As we hit the main highway, heading back to Haven Falls, he looks across at me, taking in the way my eyes greedily rake over his body as he effortlessly shifts through his gears, working the stick like a damn pro. “Fuck, Spitfire. Change of plans. I’m taking you home now.”
Damn. That sounds good.
Frustration pours through me, knowing that what I’m about to say is delaying the inevitable and prolonging that desperate release my body has been craving all afternoon. “No way, cowboy,” I smile, reaching across and threading my fingers through his on top of the gear stick. “We’re partying first and then I promise, you can have me all night.”
He lets out a groan. “Fine, but you better make it worth my while.”
“Don’t I always?” I grin.
“You sure fucking do.”
Chapter 5
Noah pulls up at the party and instead of pulling up on the side of the road, behind the long line of parked cars, he drives up over the curb of the guy’s home, bringing his car to a stop in the very center of his front yard.
People gawk and stare, but quickly realize it’s Noah and their scowls instantly turn to over the top welcomes while beers somehow get thrust into his and Rivers’ hands.
I’ll never get used to showing up to parties like this with guys like Noah and Rivers. Their popularity astounds me. I don’t understand how two people could possibly be so damn loved. Noah is the King of Haven Falls Private right now and I guess that makes Rivers his fucked up court jester.
People seem to hear about his arrival before we’ve even gotten to the door as the second we walk in, drinks are thrust into mine and Tully’s hands too. I look down at the cold beer that appears before me and cringe knowing I’ll be handing this shit off to Noah as soon as he’s finished his first one. I’m certainly not a beer girl. The taste…ugh. Now cold, hard spirits, they’re my jam.
Tully instantly pushes the beer in her hand, into Rivers’ and he doesn’t hesitate taking it for a second. I guess it’s going to be a messy night.
The boys get caught up talking to some guys hovering in the doorway and I roll my eyes, having a feeling that’s the last we’ll be seeing of them tonight.
Tully takes my hand and pulls me away with Kaylah following behind when I realize I still have a beer in my hand. I find myself scowling down at the stupid thing when Kaylah’s hand shoots in and swipes it from my fingers. “Stop being such a baby,” she laughs. “It’s just beer.”
With that, she lifts the drink to her lips and Tully and I watch in awe as she throws the whole thing back in under thirty seconds. “How the hell did you do that?” Tully squeaks over the sound of the thumping music, watching Kaylah with admiration.
Kaylah simply grins. “It’s my new party trick,” she explains. “Jesse taught me.”
“Damn,” I chuckle as a sly smile raises the corners of my lips. “I bet he taught you all sorts of new things.”
Her eyes find mine in the darkened room. “You wouldn’t believe the kinds of things Jesse Ryder has been teaching me.”
“Holy hell,” Tully breathes. “I need to find me a boyfriend.”
“I don’t think you need a boyfriend,” I laugh as she continues pulling us through the house. “I have a feeling Rivers would be more than happy to show you all his dirty little tricks.”
Her eyes instantly heat. “Fuck me. I wish,” she throws over her shoulder. “Can you imagine all the things he would do to me?”
What can I say? If he’s anything like Noah, she’s definitely in for a treat.
“I need a drink,” she tells us, reaching the makeshift drinks table that’s been set up with ice buckets, sodas, and every selection of spirits a girl could need. There are buckets filled with beers underneath and red Solo cups littering every surface of the house. Hell, at some point I’ll have to try and work out whose house this is.
Tully gets busy pouring us some drinks and I grin as Kaylah swirls her tongue around in her mouth. She hates the taste of beer just as much as I do, but she’s not prepared to let it go to waste.
Tully does her usual cocktail mixing and I scrunch up my face at the purple concoction she hands me. I take a cautious sip, noticing the yummy berry flavor hitting my tongue. “What the hell is this?” I call over the music.
“Fucked if I know,” she grumbles, taking a long drink of her own. “But it’s damn good.”
With that, we each throw back our drinks and get busy pouring ourselves another. “Shit,” Kaylah laughs as she curls her fingers around her second berry drink. “We’re getting fucked up tonight, aren’t we?”
