TWENTY-ONE
STERLING
The music is pounding,bass vibrating through the floors and walls. Aside from Maisy, Levi, and Courtney, I don’t recognize many faces. Levi swears I know most of them from the resort or from school, but right now I feel like I’ve been dropped into a room full of strangers.
I shoulder my way through the crowd, brushing past a couple making out against the wall, until I reach the kitchen island where Levi’s lined up bottles, mixers, and a pyramid of cheap beer cans. I crack one open and take a swig as my eyes skim the room, searching until I find her.
Maisy.
She’s near the back door, surrounded by Jeff and a couple of his friends. She tosses her head back, ponytail swishing behind her as she laughs at something one of them says. Her cheeks are flushed, eyes bright with intoxication, and the way every single one of those guys is looking at her makes my stomach twist. Like they’re proud she’s giving them her attention.
Attention that I want.
“And here I was thinking she was your girlfriend,” a voice purrs beside me.
I drag my eyes away from Maisy to find Courtney leaning against the island, bent forward, cleavage on display, lips glossed to the nines. She bats her lashes at me with a look I’ve seen a hundred times tonight, the same one she gave me at the skating rink. It’s an invitation.
“Shouldn’t you be with Levi?” I ask, my tone flat and bored.
She smirks, turning her attention lazily back to the crowd, giving a little finger wave in someone’s direction. “He sent me, actually.”
I follow her gaze and spot Levi across the room, beer can in his hand. He grins at me, winks, and raises his drink in a silent toast. A silent message that says ‘All yours, bro.’
“Thanks,” I mutter, lifting my can to my lips. “But I’m not interested.”
Courtney watches me drink, a smirk tugging at her mouth, before tilting her chin toward Maisy. “I don’t think she is either.”
My head snaps up, finding her in the crowd again. Jeff’s got his hands on Maisy now, and she’s dancing against him, her body pressed close, her ass grinding into his lap while her ponytail whips side to side with the beat. My hand clenches so hard around the beer can that it crumples in my fist, liquid fizzing over my knuckles. Jeff catches my stare through the crowd, smirking like he knows exactly what he’s doing, and winks.
“I’m going to fucking kill him,” I growl.
“Or,” Courtney purrs, her nails dragging slow, deliberate lines down my bicep, “you can just show her you can move on too.”
I glance down at her, repulsion curling in my gut, but she takes my silence as permission. She slips in front of me, back pressed to the island, and her hands drift up my chest like she owns me. I look past her, back to Maisy, only to find her already watching me.
She’s still against Jeff, but she’s not moving now. She’s frozen, eyes locked on mine as Jeff’s mouth presses sloppily against her neck.
Something inside me snaps.
“Alright,” I mutter, leaning forward and planting my palms against the counter on either side of Courtney’s hips, caging her in. “I’ll bite.”
Her lips curve in triumph. “Good boy,” she purrs.
The words make my skin crawl, goosebumps rising, but I let her tug at my collar as she backs us toward the dance floor. We stop in the middle of the room, bodies swaying all around us. Maisy and Jeff are directly ahead, and I see Maisy’s expression shift the moment Courtney turns to face her, taking my hands and dragging them down the curves of her body until they’re resting on her hips.
I let her grind against me, mechanical and detached. The whole time, I’m watching Maisy. Watching the way blood rises to her face and the way her lips part in shock and hurt.
Jeff must notice too because he slides his hands lower, gripping her waist and tugging her back into the rhythm, as if doubling down will keep her focused on him. Maisy’s spine straightens and she tilts her chin high before she starts moving again, her body grinding against his as if to provoke me now. As if she’s punishing me, and I take it, jaw clenching so tight it aches.
I watch as Jeff’s hand slides back up, cupping her jaw, and before I even blink, he yanks her face toward his and crashes his mouth against hers. Maisy stiffens instantly, a muffled sound bursting from her throat as she shoves at his chest, breaking free with a force that sends him stumbling back a step. Her hand flies to her mouth, furious, as she wipes at her lips.
“You asshole,” she spits, voice trembling with rage, and it’s enough to set me off.
I shove Courtney off me and she stumbles into Levi, who curses under his breath as he steadies her. But I don’t stop to check if she’s okay because I have tunnel vision, blood roaring in my ears as I close the distance between me and Jeff in two strides.
He barely has time to smirk before my fist collides with his jaw. Gasps ripple through the crowd as Jeff staggers back, clutching his face, his cocky grin wiped clean off his face.
I’m on him before he can recover, fist pulled back for another blow. “Try something like that again and I’ll break that ugly face of yours, dick.”
