One after another, they hold out a hand for the closest boy to help them use the chairs as stepping stools and climb up onto the table.
“Come, dance with us,” Christina suggests.
The guys start to huddle around the table, their eyes glued to the girls. It’s perverted the way they stare, pounding their fist in the air and cheering. The girls live for the attention, and they’ll obviously take it in whatever form they can get it.
Definitely not my scene.
“Where’s the bathroom?” The words come out rushed, a lifeline if I ever needed one.
She waves a hand, dismissive and full of annoyance. “Upstairs. End of the hall, last—”
Her attention shifts as a new song blasts through the speakers, the crowd going wild. The rest of her directions are swallowed by the noise.
I don’t bother asking again. Instead, I turn and push through the bodies, each step taking me farther from the chaos. The drink is still clutched in my hand, untouched and unwanted. I leave it on the mantel next to the staircase, where it’ll be for the rest of the night.
I take the stairs two at a time, eager to put distance between me and the rest of the party. The air is cooler up here, and the music is a distant thrum beneath my feet. The hallway stretches out before me, quiet, and oddly peaceful compared to the madness below.
It’s a world apart from the paper-thin walls of the house I left behind. I heard everything there.
Pushing the thoughts away, I try to remember which room Christina mentioned, but all I can recall is that it was at the end of the hall. I take a chance and continue forward. Pushing the last door open, I expect to see a bathroom but stop dead in my tracks at what I find instead.
On the other side of the door is a nearly naked guy. He’s tall and muscular, with a body that screams athlete. But it’s the bulge behind his towel that catches my attention, sizable enough like it’s got its own presence.
“What are you doing?”
It’s not until I make eye contact that I realize it’s the guy from my physics class, Mountain. He stares at me, a mix of surprise and annoyance on his face.
“Sorry.” The word is weak, almost drowned out by the thump of my own heartbeat. My eyes drop back to his towel.
“Get out.” His voice is stern, but more annoyed than angry. A chick just barged in and nearly saw his holy gift, and he’s acting like it happens every day.
I close the door, and I don’t get more than a millisecond to register it all before a deep voice behind me startles me.
“Why the fuck are you here?”
CHAPTER NINE
EVEREST (KANE)
Sam?
The name alone tightens something in my chest, a coil wound too tight, and ready to snap.
It’s her. I thought I saw her downstairs, a brief flicker of familiarity in the crush of bodies, but convinced myself that it had to be someone else. There was absolutely no way the ghost from misery’s past was standing in my living room. Surely all the liquor and weed smoke has gone to my head, got me seeing things that aren’t real.
But it is real.
Very fucking real.
She doesn’t belong here. In my house, at my party, or at my school. But there she is, standing in front of Mountain’s room, out of place and out of touch, her head tilted slightly.
The door is open, and she’s standing between the doorframe completely oblivious that I’m coming up behind her.
What the fuck is she doing here?
Clenching my fists at my sides, I try suppressing the sudden emotions, my chest heaving as I fail to calm myself.
And why the hell is she talking to Mountain?
