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“You okay?” a young woman asked me when I sat next to her on one of the red velvet couches lining the wall. I was trying to catch my breath. There was no ventilation in the room, because red velvet curtains matching the couches hung from where I assumed the windows should be.
“I’m good. It’s just a little airless in here.”
The woman nodded in agreement and inhaled deeply before pulling a vape pen from her pocket and offering it to me. “Some of the best shit on the market. You want some?”
I smiled and waved her away. “Sadly, I’m the designated driver tonight. Regretting it right now, though.”
“Dude. You never DD to a Macie Rayne party. Rookie move!”
“The sacrifices we make for the ones we love,” I said in reply.
She held up her pen with a smile.“I will smoke to that.” She took a long hit, held it for a while, then opened her mouth, the smoke spilling out without much effort on her part.
“I have to find that date of mine. Have a good night.”
“You, too, girl. I hope you at least get some good sex for being the badass girlfriend.”
I barked out a laugh and rose to make my way through the crowd in search of Noah. By the time I made it into the room with cages and dancers, my mouth had that dry feeling I couldn’t seem to remedy. I detoured to the kitchen, found the only ice bucket with no alcohol, and grabbed a water bottle from deep in the ice. It felt like ambrosia as I drank it down and leaned against the counter. My head was clearing a little in the less polluted air, though it wasn’t much better. I doubted there was a room in this house that wasn’t touched by the smell of smoke, alcohol, or marijuana.
“Amber!” someone sang my name in a perfect melody. I spun at the sound of it and found myself face to face with Macie Rayne herself. She smiled brightly, swaying on her feet with glazed eyes, fair skin, and a well-covered pimple I hadn’t noticed before. For one moment, I considered asking what concealer she used.
“Macie, your house is amazing.” It felt like the only genuine compliment I could afford her, considering some of the shit that I’d seen going on within her walls.
Macie huffed out a genuine laugh, which died into a soft smile as she studied me. She glanced around her conspiratorially, ignoring the group of people following her around as though they didn’t exist.
“Can I tell you a secret?” she asked, looping her arm through mine and grabbing one of the expensive champagne bottles from a bucket full of them.
“Sure.” Who the hell was I going to tell, and who would believe me if I did?
“I have a party when I want to redecorate. These animals always leave a mess you can’t get rid of.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but her free index finger pressed against my lips to stop me.
“Can I tell you another secret?”
I nodded as she dropped her hand.
“I don’t organize any of this shit.”
“Mace,” someone in her entourage warned. I felt like the voice belonged to the woman with her nose in a phone, but I could’ve been wrong.
“Oh, shut up, Sandra. She dates Noah Jennings. Discretion has to be her middle name.” She chuckled at her witty comeback and lasered back on me. “Anyway, they tell me when to come out of my room and,tada! Here I am, like a puppet on a string.”
“Macie,” the same voice warned again.
“I not only fund this party and every party favor they indulge in tonight, I have to organize and fund the redecorating.”
“Seems like an expensive way of doing it.”
“Yeah,” she said thoughtfully, slapping the bottle against the chest of one of the guards standing close. He opened it while she held her hand in the same place, waiting for him to replace it with the opened bottle. He did so obediently, then stepped back again. Macie took a deep drink, smacked her lips, and leveled her bloodshot eyes on me. “But they don’t always let me spend my own money, and it’s justification to my accountant. Let this be a lesson to you, Cherry lollipop. If you’re getting into the biz, you always have to answer tosomeone. Everything is aboutfucking publicity.”
“I’m here as support crew only.” I was treading lightly as she was falling into the realm of ranting.
“Smart as well as gorgeous. Noah is a lucky guy.”
“I think I’m the lucky one.”
Macie’s gaze turned serious, her eyes losing that spark of light for just a moment.
