17. Calista
SEVENTEEN
CALISTA
H arper’s black-rimmed eyes peered at me from over her red solo cup.
“What’s wrong?” The music threatened to drown me out. Even in the kitchen, the vibrations managed to rattle my chest.
“These ridiculous fangs are coming loose,” she said, slapping her cup down on the countertop. The amber liquid sloshed about, a little drop spilling over the edge.
“Again?”
Harper lifted one shoulder in a lazy shrug.
I could see it in the glossy look on her face.
She was way too buzzed to care about the state of her outfit.
To be honest, she didn’t care much before, but now all regard was definitely out the window.
“This is the final time I comply with Ella’s scheming. ”
“C’mon,” I said. “You have to admit, the Hex Girls were an awesome idea.”
She yanked out one fake fang before fiddling with the other. “In theory. ”
I grinned over the rim of my drink. “There goes the rest of your costume.”
“I managed to stomach that atrocity for a solid forty-five minutes,” Harper said, flinging the plastic triangles over her shoulder. “I’d call that a success.”
One of the fake canines landed in a cushion of fuzzy clown hair. The corner of my lips twitched, and I brought my cup up to disguise my smile. Harper didn’t look distressed in the slightest, waving goodbye as the frazzled clown and his leprechaun friend stumbled by.
“You better hope Ella doesn’t notice,” I warned, trying to contain a giggle. “You have destroyed her vision.”
Harper gathered all her hair and tossed it over one sleek shoulder.
Ella had convinced her to keep it down and style her natural, curly mane.
It was stunning, and I wish she wore it like this more often.
Since we were in high school, I had always thought Harper was effortlessly beautiful.
Even now, her freckled skin looked flawless under the strobe lights.
“Ella’s too far gone to notice if I magically transformed into a toad.”
Even in her drunk stupor, Harper’s precision was that of a katana.
She directed my attention through the wispy smoke that enveloped the next room.
The bodies over there were packed together tighter than a can of sardines.
I was sweating just watching them. The open sliding door in the kitchen did nothing to cool down the main floor flooded with college students.
I spotted Ella in the ocean of people, her blonde pigtails bobbing in and out of sight as she danced with a guy she had met within the first five minutes of us arriving.
“I think she’s perfectly entertained, don’t you?” Harper shouted, nudging me to bring my attention back .
“Yeah,” I said, lifting my hair and fanning my neck. Maybe dresses would have been a good idea after all. “You’re probably right.”
“How about you?” Harper peered at me from her peripheral. “Are you going to go find yourself some entertainment?”
“I could ask you the same question.”
Harper and I exchanged glances before we both burst out laughing.
“Yeah, probably not,” Harper said, taking a sip. “Boys stink.”
“Well,” I started, giving my best friend a wiggle of my eyebrows. “No one said anything about getting with a boy.”
Harper’s cheeks flushed a deep red that rivaled her hair. “I’ll consider it.”
She pursed her lips as I gave her a mischievous grin. The last remaining gulps of beer tickled on the way down. A nice buzz danced its way onto my temples.
“I’m dry,” I stated.
Harper glanced into her own cup before turning it upside down. She gave it a little shake. “Me too.”
A graveyard of empty liquor bottles littered the kitchen counter. The house party had been in full swing for the last couple of hours, and everything was slowly running out.
“Should we try the keg?” Harper slurred, standing on her tippy toes to peer towards the back patio door. “Maybe they brought a new one out.”
“I doubt it,” I said, coming around the counter and tugging on her hand with sticky fingers. “Beer pong it is.”
I ignored her protest, leading her deeper into the smoky haze that had settled over the living room.
Ella had been reassuring us that all of it was coming from the single fog machine stationed behind the couch, next to the booming speakers.
A deep breath told me otherwise. The house music went right through me, playing around with my insides.
I loved the feeling. Pausing at the edge of the dancefloor, I created a mental note to accept Ella’s invitations to sorority parties more often.
I swayed on my own as Harper wiggled her way through the ring of people around the beer pong table.
