Life of the Party (Wayward #1)

CHAPTER 21

With a snap, I opened my beer and put the can to my lips, trying furiously to keep up with the onslaught of liquid as it slammed down my throat. Beer dribbled down my chin and onto my sweater as I gulped it down, trying not to laugh, watching in near hysterics as Brad did the exact same thing.

When I was finished, I leaned back and laughed uproariously, enjoying the sound of the cheering around us. Brad wiped his lips on his hand and smiled at me, his grin spreading wide over his face.

“Dammit. You beat me again!”

I could do nothing but laugh at him, getting drunker by the minute, sitting cross-legged on a hay bale next to a roaring fire, facing Brad, thoroughly enjoying myself.

He was surprisingly fun to be around, laid back, easygoing, and just…funny. He really made me laugh. Though certain things kept reminding me we were very wrong together…things like the chew ring faded into his back pocket or the Garth Brooks in his CD player, I had to admit I was having a great time.

If nothing else, I knew Brad would make a really great friend.

The crowd around us slowly dissipated now that the contest was over and I was declared the winner. A few of them waved at Brad as they moved on but pointedly ignored me. Jocks, cowboys, popular girls, brainiacs…they were all there. The small percentage of the student body that actually partied—like my definition of party—was nowhere to be found in this crowd, but this group was still having fun.

It was funny, I’d gone to school with most of those people my entire life, but I didn’t know them any better than just a name to “popcorn” when we were reading in class. No one was mean or hostile or even unfriendly, but it was still a little uncomfortable. They all had their little cliques, and I wasn’t a part of them, which was totally fine with me. I wished I could’ve been there with my friends. We would have taken over a hay bale or two, smoked a bunch of weed and secretly made fun of all the people around us. In short, we would’ve had fun. Just like we used to.

I sighed and shook my head, trying to rid myself of the sudden nostalgia. The campfire was roaring; I could feel the heat on the skin of my shins, even through my jeans.

“Seriously, girl, how’d you learn to drink so much?” Brad demanded. “You had a whole mickey of rye in the truck before we even got here.”

I shrugged. “You know what they say. Liquor before beer, you’re in the clear.”

“Really?” Brad laughed. “I hadn’t heard that one.”

“What? That’s not one of your cowboy mottos?” I teased. “Here’s my favourite. If you can’t ride it or rope it, take it out behind the barn and shoot it…”

“…get the cowboy attitude, and pass the ammo!” Brad finished with a grin.

I laughed out loud. “You know that one!”

“Oh yeah. It’s practically famous. How about this one? Party ‘till she’s pretty.”

“Oh, ouch.” I laughed. “Does that really work?”

“Don’t ask me,” Brad grinned. “You were pretty before I started.”

I laughed. I don’t think that’s the reaction he was looking for, but I couldn’t help myself. I was too drunk. I swayed unsteadily on the hay bale, setting my hands down on the stubble in an effort to sit straight. I grinned stupidly as he leaned closer to me, and before I knew it we were kissing, and his arms were wrapped around me, and he was pulling me to him and pressing me tightly against his chest.

It wasn’t terrible. Under different circumstances, I might have liked it. But even through my booze-befuddled thoughts, I knew Brad wasn’t the one I wanted. Even with his lips on mine, my thoughts were still with Grey. So when the cell phone in my purse suddenly began to ring, it was with near-perfect timing, loudly creating a welcome interruption and startling us apart.

“Sorry.” I pulled away from Brad to answer it. I could tell he regretted the intrusion, but he let me go and sat back on the bale, waiting.

It was Charlie.

“Hey, where are you guys? There’s nothing going on tonight…think I could crash the party?” She asked.

“Are you kidding me? That’d be great. We’re out at the dam.” I gave her directions as best as I could, feeling like my mom all of a sudden, like I had to yell to be heard. The party was rowdy around us. “I’ll meet you at the entrance. Look for me, okay? Don’t run me over or anything.”

“Okay, Mac.” Charlie laughed. “I’m leaving now, I’ll see you soon.”

I hung up the phone, relieved. Charlie had given me the perfect excuse to get away for a moment. I liked Brad, I liked him a lot, but only as a friend. I had to figure out a way to tell him that, and hopefully salvage our new friendship in the process.

“Who was that?” Brad wondered. Already he was leaning closer to me.

“Oh, it was Charlie. She’s going to come meet us; she just needed directions.”

