“Thank you.” I smiled up at my new friend, taking the drink from his hand. He was offering me an escape, and at that moment, I needed one desperately. “I’d love to.”
Blex was an incredible dancer, and the more I drank, the more I began to enjoy the feel of his hard body rubbing up against mine. I wanted him to touch me. To kiss me. But Blex was the perfect gentleman, thwarting all my advances, which would have been a good thing...If only I wasn’t totally shit faced. If I hadn’t got an eye full of Lyla straddling my best friend on the couch. If her tongue weren’t down his throat. If that bitch wasn’t dry humping my Colton right in front of my fucking face. If my heart hadn’t damn near stopped beating in my chest.
“Blex,” I whimpered, squeezing his arm.
“It’s okay, Alex...Don’t look.” He shook his head, disappointment written in every crease on his face. “He’s a fucking idiot.”
“Blex,” I whimpered again. The alcohol, my emotions...everything was hitting me all at once. “I-I really need you to kiss me right now.” Colton had reduced me to begging a man to kiss me. I’d never forgive him for this.
My new friend bit his bottom lip, shaking his head to himself. “I can’t. I promised Fowls...he’d kill me.” He started to move the thumb of the hand at my back in soothing strokes. Blex thought that he was comforting me, but he was only making things worse. I didn’t want to be comforted. I wanted to retaliate. I wanted revenge. I wanted to gouge my eyes from my head because I couldn’t un-see this. To cut my heart from my chest and stomp on it repeatedly ’til it was numb, because I couldn’t un-feel this.
And then I sort of lost it. “Fuck. Him,” I spat, backing away from Blex, my fists tightly clenched to my chest as if I could squeeze hard enough to stop the pain radiating deep within.
“Please don’t be mad at me, Alex,” Blex begged as I continued backing away with my eyes glued to the train wreck on the couch. What they say is true. I couldn’t stop watching them no matter how much it was ripping me apart.
“I’m not. I just...I need to be alone. I need some air.”
He nodded as I finally tore my eyes away and hauled ass, pushing through the crowds of people until I made it through the back door. It was the middle of the night, and I needed to talk to someone. Only one person knew how I felt about Colton, and she had told me to contact her if I needed anything. I was too drunk and desperate to care that it was far too late to be texting a woman of her age. Fishing my phone from my clutch, I pulled up Gertie’s number. I sat on the edge of the cement patio and poured my drunken heart out to my eighty-year-old friend. I was a loser.
Me: Hey. It’s me, Alex. I know it’s like after midnight, and you’re old so you’re probably sleeping and won’t get this ’til morning, but there’s this party at Colton’s house, and he’s practically having sex with this blond bitch right now in the living room. I just...I have no one to talk to. No one else knows about my feelings for Colton...I hope it’s okay that I’m messaging you.
Me: Shit. I just realized I called you old. Damnit. I didn’t mean that. I’m sorry. You’re so nice. I’m so drunk and sad. Let’s have lunch soon. K?
I was about to send another drunk text when a red Solo cup appeared before my face. Wrapped around that Solo cup was a very sexy hand. One I didn’t recognize. It was too white to be Colt or Blex and too thick to be Finn...I followed the arm it was attached to, finding an even more attractive man. Was Gertie a fairy godmother? Had she sent my prince to rescue me?
“You look like you could use a drink,” Prince Charming said, squatting to sit beside me. He was really tall. His legs stuck out a good two feet past mine into the yard.
I cleared my throat, swatting away tears. “Th-thank you,” I stammered, taking the drink from him.
“Rough night?” His brow dipped with the question, and I found myself staring at his chiseled jaw. His bright blue eyes. The spikey, cotton-blond hair that topped his head. I could certainly do worse. He was like a beefed-up version of Dean. Dean. What I wouldn’t give to be in his arms right now. To have him ease this ache in my chest. Why couldn’t I just be satisfied with what I knew was good for me?
I took a pull from my beer. “It was awful.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Anything I can do to help?”
Yes! My drunken mind was coming up with all sorts of wonderful ideas. Fucking my brains out in front of Colton being at the tippy-top of that list.
“Maybe...” I slurred. “Are you a prince?” I giggled to myself. I knew he wasn’t. I was drunk, not insane, but I felt like indulging myself a little. Silly felt good, and I was grasping at straws.
A loud, boisterous laugh boomed from his chest. “Hardly.”
“Are you a friend of Colton’s?” Just saying his name caused a lump to form in my throat.
His lips puckered, turning to the side. “Meh. Not really. We do play ball together, though.”
Even better. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Stephan. Stephan Young. What’s yours, pretty girl?” He thinks I’m pretty...I like him. I like him very much. He’s cute and nice, and he seems to like me back...He also doesn’t like Colt very much. We have so much in common already.
“I’m Alexis, or Alex, or Allie, and sometimes Colt calls me Al. But don’t call me that. He’s the only one that does, and I’m kind of mad at him right now.”
Stephan huffed out a laugh. “Got it...” He tucked a finger under my chin, turning my face up to his. “Alexis,” he rasped, and oh my God, my name on his lips was an aphrodisiac. His face moved closer. I could smell the beer on his breath, and I wanted to taste it. “So, you and Fowler?”
“Are just friends...maybe not even that right now,” I whispered as my eyes fluttered closed and my heart lurched.
Soft, pliant lips molded to mine as he dipped his tongue into my mouth and tangled it around my own. I felt so many things, and all of them were wrong, but it felt so good that I didn’t even care. Stephan laid my body on the ground, cradling my head in his hand to keep it from resting on the cement. His other hand cupped my thigh, squeezing gently. Conflicting thoughts swirled in my mind. One moment I was afraid he’d take things too far, and in the next, I was bucking against him and practically begging him to do just that. Feelings of fullness and emptiness warred inside me. I wanted this. I wanted it so bad...but when I closed my eyes, the ones looking back at me were green, not blue. When I reached up to grip his hair, my heart plummeted in my chest. It’s just fucking hair. Why were tears rolling down my cheeks? Why was I suddenly sniveling in the arms of the man who was to be my revenge? Why hadn’t Colton walked outside yet? I needed him to see what I saw. To hurt like I hurt.