With my hands free, I yanked at my tight black bodysuit, the sweat from my neck and chest sticking to it.
Deep red lipstick was smudged onto the back of my hand, along with some of the fake blood I was helping Ella apply earlier.
It was all too much effort for the amount of time it stayed put.
When a third body bumped into me, I craned my neck.
Where did Harper go?
My vision spun a little as I tried to locate my best friend. It didn’t take long to spot her mass of curls. She had joined the beer pong crowd, shoulder to shoulder with a girl with long, ebony hair. The point of the girl’s black nails grazed over the back of Harper’s hand.
Well, there goes my beer pong partner.
“Do you bite?” Someone shouted into my ear. Their hot breath fanned over my neck, fluttering up my nose. The stench of rum had my stomach doing backflips.
I turned on my heel, my backside bumping into the arm of a couch before coming face to face with a guy who appeared barely nineteen. A folded blue bandana covered his forehead. He was clad in an orange jumpsuit, a white undershirt tight across his chest.
The beer had fueled my confidence. “Only if you piss me off.”
“Well, in that case, I don’t mind if I make you a little mad.” His hand reached out to touch my waist. “I like things rough. ”
“Yeah,” I said, batting his hand away. “No thanks.”
“Are you sure?” His hand snaked out again. The lust in his eyes made me nauseous.
“I think you heard her properly the first time.” Ella’s blonde head appeared between us. “Why don’t you take a hike back to whatever rock you crawled out from under?” When he didn’t move, she pressed on. “Well?”
The guy’s face scrunched in distaste as he wandered back into the crowd. The distance stopped my lungs from constricting. A welcome sense of relief, until his blue eyes scraped along the length of my body, and he licked his lips before disappearing deeper into the smoky room.
“I hate dumb boys who can’t take no for an answer,” Ella said as she spun around to face me. Her costume was still in pristine condition, no hint that she had just been in the middle of a dance mob. “Where’s Harps?”
I jutted a thumb towards the beer pong table. “Getting in line for beer pong. But I think she might have found a new partner.”
Ella raised a sharp brow. “Really?” She craned her neck, trying to get a better look into the cheering crowd of people. “How drunk is she?”
“She’s at a prime level of intoxication,” I mused. “Let her have her fun.”
Ella must have spotted our ginger friend because her grin matched mine.
“Now,” I said. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to pee.”
“Do you want me to come with?” Ella offered. Her hand grazed my wrist before I could step away from the couch I had been leaning on.
I waved her off, shouting a quick, “Don’t worry about it,” as I headed towards the stairs.
The line outside the washroom was short.
My guess was that most people found other, more creative places to relieve themselves instead of having to wait.
When it was my turn, I took my time, using the facilities before fixing my makeup in the mirror.
I relished in the amount of personal space I had now that I was locked away from the rest of the party.
It was nice not having sweaty bodies brushing up against mine, even if it was only for a little while.
Taking in a breath, I opened the bathroom door and prepared to re-enter the chaos. Once the door clicked shut behind me, I silently wished I had stayed there.
“Well, hello again.”
It was the same voice from earlier. The foul smell of rum caused the hair on the back of my neck to rise. I straightened my posture, trying to seem unfazed by the body millimeters from mine. His chest was puffed in bravado, his head a few inches above mine.
“Didn’t I just tell you to leave me alone?”
He hummed, tapping a finger to his chin. “I don’t recall.”
There was a slight slur to his words and a glint in his eye. It was enough to cause warning bells to go off in my mind. I side-stepped, moving into the middle of the hallway so that my back was no longer pressed against the door.
“Really? Because if I remember correctly, my friend told you to crawl back under the rock you came from.” I attempted to move around him and into an area of the house with witnesses. “Does that jog your memory?”
He mirrored me, blocking my path. His blue eyes sparked at my words. “Ahh, yes. You’re friends with the rude cunt.” He placed a hand over his chest. “She really hurt my feelings.”
“That’s really unfortunate,” I murmured, trying to move around him again .
He stepped in front of me, blocking my path in the narrow, upstairs hallway. “Maybe you can make it up to me.”
