Page 6 of Beg for It
“So, this mean we’re going to Trent’s Halloween bash Sat?”
Evan wiggles his phone an inch from my face, and I bat it away, shrugging out from under his arm before dumping myself on our sofa.
“You know she never shows up to those things.”
That is the issue. Even with her hidden thirst, Blair is still a good little girl. I could count on one hand the number of parties I’ve seen her go to. Trent’s annual bash that he’s been throwing since freshman year of high school is not one of them. The fact that he still throws them even though everyone has graduated is a question of its own, but small-town rich kids are a weird fucking breed. I don’t try to understand them even though I had to live with one.
Short of kidnapping Blair, I didn’t really see how I could possibly get her to go to the party, and kidnapping isn’t my M.O.
“This could be the year.” He flops down next to me. “Come on, bro. Please.”
I give him side-eye.
“Why do I get the feeling that there is more to this?”
“There’s nothing more.”
Evan’s a shit liar. Has been since I met him my third week at Almont Prep when the hall monitor caught him skipping class. I managed to get him out of a demerit point, and the guy has stuck to me like glue since. Everyone thought we were an oddpair because he’s your classic class clown that every social group loves and I was the guy everyone hated and then feared. But it turned out that he is a pretty decent gamer, and more than that, he has mad video-editing skills—thanks to his famous filmmaker dad. Evan’s been with me since I started gaming as Phantom, and even though he’s a bit on the soft side, he’s a good guy and he keeps my secrets in the vault.
Still, he hasn’t improved his ability to lie over the past seven years.
“Either fess up or fuck off.”
“Fine, fine.” He raises one hand in mock defense. “I heard Wes is going to be there.”
“Ah.”
This makes more sense. Wes is the dude he’s been crushing on the last couple of months after meeting him in one of his college classes. He didn’t go to high school with us, but he is rooming with some guys we vaguely know—well, thatIvaguely know.
I can’t exactly piss in his cereal. Evan is one of my brothers, and I have to do him a solid where I can.
“Fine. We’ll go.”
“Fuck, yes!” Evan chugs the remainder of his beer and crushes the can, lobbing it across the room in a perfect arc that has it landing right on top of our trash can.
Now, I just have to find a way to make my night just as fun.
CHAPTER FOUR
BLAIR
“You need to suck in, darling.”
“I am,” I wheeze, attempting to expel every last molecule of oxygen from my body while my mother tries to snap my bottom two ribs in half.
This year’s family theme is Oz, and my mother is currently tightening a pink corset around my body, constricting it within an inch of its life. With my newly highlighted hair, I am to be her Glinda in a classic frilly pink gown and custom tiara that remind me a little too much of my pageant show days. She’s even gotten a structured, hooped petticoat to go underneath to give the full, poofy dress effect. I’m not sure I’ll even fit through the door once she is done.
“Just one”—huff—“more”—huff—“tug.”
I can’t even make a noise as she finishes tying the long ribbons in a bow at the base of my back. At this rate, I’ll probably faint within the first thirty minutes of the party due to a lack of oxygen.
Actually, that isn’t a half-bad idea.
“Now, let me just grab the dress,” my mother mutters to herself as she slips into her walk-in closet.
I take shallow breaths, not wanting to pass out.
I’m honestly not even sure what would happen if I just flopped to the ground. Would the ginormous petticoat helpcushion the fall or make it so my head bashes into the ground first? My upper lip curls at the morbid image.
