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He lit a clove cigarette and observed the group of the school’s most popular kids without a care in the world. His peridot eyes landed on me and widened slightly. The icy green color warmed and grew cool again as he dissected me. According to Evelyn, Holden was some kind of super genius. Whatever it was, it seemed as if he could see through my carefully crafted persona to the confused mess beneath.
Evelyn slunk to his side and linked her arm in his. “Everyone, you remember Holden Parish,” she said as if his very existence were her doing.
“Smoking’s outside, dude,” Chance grumbled.
“You sure about that? Your living room smells like a Snoop Dogg concert.” Holden handed Chance a small paper bag. “A token of gratitude for having me at your little get together.”
Chance’s frown vanished when he pulled out a bottle of Patrón Silver. “Dude. Thanks.”
“Perfect,” Evelyn purred. “Line up the shots, boys, because it’s time to play Seven Minutes in Heaven.”
The kitchen erupted in cheers as Chance lined up solo cups on the island counter. Holden plucked the bottle from Chance’s hands and poured shots for them both.
“To our host,” he said, his gaze flickering to me and then away.
The guys tossed the liquor back. It whacked Chance hard, making his eyes water, while Holden drank his down smoothly and poured another.
“Step right up, ladies and gents, and let’s make some beautiful memories,” he said and instantly became the party MVP.
“You still cutting out?” Chance asked me under a swell of cheers.
“Nah,” I said, sipping my beer. “Changed my mind.”
“Hell yeah!” Chance pressed a cup with a shot of tequila in it into my hand. “Maybe you’ll get lucky and wind up in my hall closet with that sweet Violet.”
I tossed back the shot and felt recklessness infiltrate my thoughts. My gaze wandered drunkenly back to Holden. “Maybe.”
We headed past the formal dining room to the living room where Chance barked at people to clear a space. The music was turned down and some partygoers gathered in to watch. Others sat on the floor where I noticed Miller Stratton with a guitar on his lap. Another new guy, Ronan Wentz, stood over him, arms crossed like a sentinel or bodyguard.
I didn’t know Miller very well except that he was an intense guy and that he was friends with Violet. Four years ago, he passed out in her backyard and had to be hospitalized for diabetes. I’d hardly spoken two words to him in those four years, but as we took up our seats on the floor to play the game, he glared at me as if I’d run over his dog.
Chance and I, Donte, Isaiah, and Holden sat on one side of a semi-circle on the floor. Five girls—Violet and Evelyn among them—sat on the other. I was as far from Holden as possible, though it seemed like my every damn sense was attuned to him. He’d sprawled his lean frame on the carpet, elbow propping his head, cuddled up around the Patrón bottle. Every time I looked over at him, he was looking over at me, intently and obviously.
Part of me wanted to grab him by the collar and demand to know what the hell his problem was. Another part of me wanted to grab him…
And what?
Nothing. I was drunk.
Holden’s brows rose in amused curiosity, and I realized I’d been staring. Quickly, I turned my attention to Evelyn who was explaining her version of Seven Minutes in Heaven while tearing strips of paper to write down the players’ names.
“If your name is picked, you go in. Then we pick someone who joins you in the dark. I’ll leave it up to you to decide how to figure out who,” she added with a sly smile. “When time’s up, you leave, but that person stays in the closet, and anot
her name is picked. You get it? Like a chain. If you’re not picked to go in, you drink!”
Since I was unable to keep my damn eyes off of Holden, I noticed him take a sip from the tequila bottle and swallow it as if it were water. Again, he caught me staring. A drop of tequila lingered on his lower lip. With merciless eye contact, he rolled his tongue over his lip to catch it.
I dove into my beer cup; my skin heating. Why was he here? To mess with me? Torment me?
It’s only torment if you care about what he thinks. Or about him…
“This is a woke version of Seven Minutes in Heaven,” Evelyn was saying, writing our names on the strips of paper. “That means I don’t give a fuck if you’re a guy and get paired with another guy, or girl with a girl. You go in and get to know each other. How well you get to know each other is up to you.”
I was instantly more sober at the thought of winding up in a closet with Holden.
Goddammit, Evelyn…
“Someone have a timer?”
