Page 84 of Beautiful Defiance

26

LEIGH

The party at Galley Rutherford’s is unlike any party I’ve been at. And looks like something out of a movie. There are these spotlights set up on the lawn that point at the sky. Also a fog machine. Kids spill out of the house, onto the lawn, and onto the sidewalk.

“Wow, you weren’t kidding about how big Galley’s parties get, but what’s the theme?”

I am in the middle seat of the middle row in Midnight’s SUV. He and Dare are dropping us off, and then they’ll join the party and jump in at the right moment.

“The Freaks Come Out At Night,” Midnight answers.

Galley likes to hashtag his parties. Dare and Midnight don’t go to DU, but when your families are filthy rich, you tend to run in the same social circle.

“I wouldn’t have guessed,” Rue says. She is sitting to my left. Red is on my right. “Leigh, you sure Henry and his ex will be here?”

“Yep. I saw it on their feeds.” I Insta-stalked them.

“Stop yapping already and get the hell out of the car,” Dare says from his spot riding shotgun. “Go have fun but not too much. Easy on the alcohol too. Don’t want you guys upchucking on the way down the stairs. That shit goes everywhere.”

Rue and I shake our heads and follow Red out of the SUV. Teetering on my sky-high heels, I pull down the hem of my minidress. I am not about flaunting my body, but tonight is different. It’s all about baiting a certain someone into cheating on his girlfriend.

Do I feel bad? Nope.

Henry’s ex-girlfriend sure didn’t put his feelings first when she hooked up with a guy who wasn’t her boyfriend.

The three of us walk up to the house. The fog at our feet gives off the illusion of floating on clouds, while the fog lights lighting up the sky give off this weird glam vibe. It’s like walking on clouds on our way to accepting an award, the take-down-cheaters trophy.

We walk up to the house.

Manning the front door are two muscular and tall guys wearing backward baseball caps. One has a sexy smirk, and the other is just as sexy, with his guns for arms and come-hither smile. The guys look us up and down. I have a few layers of makeup on, and so does Rue, but we still look youngish. Dare thought ahead and got us fake IDs and fake student IDs.

“Who you here with, girls?”

“Why ask just us? What about him?” I tip my head at Red.

“We didn’t ask Red. We asked you.”

“Who are you?” I cross my arms, and pulling back my shoulders, I straighten to my full height of five feet five inches.

The one with the sexy smirk scoffs. “I asked first.”

A pissing match. Nice. I extend my hand and smile. “Name’s Leigh. This is Rue.”

The larger of the two guys leans in, intensely checking out Rue. “You look familiar.”

“My sister goes here. Her name’s Riley Lee.”

The guys look at one another. “We know Riley. She’s cool. It’s nice to meet you two. Name’s Xander. This is Zeke. I’m Zeke and Galley’s team captain. Rugby. Don’t want no trouble, so you girls have fun. Grab me or Zeke if any guy gives you a hard time, got that? No guy has the right to harass a girl when she’s only here for fun times.”

“We will,” I say. “Thank you.”

They let us through the door. Zeke smiles and gives us a two-finger salute. I almost swoon at his feet. My oh my, that boy is panty-melting hot. Me and Rue walk inside the house arm in arm. Red is busy fist bumping and shoulder bumping Xander and Zeke.

“Have you ever been to a party of this magnitude?” I ask, embarrassed to have used a big word, but there is no other word to describe how impressed I am. I’m excited too.

“Never. This is true adulting.”

Smiling, I lean into her. “Our first experience adulting together. This is awesome.”

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