Page 76 of Kings & Chaos

I started up the short staircase to the house and opened the door, then stopped short. The kitchen was dark and weirdly quiet.

My heart rate kicked up a notch, and I hesitated, then reached through the doorframe for the light.

It came on, and a split second later, I just about jumped out of my skin when a chorus of, “Surprise!” sounded from a crowd gathered in the kitchen.

“What the…?”

The kitchen had been decorated with pink, white, and rose-gold balloons, a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILLA banner strung across the big windows. Rock and Oscar stood off to the side, smiling, and I was surprised how many of the people in the room I knew and liked.

Claire was there of course, and Erin and Quinn. But so was Lucia, from my English class, and Matt and the twins. All of the houses had shown up in force. Even Alexa was there, and sure, it was probably just for the free booze, but still.

“Oh my god!” I turned to look at Neo. “You knew!”

The corners of his mouth lifted so minutely anyone else would have denied it —he’dprobably deny it tomorrow — but it had happened. Any other time, I would have hated myself for how happy it made me to see the shadow of his smile.

Now, I just didn’t care.

I was allowed this one night to be happy, wasn’t I? I thought of Emma and heard her voice in my head.

Hell yes you are, Will. Don’t ever let anyone make you feel guilty for being happy.

Oscar and Rock came toward me at the same time. They took turns kissing me on the lips, and I didn’t even care that everyone in the room saw.

“Happy birthday, Willa,” Oscar said, his voice soft.

I smiled up at him. “Thank you.”

Then it was Rock’s turn. “Happy birthday, kitten. Wait until you taste your cake.”

I laughed. “You always know what’s really important.”

I wasn’t kidding.

“Did you know?” Claire asked, giving me a hug.

“Not a clue.” I pulled away and looked at her. “Wait a minute…” I looked at the assembled crowd. “You’re… all in your underwear.”

It had probably been less than two minutes since I’d turned on the light, and I’d been so bombarded with the surprise party that I hadn’t registered it before now.

But yep, everyone but Neo and I was in their underwear.

Oscar smirked and raised his eyebrows. “Bit of a blow to a guy’s ego that you just now noticed I’m in my underwear.”

“I think she noticed me in my underwear first,” Rock said.

“For fuck’s sake,” Neo muttered behind me.

I looked them over, Oscar in boxer briefs that were so tight his dick piercings were clearly visible through the fabric, Rock in tiny tighty-whities that left nothing to the imagination.

I was torn between wanting to shout, “I’m fucking them!” and wanting to hide them from every available female in the house.

“Sorry,” I said. “It was just… a lot all at once.”

Someone turned up the music and everyone started to shuffle out of the kitchen and spread out into the living room.

Oscar looked down at me and teased his lip ring with his tongue stud. “You need to get changed, tiger.”

“Matt!” Neo roared.

---