Six people circle the fire. Aside from Lexie, there are two other girls. The guys have large, muscular frames, which seems to be a theme here. One girl is blonde, and she looks tall, but it’s too hard to tell since she’s sitting. She’s pretty and looks about my age. Lexie sits with a pout, completed with her protruding bottom lip. She has long brown hair and a petite frame. Based on her side profile, her face is square, and her lips look thin. Her voice doesn’t match her face, and if she gets around like they say she does, you’d think she’d be prettier than that. Then again, dudes will fuck anything with a hole.
She’s perched on some guy’s lap, one arm wrapped loosely around his neck, and her body pressed closely to his as if she belongs there. They seem too intimate to have just met or for her to be whoring herself out, as the other guy claimed. His shaggy onyx-hued hair covers the tips of his tattoo of wings… Thick black wings that wrap around his neck, just like the ones I saw on Hayden. I squint my eyes to get a better look, because damn, he looks familiar. He rapidly taps his finger on the neck of the beer bottle he holds in his hand. His left leg is relaxed out in front of him, completely unbothered by Lexie draped across his lap.
She begins to run her fingers through his hair, and he recoils, flinching away from her touch. He whispers something in her ear, causing her body to stiffen, and her gaze drops to the ground.
I lean forward just a little, making my phone slide from my thigh, and it hits the balcony floor with a sharp thud. I curse myself under my breath. My head snaps up at the same time his does, causing my blood to turn to ice. My jaw drops, while my heart pounds out of rhythm as I stare back into those familiar forest green eyes.
“Ryder?” I breathe. My eyebrows pinch as he smirks wickedly at me through the railing. I think my heart fell out of my ass, and I left it on the balcony when I bolted into the room, slamming the door shut behind me.
I pace Jessie’s room, trying to calm my racing heart and spiraling brain. “Bastard!” I hiss through my teeth. I thought he was staying home tonight, so why the fuck is he here and with her? I knew it was too good to be true. Guys like Ryder only want one thing.
My hands work to fan my heated face. I feel seconds away from being engulfed in flames from shame and embarrassment. The way he smirked at me seemed as though he wanted me to see him there. Why?
My last relationship ended the same way, minus the drugs and cheerleader. I need to do some serious self-reflecting, because I keep walking myself into these traps.
“Get your shit together,” I mutter. He’s a nobody. We weren’t exclusive, so he’s free to do whatever he pleases. Same for me.
I’ve never been jealous, not in a relationship sense, anyway. I want to be the girl in his lap, not her. The fact that it’s Lexie makes my blood boil, and I want to yank heroff of him by her hair. My hands fist at my sides the more I think about it.
Then a thought occurs. Is he cheating on her? It wouldn’t surprise me. Maybe that’s why she threatened me, but how would she have known who I am? Even if she did go through his phone.
That train of thought is blown the moment the bedroom door slams open, bouncing off the wall, and Jessie charges in, lookingpissed. “What’s wrong?” I ask.
“Doesn’t matter right now.” She clips. “What happened down there? You ran off like your ass was on fire.”
“Nothing. Just something Hayden said.” I give a soft smile, in hopes she believes my half-truth. She cocks an eyebrow, clearly not going to let this go.
“I’ve known you long enough to know you don’t get pissed off overnothing,” She air quotes. “You’re more likely to laugh in a grown man’s face who called your grandma ugly than you are to get upset over it. So, drop the act and tell me what happened.” She crosses her arms over her chest and pops out her hip, waiting for me to explain.
“Fine!” I huff, rolling my eyes. “All he said was I’m not the type to hang out with, and I quote “these” people, then proceeded to question me on how well I know you.” My voice drops, and I lower my eyes to my feet. “Then he said he was just trying to look out for me and kissed me.” I grimace retelling that last bit of detail.
I bring my gaze back up to meet Jessie’s after several beats of silence. I can see the fire burning in her hazel eyes,her jaw clenches tight, making her temple pulse. She swallows slowly. “He… What?”
Before I can do or say anything else, she storms out of the room screaming, “HAYDEN!!!” His name echoes off the hallway walls. “I’m going to find you and shove my foot so far up your ass you’ll taste it forweeks!” Her voice went an octave higher on “weeks”. Jessie is the kind of bad bitch that makes grown men cry.
I step over to the balcony sliding doors, cracking them just enough that I can poke my head through and look past the railing down at the fire pit. Ryder’sno longer sitting there. The other two guys, the blonde girl, and Lexie are still there, though. Where did he go? And why do I care? I’m nobody to him. Nothing. He probably only wanted a quick fuck, and since he hasn’t gotten it from me, he found another for his release. That’s just the story of my love life, apparently.
5
KELSEY
Somebody knocks harshly on the door. I ignore it, chalking it up as some drunks probably looking for a room to fuck in. Jessie wouldn’t knock for her own room.
They knock again. Fucking persistent pests.
“Go away! The room’s occupied!”
They knock again. “Oh, for fucks sake!” I grumble, stomping to the door.
“Who is it!?”
“It’s Hayden. Jessie threatened my balls, so for the sake of my jewels, please open the damn door.”
I stand at the closed door for a moment, grinning like an idiot. Have I mentioned that I fucking love Jessie?
“I don’t know. That makes me not want to open the door.” I say teasingly, still grinning like an idiot.
He huffs loudly, clearly panicking and searching for the right words to say. It makes me wonder how manythreats Jessie has gone through with to instill this level of fear into him. I get a good kick thinking about it. I know she would whoop ass over anything she loves, and I happen to be somebody she loves like a sister. I always wanted a sister, so I suppose this is God’s way of giving me one.
