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“No fighting. We drink to drown our sorrows, not to bitch. Can I trust you two alone for five minutes?”
“If you get me a drink too,” Emery grinned.
“Fine, but then your cut off.” I picked her cup up on my way past the coffee table. Entering the kitchen, I placed one on the island and refilled the other with ice from the automatic dispenser. As I was grabbing the half empty bottle of Tequila, my mind wandered back to a certain silver-eyed guy.
I could admit to myself that Rhett had piqued my interest, and not just because of his looks. It was him in general. He was something unknown, and everything mysterious had a compelling allure.
He seemed…different. And a threat to who you’re supposed to be. With my inner voice of reason speaking up I was swiftly reminded of another potential issue, a much larger one. I quickly filled my glass like I had Em’s, and then mixed both with fresh cans of soda.
My drink was at my lips before I took one step back towards the living room, the cool liquid leaving a sweet burning sensation in its path as it traveled down my throat. I knew there wasn’t enough liquor in the world to fix my problems or all the issues that came with them. It had become necessary, though. Alcohol was the elixir of my life, a self-medication of the mind and an inebriation of my soul.
I could hear the girls talking softly from the other room. On a Friday night they should have been out drinking somewhere where they’d be sure to have a good time. Not that I held them hostage.
Annika would go off and do her own thing if she really wanted to, but Em was always with me when she wasn’t working or with Tyler.
I refilled my glass again, nursing it on the way back to the living room.
“Here you go.” I handed Em hers’ and returned to my spot on the couch, grabbing my throw off the back before I sat down. “Is everyone getting along now?”
“I said sorry,” Annika tossed out, face in her phone.
“So did I.”
“We also agreed on something.”
They shared a look, and I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. These two collaborating couldn’t mean anything good. “And that would be?”
“The housewarming thing,” Annika replied smugly.
I expelled a noisy breath and ran a hand over my face. “Even if I did want to go to this party, I don’t know these people. Do you?”
“I know enough.”
That meant she hardly knew anything.
Another objection was about to spill from my mouth but one look at Em’s face had me hesitating. “You really want to go?”
She lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug, thumbing the blanket she’d placed over her legs. “I need a different scenery. Something out of the norm for once.”
For once.
It was just as I thought in the kitchen. I could do this same routine day in and day out for the rest of my life. Wanting more was irrelevant. My way of life served a purpose and I didn’t like change, which was probably half the reason I would never be more than what I was now.
“You guys should go together.”
“We want you to come too,” Annika stressed.
“I’ll think about it.”
I already knew I would be attending for Em’s sake. She wouldn’t go if I didn’t. I could be a good girl and suffer through one party for her.
CHAPTER THREE
RHETT
My phone buzzed, the preview box showing a winking emoji from Annika. She seemed even more determined than usual to get my attention. After getting what I wanted out of her, I hadn’t replied to any of her other messages so who the fuck knows what kind of one-sided conversation she was having.
“Uh, oh. She hit you with that triple-text,” Callum joked.
“And that’s why she’s being ignored.” I deleted all the extra correspondences without bothering to read them, tossing my phone lightly onto the sandstone countertop.
Had she not been a friend of the girl I was interested in I’d never have given her any of my attention at all. I already knew too much about her, none of it good.
I could hear Evie, Angel, and Tripp fucking around by the lake, music floating up from the surround system that ran around the dock.
“You gonna tell me what your plan is with Nova?”
“Depends.”
“On?” he asked, loading another bottle of liquor into the freezer.
“The only reason I hit up Annika was because I had to. Nova would never willingly hand her number out.”
“She gave you her name,” he countered, always trying to be the voice of reason. Something about positive energy or some shit.
“We already knew her name.”
“True. But now you’ve seen her. That must count for something. If shit else, we know her sense of fashion is slick.”
“I know you’re not talking about those weird ass unicorn shorts.”
