“We’ll be fine,” I said.
Skyler edged closer to the stage, and I followed her.
As we walked by the pool, a shoving match started, and two girls fell into the pool. They broke the surface of the water and continued to pull each other’s hair. I thought one of the guys in the band might try to help, but instead, they moved to lounge chairs at the other end.
“Look at these people,” I said. “Making asses of themselves over a guy.”
“I can’t believe it, either,” Sky replied. “Let’s go over there.”
I tugged on her hand. “I don’t think so.”
“Please,” she coaxed. “I want you to meet Travis.”
“I’m your best friend, so I’m always here for you,” I pointed out, “but something about this doesn’t feel right.”
“Never mind—he’s coming this way.” She fluffed her hair. “How do I look?”
“Gorgeous as usual,” I said.
The tall, blond lead singer was making a beeline for her. I was struck by the fluid way he moved through the crowd. Skyler went to meet him halfway, but I stayed where I was to give them a moment of privacy.
She said something to him, and his smile faded.
I hustled over to join them.
“Travis, I missed you so much,” Skyler cooed, ignoring me.
Was she for real? What was happening right now?
He bypassed her and sidled up to me. This was the guy Sky was so into? Was it possible he had a doppelganger—one with better grooming habits and some manners, maybe?
“I’m Travis,” he said. He took my hand and drew it close to his heart. “You will join us.”
“I’m Tansy,” I said. “And I don’t think so.”
He was good-looking but pasty, which was saying something, coming from me.
He returned his attention to Skyler. “Did you have any punch, baby?”
“Not yet,” she replied.
“Get some,” he said. “It’ll make you taste sweet.”
When I shuddered, he leered at me, but when I glared right back at him, he seemed to remember Skyler. “My little beauty Schuler,” he said.
“Her name is Skyler,” I snapped.
But my best friend didn’t seem to care that this creeper didn’t remember her name. Instead, she kissed him. “I missed you, baby,” she said.
They kissed again, this time with tongue. It was almost unbearable to watch them, like when I’d slept over at Callie Humphrey’s and her dad, my high school science teacher, stumbled down to breakfast the next morning sporting only a pair of boxers with hearts all over them—he’d totally forgotten I’d spent the night, obviously—and I’d not been able to raise my hand again in his class all year.
They finally pulled apart, and my mind was racing with how to peel Skyler from this douche and head out.
“I thought I told you to wear white.” Travis frowned.
I expected Skyler to tell him to go to hell, or at least roll her eyes at him, but instead, she said, “I’ll change.”
“You too,” Travis said. It took me a minute to realize he was talking to me.
“White’s not my color,” I said.
I kept my temper with difficulty. This guy was just another short-term solution; we’d laugh about him next week. In the meantime, I needed to stay close to Skyler.
“I will teach you many pleasures,” Travis said.
“Hard pass.” I glanced over at Sky, but she was still gazing at him dreamily. It was like she hadn’t even heard her guy hitting on me.
He whispered something into Skyler’s ear, and then he was leading her inside.
For about the tenth time that month, I had visions of braining Connor when I saw him again. Skyler wouldn’t be willing to hook up with a guy like Travis if she weren’t trying to wipe away the memory of her ex.
I hesitated for a second as they turned to head indoors. I probably should drag her away, but sometimes it takes a loser to get over a loser. I watched the crowd. There were even more girls here, including a few college-aged ones. They weren’t much older than me, but their faces were drawn and hungry-looking.
“Want to dance?” The guy was cute, with long, dark hair and full lips, but I wasn’t there to hook up.
“No thanks.”
“How about a kiss?” He leaned in, and I leaned away.
Vaughn returned as I was dealing with this creep. He frowned when he saw the guy next to me. “Is he bothering you?”
“I’m here with my friend,” I said, gesturing toward Vaughn.
“Your friend won’t mind,” the guy said, leaning in again.
I recoiled. “I mind.”
Vaughn grabbed the guy by the back of the shirt. “Get lost, dude. She said no.”
The asshole finally got the hint and walked away.
“Sorry, the line for the bathroom was really long,” he said. “Where’s Skyler?”
“Where else?” I said. “With Lover Boy.”
“We may as well get comfortable,” Vaughn said. “Want anything to drink?”
I shook my head.
We found an unoccupied sofa in the corner of the living room and sat next to each other silently for a few seconds.
His eyes locked on me. “You look beautiful tonight.”
“Thank you,” I said. The way he looked at me made fireworks light up my insides.
“That’s a nice dress. I like the way you look in pink,” Vaughn said. “You don’t wear that color very often.”
I smoothed down the fabric of my soft pink dress. “Clashes with my hair,” I said. “And the dress is one of Gertie’s hand-me-downs.” Gertie was Skyler’s stepmother and a former Vegas showgirl. Nothing Skyler owned would ever fit me. Skyler was delicate lines, and I was all curves, but inside, where it counted, we fit.
I changed the subject. “Do you have to work this weekend?”
A guy threw himself on the empty spot next to me and proceeded to pass out.
Vaughn put an arm around my shoulder. “Scoot in closer,” he said.