Tully lifts her Solo cup and clinks it against Kaylah’s. “Hold onto your knickers, baby. We’re in for a wild ride.”
Kaylah grins back at her and before I know it, the three of us are stumbling around the party, laughing like hyenas, and having the best damn time. I mean, what a night. I’ve never quite let loose like this. The drinks are flowing, the music is pulsing right through my body, I’m dancing with my girls, and I haven’t got a care in the world.
Except…I haven’t really seen Noah much. He’s here fucking around somewhere, being a boring ass and refusing to dance. Every now and then, I feel the heat of his eyes burning into me and just when I turn around to beeline towards him, Tully hauls me away, claiming tonight isn’t about getting lost to the world of Noah, it’s about making damn good memories.
Naturally, I groan and whine about it, but she shoves another of those berry drinks into my hand and I cave to her wicked ways. I’m not complaining though despite my desperate need to run my hands over his body. He’s Noah and I’m me, and I know that without a doubt, he’ll come and rescue me eventually before slamming me up against a wall and devouring me like chocolate pudding.
Damn. I could really enjoy some chocolate pudding right about now, but I’d prefer to lick it off Noah’s delicious body. Hmmm, yeah. I can’t wait to get home tonight. Maybe I’ll add some ice cream and strawberries. It’d be the best dessert a girl ever had.
The music soaks into my veins as the dance floor becomes overly crowded. Elbows get jammed into my ribs and I don’t doubt I’ll have a few bruises come tomorrow, but I don’t care. I’m having a great time, and hell, that’s just what you get when you come to a Haven Falls party. If you want a controlled party with space to move, then go find a Broken Hill party. We do things differently here.
Most of the Haven Falls parties end up with the cops being called, but with so many kids, there’s not a lot the cops can do. They get ignored until the cops take drastic action and literally shut down the party, as in cutting the electricity to the house or using force.
Hell, the dickheads dealing drugs in dark corners aren’t even fazed by the cops anymore. It’s like they have some sort of silent agreement. After all, business is business.
Kaylah is bumped into from the back and she stumbles forward for the twentieth time, sending her berry deliciousness all over me and the floor. “Fuck,” she curses with a loud grunt. “I swear, I don’t miss this shit.”
“Yes, you do,” I laugh, grabbing the front of her dress and mopping up the sticky liquid all over me, but it’s no use. I’m going to have to bring in reinforcements to fix this mess.
“I don’t,” she argues, snatching back her dress and wiping a drip from my collar bone. “This never would have happened at one of Jesse’s parties.”
“True,” I tell her, grabbing both her and Tully and pulling them off the dance floor while squishing through a maze of bodies. “But you also wouldn’t be having the best fucking time at one of his parties. You’d be sitting back in his fancy mansion with the all the space in the world to dance around. You’d have pre-mixed drinks and fancy ass fireplaces. This shit here is real.”
“Have you ever been to a Broken Hill party?” she questions.
I look back over her shoulder. “Can’t say that I have, and can’t say that I want to. It’d be boring.”
“You’re an idiot,” she tells me as we break out thr
ough the backdoor into the cold air. “Their parties are fucking awesome. It’s just like these but with the added bonus of money. It’s crazy and no one gives a shit if things get fucked up because it’s all replaceable to them. Jess took me to Tyson’s party last weekend, and I swear, that song ‘Chandelier’ by Sia came on, and they were literally swinging from the chandelier. They were jumping from the second story balcony and seeing if they could make it to the other side.”
“Could they?” I laugh with a raised eyebrow, wondering if maybe I’ve had it wrong all this time. Maybe I need to be investigating these Broken Hill parties. Maybe I’ve been missing out all these years.
“No,” she grins. “The chandelier was ripped right out of the roof and Jesse went down like a sack of shit.”
My jaw drops. “Jesse was the one swinging from the balcony? Is he alright?”
“Well, yeah,” she laughs. “He was more than alright to still party all night and take me home afterward.”
“Jesus Christ,” I breathe.
