Page 101 of Embody

“That’s more than okay.” I give her another quick kiss, searching for the right moment to say the perfect thing—whatever that is—to fix my earlier slip of tongue.Or was it?

Just when we’re all settled in, I sense someone standing over my shoulder and look up. “Can I help you?” I ask the guy, about my age andobviouslylost…the number of piercings in his face screaming that he took a wrong turn on his way to a Sons of Satan concert (if that’s a band) and ended up at Sam Hunt instead.

“Yeah, dude,” he slurs…confusing me again; not sure if he’s drunk, stoned, both or thinks talking like that adds to his persona. “That hot fucking piece of gash,” he points down the row to, IthinkPresley, “is in my seat. See?” He holds out a ticket.

And now it doesn’t matter that one of us, with Sutton’s surprise arrival, probablyisin his seat. Nor will I be offering him money to trade one of us seats, which I would have done…before. Before he referred to my cousin as “a hot fucking piece of gash.”

And Sutton heard him.

“I’m sitting here now,” Sutton doesn’t bother getting up, yet, and pulls “his” ticket out of his jeans pocket, flipping in the air to land on the sticky, I-wouldn’t-go-digging-round-down-there ground. “Pick it up, that’s your new seat. We traded,” Suttontellshim, calm and matter-of-factly.

“No way man,” dumb-as-fuck, pierced, maybe stoned guy argues. “I’m taking the seat I paid for, next to her.” He gives Presley a leering once-over and licks his lips…baring his desperate need for pro-bono orthodontic work. Unless of course, hehasmoney, and chooses not to spend it on frivolous things such as toothpaste and soap; in which case, forget the pro-bono part.

Sutton’s what I like to think of as a “gentle giant.” He’s fuckinggiant,but he’s giving the guy more than one chance to live, thus the “gentle” part. But now, Sutton’s regular-looking teeth are bared and he’s braced on his armrests, about to push up from his seat. The intensity is already palpable, and Bellamy’s shaking like a thin limb in a windstorm beside me, so I try to intervene.

“Listen dude,” I plead with the guy in his language, “if that motherfucker stands up, the onlygasharound here will be the deep one, down the middle of your face. Trust me on this.” I dig out my wallet, putting aside the vulgar insult to my cousin for the sake of peace, and pull out a twenty. Then, knowing Brynny will have hand sanitizer in her purse…’cause that’s how she rolls…I bend over and pick up the ticket off the ground for him. “Here, a perfectly good seat and twenty bucks for your trouble. Who knows, maybe this seat will be surrounded by even hotter girls.”I pray there’s not, or they have big boyfriends with them.

“Make it forty.” He tries to grin, it really is a horrific sight, and I sigh, reaching for my wallet.

Sutton takes a step toward him with each sinisterly low word of warning. “Fuck. You.Dude.Take the twenty, the ticket, your death wish, and get the fuck outta my sight. Countin’ to three. Can you count that high?”

And we’re done. Both the money and ticket are ripped from my hand and Stony takes off so fast a cloud of his putrid scent flies off him, gagging us all for a second. Too damn funny; Sutton didn’t even need to talk, he could’ve simply stood up and gotten the same reaction.

“We all good?” he asks and everyone shakes their head, eyes bulging with frightened wonder. “All right then,” he nods and retakes his seat.

“Well that was interesting,” Bellamy whispers and I laugh, kissing her head.

“Everything’s fine, baby. Sutton rarely has to actually throw a punch. Relax and enjoy the night, okay?”

She nods and snuggles against me. Soon, it’s all forgotten and some dude I’ve never heard of starts his opening act. He’s decent, but clearly not the main attraction, since all our girls opt to talk through the whole thing. We’re the first row behind a dividing rail and Bellamy props her feet up on it, then, in what is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen, drops them back down with a yelp and hides her face in my shoulder.

“Oh, my God, I can’t believe I just did that!” Her horror is muffled. “I’m wearing a skirt. Do you think anyone below saw, you know…”

I laugh off the weight of a thousand worries, full and uplifting, kissing the top of her head. “No, they’re all facing the stage. But on the off-chance anyone did, they dare mention it and I’ll make sure they never talk again.”

“So,” Sutton’s booming voice interrupts as he leans around Presley. “I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure, Bellamy. I’m Sutton Ellis, JT’s roommate. It’s nice to finally meet the girl I’ve heard so much about.” He smiles and holds out his hand…lying. He hasn’t heard shit about Bellamy. I like the guy, but he’s a dog, and the less he knows about my girl, the better off we’ll be.

Bellamy shakes his hand, then blurts out some funny shit before I even realize she’s said it. “Nice to meet you too. I wish I could say I’ve heard about you as well, but, um, I kinda forgot Jefferson even had an apartment. I thought he just floated between work and tracking me down, catching a shower somewhere along the way.”

“Yeah,” Sutton laughs, “I was lying. I never see him anymore. Had to ask Presley your name.”

“Wheredoyou shower, J?” Presley grins.

“Fuck off,” I grumble.

“No really, you should stock-up on your pretty boy supplies at Bellamy’s and shower there. Save a lot of time.”

Bellamy’s hand tenses on my knee, but I dip my head and force her to meet my eyes. “Ignore them, baby. No pressure.”

“Um, excuse me.” A girl in the row behind us leans forward, interrupting in the most annoying, haughty, and nasally voice I’ve ever heard. “Do you people plan on being rude and trashy, talking through theentireconcert?”

Oh shit.Are you fucking kidding me with this shit? Again?“Get your girl,” I warn Sutton quickly, sincerely afraid of what Presley will do to this chick. Presleydoesthrow punches and will capitalize off the adrenaline of the earlier showdown; I know her. I mean, what the fuck…do we have targets on our backs tonight or what?

And in what is the most shocking turn of events I’ll probably ever encounter, I turn to see why Brynny’s gasping and follow her horrified gaze to…Bellamy, my shy lil’ Bellamy, on her feet, finger stabbing the air toward “Miss Thang” behind us.

Apparently, also riding high on adrenaline.

“Do you know the name of the guy currently wanging,kinda like your voice, his way through a remake right now?” Bellamy hisses. Presley whoops her approval and even Brynny adds a tiny “yeah.”

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