We talked about the latest gossip at his dad’s catering company where we both worked, about bands we liked, and about how we didn’t want summer to end. We talked about everything under the sun, except for one thing: why he and Ashley had broken up.
As much as I was enjoying Vaughn’s undivided attention, I wondered what was keeping Skyler.
“I’m going to send Skyler a text,” I finally said. “You have to work tomorrow.”
We waited, but she didn’t respond. “It’s getting late,” I told Vaughn. “We should look for her.”
“Will you be okay if we split up?” he asked. “We can cover more territory that way.” The house was huge with at least ten bedrooms and a casita out by the pool.
“I’ll take the upstairs,” I said with a nod. It wouldn’t surprise me if Travis and Skyler were holed up in one of the bedrooms.
There was still a line for the bathroom, but Skyler wasn’t in it, so I moved on. I searched every bedroom until I found a locked door. I knocked. “Sky, are you in there? It’s Tansy. We need to go.” Nobody answered, but I thought I heard male laughter followed by Skyler’s softer voice.
“Let me in!” I pounded on the door.
I was still pounding ferociously when it opened, and I stumbled into the room. Travis stood just inside the doorway. He’d lost the leather vest; now he wore his leather pants and not much else. Skyler was behind him, her dark-brown hair tousled.
As she’d promised Travis, she’d changed into a white sundress. She must have been carrying it in her bag.
One of the straps had fallen. A trail of something dark and sticky-looking ran down her front, and my stomach rolled as I realized what she’d probably been letting him do. There were three other guys in the dank-smelling room with them. Every
thing about this screamed get out.
My heart pounded in my chest.
“C’mon, Skyler, let’s go,” I begged. But she just stood there.
“I can’t find my necklace,” she said. She got down on her hands and knees.
“Sky, it’s okay,” I said. “I’ll let you wear mine, all right?”
She stopped crawling around. I helped her stand up before I removed mine and draped it around her neck. “See? All better.”
Travis frowned. “I thought I threw that out.”
“You threw it out? You had no right,” I said.
He ignored my confrontational words and leered at me instead. “Pretty pink pinup,” Travis said. “What can I do for you?”
It wasn’t the first time someone had compared me to something pink and white. I was as pale as moonlight, and my hair was strawberry blond. And tonight, I wore Gertie’s cast-off-but-glorious pink dress. But it still got on my nerves: my best friend’s boyfriend should not be handing me a line.
“Not a thing,” I said. “Just taking my friend home.”
He ignored me and kept talking. “I drank one of those in the fifties. She tasted like a strawberry milkshake. You look like a strawberry milkshake.”
“I’m cold like one, too,” I said, a note of warning in my voice. Travis was too close to me. He smelled wrong—they all did. I needed to help Skyler get the hell out of here.
“You smell like strawberries, too,” he said, inhaling deeply. “And vanilla.”
I moved past him, toward Skyler, and noticed her eyes were dilated. She didn’t even seem to recognize me.
“What did you give her?” I asked.
Nobody answered, but a couple of the other guys snickered.
“Sit down,” Travis said. Immediately, Skyler sat on the white leather sofa.
Even in the dim light, I could see brown stains on the furniture. I grimaced. “I don’t think so.”
He blinked his red-rimmed eyes, and his brow furrowed like I was the toughest answer to a crossword puzzle. Five-letter word for mouthy girl. Tansy.
“You…don’t think so?” he asked.
“Nope. I know what you’ve been doing,” I said. A million alarms went off in my head, all of them screaming at me to run.
“C’mon, Skyler. Let’s get out of here.”
“I said sit down.” Travis was louder this time. Something slithered in his eyes, cold and reptilian. “Sit down and shut up.”
I sensed it then—some sort of dark hypnosis, twisting tighter and tighter with every word he spoke. It was easier for me to resist than the music had been, but I’d been taken by surprise then, not expecting compulsion via emo music.
There were four of them and two of us. One and a half, really, since Skyler was barely conscious. I could try carrying her out, but I wasn’t sure she’d cooperate in the state she was in. So I sat and hoped she would sober up quickly, because I was starting to realize we were in a room with supernatural predators.
And we were outnumbered.
Chapter Two
The silence was oppressive. I was sitting in a dimly lit room with my out-of-it best friend and her latest bad decision. The other guys in the band didn’t say a word; they seemed to be waiting for something. It was clear that Travis was the leader of the group. He sat between Skyler and me, which meant I couldn’t see her expression.
Travis had one arm resting on the couch, his long fingers draped over Skyler’s shoulder. He tried to drape his other arm over me, but I shifted away.
I leaned around Travis and whispered to Skyler, “It’s as funky as the devil’s armpit in here.” She didn’t respond.
I waited for introductions, but the other band members just stared at me. I shifted uncomfortably. “Who are you guys?”
“That’s Fang, our drummer,” Travis said, pointing to the red-haired guy. There was a towel around his neck, and he used it to wipe the sweat off his chest.
“Ozzie’s the bass player, and Armando’s our keyboardist. And I’m the lead singer and guitarist.”