“That’s nice.” He kissed my neck slowly.

“Uh…I told her I’d meet her at the entrance. So I should go…wait for her.”

“I’ll come with you.” Brad offered quickly.

“No, it’s okay. Stay and hang out with your friends.” I gave him a smile and gently pushed him away. He stared up at me a moment, his face falling with obvious disappointment. “Go shotgun some more beer.” I joked. “You need the practice. I’ll be right back.”

Reluctantly, Brad let me go. I could feel his eyes on me, watching as I walked away.

I ambled away from the party and down the little gravel road, the warm wind blowing softly in the poplars above me, the path lit dimly by a tall, failing yard light. Drunkenly, I stumbled towards the entrance of the campground, giggling every time I tripped over myself. I was happy to be alone for a moment. I needed to clear my head.

At the front gate, I found an old pickup truck parked haphazardly on the grass beside the turnoff. Clumsily, I climbed up onto the tailgate in perfect view of the road to wait for Charlie.

I kicked my feet and lit a cigarette and tried not to think of Grey.

Of course it was no use. I blew my smoke into the calm night air—it was cooler away from the fire, but I didn’t mind it. Try as I might, I couldn’t figure Grey out. He was unpredictable, volatile at times…but when he was being sweet…we were so good together. Maybe that’s what hurt the most, knowing what we could’ve had.

I sighed. As drunk as I was, I still wanted to get wasted. And then I remembered, with a quick surge of excitement, that Charlie had given me something sure to get the job done. It was perfect; I was alone so I seized the opportunity, digging through my purse until the cool silver vial was in my hand. Quickly I did one nostril, and then the other. The relief was almost immediate, and I smiled, thanking Charlie again in my head. I did another, and then another, until even my nerve endings felt like they were trembling. I lifted the scoop to do just one more snort, and mid-inhale, Brad was suddenly in front of me.

He swayed unsteadily; his amber eyes wide with surprise. “Are you doing cocaine?” He chuckled in disbelief.

“No.” I lied. I don’t know why I lied; it was so obvious. I tucked the vial back into my purse and wiped at my nose. Suddenly, I was high—like, really high. I felt antsy, full of pent-up energy.

“Wow. You really are a badass, aren’t you?” Brad was asking.

“I don’t know about that.” I smiled shakily. “I just like to have fun.”

Brad shook his head. “I didn’t believe them, but they were right.”

“Who was?”

“My friends. At the restaurant. They said you were bad, but I didn’t believe them. You’re way too…sweet-looking.”

“Well, my friend, I guess looks can be deceiving.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He shrugged. “But if they were right about that, maybe they were right about the other thing, too.”

“I think your friends gossip too much.” I laughed. “Why? What else did they say?”

Brad shrugged again, taking a step toward me so he was standing between my legs. With a grin, he rested his hands on my knees.

“They said you were easy.” His voice was low now, amused. “A sure thing.”

“They said…what?” The smile faded slowly from my face. And then, suddenly, all of it made sense. Brad’s unexpected interest in me, the real reason for his sudden attraction even despite all our obvious differences.

He didn’t really like me; he didn’t want to be my friend. He just wanted to get laid.

It stung. I blinked at him stupidly for a moment, trying to recover from this shock. All night I’d been revelling in the thought of a new friend, and the whole time he’d just seen me as a means to an end. It was harsh, a brutal realization.

I crossed my arms. “Sorry to disappoint you.” I glared.

“Don’t be.” He smiled wickedly. “You won’t.”

Then, suddenly, so quickly I couldn’t move to stop him, Brad grabbed me by the shoulders and tried to grasp me in a kiss. I struggled for a moment to get a grip, and then—either because I was coke-strong and angry or because he was so drunk—I managed to push him off me, hard. Brad staggered backwards and fell in an unruly heap on the ground. I slid quickly off the tailgate and ran as fast as I could for the approach way. I’d go all the way down the road until I found Charlie, if I had to .

I saw headlights approaching, but they were faint and off in the distance. I prayed they were from Charlie’s car. Brad was tough, and drunk or not, I knew it wouldn’t take him long to recuperate and come looking for me. I hoped my rejection had been enough to turn him off for good, but somehow, with a thrill of terror, I knew that wouldn’t be the case.

