Chapter Ten #2
I glance back at her. She’s hunched slightly, arms crossed tight, eyes locked on the glass like if she stares hard enough, she’ll disappear into it.
I get it. I do. I wouldn’t want my mum with a guy like my dad either, not like this.
Not this broken, regretful version of him.
But since Mum, he’s forgotten how to smile.
Part of me was hoping Maxine would be the reason for him to change.
We arrive at Luna’s minutes later. The music hits like a slap to the face the second we walk through the door, with the bass vibrating through the floor and the loud conversations of drunk teenagers ringing out.
Emmie doesn’t hesitate.
She shrugs off her coat, tosses it somewhere random, and heads straight for the drinks table like a missile locked on target. I try to keep pace, but she’s already downing something out of a plastic cup by the time I catch up.
“Slow down,” I say, reaching for the cup she’s refilling. “At least figure out what’s in it first.”
She yanks it back. “Why do you care?”
“I just-”
“No, seriously,” she cuts in, glaring at me over the rim. “Back the hell off.”
I open my mouth to answer, but someone bumps into me, and by the time I recover, she’s gone, disappearing into the crowd like a ghost.
I spot her again twenty minutes later in the living room. She’s on someone’s shoulders, laughing too loud, drink sloshing out of her cup as she yells along to a song she probably doesn’t even know. Someone hands her another shot. She takes it without hesitation.
“Jesus,” I mutter, pushing through the crowd.
By the time I reach her, she’s back on the ground, staggering a little, breathless with laughter. Her eyes are glassy, her cheeks flushed, but there’s no real joy in her face. Just recklessness.
“You need water,” I say.
She gives me a mock pout. “Aww, is little Kai worried about me now?”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I,” she says, stepping closer. “You don’t get to vanish and then show up acting like you care. Go back to your friends, or Bella, or whoever you’re pretending to like this week.”
I flinch. “That’s not fair.”
“Neither is my mum dating your trainwreck of a dad, but here we are.”
She spins away again before I can answer, this time heading for the kitchen. Someone’s chanting “shot, shot, shot,” and I feel my stomach twist.
Bella intercepts me before I can go after Emmie. She trails her fingers over my chest, and I resist the urge to shudder in revulsion. I glance towards the kitchen again, but Emmie’s out of view. “You seem tense?”
“I said I’d watch out for Emmie,” I mutter.
She arches a brow. “She’s not a toddler. Besides, I thought that was, yah know, a social experiment or something.”
“She’s having a shit time.”
“Aren’t we all. Listen, I’m tired of these games, Kai. You’re either into me or you’re not.” And before I can answer, her hand wraps around the back of my neck, and she tugs me closer, her lips pressing against mine.
It takes me a second to come to my senses, and I try to pull back. Bella isn’t deterred, her lips and body pressed so tightly against me, I have to grip her shoulders and practically shove her from me. She grins, “Wanna take it upstairs?”
I frown. “No, Bella. I’m not into you,” I snap, annoyed she lunged at me. “I like someone else.”
Her sickly-sweet smile falters into something darker, a rage she’s trying hard to hold back. “If you’re telling me you’d rather go out with Emmie Carter, than me, we’re so over.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” I mutter, moving her to one side and heading into the kitchen.
The crowd is cheering wildly. The chanting, pressing in like they’re watching the main event at some twisted circus.
Shot, shot, shot. The smell of spilled beer clings to the air.
I shove my way through, elbows digging into ribs as I pass through with my heart pounding for reasons I can’t quite name, until I see her.
Emmie.
She’s flat on her back on the kitchen table, her arms pinned above her head by some drunk girl laughing too hard to care. Two shot glasses balance on her stomach, her shirt riding up just enough to make my jaw clench.
And Henry, fucking Henry, is doing push-ups over her, hands planted on either side of her waist, dipping low to grab the shot with his mouth before tipping his head back with a victorious whoop. The crowd loses it , and the girl holding Emmie down shrieks with laughter.
He goes in for the second, but I’m moving before I think. “Get off her,” I bark, shouldering someone out of the way. Henry doesn’t hear, or pretends not to. He dips again, his face far too close to hers, the table creaking beneath them. “I said get off her! ”
This time, he hears me. Everyone does. The crowd goes still, voices dropping so they can listen to the impending showdown. Henry looks up, half-laughing. “Relax, man. It’s a party.”
Emmie’s eyes find mine, hazy and unfocused but full of something that looks dangerously close to challenge. “It’s fine, Kai. I’m having fun.”
“No, you’re not,” I snap. “You’re being stupid.”
Her face hardens instantly. “Wow. Thanks.”
Henry jumps down, heading off into the crowd, muttering under his breath.
“You let him crawl all over you like that, and I’m the bad guy for trying to stop it?”
“I let whoever the hell I want crawl over me,” she says, sitting up and grabbing the last shot from her stomach. She throws it back in one swallow, slamming the glass down hard. “Shouldn’t you be playing tonsil tennis with Bella?”
There are murmurs of ‘whoa’ as the crowd get excited.
I run a hand through my hair, trying to breathe. She saw the kiss. Fuck. “You’re wasted.”
“And you’re boring,” she says with a crooked grin. “Go home, Kai.” And she jumps down and shoves past me.