Page 68 of Best Served Cold

The guys who assaulted me didn’t even get a slap on the wrist. Video of the attack was even spread around the school with zero repercussions for anyone but me.

That incident was the moment I accepted that no one gave a shit about me except my sister, and they not only condoned but encouraged the abuse and bullying that had been hurled my way from the moment I stopped conforming, stopped trying to fit in.

I waited until I was eighteen and living on my own before I got my next piercing, and each subsequent one had caused as much of a scandal at church as the last.

One thing about me was that the more people pushed back and told me not to do something, the more I had to do it. The church and my community hated piercings, so I got as many as I could in the most obvious places.

People here didn’t care about my piercings. I noticed some of the girls in the group seemed to be attracted to them, or at least intrigued by them. They also didn’t care that I dressed in black, wore chains, and listened to metal. They accepted the me I presented to the world, but none of them actually knew me.

No one did, and keeping up this façade of being the happy-go-lucky new guy was fucking exhausting.

The crunch of tires over gravel knocked me out of my musings. Shaking my head to clear both my thoughts and my mood, I pushed the door to my truck open and stepped down.

One drink, a little bit of mingling, then I’d go home and try to get some sleep before work tomorrow.

“Noah!” A girl I recognized but whose name I couldn’t remember waved at me from the lawn as I strode to the front of the house.

“Hey.” I waved back. Hopefully my smile looked genuine and not like I was a step away from losing my shit.

The guy she was hanging off of glanced over his shoulder.

I nearly tripped over my feet.

Was that the bartender from the club? The one who’d made my drink?

The guy’s eyes narrowed, like he was trying to place me too.

I upnodded him and quickened my steps. Fucking perfect. One more reminder of the night I’d not only willingly sucked Zane’s dick, but loved every damn second of it.

That had to be a sign from the universe or something that this wasn’t where I needed to be right now.

I should go.

At least Zane and River weren’t going to be here. I’d overheard them talking about some event at the club tonight. After spending all week working with Zane, I needed a break from him, too, so I could sort out the mess in my head and stop obsessing over a man who clearly wanted nothing to do with me.

The front door was cracked open, and the din of loud conversation and music burst out into the balmy evening. Steeling myself, I pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The blast of A/C set my nerves on edge, as did the cacophony of noise and the crush of people jammed into the living room.

The party had been in full swing for hours by now and things were devolving into the usual debauchery that happened when a bunch of horny, drunk twenty-somethings with zero fucks got together.

Several couples were dirty dancing, and a few more were essentially dry humping. One couple was pressed against the wall a few feet from the front door trying to eat each other’s faces. He had his hand up her skirt while she jerked him off under his shorts.

Two girls were kissing in another corner, surrounded, of course, by guys who were cheering them on. Another group of girls were basically giving lap dances to some randoms sitting on the couch.

My mind immediately went to Zane and how he’d danced at the club. The way that man moved his hips was criminal, and I was still trying to wrap my head around why it had felt ten times better knowing everyone in the club had watched him claim me like that.

Tearing my eyes from the soft-core porn going on in the living room, I headed toward the kitchen to get a drink.

Zane hadn’t pulled me on stage to claim me. He’d done it to fuck with me.

At this point I couldn’t even be sure if this was a game to him or revenge for being such a brat and intentionally pissing him off when we first met.

You shouldn’t be here, that voice in my head hissed. No one wants you here.

“Noah!” someone called when I stepped into the dining room.

“River?” I gaped at the twins, who were standing together near the giant window with their heads bent together like they’d been deep in conversation. “I thought you were working tonight?” I said as I approached.

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