Page 15 of The Afterthought

I look directly at Andrea. "You need to find somewhere else to be. I don't need to have trouble with your dad."

"My dad thinks I'm at Chloe's house. It's fine." She shrugs and leans in to whisper into the ear of the guy sitting next to her. His eyes light up with desire, and I can almost guess what she told him. I was his age once, young, in love, and dumb as fuck.

"Ten minutes. Wrap things up and get out," I say. "If you expect to keep running with the Crimson Rose, get her the fuck out of here."

I turn on my heels and make my way back into the house, determined to find Kai and lay into him for giving them cups. He knows better than to allow underage drinking here. Given his height, he's pretty easy to spot. He's in the kitchen talking to some random dude, so I walk up and pull him aside.

"Dude, what the fuck?" I say with zero context.

"You have to be a little more specific than that," he tells me.

"You were in charge of the cups tonight, remember? It was supposed to be your job to keep track of the money and ensure nobody underage got them. You know I don't want that shit happening here."

"What did you want me to do, check everyone's IDs?" He laughs.

"This is serious, Kai. The Sheriff’s daughter has a cup for fucks sake. When I ask for something to be a certain way in my house, I expect that to be respected." My eyes narrow at him. Typically, he and I don't have any issues, but this isn't something I'm not willing to budge on. My dad used alcohol a lot to cope with things when I was younger, and I know what that can do to someone. I don't want it happening in my house.

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't think it was that big of a deal. I got distracted for a bit, so some people might have slipped in and helped themselves," he says.

"It's a big deal. Figure out who's underage and get them the fuck out of here. I don't need Sheriff Wolfe on our asses because you wanted to get your dick sucked." I’m probably being harsher than I should be, but he pissed me off, and right now, I don't really care.

He steps out of the kitchen and into the garage. I'm assuming it’s to figure out who shouldn't be here and do what I told him to do. This was supposed to be a birthday party, but it's been nothing but pure stress. The one thing I am actually grateful for is the fact that there is no cake.

I sip on my beer and turn to look towards my living room. I catch sight of someone with fiery orange hair pushing their way through the crowd of people and then disappear into the hallway. You have got to be fucking kidding me. I know this bitch did not just show up at my house after I told her to get out of town.

I slam my cup on the counter, and the contents slosh over the edges, wetting my hands. After wiping them on my pants, I push myself away from the counter and toward the hallway to track her down.

Countless people slap their hands on my back as I walk past, telling me happy birthday. I just nod at them and push my way through to my destination. She's never been inside my house, so she has no clue where she's going. I started renting it a few years after she left town. My question is whether or not she knows who this house belongs to.

It's not uncommon to end up at a random party on this side of Dune Valley. She's not supposed to be out at parties, though. She's supposed to be packing her shit. I step into the hallway but can't see the bright orange hue of her hair anywhere.

"Did you see a girl with orange hair?" I ask the girl standing outside of the bathroom, waiting for her turn to go inside.

"Yeah, she went in there. I told her that room was off limits, but she didn't care," she says nervously.

I raise a brow and turn my head over to the door she is pointing at. Avalynn Blake is in my bedroom. Oh, this is going to be interesting. I push open the door to see her looking around my room. She is staring at a picture on my dresser, and almost immediately, I know what she's looking at. I slam the door behind me, causing her to turn in my direction with wide eyes.

"Grey," she says as I stalk towards her.

I grab her by the shoulders and push her against the wall. "What the fuck are you doing here? I told you to leave. What part of that did you not understand?"

"I'm looking for my sister." She tries to push me off of her.

"Come on, Ava. Don't treat me like I'm stupid. We dated for three years. I stayed at your house all the time when we were kids. You don't have a sister." I can't help but find myself a bit intoxicated by her presence. Having her so close to me does things that I hate to admit I enjoy.

"You don't know shit." Her lip curls up, trying to emphasize her distaste for me.

She's trying to test my patience, and I'm not about to let her get the upper hand. I lean in closer, changing my grip so that my entire left arm is pinning her shoulders in place. My hips block her in, and we are dangerously close.

"I can find another way to make you tell me the truth." A fun little idea crosses my mind.

My now free hand trails up the tights covering her thigh. She's wearing a black mini skirt with lace-patterned fishnets, a pair of knockoff Doc Martens, and a band tee tucked into the skirt. It's a very gothic style choice, which is completely different from what I remember her having. I continue to trail my hand up her leg until it disappears under her skirt.

"Greyson," she warns. "What are you doing? Stop it and let me go. I need to find her."

She is sticking with this sister story, and it's really pissing me off. "Tell me the truth, and I'll stop. Why are you here?" I say as I get dangerously close to her center. I can feel the heat radiating off of her and can't help but admit it has my heart racing in my chest. I hate what this girl does to me. I hate how much power she has over me after all this time.

"I already told you. I'm looking for my sister." Her eyes are wide. She doesn't actually think I’ll keep going, but I'm here to prove her wrong. It’s a party, in Dune Valley, on my birthday. She must have come here to look for me.

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