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“Shit, I forgot,” Avery mutters with a wince. “Want me to get something else?”
Andie got drunk on lemon drop shots the night she lost her v-card, and she hasn’t been a big fan of them since. I’m not sure if it’s the memory of the hangover or of what happened with the guy after that turned her off of them. Maybe both.
Lemon drops are also Avery’s favorite, so she clearly has selective memory.
Andie rolls her eyes, picking up the shot. “Sureyou did,” she chastises, giving in and thrusting her glass toward the center of the table. The rest of us pick up our shots and follow suit, clinking them together.
“To girls’ night,” I say, grinning at my friends.
“While it lasts,” Avery adds with a chuckle.
We all knock the shots against the table and tip them back, the vodka burning my throat all the way down. I scrunch up my face, shoving the lemon between my teeth and biting down to diffuse the taste of the liquor.
“Those are fucking foul,” Andie coughs, wiping her mouth off on a wrist.
Avery sucks the juice from her lemon wedge, dropping it into her empty shot glass with a light laugh. “Whatever. I think they’re delicious.”
I recover from my own shot, turning to Avery with a brow raised. “What do you mean, while it lasts? You’re not calling it quits already, are you?”
“Oh hell no, we’re just getting started!” Avery exclaims.
“She means it’s only a matter of time before the guys show up,” Lo cuts in, chuckling. “They can’t stand to be left out. Every time we try to have a girls’ night, they just happen to wander in, like they had no idea we’d be here…”
“That, and Madd looked like he wanted to strangle me when I told him I was stealing you away.” Avery gives me a pointed look and I laugh, tossing my shiny straight hair back.
Honestly, I’m surprised we’ve made it this long without him crashing our party. Madd has a jealous streak a mile long, and even when we were young, he hated when Avery and I did things without him. He’d always invent an excuse to turn up and join in.
“Are things any better with Tris?” Lo asks, stirring the ice around in her vodka drink with the swizzle straw.
I shrug a shoulder. “As good as they can be, right now. I mean, he’s my brother, and I get why he did it. I think it’ll take Madd a little longer to forgive him, though.”
“He’s a champion grudge holder,” Avery agrees. “Though you already know that.”
Andie lets out a squeal as the DJ changes the song, jumping up from her stool excitedly. “Dance floor, now!” she demands, reaching toward Lo to pull her up from her seat.
Avery and I exchange a glance, knowing there’s no way we’re getting out of this one. ‘Call Me Maybe’ just might be the most annoying song in existence, but Andie has always been obsessed with it for some reason. Every time it comes on when we’re out somewhere, she insists we all dance- and I’m hit with a wave of nostalgia as the four of us make our way toward the dance floor, the crowd parting for Andie Raines as she leads us to the center.
This bar is located in her pack’s home territory of Stillwater, and the majority of the patrons here are members of the Stillwater pack. As the alpha’s daughter, Andie is respected and adored- she’s spared the sleazy come-ons and wandering grabby-hands that the rest of us are often subjected to on the dance floor during ladies’ night, even though she’s arguably the most beautiful girl in here. Her long red hair swishes behind her as she bops to the song, a wide smile stretching her lips that shows off her straight white teeth. She’s dressed to the nines tonight, just like the rest of us, and while the dudes on the dance floor keep a respectable distance, they can’t help but gawk at her.
The four of us dance together, losing ourselves in the music as the DJ spins to another song and the crowd starts to close in tighter around us. I’m shaking my ass to a hip-hop song when I feel someone come up behind me, the warmth of their body pressing against mine as an arm locks around my waist, yanking me backwards into a hard chest.
I’d know that possessive grip and intoxicating scent anywhere.
I throw my head back against Madd’s shoulder, reaching back to loop my arms around his neck as I melt into him. “I was wondering when you were gonna show up,” I muse, tilting my chin up until I meet his blue eyes.
“What are you wearing?” he grumbles, his hands touring the front of my cute chiffon romper. It’s pale yellow in color- his favorite on me- with a plunging neckline and sinfully short hem, all my best assets on display.
I spin around in Madd’s arms, taking a small step back so he can get a better look at me. “You don’t like it?” I ask, tilting my head.
Except I know I look damn good tonight. The sky-high heels I’m rocking make my legs look way longer than they actually are and wrestling with the straightening iron definitely paid off. Madd’s practically drooling as he takes me in, his eyes darkening as they flick down my body, then slowly rake back up to meet my own.
“I’m gonna have to have a word with Avery about letting you go out dressed like this,” he mutters.
“What’s wrong with the way I’m dressed?” I ask innocently.
Madd clenches his jaw, his gaze sweeping around the dance floor before he steps closer to me again and tugs my body against his. “I don’t like the way these other assholes are looking at you.”
I roll my eyes, pressing my palms against his chest to push him away, but he doesn’t give me an inch of leeway. He anchors me against him tighter, his hands sliding down to squeeze my ass as he leans his head down beside mine, growling into my ear. “You’remine.”
