Tethered 02 - Conjure (29 page)

“You wanna shotgun?” he asked, waving the joint in my direction.

I held up a hand. “No, I’m fine.”

He grinned at me. “That you are,” he said just as the girl beside him said, “I’ll take one.”

The brown-haired guy placed the lit end in his mouth and leaned forward toward the bottle-blonde vying for his attention. She puckered up her plump, deep red lips and nearly kissed him as she attempted to get close enough to inhale the smoke he sent the wrong way through the joint. Her eyes locked on his and the moment seemed almost intimate between the two of them.

“Sure you don’t want to try? I could blow you a shotgun,” Kace whispered in my ear as he gripped my forearms gently in his warm hands. “Could be kind of sexy.”

I laughed and leaned back against him. “I don’t know.”

“Come on, just one. I haven’t smoked in a while,” Kace pressed.

I pursed my lips together in debate. I hadn’t smoked pot since the last party I was at with Ryan. It was his birthday actually. His friend, Chad, had some and Vera had talked me into getting stoned with her. We ate through an entire box of Zebra Cakes and drank way too many sodas while we’d laughed our asses off that night.

“All right, just one though,” I said.

Kace leaned over my shoulder to get a better look at my face. “Are you serious? You’d smoke with me?”

“God, you say it like I’m such a goodie-goodie.”

“I can’t help that I have you set on a pedestal in my mind. I will say though, the more I hang around you, the more you surprise me.”

I snuggled closer to him. “This is a good thing.”

“You want some?” a girl with a lip ring asked us as she held out the joint I’d witnessed the brown-haired guy light.

“Yeah,” Kace said as he let go of me and plucked it carefully from her fingertips.

He turned to face me with a giddy grin on his face. “I can’t believe you’re gonna smoke.”

“Why is that so shocking to you? You’ve met my wild and crazy best friend.”

He shook his head. “Your face just looks too damn innocent for this.”

I didn’t get a chance to respond—I wouldn’t have known what to say anyway—before Kace flipped the joint around and placed his lips over it. He leaned down toward me and cocked his head to the side. I tilted my head up to meet his. We locked eyes as he pushed the smoke into my lungs. I inhaled sharply, our lips only a breath apart. The thick smoke filled my lungs and I pulled away, unable to handle anymore. Kace plucked the joint from his mouth and licked his lips as he eyed me with a smile. He took a puff before passing it to a guy with a Bob Marley T-shirt on.

I exhaled and blew my smoke toward the ceiling, amazed by how much my lungs could hold. A tingling entered my chest and made its way to my mind. I was going to be stoned in no time.

The four of us remained in the reggae music-filled living room for about another hour before deciding to move on to another apartment and see what it was like…and if it had more alcohol than pot.

Callie led the way as we entered the next party. Heavy bass drums reverberated through my entire body as rap music blared from an iPod docking station on a purple coffee table in the center of the room. A couch had been pushed along the wall, and the rest of the furniture had either been placed elsewhere or else the girl who lived here didn’t have any, because the living room had been converted into a dance floor. Bottles of fruity rums and vodkas lined the bar that separated the living room from the kitchen. Cigarette smoke filled the air, making it hard to breathe the farther into the apartment I went.

“I know I said I’d drive, and I will, but I at least want to have one drink,” Callie said. She looped an arm through mine. “Come make one with me. This place looks like it speaks my drink language—fruity rums!”

I stumbled slightly as Callie pulled me along with her. “Sounds good to me.”

We made ourselves concoctions of raspberry rum and Sprite, because there wasn’t any Pepsi or Coke left and neither of us knew what to do with Ginger Ale. I twirled the little straw I’d grabbed out of a hot pink plastic cup the host had set out for mixing your drink with, and then took a sip.

“Not bad,” I said with a smile, feeling pleasantly surprised.

“I know!” Callie said, taking another long sip. “Who would have thought?”

Adam came around behind Callie and snatched a bottle of Jim Beam off the counter and a plastic cup. He poured a stout drink, and then took her hand and pulled her out to the makeshift dance floor with him. I watched them as they made their way to the middle of the room where two girls—one blonde and one brunette—were bumping and grinding against each other, gaining the attention of every surrounding guy as they moved seductively against one another to the music.

They were the type who got drunk and stripped. I was positive. The more I glanced around the room, the more I realized the truth of that statement, because there were mostly guys in here and their eyes were all on them.

I nearly choked on a sip of my drink when Adam began dry humping Callie and rolling his hips on her, mimicking the moves of the two girls. It was like a bad dance off and poor Callie’s face was flaming.

“She looks like she’s going to need more than one drink if she plans on putting up with
that
all night long,” Kace said from beside me.

“You got that right.” I nodded as I giggled at the way Adam was moving. “Once you get past all of his a-hole tendencies, he’s actually a pretty decent guy.”

