Page 105 of Awakening

“And if he screws up even a little, his fucking ass is out of here. I think it went pretty well,” Nick says as my phone chimes with a text.

I open it to see a photo of Olivia, Chloe and Vanessa laughing their asses off as they hold up half emptied martini glasses.

Olivia

We got bored, so we went to Tonic. It’s okay, we walked. XO

“Fuck me.”

“What now?” Nick asks.

“Our women are wasted.” I look over at my dad. “And, so is your daughter,” I say, showing him the photo.

“Oh, for crying out loud,” my dad says. “You two go get your mates. I’ll swing by to pick up my unruly daughter.”

“I’m going to leave you guys to it then,” Lance says with a laugh as we part ways.

It’s quite a sight when Nick and I arrive at Tonic. All three girls are singing along and dancing to “Dancing Queen” by ABBA.

“Hmm. This could be an interesting night,” Nick says with a grin.

“Yeah, something like that,” I agree with a laugh.

Olivia gasps, mid twirl, when she sees me watching them. “Ethan!” She starts to run toward me, but unfortunately, her feet are still stuck in twirl mode. My eyes widen as she does this running stumble all the way over to me, finally landing hard into my chest. “You’re here,” she says gleefully, seeming to be blissfully unaware that she almost face planted in front of a bar full of people.

I pull her into my arms, helping her to stand in an upright position. She reeks of alcohol. “Fuck, baby. How much did you drink today?” I’m no longer as amused because even though I still have security following her, I know how vulnerable she is like this.

She starts counting on her fingers, then starts laughing. “More than this many,” she says, holding up one hand, “but less than this many.” She then holds up both hands as she laughs. “We had so much fun today.” She snuggles into my chest and I sigh, wrapping my arms around her again.

“You’re going to have your hands full tonight,” Nick says, laughing.

“Fuck off, dude. Look at what’s in store for you tonight,” I say, nodding toward Chloe who is in full cackle at their table.

“Yeah, I better go deal with that. Good luck,” he says as he goes to face his fate for the evening.

“Yep. We’ll touch base tomorrow,” I call to Nick as my dad walks in.

“Oh,” he says, doing a double take when he sees Olivia snuggled into me, practically falling asleep.

“Yeah.”

Vanessa sees us and runs over, throwing her arms around my dad. “Hi, Dad.” She’s drunk, but the best off out of all three of them, probably because she has the highest tolerance.

“I’m not thrilled with you, young lady. Let’s go,” my dad says.

“Oh. I was actually going to have a drink with, uh…what’s him name again?” she says as she thinks. “I’m going to have a drink with AJ. I’m almost certain that’s it,” she says with a big smile. Okay, so she’s not doing as well as I thought. “He’ll give me a ride home later.”

“He most certainly will not. Now, get your things. Let’s go.”

“But, Dad?—”

“Now, Vanessa.”

“Ugh, fine. He wasn’t that cute anyway,” she grumbles as she walks back to their table.

“Well, if everyone is accounted for, we’re out of here. I’ll touch base regarding the plan,” I say.

“Sounds good, son. Best of luck,” he says, shaking his head at the girls.

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