“I know,” she says, excitement lighting up her eyes. “Jesse wants me to have my eighteenth at his place. He’s thinking of having a massive indoor slip ‘N slide, though I have no idea how he plans to pull that off, but knowing Jess, it will be a party to remember.”
Tully gasps as we continue around the sound of the house. “Holy shit. I better be invited to that party.”
“Hell yeah, you are,” Kaylah tells her, making me fall in love with how amazing my two friends have been getting along. “It’s a few weeks away.”
I smile to myself, recalling all the fond memories I have of all of Kaylah’s parties in the past. Jackson always made sure to make them memorable and I have a feeling her eighteenth is going to be huge.
I search the side of the house, having a pretty good feeling that what I’m looking for is going to be over here when I finally spot it. The garden hose. “Uh huh,” I declare, pushing the lingering bodies out of my way to get to the hose so I can wash off the stickiness from my arms and chest.
I twist the tap and hold onto the end, making sure to put it on lightly so I don’t end up spraying the hundreds of bodies crammed into the backyard. As I bend forward, my balance is thrown off and I stumble forward. “Whoa,” I laugh as Tully reaches out a steadying hand, trying to stabilize me, but all that does is have us both face plant into the side of the house with Kaylah laughing so hard she crosses her legs so she doesn’t pee herself.
“Holy shit,” Tully grumbles pushing herself off the wall. She turns to face me and decides to take matters into her own hands.
Tully takes the hose from my hands and holds it up while Kaylah helps her to wipe the purple mess off my body.
It all happens too fast.
One second, I see Spencer standing over us, grinning like a lunatic, the next, his hands are on the tap, turning it full blast.
Cold water spouts all over me as I let out an ear-shattering squeal. Tully loses control of the hose and suddenly it’s flying out of her hands and around the yard like a snake on crack, smacking into people and drenching bodies everywhere. Girls squeal as drunken guys rummage around, trying to catch the out of control hose.
Realizing this could go on for hours, I spin around and stop the hose from the source. I grab hold of the tap and turn it off tight until the backyard is once again safe. Laughter sounds from all around, yet Tully, Kaylah, and I aren’t so happy.
We each turn a glare on Spencer who instantly holds up two hands in surrender. “I’m sorry,” he laughs, clearly forgetting the fact that my boyfriend beat the ever loving shit out of him a few weeks ago, either that or he’s too fucked up to remember who he’s supposed to be hating on right now. I know that tends to happen to me a little more than I should admit. “I couldn’t resist,” he tells us with a grin. “You had the hose on her. What was I supposed to do? It’s like you were begging for someone to do it.”
Tully looks at me. “He has a point,” she tells me.
I groan. “I know.” I was stupid to think that was a good idea at a party like this. I guess that’s what happens when you’re not thinking straight.
Tully looks back to Spencer expectantly. “You owe us,” she says, pointing out how the three of us are soaking wet, drips of water rushing from our clothes as mascara smudges beneath our eyes.
Spencer considers us a moment before taking pity on us. “How about this?” he says, digging in his pocket. He pulls his hand out a second later before holding a joint up between his thumb and forefinger. “We good?”
Tully stares at the joint. Kaylah’s mouth pops open. And I…well I have the great idea of plucking it out of his hand with an excited grin. “Pleasure doing business with you, Spencer.”
He chuckles to himself and shakes his head. “Anytime, babe.”
With that, he disappears, leaving the three of us, hovering around the side of the house, out of sight of the boys, staring at the joint in my hand. “You’re not seriously going to smoke that thing?” Kaylah mutters. “I mean, do you even know what to do with it?”
Tully grunts. “I’ll show you what to do with it.”
I look at my friends. "It couldn’t hurt, right? The boys never have to know.”
“I’m in,” Tully declares excitedly. “I couldn’t give a shit if they know.”
Kaylah groans. “Fine.”
“Hell yeah.”
With that, Tully wobbles up to a group of guys smoking and asks for a light before coming back over.
We lean against the wall and the three of us slide down until we're sitting in the wet grass, drinks in our hands and a joint between my fingers.
