Rebel snickered. “We all know you like your foreplay rough.”
“I’ve heard enough of their foreplay to last me a lifetime,” Damon added. “I’m starting to think it’s time for you two to get your own place.”
Noah lit up at that. “Really? You wouldn’t mind?”
“Not in the least. I love you guys, but I think we all need our own space.” Damon leaned forward to clink his beer against Noah’s glass. “You have my blessing.”
“What will you do?” Noah asked. “The lease isn’t up on our place for several months yet.”
Damon shrugged, clearly not in the least bit concerned. “I’ll have to find a roommate or something.”
“I might be interested,” I spoke up, surprising my friends. “I too have the misfortune of listening to my roommates constantly fucking. If you’re going to have a spare room, we should talk sometime.”
Between Codie and Stray upstairs, along with Dom and Noah often downstairs, I was the odd man out in my house. Surrounded by stomach turning romance. Always forced to listen to everybody else getting it on. Moving in with Damon wasn’t something I would have ever imagined myself doing. However, the thought of sharing a quiet house with one other dude had its appeal.
“You might want to hold off on that plan.” Rebel tucked a joint between his lips, taking a long drag. “Before you know it, you’ll be spending every waking moment with Ripley. You’ll want her with you every spare second of the day.”
I laughed, not because it was funny, but because he’d clearly lost his ever-loving mind. “Right. If you say so. I haven’t been drinking the Kool-Aid like the rest of you, so I think I know what I’m doing.”
I sat back in my seat, letting the taunts that followed roll off me. These idiots were becoming unbearable. If they didn’t shut the hell up, I would be forced to ditch them for the rest of the party.
Eventually, the conversation took a turn. We sat there drinking, smoking, and shooting the shit. Exchanging small talk with those seated around us. As time passed, I started to wonder where my “girlfriend” had gone. The ladies had been absent for a while now. I was tempted to go in search of them but didn’t want to listen to my friends’ stupid comments.
When Ripley finally turned up, she wasn’t looking so good. Unsteady on her feet, almost falling down if it wasn’t for Stormand Luna keeping her upright. Her skin was especially pale, almost ghostly white. Her eyes rolling back in her head.
Recognizing that something wasn’t right, I shot to my feet. Both Luna and Storm wore worried expressions. “What the hell happened?”
Storm shook her head, her brows pinched tight. “I’m not sure. We lost track of her outside. She said that she smoked a joint with a few guys in the backyard. It must’ve been laced with something.”
Panic hit me with a shot of adrenaline. I felt the sudden need to kill someone.
“Who supplied it? Take me to him.”
Storm glanced past me to Rebel who nodded. He was already on his feet, ready to have my back. I left Ripley with Luna, instructing her to call for help if she got any worse. Rebel and I followed Storm through the party and outside into the massive backyard.
She scanned the partygoers for a minute while I tried not to go crazy. Finally, she pointed into the distance. “Those guys over there. See that one in the orange shirt? She was with them. I think she knows one of them from class or something.”
I was already on my way across the yard, moving swiftly toward them. Rebel told Storm to go back inside before following me. The three guys sat on a bench near a display of rosebushes. They watched some of the hockey players across the yard as they shot a ball around in the grass with their sticks.
Fixated on the one in orange, I grabbed him by the front of his shirt and dragged him off the bench. “What the fuck did you give my girl?”
While his friends shouted protests, Rebel was quick to keep them from getting involved. He loomed over them, all tattoos and muscle. Easily intimidating them.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” With glassy eyes and blown wide pupils, it was apparent this jackass was on something serious. He struggled to focus on me.
“What was in the joint you shared with Ripley? I know it was more than weed.” Snarling into his face, I gave him an aggressive shake. “Start talking you son of a bitch.”
“Who?” He laughed manically, making a useless attempt at prying my fingers off his shirt.
“What was in that fucking weed? I will fucking kill you right here and now.” My fist smashing into his face brought his laughter to a stop.
Unable to hold back, I hit him again and again. My fist flying. In no time his blood sprayed. Several people around us shouted about a fight breaking out. I didn’t care. I was ready to murder this fucker in front of everyone.
“We don’t even know,” one of his friends spoke up, eyeing Rebel nervously. “It was some shit we got from Mike’s cousin. He said it would get us lit.”
I may not have been the poster child for sobriety but I sure as shit didn’t take random drugs without even knowing what the hell I was putting into my body or where it came from. These fucking losers would take some stepped on marijuana without questioning the contents. And they’d shared it with Ripley, who was an incoherent mess.
Wanting to get back to her, I pounded Mike until he was on the ground no longer moving. His face almost unrecognizable. Nobody tried to stop me. Like they knew they didn’t want my wrath turned on them.
