“Apologize!” Gio demands, and the guy looks around the room for support, but no one will meet his eyes. When his gaze meets mine, his eyes flash with fury, but I just salute him with my shot and throw it back, the black licorice flavor burning its way down my throat.
“Don’t look at her like it’s her fault. This is all on you, asshole,” Gio sneers.
The guy stumbles to his feet. “Fuck this,” he slurs and pushes his way past the gathered crowd. Gio smiles down at me. “Sorry, little sis, I’ve got to go take out the trash.” He takes his shot and throws it back before following the drunk dude. Oh well, at least he’s drunk enough to feel no pain.
The crowd thins as most of them follow my brother, and Stacey quickly jumps into the seat Gio just vacated. “Oh my God. Your brother is so fucking hot.” She fans herself, and I screw my nose up. Sometimes Stacey is a bit too much. I would never let her anywhere near my brother. Even though she’s my best friend, she drives me nuts with her schemes to become popular. I want my brother to find someone to love him for him, not because of what he can do for them.
“Yeah, well, keep your panties on. He gets plenty of offers and has no need to look at an inexperienced girl like you.” The shot has gone to my head, and my internal filter is slipping. I’m also getting a little sick of her constantly drooling over my brother. It makes me think that maybe she’s only friends with me because of him. I cringe slightly when her eyes crease with anger, and I quickly pour another shot and slide it toward her. “Here, drink this, then we’ll go find something to mix that vodka with.”
Shouts from the front of the house register, and Stacey’s eyes widen as she’s distracted from my comment about my brother. “Should we go make sure everything is okay?” She just wants to learn all the gossip, but I couldn’t care less.
“Go if you want, but Gio will take care of things, he always does.” I see indecision flit across her face, and I know I’ve lost her to the drama and Gio as she gets to her feet.
“I’m just going to make sure nothing gets damaged,” she says, chewing nervously on her lip.
Rolling my eyes at her bullshit excuse, I just wave her away and watch as she disappears into the crowd. Really, I shouldn’t have expected anything less.
I make myself comfortable on the couch and have another shot of the thick black liquid, quietly watching the chaos around me. It’s nothing new. Gio has been throwing parties for years. From my vantage point on the couch, I can see quite a lot in our open-plan living area. It’s why Gio likes to plant himself here when he has a party. He can keep an eye on everything. There’s also a similar spot outside that has a view over the huge backyard. I’m sure the party will gravitate out there as the night wears on and people decide skinny dipping is a good idea.
For the moment, though, there’s still a large number of people inside. There’s a game of beer pong going on in the kitchen that has people cheering every time someone makes the shot and groaning when they don’t. There’s a makeshift dance floor that has lots of writhing, grinding bodies on it, and there are people standing around observing much like I’m doing. A flash of red out of the corner of my eye has me groaning in annoyance.
Nikki Steel is the resident mean girl of my year and Miss Popularity. Basically, she’s who Stacey wants to be. Personally, I don’t see the appeal myself. I mean, don’t get me wrong, she’s pretty with her long, wavy, brunette hair, but there’s this aura of fakeness about her. She always has this calculating glint in her sea green eyes.
She’s flanked on either side by the Golding twins. Felicity and Fiona are identical Nordic, blonde, blue-eyed beauties who are part of the mean girl posse. Felicity is a little more standoffish than the other two, more of a silent observer.
They walk up and tower over me. Nikki crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow. “Hey, Tori. Didn’t expect to see you here.”
I snort in amusement. “Really? Where did you expect me to be?” I ask, not letting her intimidate me.
“Well, I didn’t realize you knew Gio.”
Seriously? Could this girl get any more self-involved? I’m just about to say exactly that when Gio returns, throwing himself down on the sofa, his arm going behind my back.
“All done. Where were we?”
My eyes drop to his knuckles. One is a little bruised, but he didn’t split them. He must have gone easy on the guy. Gio sees where I’m looking, explaining, “Stupid asshole was so drunk he was out after one punch. We left him on the front lawn.” He looks up at the girls standing in front of me, blocking us off from the coffee table and our bottle of sambuca. The minute he returned, they all pushed out their boobs and asses in a way that makes me think they look more constipated than sexy. His gaze scans Nikki’s body, and she preens for him, causing me to snort once more. She shoots me a look of hatred before simpering.
“I was just asking Tori how she knows you well enough to get an invite to the party.”
Gio’s mouth drops open comically, and he gapes at me with disbelief. “Is she serious?” he asks incredulously, and I just shrug. He looks back at her and laughs in her face.
Annoyance crosses her features, and she huffs. “Am I missing something?” Neither of the twins have said anything, but Fiona looks just as confused as Nikki. Felicity, however, knows what’s going on.
“What’s your name, sweetie?” Gio’s voice is deceptively seductive.
Nikki flutters her eyelashes, and I see her nipples pebble in reaction to his purr. “Nikki,” she replies breathily.
“Well, Nikki, this is my sister Tori, you stupid bitch. She’s the only one here who matters. So fuck off out of our way so we can drink. Go find some other poor sucker to harass. Maybe if you got down on your knees and sucked some dick, you would get the attention you crave.”
Oh, snap! Fuck, Gio is in one ofthosekinds of moods today. He can be such an asshole to people.
Nikki reels back like he slapped her in the face, and Fiona’s mouth drops open in shock. Felicity doesn’t show any reaction, though I see her lips twitch slightly.
“How dare you speak to me that way? Do you know who I am? Do you know who my daddy is?” She stomps her foot and has a tantrum like a toddler. Gio raises an eyebrow at me in question. I’m sure he’s probably seen her around school but didn’t give enough of a crap to find out.
“Her dad is the mayor,” I tell him with a shrug, but Gio doesn’t seem impressed at all. Smirking, he ignores the tantrum and shoos her out of the way so we have access to the alcohol again. Nikki has been dismissed.
“You’ll pay for this,” she growls at me before turning and storming off. Fiona hurries after her, as does Felicity, although she’s slower and she throws me a wink over her shoulder as she leaves. Well, that was interesting. I turn back to my brother in annoyance.
