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“I, uh. If you don’t want to go, I figured we could just skip it and stay at your place that night. But if you want to go, I’ll go.” A party sounded like just the thing I wanted to go to, especially with his family. Being able to see his place and hang out with his friends, it sounded very girlfriend-y and an experience I didn’t want to miss out on. Of course, I knew Eli didn’t want to be around drinking, but maybe it would show him how far he had come.
“I’d like to go. If that’s okay.” Silently to myself, I called him daddy, staring up at him with my best pouty face. Lifting our hands together, he kissed them and nodded with a small smile.
“Of course, sunshine. Piper? You in?” His neck craned up to look at her in the rear-view mirror.
“As long as your other brother isn’t coming, I’ll be there.” Piper perked up from the back seat. Eli looked like he may take her seriously when she said, “I’m just joking. I’ll come.”
“Good.”
I snuggled back in my seat, happy to be part of his life and thrilled he was filling mine.
ChapterTen
ESSA
Rhodes’s party was that evening, and I was putting the finishing touches on my Buffy the Vampire Slayer costume. Eli would meet me at their house dressed as Angel. Piper was in my bathroom, applying another layer of powder for her vampire outfit. As my brain buzzed with excitement, I was unable to focus on one thought. This would be my first Halloween party, or my first party ever, really.
“I wonder if Eli’s middle brother is as good-looking as the other one,” Piper said.
“He is. I saw him briefly last week when I went over to Eli’s for a moment, but Eli says he has a sort-of girlfriend. She’ll be there tonight.” Piper had mentioned her hatred of Adon whenever the subject of Eli’s brothers presented itself.
She smacked her blood-red lips together after putting on another slick of lipstick. “What’s a ‘sort-of’ girlfriend?”
“Eli told me Rhodes and Celine have been on again, off again since high school. I guess no one likes her.”
“Huh. Well, maybe I can make it a permanent off again, if he’s down for that.” She smirked and raised one eyebrow.
“Are you sure? You’d miss out on Adon,” I told her teasingly.
“Pfft. Ew. Don’t care. Let’s go!”
Piper drove us to Rhodes’s house since I planned to spend the night or have Eli take me home later. The house was decorated with pumpkin lanterns and spooky webbing hanging from the porch. A large bowl of candy greeted us at the open front door. Downstairs, a group of people in costumes danced in the living room, but there was a larger crowd just past them in the kitchen. Everyone was standing around the island talking, laughing, and drinking from red Solo cups.
“You must be Essa! How’s it going? So glad you made it!” Rhodes threw an arm around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze like we had known each other forever. I immediately felt at ease around him. He was dressed as Gomez Addams, but had grown his own impressive mustache. “I think Eli’s on his way upstairs. Who’s this?”
“This is my friend, Piper.”
“Hello, Piper.” Rhodes stuck out his hand at Piper, but before she could grab it, a woman in a Morticia Addams costume appeared and seemed to curtail his impulse. Rhodes dropped his hand.
“Hi!” Piper tried to speak to Rhodes, but Morticia whispered in his ear and slid her long, bony fingers around his bicep, tugging at his arm. He pulled back from her, yelling, “So rude! Quit fucking doing that!”
“You’re a dick!” Morticia threw her cup of beer in Rhodes’s face before storming off.
Rhodes wiped his eyes with his hands, while I quickly tried to find some napkins. Piper found a stack and handed him a few.
“Sorry about that. That was my, um, lovely girlfriend, Celine.” He grimaced, then looked up behind me and nodded. “Here’s Eli.”
Beefy arms encircled me from behind, and I leaned back into Eli’s hard chest. “Told you she’s a bitch,” he whispered in my ear. His steely scent enveloped me, and my skin erupted in goosebumps.
“Hi.” I smiled up at him while he briefly kissed me.
“I missed you.” The sound of Eli’s deep voice vibrated through his chest into my back.
Piper made a gagging sound, and I laughed. “You two make me sick. You just saw each other this morning.”
Eli smirked at her. “Yeah, but that was too long ago.”
The party was well underway with drinking games in the kitchen, but Eli and I hung back to observe everyone else. He kept his hands busy with mine, or playing with my hair, rubbing my arms like he couldn’t stop fidgeting around all the alcohol. Lots of people had brought homemade goodies. I wished I had thought to do so. It was such an adult thing to do. Not bringing something reminded me of how inexperienced I was.
