The guy sitting to his left snickered and raised his hand for a high five, and to my horror, Reese actually high-fived him.
An ugly, abrasive darkness crept through my veins. Who the fuck was this guy? What was evenhappening? Andwhy?
“Reese.”
He turned back to me, his eyes rolling a bit as he tried to focus them on mine. “Mm?”
“Come on. Let’s go.”
He pursed his lips. “But I haven’t even gotten to my pants yet.”
And he never fucking would.
“Reese—”
“Oh shit, it’s Dakota Voss.”
I glanced over at the drunk guy who Reese had just high-fived. His cheeks were splotchy, his eyes shining, and he had a not-so-nice smile on his face.
I gave him no response, instead turning back to Reese, who was staring down at his lap, fiddling with the button on his pants—like he was about to take them off.
For fuck’s sake.
I gripped him under his elbow and pulled him to his feet. “Let’s go, we’re leaving.”
He jerked his arm out of my hold, shaking his head. “No, I’m not done, I was gonna win!” He gestured at the table, which was covered in poker chips and red plastic cups.
The guy next to Reese set his elbows on the table and leaned toward me. “Hey, why’d you break Jared’s arm?”
Why the fuck was this guy still trying to talk to me? And about this shit, no less.
I sighed and said, “I didn’t,” then reached for Reese again. He jumped out of his chair to avoid me, bumping into the table and knocking drinks and piles of chips over. Five different people started yelling at him, and he yelled right back.
He was pure fucking chaos right now.
“Then why does everyone say you did? Even Jared. That’s my cousin you fucked up, bro.”
The guy who’d been sitting next to Reese was suddenly up in my face, bumping his chest against mine. He was nearly as tall as I was, and a hell of a lot beefier.
I didn’t fucking need this right now.
I was tired, hungry, and pissed off, and this guy posturing as he regurgitated gossip and Everett’s lies from last spring was the last thing I wanted to fucking deal with.
“I didn’t hurt your cousin,” I told him, trying to keep an eye on Reese.
He smiled and shoved me, and I almost tripped over something behind me.
“You think you’re tough?” He was about to shove me again when a little ball of fury screamed and jumped on his back, putting him in a chokehold.
“Don’t you fucking touch him!” Reese yelled in the asshole’s ear.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. “Damn it, Reese?—”
“What the—get the fuck off me!”
And then Reesebitthe asshole’s ear, and the guy started screaming. “Agh, fuck! What thefuck, get off me, you little psycho!”
The guy twisted around frantically, clawing behind him, so I jumped in and tried grabbing Reese before he could get hurt. He clung to the dude’s back, making sounds like an agitated animal as I pried him off his back. He wriggled in my arms, growling and panting and getting absolutely nowhere. When he realized he wasn’t getting out of my hold, he stopped moving, holding onto my forearms, his chest heaving.
