Page 1 of Chokehold
The house is crowded. Music blasts through the speakers from every corner of the room, people already drunk and dancing to the heavy bass.
Allie laces her fingers in mine as I lead us through the sweaty bodies until I reach Samson and Keith, my friends from college. They greet me, then nod to my girl.
It’s more than what they’ve done over the last twelve months. They aren’t fans of her since she cheated on me last year, always telling me to ditch her.
I didn’t care enough to break up with her.
Their eyes lift to the person behind me, and I sigh. “Allie asked Mia to come. Fuckface decided he had to join because he can’t go one hour without being stuck to her side.”
Blaise ignores me and goes straight to my friends.
Samson leans forward and shakes Blaise’s hand. “Been a while, man. How’s life treating you?”
Blaise sits down and brings Mia onto his knee. They get into a discussion about football and how my stepbrother wants to do tryouts, and I take Allie to get drinks to try to forget the asshole is here.
For a few hours, I steer clear of him. I’ve probably done too many shots and smoked far too much weed. I navigate my way from the kitchen to the sitting room, dropping onto the couch in front of Blaise.
“Why are you still here?” I ask him, noticing Mia is dancing with Allie by the stairs. I inwardly huff when they notice us and head over.
“Get fucked,” Blaise spits, taking another drink of his beer.
My eyes absently zone into the way his throat moves with each gulp. I wish I could cut it wide open and watch the way his blood flows out. I’d make sure I drained every drop, bleed him dry, then sit by while he turns blue and lifeless.
There’s a tick in my jaw, and I drag my gaze to his face instead.
“Stop talking to me,” he adds when I don’t snap back.
I laugh and kick my legs up on the table between us. “Daddy won’t like it if he knows his little princess is drunk the night before practice.”
Even though he’s done with high school, he still plays on their team for the next two weeks. He grits his teeth and goes to retort, but we’re interrupted by my friends.
I’m handed another joint, and I keep my eyes on Blaise as I fill my lungs with the toxic smoke and blow it in his direction. With a grimace, he waves his hand in front of him, giving me the death stare that doesn’t even slightly scare me.
“I’m bored,” Samson says, sitting next to Blaise. “Let’s play a game.”
Allie sighs as she approaches with Mia. “Please don’t say Never Have I Ever.”
Getting comfortable pressed up to my side, she drops her head to my shoulder, lacing our fingers while I inhale on the joint and pass it back to Keith. Blaise only stares at me, his eyesnarrowing. I bet the fucking prick will tell his dad that I was smoking weed tonight.
My brow quirks, and he averts his eyes to his girlfriend. Such a fake asshole. Always pretending he actually fucking likes her.
“What game, then?”
Samson hums, thinking to himself before clicking his fingers. “We’ll have two teams. One chases the other, and if you catch them, you can beat them the fuck up or just take your point as winning.”
Blaise snorts. “What’s the point? What do we get if we win?”
“We’ll decide later.”
“Sounds dumb.”
His voice irritates me. I can imagine my fist laying into his smug face, but the idea of letting my mom down again makes me rein it in.
“I’m not on his team,” Blaise says as he gestures to me, and my right eye twitches. “He’ll cheat.”
I scoff. “Fuck off. No one even wants you here.”
Mia scowls. “Hey! Allie asked us to come!”
