Page 109 of Her Dark Angel

“I won’t tell if you don’t.”

I look to Travis for guidance, but he isn’t paying me any mind. Instead, he sniffs the odd-smelling liquid and smiles. “Come on, Kin. One drink won’t hurt.”

Reggie raises an encouraging brow at me and lifts his beer in the air. “Cheers to a great night. You’re both going to have so much fun.”

I swallow hard and lift my glass to match theirs. What else am I meant to do? I don’t want to be the odd one out in this situation, especially if an adult says it’s okay for us to drink this alcoholic beverage.

One beer won’t hurt, right? My mom never has to know about it. It’ll be a secret between the three of us.

“Drink up!” Reggie wraps his lips around the lip of the bottle and takes a long sip from it. Travis follows suit and doesn’t gag at all when he consumes the liquid.

If Travis can do it, so can I.

The beer tastes as bad as it smells when it touches my tongue. But I power through it, making sure to swallow a few big mouthfuls to match Reggie and Travis. I have to fight the urge to gag when I pull the bottle away from my mouth and the liquid settles uncomfortably in my stomach.

“All right, let’s get this party started, shall we?” Reggie says with a large smile. He points behind us to the living room. “Come on. I have some more people I want to introduce to you. They are very powerful men, okay? If you get on their good side, they could have a lot of influence over your career in the coming years. They have the power to land you any project you want and make you so wealthy you wouldn’t know what to do with all the money.”

“Okay,” Travis says as we follow Reggie back into the living room.

Music blasts from the record player in the corner of the room when we enter. The kids my age are dancing and laughing together without a care in the world. I would love to join them, but Reggie has other ideas. He wants to introduce us to more of his friends, but I can’t focus on the men in front of me because I’m preoccupied with wanting to hang out with my friends.

Thankfully, after Reggie is done with the introductions, Travis and I finish the rest of our beers and leave to hang out with our friends. I don’t know what’s going on with my head, but it feels heavy and slightly foggy, and my legs are wobbly, but thankfully I have Travis to keep me steady.

My lungs grow tired from laughing and singing, while my feet begin to ache as I dance around the living room. But I don’t care. Not when I have Travis by my side, laughing along with me and making me smile until my cheeks hurt.

For an adult party, it’s pretty fun.

A hand on my shoulder stops me from dancing, and I glance back to see Reggie standing above me. He smells of stale beer and sweat, almost making me gag. But I swallow it down. He has his hand on Travis’s shoulder too, a smile touching his lips.

“Would you care to follow me upstairs? There is something I want to show you.”

Travis and I gaze at each other from around Reggie’s large belly. He offers a careless shrug before turning to look up at Reggie. “Sure. We can come back to dance afterward, right?”

Reggie smiles and pats his shoulder. “Of course! I won’t keep you from your friends for too long.”

Travis and I follow Reggie out of the living room and up the staircase to the second floor. I watch my feet with each step, curious as to what Reggie wants to show us.

A hand on my shoulder forces my eyes up from the ground and into forest green ones. Travis offers me a calm smile and whispers, “It’s okay, Kin. Everything will be all right. He just wants to show us something, and then we can get back to dancing, okay?”

I smile at his comforting words. “Okay,” I whisper as we reach a closed door.

Reggie turns the round knob and pushes it open. He steps into what appears to be a bedroom, but it doesn’t look lived in. My bedroom has clothes on the floor, stuffed animals on the bed, and random things on top of the dresser. But this room only has a large bed in the center with a window above it, revealing the stars shining bright in the night sky.

The two men sitting at the foot of the bed stop me in my tracks just inside the doorway. Reggie closes the door behind us and points at the two older men. “Kinsley and Travis, I would like you to meet two of my good friends. This is Michael.” He points to the man with slightly gray hair and a thick mustache on his upper lip. His gray eyes meet mine.

“And this is Arthur.” The man sitting beside Michael lifts his hand to wave at us. His hair is dirty blonde with a bald patch visible atop his head. His blue eyes are a little kinder than Michael’s when they find mine from across the room.

“Hi,” Travis says, waving at the men from beside me.

I jump at the feel of Reggie’s hand on my lower back. “Aren’t you going to say hi, Kin?”

“Hi,” I squeak. My nails dig painfully into my palm to calm my racing heart. “W-why are we in here?”

“Well, I told my friends we could all have a little fun together,” Reggie says from behind me. His hand slips lower down my back. When his palm grazes over my backside, my eyes widen as fear spikes in my chest. “I think it could be a lot of fun, don’t you?”

“What kind of fun?” Travis asks, his voice shaking slightly.

“Why don’t you sit down on the bed between Michael and Arthur and you’ll find out.”

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