I couldn’t fight the panic that was rising in my chest. “No, I have friends waiting for me downsta?—”
“I’m sure they wouldn’t mind waiting a few minutes.”
Without hesitation, his calloused hand curled around my wrist as he shoved me deeper into the darkened corridor.
The roughness of his skin made my hair stand on end.
No one would be able to hear me over the music, but was he drunk enough that I could fight him off long enough to get away?
Until someone else came up to use the bathroom?
Maybe I could slip his bandana down enough to cover his eyes and run back down the stairs to safety.
I drew in a shuddering breath, preparing to put some sort of half-baked plan in motion.
“She said no,” a rough voice emitted from behind me.
The guy in the prisoner costume leered over my head before bringing his glossy gaze back to me. “How many bodyguards do you have?”
I took a step back, tugging my wrist out of the stranger’s grasp.
Without even seeing him, I was sure it was him.
There was something about Lincoln that my body recognized—an indescribable buzz of energy.
I took another backward step towards the sound of his voice, moving closer to him on instinct.
His hard chest brushed up against my back.
My body flashed with heat at his proximity.
“Why don’t you fuck off, Pierce?” The guy in front of me growled, spit landing on my face. “We’re busy.”
“Like hell you are Silva,” Lincoln bit back, positioning me behind him.
It was then that I was able to see the black rolled beanie upon his head.
He was dressed in an all grey sweatsuit, hands wrapped as if he were about to step into the ring.
If we hadn’t been in such a dire situation, I might have actually been able to laugh at the fact that Lincoln Pierce was dressed up for Halloween.
Even if it wasn’t the epitome of innovation.
“You’re such a fucking bore. We were just going to have some fun.” Silva’s evil expression caused another shiver to rack through my body, and I clenched onto the plush material of Lincoln’s sweater.
Lincoln didn’t respond, but his shoulders were tense. His hands scrunched into tight fists before releasing. Thick veins began to form on the back of his hands.
“Come on, Pierce. How about this…” Silva started, a scummy smile breaking out across his face. “Let me have a go at her, then I’ll leave you two alone and you can have your turn.”
Lincoln barreled towards him, ramming Silva against the wall next to the bathroom door.
The wall cracked under the pressure, a fracture line appearing behind his head.
Lincoln’s hand white-knuckled around Silva’s throat.
Despite his face turning a sickening shade of red, Silva smiled.
It was a garish grin that made me consider his sanity.
“Lincoln!”
If he heard me, he didn’t react. Instead, his hard gaze bore into Silva’s.
“Don’t—not for one second— think that I’m anything like you.”
The wind had knocked itself out of me. While I’d witnessed Lincoln annoyed before, I hadn’t ever seen him so angry . His face twisted into a mask of fury as he pinned the man in front of him with as much hatred as he could muster. Whatever was said had lit a burning hot flame within him.
“I think we’re more alike than you care to believe,” Silva sputtered, still grinning maniacally.
Silva’s back was stretched straight to meet Lincoln’s stormy gaze.
The two were in a deadbolt. Lincoln held on for a tormenting moment longer.
Then, he released the man’s throat but stayed rooted to his spot.
Silva greedily sucked in the fragrant air of the sorority house.
His hand rubbed at his neck. The pair was still chest to chest, continuing their stare-down.
The tension in the narrow hall was too much. I wanted to scream, but I held my breath, hoping that nothing would escalate further. Thankfully, I didn’t have to hold on much longer.
“I’ll see you at the Pit.” Silva shoved at Lincoln’s chest, creating a sliver more of space between them. The pair kept eye contact until he descended the stairs. From the banister, I remained frozen as Silva snaked through the group of people at the bottom before leaving the house altogether.
What was the Pit? Was it some sort of boxing reference? I drew in a calming breath, forming a mental note to ask about it later. Adrenaline caused slight tremors to rack my body. Lincoln remained where he was, his eyes trained on the fresh crack in the wall.
A moment passed. The two of us stood alone. “Lincoln?”
I was about to approach him and thank him for helping me, but before I could say anything further, he walked away.