Chapter 19
Tegan
Once Stacks passes out for the night, we gather in the parking lot near a makeshift fire pit, which is just a large metal can with a bunch of wood and paper inside it.
Ace calls it the midnight party. Rolo keeps adding more to the fire while some of us sit around it.
Others are off doing god knows what. Probably fucking or something.
Ace passes a bottle to me, and I pop it open and take a sip of stale, bitter beer. My face threatens to contort as the sour taste lingers on my tongue, but I don’t want to look like a child. I tip back the bottle once more to hide the grimace.
Tye comes up behind me, and I jump when he puts a joint in my face.
Ace’s eyes narrow. “She doesn’t need to smoke, Tye.”
“I’d like to try it,” I say.
His mouth forms a straight line, but he throws a nod toward Tye, who holds the spliff between his lips and lights it. I hyper-focus as he puffs on the wrap. He’s insanely handsome, and I can’t help but remember how his lips felt on mine.
Black smoke billows from the joint as he hands it back to me.
I stare at the stick as if it might blow up in my hand.
I’ve always been a good girl, but it’s not as if I’ll sully my reputation if I smoke a little weed.
So I hold the joint to my lips and inhale.
Warm smoke burns my throat and lungs as I suck way too much into them.
On the exhale, I try to hold back the embarrassing coughing fit, but it’s no use.
Tye reaches for the joint and looks down at me with a smirk. “It’s okay, princess. Just cough.”
Princess.
I’ve never liked that word. Probably because my mother’s little friends called me that before they crawled into bed with me. But when he says it, my body doesn’t tense and tighten, and the panic doesn’t wrap around my throat.
I kind of liked it.
“She’s a pup and a princess now?” Ace gestures toward Tye and takes the joint for himself. After several smokey exhales, he hands it to me again.
I take a shallow hit, then another, and a pleasant haze soon hangs over my anxious brain, caressing me with the relaxation I crave. When I turn around, Tye has disappeared, but I’m too high to care. I sit back, and Ace and I finish off the joint together.
“How old is Tye?” I ask.
“Twenty-six.”
“He’s almost ten years older than me.”
“So am I. Does that bother you?”
“Maybe you’re just taking advantage of me.”
He stands up and leans down to whisper in my ear. “In every position, every angle, and every way.”
My cheeks flush with warm heat. I want all of that too.
His lips inch closer to mine, and I close my eyes and wait for his kiss to steal my breath. Instead, a scream and the sound of flesh hitting flesh snatch our attention away from the moment.
Ace and I look at each other for only a moment before we both recognize one of the voices as Tye’s.
“Go!” I yell to Ace, but he’s already on his feet. When he glances back, I say, “I’ll be fine. Just help him!”
He hesitates, but he finally runs toward the shouting.
I’m alone, and panic gnaws at my stomach. The voices still carry, snaking through the air and finding my ears, even when I cover them. They’re fighting, and someone is liable to get hurt. Seriously. I wish I could do something, but I’d only be in the way.
That doesn’t stop the anxiety from tearing through me, though, so I head toward the vending machines in search of something that can help me cope.
My legs feel unattached as my high smacks me in the face the moment I turn the dark corner.
The whistle of the wind sounds like quiet voices, and a dizzying wave crashes over me.
I pull money from my pocket and lean against the machine as I study my options.
A bag of cookies, some chips, and a candy bar should do the trick.
I pull out the candy and two bags that fell into the tray, then stuff a cookie into my mouth.
“Hey,” comes a voice from behind me. “What are you doing over here without your little watchdog?”
I don’t recognize the voice at first, but then I realize it’s Rolo when I turn to face him.
He pulls something from his pocket and drags it across the back of his hand, leaving a white line of powder behind.
He leans down and snorts it, then sets up another line.
His eyes bounce between me and his hand as he inhales round two. He offers the third line to me.
I’ve tried enough things for one night, so I shake my head and turn back to the vending machines to select a drink. The machine whirs to life and spits out a bottle of Sunkist. I pull it from the tray as a bead of sweat drips down my spine.
As I screw off the cap and take the first sip, Rolo stands behind me.
Silent. Watching. He sniffs behind me again, and I squeeze my eyes closed.
This uneasy sense before something really bad happens isn’t a foreign feeling.
My body very much remembers this. Alec and Tye have protected me since I joined the crew, but now?
Now I’m alone with what is essentially a stranger.
Before I can turn around, a heavy weight slams into me. I collide with the wall, and my junk food falls to the ground as I struggle against him. The soda bottle explodes and sprays sticky orange liquid across our scrambling feet.
I open my mouth to scream, but a hand covers my lips and silences me. His skin smells smoky, which makes sense. Rolo was tending the fire all night.
My legs buckle, and I try to use my weight to my advantage, but my attacker is too strong.
He easily holds me up with one arm as his other works to unfasten his belt.
It’s another familiar sound. Another familiar feeling.
And just like every other time, there’s no one here to stop it from happening.
Ace probably hasn’t realized I’m missing. I just have to hope that he does before it’s too late.