Little miss expert, Tully, takes the joint from me and looks back at me. “Last chance,” she says. “If I do it, you guys have to do it too.”
“Do it,” I laugh as Kaylah just shakes her head, though I see the excitement in her eyes. She’s not usually up for stuff like this, and hell, neither am I, but for one night, we’re doing the unthinkable.
I watch Tully as he brings the joint to her lips and lights the end, breathing it in. She inhales deeply before blowing out a cloud of smoke. “Holy shit,” she laughs, instantly handing it over.
I take the joint and place it between my lips. I’ve never done anything so reckless as to get high at a party but I find myself unable to wait. Who cares, right? The boys are here somewhere and they’ll look out for us if need be. I guess that’s the beauty of having people in your life that you can trust.
Throwing caution to the wind, I inhale and prepare myself for one hell of a good night.
“Oh, shoe?” I call half an hour later, crawling around the ground on my hands and knees, searching out Kaylah’s red high heel as I shoulder charge into peoples’ shins on my way past. “Oh, shoey, shoey, shoe. Where are you?”
Tully collapses to the ground in a laughing heap beside me. “That rhymes,” she booms as she flops into a patch of mud from the out of control snake hose earlier.
Kaylah starts giggling because…well, why the hell not? And all that does is set us all off…again.
Fuck, I’ve never been high before, but it’s sure as hell fun. I think I finally understand why people do it. I mean, every now and then, of course, not all the time.
People groan and grunt as we make our way around the party on our hands and knees, knocking them out of our way and not giving a shit who has to move. “What are we looking for again?” Tully snickers.
“My shoe,” Kaylah calls back at us, wiggling her ass in front as she crawls ahead.
I look down to her feet.
“Wait,” I laugh, taking in the bright red heel on her left foot. “You’re wearing your shoe.”
“No,” she chuckles, looking back at us. “My other shoe.”
“Huh? Which shoe?”
“My red shoe.”
Kaylah stops and turns to crawl back to us when she looks down at Tully’s feet. “There’s my shoe,” she declares with enthusiastic excitement, grabbing Tully’s foot and hoisting the
red heel from her, making Tully fall back on her ass into yet another patch of mud.
“What is your shoe doing on my foot?” Tully questions, grabbing her foot and inspecting it as though she’s never seen it before, ignoring the fact that she’s covered in gooey shit.
Oh, wait. I’m covered in gooey shit too.
Maybe we need to hose down again.
Tully’s brows furrow. “Then where are my shoes?”
Hmm… good question. “Never fear, citizen. I will find your shoe,” I declare, holding my hand up like Superman before falling back onto my hands and knees. “Oh, shoey, shoey, shoe. Where are you?”
Tully chuckles behind me and Kaylah stops to put her red heel back on her foot, but it seems it’s a little harder than she had originally thought. “I need help,” she calls behind us.
I look back and lose her among the sea of legs. Oh well. She’ll manage.
I barge my way through the legs, requesting they part like the Red Sea and feeling like a fucking boss when they do…only one pair doesn’t budge. Not even a little.
I poke at them before two warm hands curl around my arms and hoist me to my feet with such speed my head starts to spin. “Whoa,” I slur, making myself break into giggles once again.
In the blink of an eye, I turn to my left to find Tully standing right beside me and Kaylah on my right. “Where did you come from?” I smile.
Tully doesn’t respond, only looks around, up, down, side to side. "How did we get inside?”
Huh? Inside? No! Not possible.
Hands at my shoulders which I’d forgotten about shake me and force my eyes straight ahead. “Noah,” I smile, falling into him and throwing my arms out only to accidentally smack Rivers in the face. “What are you doing here?”
His brows furrow. “What the fuck did you take?”
I bite down on my lip, running my nose along his neck. “Shhhhhh,” I whisper. “It’s a secret.”
Rivers grunts, holding onto Tully with two hands as Noah reaches out his other hand, holding onto Kaylah to stop her from disappearing. “Dude,” Rivers says, “they’re fucking high as kites.”
Unbelievable: Haven Falls (Book 2) Page 5