Chapter 24 #3
Lucia is smiley and can barely stand, to the point that Aaron and his boyfriend are literally holding her up. Wren is giggling at who-knows-what and slumped against Aaron’s other side.
“Where’s Lena?” I hear myself blurt.
“She’s fine,” Ari says.
“But where iiiiisssss she?”
“She’s fine, Galina,” Arianna repeats. “Someone took her home.”
“Who?” Wren mumbles.
When Ari shoots her a look, Wren’s brows furrow, then suddenly jump up.
“Oooooh,” she giggles, grinning. “Hiiiim.”
“Wren…” Ari mutters in a warning tone, eying Lucia and cocking her head in my direction.
“Right right right,” Wren blurts, dramatically zipping her lips. “He who must not be named…”
Before I can pout about my friends keeping secrets from me, I’m suddenly aware of what’s happening around us.
What the fuck…?
It’s not just Wren, Lucia, and me. The whole party looks like it just drank all the absinthe in the world.
People are grinding on each other, hands stroking faces and bodies as the music thuds and churns. A gasp of pleasure draws my attention in one direction before a low whimpering moan tugs my gaze in another, where a group of guys and girls are indiscriminately touching and making out.
“Yeah, so, I don’t know how it happened,” Aaron frowns as he turns toward Ari. “But this whole fucking party looks like it’s on Molly, and I think it’s time to leave.”
“He totally likes you,” I giggle at Ari as she helps me out of my dress.
Aaron and Chris have taken Lucia to her dorm and Wren to her room at Morvaine Manor. Ari and I are back at The Atheneum, where she’s being the greatest friend ever.
“I have no idea who you’re talking about,” she chuckles, shaking her head at me as I step out of the dress on the floor at my feet.
“Adrik,” I wink at her.
“Yeah, sure,” she snorts, rolling her eyes. “Anyway. You good? Aaron texted me that Lucia’s pretty messed up, so I’m going to go check on her.”
“Ooo! I’ll come with!”
“You will do nothing of the sort,” she laughs as I stumble naked across my room having kicked off my underwear. “Seriously, you're all right?”
“I am excellent,” I grin, flashing her the “okay” sign.
She ends up making me drink a big glass of water and get into bed before she leaves. But as soon as she’s gone, I’m bouncing back out of it.
I’m too anxious. Too antsy. I do feel fucked up, but it's different from being drunk. It’s almost like everything feels floaty and warm and sensual.
Even the rug under my feet…so much so that I stand there naked in the middle of my room grinning like an asshole as I scrunch my toes into the rug and try not to moan.
Suddenly, a thought hits me so hard and so fast that I feel completely sober for a brief moment.
The cameras.
I whirl with fury in my eyes, my gaze stabbing into every corner of the room.
“WELL!” I snap into the emptiness. “Getting a good show, motherfucker?!”
“I am, actually.”
The gasp dies in my throat as my spine snaps to attention. I whirl and almost fall over my own feet as The Ghost Prince emerges from the shadows near my closet door.
My pulse is going a thousand miles an hour as I stare at him, my mouth hanging open, my eyes wide…utterly unable to address the fact that I’m naked right now.
“But if you’re curious…” His modulated voice rumbles through the silence and directly into my chest. “The cameras are all gone.”
I bark a cold laugh. “Sure they are.”
He chuckles. “They are. For real, this time.”
I swallow, swaying on my feet as light fractals dance in my peripheral vision.
My pulse is still thundering through my veins, but my blood feels like warm syrup. My skin feels electrified as a heated ripple teases up my bare spine, tightening my nipples right in front of him.
“Is that why you’re here?” I blurt.
He nods.
My lip retreats between my teeth as a pink haze clouds my thoughts. “Why else,” I hear myself say quietly.
The room goes silent.
“Why else are you here?” I murmur, standing defiant and naked in front of him as heat pools in my core. “Because you wanna fuck me?”
A sharp whimper whines in my throat when The Ghost Prince suddenly takes a step toward me and wraps a huge hand around my throat.
“And if I do?” he growls darkly.
Heat ripples through me. Suddenly, I’m stepping right into him, my breath coming in short staccato bursts as I slide my hands up his chest.
“I wouldn’t say no if you tried.”
The words drop from my lips as my throbbing, aching, needy body presses tightly to him, my nails dragging over his hips through his black t-shirt.
“Stop it,” he growls tightly, grabbing my wrists and pulling my hands away from him.
“Why?” I whine. “I thought you wanted to fuck—”
“Not while you’re high out of your mind on ecstasy, I don’t.”
I blink, frowning as I pull back and look up into his masked face. The room feels so warm, and that rug feels so good under my toes. Even his grip on my wrists feels orgasmic as my pulse skips and those fractals in my vision begin to throb and change color.
“I’m not…” My brow furrows. “I didn't take ecstasy.”
The second I say it, my legs turn to jelly. Suddenly, The Ghost Prince is catching me in his arms as I snort out a giggle against his chest.
“Someone spiked the absinthe tonight at that party,” he growls. “How much of it did you drink?”
“A lot,” I snort. “It was sooo yummy!”
He groans. “Yeah, you’re feeling like this because you’re on drugs, little villain.”
I frown when he lifts me into his arms and starts to carry me across the room as it spins around me.
How did I get here?
How is he here?
What party?
Absinthe?
“He totally likes you, Ari,” I giggle as I’m placed horizontally on something wonderfully soft. “Ari and Adrik sitting in a tree….K-I-S-S…”
My words trail off as I start to close my eyes. Someone is tucking a blanket around me as I gently shake my head.
“I’m not on…”
Another brief moment of clarity hits me.
Fuck.
I think I’m on drugs.
It’s the last thought that flickers through my chemically altered mind before consciousness snuffs away and the shadows overtake me.