Ozzie was dressed in eighties grunge, like he thought he was the next Eddie Vedder, and Armando wore a sharp black suit with a white shirt and black tie. Apparently, the wardrobe budget all went to Armando’s suits.
“Did you enjoy the concert?” Fang, the drummer, asked me. His words were slow and deliberate, like he didn’t talk very often.
“It was…interesting,” I said.
“You’ll come to our next show,” Travis said. “You can be my number-one groupie.”
I made a face, and he must have misinterpreted it as confusion.
“A groupie is like a friend of the band who likes to do things for us.”
“I know what a groupie is,” I said. “And you’re sugarcoating it.”
I didn’t appreciate how he was trying to mansplain.
“Thanks for the invitation, but I don’t think so,” I said. I tried to pull Skyler to her feet, but it was like trying to teach a wet noodle to walk.
Travis leaned toward me until our faces were only inches apart. “You are beautiful. I will make you very happy.”
My gaze narrowed on his high cheekbones. “Are you wearing glitter?”
Skyler reached out slowly and touched his face, but he swatted her hand away.
“It’s stage makeup,” he replied defensively.
“Skyler, I think it’s time to go,” I said.
He gave me the creeps. There was a dark splotch of something on the corner of his mouth, and a word tickled my brain. Vampire.
I’d heard my granny talk about them before, but she always mentioned them as evil and soul sucking. I mean, Travis was dirty-hot, but in that I’m-too-cool-to-call-you-later sort of way, not the I-eat-hearts-for-breakfast kind of way.
He locked eyes with me. I didn’t look away, even when a headache began to build. A voice that I instinctively knew no one else could hear told me to give in, to yield, to do what I was told. But I refused, jerking my gaze away. Still, even though I fought it, my gaze went back to him.
The smells of graveyard dirt and dried blood hit my nose, and my stomach roiled. Something tugged at my mind, but I resisted it. I wasn’t looking at a human. I was looking at a vampire. But as soon as the thought occurred to me, it was gone.
“What were we talking about again?” I asked. My head was spinning. I’d forgotten something. What was it?
Travis gave me a satisfied smile. “Just getting to know each other.”
“I’m hungry,” the drummer whined like a tired toddler.
“You already ate,” Travis snapped.
Fang looked at me and licked his lips. “I want dessert.”
Travis glared at him. “No one gets dessert before I do.”
“I want my necklace,” Skyler slurred suddenly. “Need it.”
“You don’t need that thing, baby,” Travis said, but Skyler continued to mumble.
“You’re wearing it already, Sky,” I said, lifting it up to show her where my charm necklace was draped around her neck. “Here you go.” She was too out of it to be able to tell the difference. I’d help her find hers in the morning.
Downstairs, someone put on a playlist.
“Baby, they’re playing your song,” Skyler cooed.
“That doesn’t sound like the same band,” I said.
“We’re better live,” Armando said.
I thought auto-tuning made everyone sound better, but apparently not. It was hard to believe it was the same band. I’d never heard anything more ear-numbingly awful than The Drainers album playing on the sound system. I was relieved until I realized the music was so loud that nobody would hear our screams.
“I’ll be right back, Sky.” I made for the door alone this time. I’d go get help, find Vaughn.
But Travis was in front of it, blocking the w
ay. He was fast, so fast, even though he was drunk. Or high. Or something. Something that made his face flushed, his eyes red and beady like a rat’s.
“What’s your hurry?” Travis said. “You’re having fun. You want to stay.”
“No, I do not.”
Again with the surprised face. I had a hard time believing that a guy like Travis hadn’t heard the word “no” before, but he acted like it was a unique experience.
Then there was this squeezing sensation, like someone had put my brain in a vise and was twisting it tighter and tighter.
A tiny part of my mind tried to tell me this wasn’t just a headache. But suddenly, the room was spinning, and a queasy feeling reminded me of the one time I’d been seasick, spinning and sloshing. I hadn’t had anything to drink, had I? It felt like he was there, in my head, telling me to go with him. Something inside me knew to resist. I wasn’t the kind of girl who let some asshole boss her around, so I gathered all my strength and silently yelled, “Get out of my head.”
When I looked up, Travis seemed shaken.
He leaned in and sniffed me, then tried to nuzzle my neck. “You smell good,” he said. “I’ve never smelled anyone like you before.”
“No means no, asshole,” I said. I shoved him away, but not before he leaned in close and sniffed my neck, grazing it with his teeth.
“You’re resisting me?” Travis asked. “But girls can’t resist me.”
I rolled my eyes at his monumental ego. “This one can.”
He made a move toward me again, and I brought my leg up and kneed him in the groin. He crumpled to the ground.
The room tilted, my vision blurred, and a burning sensation went down my neck to my chest, but I managed to stay upright.
I was so out of there.
I grabbed Skyler, who thankfully seemed to be coming out of it, whatever it was.
The other two guys snarled, but I put up a hand. “You two stay back. We are leaving, and you’re not going to stop us.” I’d scream the house down if I had to, but I was hoping I could bluff my way out of it.
Travis still writhed on the floor. He started to get up, but I raised my leg like I was going to kick him again, and he decided to stay put.
The Afterlife of the Party Page 2