Page 28 of Withered

I know he's taller than me, but I see it now. Even though he is sitting, I have to tilt my neck slightly to get a closer look at him. He is wearing his signature white shirt, black jeans, and his leather jacket.

“What? You thought I would drink it right away? You are highly mistaken, mister. This proves that I amnoteverything you claim me to be.” I take a few more calculated sips.

“Well, you proved that now that you’re here,” he replies and takes a sip from his cup.

There is a moment of silence, and asunbelievableas it sounds, it’s a comfortable one. I never expected to have a proper silence with him, as all we ever do is bicker, so it is strange to have him sit here with me in silence.

I try to break the awkward silence by asking, “What are you even doing out here?”

“I could ask you the same,” he replies in a mocking tone. I can’t see his face, but I bet he is smirking.

He’s sitting so close to me that I feel his shoulder brushing against my bare right leg. The party lights from the distance are highlighting his face, his sharp jaw, his straight nose, his lips, and that beard of his. Those green orbs shine in a mixed shade of green and yellow. God did spend his time perfectly on him. He is beautiful, but I won’t tell him. It’ll just boost his ego more than it already does.

“Are you done staring?” He turns his face in time to catch me.

Despite the warmth on my face, I keep a neutral tone. “What makes you think that? I was just pondering if you only have black and white in your closet,” I say, biting the inside of my cheek to stop myself from laughing. But it is a failure, as I end up laughing in a fit of giggles.

“You know, you are bad for a man’s ego.” He throws away his cup, turning his body so he is facing me. “As for your question, I have the same. You got a problem?”

“What?”

He is watching me with those intense green eyes, and my insides stir. He asks, “I never thought you’d come here.”

I chug down the remaining water and say, “I had a thing to prove to a certain someone. Other than that, I don’t know what I’m doing here.”

I throw my cup and look at him, only to find him giving that overall look I hate. His gaze, which was on my face, travels down to where my dress ends, stopping at my legs, the smirk on his lips reappearing. His penetrating gaze gets heavier, and that’s my cue to leave.

“I am going to go inside.” I proceed to get up, but he cuts off, “Trust me, you don’t want to go in there.”

“Anywhere better than with you,” I say as I stand up.

I glance over my shoulder to find his jaw tight, his lips in a straight line, and his eyes boring into mine. I shake the thought away as I enter the house to find Kristy.

Jake was right; I don’t want to stand here. The place is more crowded than before; there’s no way I can find Kristy in this crowd. As much as I hate to admit it, the conversation with Jake was better than all our other conversations combined, and I was better off outside with him.

I make my way into the kitchen and find Kristy sitting on the counter with a bottle in her hand and her feet dangling. She smiles at me, and one look at her tells me she is drunk, with her eyes shining and her cheeks flushed. Tyler is nowhere to be found.

I grab the bottle of vodka from her hand and help her down the counter; that’s when Tyler enters the kitchen and rushes to help me.

“What happened to her?” He asks me.

I give him a pointed look and add, “I should be the one asking you this.”

He looks at me, confused, then at Kristy, who is muttering some gibberish that I can’t figure out.

“Did something happen?” I ask him. The last time Olivia pulled a stunt, she ended up getting drunk.

He shakes his head. “Not that I know of.”

I grit my teeth and ask, “Where were you? I thought she was with you.”

“Yeah, I was with her. Someone called me, so I left her for a minute, and when I got back, you were here,” he tells me while he’s looking worriedly at Kristy.

“I’ll get the car. Can you help me with her?”Parties always end up being such disasters.

“I’m going to put her upstairs in one of the guest rooms,” he says this, earning a glare from me. He adds, “Uhm, we are ditching tomorrow.”

Wow.“Okay. Take her keys.” I dig out her car keys from my purse and hand them to him. “You better take care of her otherwise,” he cuts me off, “I know, I remember, a personal killer.”

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