but with Mia, they’re never around long enough for it to matter.
Whatever. I’m a big girl. I can handle finding the bathroom on my own.
