She reaches behind her and finds my hand to drag me through the jam-packed house. Music is blaring, mixing terribly with the stench of sweat, liquor, and catastrophe. There’s barely room to walk without playing bumper-bodies with a bunch of strangers.
Once we make it through the living room and into a sunken den, the crowd thins out. Some of the tension eases from my body and I release Savannah’s hand, standing up straight to take a look around.
“Isn’t this great?” she yells, using the word ‘great’ wrong too. But I smile weakly, and nod. “Oh, I see Clay! Come on!”
And, once again, I’m being dragged by the hand through what has to be a preview of hell.
Clay whistles at Savannah. “Hey, look at you! Want me to get you a beer?”
“Um...” she dillydallies, turning to give me a questioning look—which seems to be the only reason Clay finally notices that I, too, am standing there.
“Echo?” His eyes double in size, and his jaw drops. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Nice to see you too, Clay.” I cross my arms and narrow my eyes. “And I’ll pass on a beer, in case you were about to offer.”
He wasn’t nearly as shocked to see Savannah as he was me—even though, last time I checked, she goes to the same high school I do. He also thought nothing of offering her booze.
What else do I not know about my friends?
“Ah, baby girl, don’t be mad at me.” His arms snare my waist before I see it coming and can stop him, pulling me in for a hug. My face is smooshed into his shirt, which smells like an ashtray. “I can’t believe you’re here, is all. But I’m happy as hell you are.”
“Uh-huh,” I say, pushing off him and turning back to Savannah—who’s already found another guy to get her a drink. A red cup is in her hand, a giggle on her lips.
I stomp over, about to chew her ass out for drinking, when her “new friend” sizes me up with a creepy leer. “Well hello there, gorgeous. Can I get you a drink too?”
“No.”
That threatening growl didn’t come from my mouth, but I know exactly from whose it did. I spin slowly, my nose nearly brushing his chest since he’s standing so close to me.
It’s Kingston—scary Kingston, tugging me flush against his side and glaring at the guy who just offered me a drink.
“Piss off, Cody,” he snarls. “This one is not drinking, and is also completely off limits.”
“Jesus, bro, relax.” The Cody guy backs up. “I didn’t know. Damn, should’ve just pissed on her leg.”
Just then, Clay barges over. “I had that shit covered,” he snaps at Kingston.
“Looked like it,” Kingston sneers back before grabbing both my arms, maneuvering me to fully face him. “What in the bloody hell are you doing here, Echo?” He stares down at me, his face red and eyes blazing.
“I came with Savannah,” I reply dumbly, still processing his reaction.
“And where might she be, then?”
“Right—” I glance over my shoulder, expecting to find her in the same spot she’d just been in, not a foot away, but coming up empty. “Well, she was right here.”
He dips his head and I feel his mouth brush against my ear, his whisper warm on my skin. “You shouldn’t be here, Love. This is no place for you.”
I pull back and look up to meet his eyes. I’m suddenly fuming. “And why not? I’m not ten, Kingston, and you’re not that much older than me. I’m allowed to have fun, just like everyone else.”
“Of course you are. I simply meant—”
“There you are!”
Some girl wearing even less than Savannah, which I would’ve sworn was impossible, bounces over and literally pushes herself between us. She reaches up to wrap her arms around Kingston’s neck and coos, “You owe me a dance, sexy. Let’s go.”
Clay capitalizes on the distraction by grabbing my hand. “I’ve got Echo. Go back to your girl, mate,” he goads Kingston, tugging me in the opposite direction.
And I let him, because I have no desire to watch Kingston dance, or do anything else, with that girl. But I peek back over my shoulder before I can stop myself, to find that Kingston hasn’t moved. His eyes are locked on me, an annoyed frown marring his face.
I look at the girl, then back at him, and hold up one finger—not the middle one, although I’m tempted.
~~~~~
My head is pounding, and I’m positive this is at least the fourth time this same freaking song has played since I’ve been here. Shuffle All, anyone?
Clay shows me to the bathroom, promising to wait right outside the door for me. But I’m not at all surprised to find, when I walk out, that he didn’t. So now I’m left wandering on my own through God only knows whose house to find Savannah, beyond ready to leave.
I make it halfway down the hall when the commotion in a room to my right snags my attention. I stand just outside the door, peeking around the jamb to figure out what it is I’m hearing. Oh, surely not.
From what I can gather, a group has assembled to play what they’re calling Shot or Dare—a very lame adaptation of Truth or Dare, which I didn’t realize anyone beyond the age of fifteen still played. More disturbing than the pathetic game, however, is the fact that Clay and Savannah are both in there, neither seeming concerned with my whereabouts.
“I dare you to play.”