It wasn’t. Even as I ran away, Brad caught up, silently, in a full run, and tackled me to the earth. It happened so quickly and unexpectedly that I hadn’t even time to prepare myself. The full weight of him hit me running; his two-hundred-pound body slammed my little frame down onto the grass. My head hit the hard, cold ground with a sickening thump; his weight crushed me.

I was aware of an odd, high-pitched ringing sound as my vision slowly restored, the edges of my sight crackling white until the disruption faded, dissolving into the black sky of night, stretching above me, dotted with bright stars. My breath was harsh, gasping loudly in my ears as I struggled for consciousness.

There was weight on me. I couldn’t breathe. Somewhere in the dim corners of my mind, I could hear the jangling of my belt as it was ripped open. The noise shook me, and I realized sluggishly what was happening, what was about to happen if I couldn’t stop Brad. I could feel his hot, sticky, thick hands on my skin. Weakly, I lifted my arms, but there was no strength in me; the blow when he knocked me down had robbed me of any might. Feebly, I tried to stop him from undoing my jeans.

There was another noise then. New, and totally foreign, but near. The sound of car tires crunching on gravel, an engine shuddering into silence.

Charlie. Charlie was there. Charlie could help me.

“Shhh.” Brad stopped suddenly, as aware of the car as I was. He pressed his heavy hand over my mouth. I breathed desperately through my nose. In the dim flicker of the yard light, Brad’s face looked eerie, crazy. He was breathing fast.

“Do you see her? She said she’d be at the entrance. Mackenzie?” I could hear Charlie’s voice calling to me. Her shoes stepped onto the road. “Mac?”

I wanted to answer her. I needed to answer her. I tried to shriek as best I could with Brad’s hand over my mouth. The noise was a muffled, strangled cry.

“Shhhh,” Brad warned, pressing harder. Black spots danced before my eyes.

“I don’t see her.” Another voice, distinctly male. Zack. “Maybe she’s at the fire.”

“Maybe.” Charlie’s voice sounded doubtful. “But she said she’d be here.”

“She’s probably totally wasted by now. Let’s go see. ”

I could hear their shoes passing by on the gravel and knew it was my last chance. They’d be too late to help me on their way back. I fought then; I had no strength, but I fought. I squirmed and writhed and tried desperately for any way to free any part of me from Brad’s deathly heavy grip. I screamed into his palm; I tried to bite his flesh. Somehow I managed to wind my hand up between his arms, my fingers searching the contours of his face, my breath almost spent when I found what I was looking for. Roughly, I shoved my fingertips into his eye sockets and pressed as hard as I could.

It worked. It was just enough to make him instinctively protect his face, to remove his hand from my mouth. I drew a hasty ragged breath and screamed as loudly as I was able with the few seconds I had.

“What the hell—”

“Did you hear that?”

“Mackenzie?” Charlie’s voice. I screamed again as Brad’s hand clamped back over my mouth. His eyes were red as they glared crazily down at me. His breath was hot and sour with beer. He grasped a handful of my hair and yanked my head back unmercifully; tears sprang in my eyes and I gasped in pain, my body slackening in submission.

“Shut up. Shut up.” Gone was the nice, funny, polite boy that invited me to the party. He had transformed into some drunken, disgusting, lust-filled monster. Cautiously, he looked up as the footfalls came closer. My sight was dimming, I had no strength left at all. I could only hope they would find me in time…

And then, the crushing weight was lifted from me. My ribs ached as I sucked in a full breath; my bones throbbed in relief. I lay on the ground, completely stunned, gasping in breath after breath of the sweet night air.

“Mac!” Charlie knelt beside my head. “Sweetie, are you okay?”

“Yeah…I…” I couldn’t talk. I opened my mouth, but no words would come.

“It’s okay. Breathe, Mac. Just breathe.” She did up my jeans and my belt, pulled my sweater back down over my torso. Her touch was cool and soft, gentle in comparison to Brad’s rough, sticky hands.

“Brad…?”

“He’s gone. They’ve got him.” I could hear the hostility in Charlie’s voice; in the distance cursing and moaning and the dull, bony crack of knuckles hitting flesh.

“Can you sit?” Charlie wondered. Gently, she put her arm beneath my neck and gingerly tried to raise me up. I wanted to cooperate, but the moment my position changed, my poor head throbbed abominably. I winced, leaning against her, shutting my eyes as waves of pain racked over me.