“I knew you’d see the real Adam eventually. I don’t just hang around assholes for the fun of it,” Kace said, his lips brushing against my earlobe as he leaned in so I could better hear him.

He took a swig from the cup in his hand; he must have poured a drink when I hadn’t been looking. I took another sip of my drink, feeling the fuzzy burn of the Sprite and rum mixture coast down my throat. A Lil Wayne song I hadn’t heard in a long time came on, and I began to move to the beat without realizing it.

Warm hands found their way to my hips and slid across my stomach. I leaned back, knowing it was Kace, and continued to dance where I stood. He took my drink from my hands and placed it on the counter beside us.

“Come dance with me. Let’s show Adam and Callie how it’s done,” he said, his hot breath slipping across my ear.

We moved through the apartment to where Adam and Callie were dancing in the middle of the living room. Adam was still hilariously bumping and grinding against Callie while she was laughing and bobbing her head all over the place in sync with the music. She’d gotten over her embarrassment and had given into a goofy side I didn’t know she possessed until now.

I pressed my body against Kace, enjoying the feel of his nearness more than I should in a room full of people. Slithering against him, I lowered myself nearly to the floor and then back up the length of his body, being sure to run my hands along the sides of him as I went. It was a slow, meticulous move that I hoped gained me the upper hand on the dance floor. Once my back was pressed against him again, I realized just how much of an upper hand I’d gained by my little move—I’d excited him greatly. The proof was beginning to press against my lower back.

I pushed into him harder and shifted my hips to the beat as I ran my hands up the length of my body and entangled them in my hair. Kace’s lips hovered near my ear and let out a moan that brought a smile to my face. He flicked his tongue out and pulled my earlobe into his mouth. He sucked and nibbled, and I thought I’d come unglued right there in the middle of everyone, but I didn’t. Instead, I withered against him a little more, keeping time with the beat.

“Good God, you are in so much trouble when we leave here,” he muttered in that sexy-sweet rasp of his I loved. He dug his fingers into my hips hard.

I spun around to face him. “I could say the same about you.”

The beat of the bass pounded through my chest as the magick in my veins thumped through my body from our skin-to-skin contact. I slid my hands down Kace’s chest, feeling each ripple of muscle with my fingers as I remembered the visual in my head. His hands gripped my hips again and forced me closer to him.

Our lips locked. His tongue parted my lips and pushed through to brush against mine. My hands came up to clutch his shoulders as I stood on the tips of my toes to better reach his mouth. Kace’s hands moved from my hips to my lower back, where they slipped beneath the fabric of my shirt to press against my bare skin. The sensation of warmth that consumed me in the moment was blissful.

I wanted him. I wanted him now.

He slowed his kisses and trailed his lips down my throat. My eyes closed as I gave in to the little sparks of warmth, which burst underneath my skin each time it met with his lips. Kace leisurely slid one hand along my skin and around me, until it was positioned between my navel and the waistline of my skirt. His fingers dipped lower, until they were brushing the top of my panties. My breath caught in my throat, and I wanted to beg for him to go lower, but didn’t.

He pulled back and looked at me; his eyes were clouded with lust. “Don’t think you can get me all worked up and expect me to let you get away with it.” He flashed me a wicked smile.

I inhaled sharply as I realized somewhere in the midst of my dancing I’d lost the upper hand and he’d gained it.

“I need my drink,” I said, leaning my forehead against his chest.

Kace chuckled and I felt the rumble of it all the way to my toes.

“Let’s move on to the next party,” Adam said. “This one’s kind of a sausage party now.”

I noticed his tight grip on Callie and wondered if he’d spotted too many guys checking her out.

“Sounds good to me,” Kace said as he adjusted his waistband. I couldn’t help but grin because I knew what he was hiding. He slipped his hand in mine and intertwined our fingers. “I could use some fresh air anyway.”

I smirked wider and nodded. Fresh air would be lovely right about now.

The damp night air hit my hot cheeks as soon as we stepped outside, and I realized how clammy my skin actually was.

“Can we just stand here for a minute?” I asked.

“Are you all right?” Callie asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little hot,” I admitted.

“Hot and bothered.” Adam chuckled. “You two were worse than those two girls humping each other in the center of the room. Seriously, it was like watching soft porn.”

“Normally, Adam and I don’t agree on anything.” Callie snickered. “But, those were some seriously hot moves, Addison!”

I bowed, even though my cheeks were flushed from being put on the spot and called out. “Thank you.”

We started up the stairs that led to the second floor of apartments and entered the closest one at the top. There was an old-school vibe about the place and the atmosphere was more laid-back. A good mixture of guys and girls filled the space. One thing I noticed upon entering was that every apartment held the exact same layout. I wondered if the other apartments in Kace’s building were all the same too.

People sat on the large sectional couch talking while others stood and danced. The dining room table had been converted into a beer pong zone. It looked like they were playing teams—girls against guys.