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“Dude.”
It isn’t until Maddox’s voice hits my ears that I realize he’s standing beneath me. He jumps up and slaps my boot. “What the fuck are you doing up there?”
"Watching. Waiting. Contemplating.”
“Have you seen Riley?” He looks over his shoulder, searching the crowd. “I can’t find her anywhere.”
“Have I seen Riley?” I mock him. “Do you even know who you’re talking to?”
“Right. Right.” He spins around, facing the party. “So where is she?”
An airy laugh climbs up my throat. “I might let you get down with the girl, but don’t think for a second I’m making it easy for you. Go find her your damn self.”
Reaching into my pocket, I pull out my mini binoculars. These wasted thirty seconds of talking with Maddox has me losing sight of her.
“All right. I see how it is.” Maddox scoffs. “But keep watching because I’m about to find her and I have every intention of giving you a show.”
Ignoring him, I press the binoculars to my eyes and sweep the crowd.Where the hell did she go?
I keep looking, and each minute that passes has my heart beating faster and faster.
“Come on, Angel,” I whisper. “Show me your face so I know you’re okay.”
I’m prepared to jump off this branch in thirty seconds if I don’t see her. With one leg hanging low, I teeter on the edge.
Fifteen. Fourteen. Thirteen.
My heart jumps when I finally spot her.About damn time.
“Who the fuck is that?”
I lean outward, watching through my binoculars as she takes a bottle from the same guy she just walked away from. “Parker,” I grit out. “Give the bottle back, Angel. Don’t you do it. You don’t know what’s in that thing.”
Fuck. She drank it.
She’sstilldrinking it.
Inching forward just a tad more, I try to read the label on the bottle, but I lose my balance and slip off the branch.
Dropping a good six feet, I crash to the ground, landing on my back. “Son of a bitch,” I grumble, rubbing a sore spot on my ass.
Rolling my shoulders, I sit up and snatch my binoculars out of the thicket and stick them back in my pocket.
With no time to lose, I get on my feet and search for her on foot.
Love can be brutally painful—physically and emotionally. But I’d withstand a thousand wounds and fall from a hundred trees just to be certain she’s okay.
With thorns stuck in my jeans and an arm-length scratch from the branch, I trek through the weeds and keep walking once I’m on the pavement.
Five minutes later, I see her. She’s laughing with a group of people, one being Parker and another being Maddox.
The second I see Maddox bump his chest into Parker’s, I barrel through the crowd, heading straight for them. I don’t stop until I’m grabbing Parker by the head and throwing him forward like a bowling ball.
“Ridge!” Riley gasps, one arm spread between me and Parker, and the other between Maddox and Parker. “For the love of God, would you two stop? We were just talking.”
My gaze slides down her shirt, but it’s not her shirt. “What the hell is that?” I nod toward Parker’s Marvel hoodie wrapped aroundmygirl's body. “Get that shit off right now!”
Maddox and Parker continue to spew vile words at each other, but my focus is solely on Riley.
