Page 15 of The Rowdy Ones
“Not that.” She snaps her head in my direction. “How you treated the three of us just then. Like we were doing something wrong and you had to save me from it.”
Clenching my teeth together, I hold back what I really think about Weston and Gwen. There’s no sense in upsetting Destiny even more.
“Maybe you should go back home,” she says coolly. “I can do this myself.”
Fucking ouch.
The next time she speaks, it’s to her phone, instructing it to play music. Classical music blasts from the device in her hand, effectively ending the conversation.
She’s right. I should go home. At least then I could relax.
Liar.
You never relax. Your demons follow you everywhere. Here, though, at least you can watch over Destiny.
“Talia’s mom went to San Francisco for business, so she invited a bunch of people over. They have a kick-ass loft.”
My shoulders are tense as I sit in the passenger seat of Wild’s truck. Destiny hasn’t spoken to me since yelling at me in the car earlier today. Once the original anger dissipated, I felt like a shit brother. I just want to make things right between us but can’t figure out how to do that.
Alcohol will help take my mind off things.
We park in a parking garage in a fancy area of town. I remember when they were building these units. Evan and I would discuss the progression and how badass it would be to live someplace like that rather than our dinky apartment. And now I’m here.
Wild climbs out of the truck and saunters over to the elevator. I follow after him, feeling uncomfortable as fuck in a pair of his dark jeans and a black button-up shirt. I’m even wearing one of his coats that reeks of his cologne. This isn’t me and I hate it.
But I need some sort of outlet.
Going stir-crazy in that RV is getting old.
On the fifth floor, we exit into a sleek hallway and Wild makes his way to one of the units. He raps on the door. Seconds later, the redhead with the fat lips answers.
“Oh, handsome, so happy you came!” She flings herself into Wild’s arms and hugs his neck. “And who’s this fella?”
I offer her my hand, but she hugs me next. Her tits are huge and smash against my chest. It wakes my cock up. Wonderful.
Thankfully, she extracts herself from me and waves us inside. Music with a deep baseline plays from a speaker in the living room. About twenty or thirty people mill about, all dressed nicely with cocktails or beers in hand. Several people blatantly gawk at me, which makes me feel stupid and out of place.
Wild, of course, knows everyone. He drags me around from person to person, introducing me to people I’ll never remember the names of. What he’s good at, though, is keeping my drink refilled so that the liquor can do its job to relax me. By the time we’ve been here an hour, I’m loose and even smiling, which warms a few people up to me.
“It’s so cool you live out there,” a blonde, no taller than Destiny, says and flashes me a pearly white grin. “We went camping once and my mom cried the first night. Made Dad pack us up and leave right then. We’re so not outdoorsy.”
We all chuckle at the visual. The guy next to her is tall and stands close as if he’s staking his claim. I can’t even remember her name, so he doesn’t have to worry about me stealing her away.
“I do some mountain climbing,” the tall guy says. “You should come with us sometime.”
He’s speaking to me.
“Uh, sure, I guess.”
The blonde snorts out a laugh. “Rowdy probably climbs without all your fancy gear, Maxton. Probably can kill a bear with his bare hands, too. Right?”
“You should see what he can do with his tongue, Lila.” Wild playfully elbows me in the arm. “An animal in bed.”
I shake my head, smirking. “You’re an asshole, man.”
Maxton is smiling along with Lila, so apparently Wild’s comment is taken in jest as intended. Still, I wonder what it’d be like to kiss someone like Lila. Her lips aren’t as puffy as Talia’s. They’re kind of thin, in fact. Maxton’s mouth is more kissable if we’re comparing sexy mouths.
Tearing my gaze from him, I focus on chugging the rest of my drink. I don’t even remember what Evan’s mouth was like. Then, for some strange reason, I think about Destiny’s. Always serene and smiling but also kind of pouty. Her pillowy pink lips were curled downward when she yelled at me earlier in the truck. Makes me want to put a smile back on her face somehow. I have to make it right with her.