“You’re okay, baby. We’ll go home soon, okay?”

I don’t know how long we sat there. I wavered in and out of consciousness until Charlie’s voice, suddenly loud in my ear, startled me aware.

“The guys are back,” she informed me. Her voice rose as she spoke, not to me but to whoever was approaching. I heard their shoes crunching on the gravel.

“I think she hit her head pretty hard. Thank God we got here when we did.”

“Let me see.” Zack bent down in front of me. I could barely make out his face, but his nose ring glinted slightly in the dim light, his blonde, mullety hair a halo around his head. Gently, he felt around my face and scalp. “It doesn’t seem too bad, but we need more light to tell for sure. Can she get up?”

“Can you get up, sweetie?” Charlie put her arm around my back. I nodded weakly and tried to find the strength to command my muscles. My arms gave out as I pushed against the ground.

“I got her.” A voice, gruff but unmistakable, found my ears. I almost couldn’t believe them. Before I had a chance to react, two strong arms had wrapped around me, picking me up as if I weighed nothing at all. There was such comfort in their strength. He pressed me close to his chest and I wrapped my stiff arms around his neck and burrowed my face into him. Grey’s warm, delicious masculine scent wafted over me, and tears of relief flooded my eyes. My entire being shook. I could feel the trembling contrast against his hard steadiness.

“Shhh…” He whispered, though I hadn’t made a noise. “Shhh…”

And then we were moving. He held me gingerly and closely, I could tell he was trying extra hard not to jostle me at all. I shut my eyes and listened to his heart beating against my ear, too shocked and stunned to comprehend much but the feel of his strong, warm arms around me and the sweet smell of his breath against my face. Nothing else could have soothed me more.

Grey placed me gently in the backseat of the car. Once everyone was in, Charlie switched on the interior light, and they all turned to look me over.

The bright, blinding light made me squint, my skull throbbing in protest. Charlie’s brow furrowed with concern as she gazed at me; Zack frowned in inspection. Their worry was touching, but there was only one expression I wanted to see. His countenance had been impossible to discern outside in the darkness, and now I looked up at Grey with cautious wonder .

His blue eyes searched my face with earnest, sweeping for injuries, his jaw tensed, his mouth set in a grim line. My heart fluttered, despite everything, at the anxiety I found reflected in his handsome face. He did care about me. He had to.

“Her pupils don’t seem dilated.” Zack decided. “But it’s early yet.”

“Shouldn’t we take her to the hospital?” Charlie worried.

“No.” I shook my head. It took some effort to speak. “We can’t go to the hospital. I just did a bunch of blow.”

“Her mom’s a doctor,” Grey explained for me. “She doesn’t want her to find out.”

“Right…well, what should we do then?”

“Can I have a smoke? Where’s my purse?” I took a breath, searching for my bag.

“Here.” Grey lit a cigarette and handed it to me. I inhaled deeply, the smoke burning down my raw throat, the cigarette shaking in my trembling fingers.

“Let’s go back to your house, Charlie,” Zack suggested. “We’ll keep an eye on her, and if anything gets worse, we’ll take her in.”

Charlie eyed me worriedly. “Mac, if anything happens to you…”

“I’m fine.” I lied. I didn’t want to acknowledge what happened, what had almost happened. I just wanted to put the whole unpleasant incident behind me. “Can we just forget about it, please?”

“Forget about it? Mac, he could have hurt you. He almost—”

“I know. I know. But he didn’t. I’m okay.”

“You’re better off than he is, anyway.” Zack chuckled darkly.

“Is he very hurt?” I wondered. I grimaced and looked up at Grey.

“He got what he deserved,” Grey admitted. He looked down at the backs of his hands, bruised from the fight—his knuckles were scraped and bleeding. He shrugged. “Don’t worry about that asshole.”

I wasn’t worried. But I was…regretful. I couldn’t believe what happened. The change that came over Brad was disturbing. The mad, eerie light in his eyes as he glowered over me, the aggression that drove his hands, his wet mouth hard upon my skin. I shuddered involuntarily.

Grey noticed. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and drew me near, pressing me close against his hard chest. I lay against him and fought off the threatening tears, tears of trauma, tears of relief.

Charlie started the car. We pulled out of the parking lot and onto the highway.

Grey’s hands rubbed my back soothingly; his fingers stroked through my hair. He didn’t let go of me once the entire trip.