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“Oops, sorryyy.” Was that me? Why do I sound like that? Damn, I must be drunker than I thought.

“It’s been so long, baby.” Her chest ends up pressed to mine, and her curves send such a wave of wrongness through me that I spin around to run.

And end up smacking into Pika’s solid frame.

“What’s wrong, Albrecht?” He lifts a brow, running a predatory gaze over Val as she steps up beside me. “Can’t hang with the big boys?”

A hiccup leaves my throat as I glare at him, the room spinning like a merry-go-round. “Yesss, I can. Imma big boy.”

“Yeah, he is,” Valerie winks, honestly looking worse than I’ve ever seen. Her dress hangs off her body, shoulder blades poking out with needle marks up her arm. She digs her nails into my wrist and tugs me toward the kitchen, lining up a few shots of vodka.

“You look like shit,” I slur, rubbing the dryness from my eyes which only causes the room to shift even more.

“Fuck you,” she snaps, downing her shots before pressing one into my palm. “Drink up.”

“N-no, can’t. I need Xed.”

God, why did I come here tonight? I really, really miss my best friend.

Valerie rolls her eyes before topping us off. “You and Xed, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”

“Shut the hell up, Val.” Glaring at her, I take another shot just to shut her up, patting my jeans for my phone.

I really need to call Xed. I just want to go home. But my phone isn’t in my pocket, and I don’t know where I left it.

My bladder is screaming at me from all the alcohol, so I stumble to the bathroom, vision unfocused and hazy. I barely avoid pissing on the wall before my legs give out after I’m done, causing me to collapse. My head bounces off the lip of the tub when I hit the ground, pants around my ankles, and everything goes dark.

I don’t know how long I’m out, but the next thing I know, Valerie’s crawling on top of me, and I’m lucid long enough to rasp out one single sentence.

“Stop. Please call Xed. Wanna go home.”

“Shh,” she coos, settling her body weight on top of me.

Her claws digging into my chest are the last thing I feel before I’m pulled beneath a wave of suffocating black.

Chapter ten

My best friend is an idiot.

Making my way upstairs, the music thumps loud enough to shake the whole dorm, and I glare at the last text he sent me hours ago.

Sasquatch:

Please don’t be mad, Ducky. I’m sorry. I fucked up.

Yeah, he did.

I won’t lie; his words had felt like a kick to the teeth. I’d have been devastated if I didn’t know Matty as well as I do.

But I do know him, better than he even knows himself, and he obviously didn’t mean all that bullshit. Still doesn’t mean I wasn’t allowed a few hours to be angry at him for it, though.

And now here I am, tracking his ass down because he didn’t respond when I asked if he needed a ride home. Oh, we’re definitely going to have words.

The dorm door is thrown open, and people are lounging in the hall, either making out or smoking. As I step inside, I scan the packed space, looking for Matty’s bulky frame. He should be easy to spot—the guy is built like Hulk Hogan—but when I don’t immediately see him, a trickle of worry runs down my spine like ice. Where the hell is he?

Pushing through drunken college douchebags, I start to search the dorm, but an arm shoots out to block my path, and I look up into a pair of narrowed hazel eyes.

“Fuck are you doing here, Alexander? No one invited you.”