Tethered 02 - Conjure (30 page)

“Now this is my kind of party!” Adam shouted over the music. “I’m the master beer pong player!”

“Adam motherfucking Burke,” a tall guy with a closely shaved head called. He stood beside the beer pong table with a Ping Pong ball in one hand and a red plastic cup in the other. “So glad to see your goofy ass face right now, because I’m getting creamed here with Spivey being my partner.”

“What’s up, Danny?” Adam greeted the guy. “Need me to jump in and show this guy how it’s done?”

“I give up, man.” The guy they called Spivey tossed his hands up and backed away from the table. “Seriously, I know when I suck at something… By all means, take my place.”

“Not fair!” the redheaded girl playing on the opposing team yelled. “No replacements. You started the game; you’ve got to finish it.”

“She’s right, you know,” Adam said, glaring at Spivey. “You do, man.”

A guy with dark hair I’d seen before, but couldn’t place, came around in front of us. “Hey, Kace, how’s it goin’, man?”

“Not bad, how about yourself?” Kace asked as he did some weird guy handshake I’d never seen him do before.

The dark-haired guy nodded and then flipped his head to the side quickly so his hair shifted out of his eyes. I realized then where I’d seen him before; he’d been the DJ at the cliff party Kace had taken me to.

“Pretty good. Started up the band again…been playing at a few local places and shit,” the guy said.

“Hey, I’m gonna find the restroom real quick. I’ll be right back,” I said, not wanting to interrupt their conversation.

Kace glanced at me. “All right.”

I weaved through the tight crowd that had congregated at the entrance to the long hallway leading to the back of the apartment. I passed by the first door, thankful it was open and I didn’t have to open it for myself only to find out it wasn’t a bathroom, but instead a bedroom—a bedroom that was at the moment occupied by two girls lying on a bed making out while a group of guys egged them on and videoed it with their cell phones.

I rolled my eyes and kept going down the hall. I hated it when girls did stupid stuff like that all for the sake of attention.

Two more doors caught my eye, both across from each other. One of them had to be a bathroom, but I was not about to attempt to open both. A girl with too much foundation on leaned against the wall. She held a cup in her hand and looked as though she would rather be anyplace than here right now. Either that, or else she was the type of girl who always looked pissed and bored when she was wasted.

“Do you know where the bathroom is?” I asked her.

She didn’t speak. Instead, she extended the hand holding her cup and pointed to the door practically in front of her.

“Umm, thanks,” I said.

The other door opened and a girl with violet streaks in her black hair stumbled out, wiping the corners of her mouth.

“Come on, let’s go,” she said to the mute girl leaning against the wall.

They locked arms and I watched them walk down the hall together, unable to tell who was holding whom up. A guy with loads of piercings in his face exited the same room, buttoning his pants up. He glanced at me once and then kept moving. Jesus, if this was what college was all about, Vera was going to be in seventh heaven. I knocked on the closed bathroom door before I tried the knob.

“Just a minute,” a smooth male voice called from inside.

I took a step back and crossed my arms over my chest. Another crowd of people made their way down the hall, forcing me against the bathroom door. It jerked open, startling me, and I let out a gasp as someone passing bumped into me, sending me into the chest of whoever had been trying to exit the bathroom.

Dark hands reached out to steady me. As they gripped my upper arms, a current of heat unlike anything I’d ever felt flowed through me. My hands pressed against rock-hard abs covered by a soft gray T-shirt, and I glanced up to make sense of who was holding me, even though my body and mind already knew.

Theo stared down at me with intense eyes. My body and mind—nearly numb from the spasm of heat streaming between us where our skin touched—suddenly became consumed by surprise and shock.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, sounding a bit harsh.

“Same as you,” he said in that detached tone of his I’d grown to expect.

Releasing my arms, Theo crossed his over his chest. A sensation of desire flitted through me along with a tiny bit of yearning as I noticed his eyes trail over the length of me. My hands dropped to the edges of the skirt I wore and tugged it down just a little, hoping to cover up a bit more of my skin. I suddenly felt too exposed and vulnerable under his stare, and the built-in bra of this tank top was not nearly enough.

“You’re here to have fun and party?” I scoffed.

He was so not the type for this scene. At least I didn’t think so.

Theo’s full lips twisted into the hint of a smile. “I do have a social life, you know.”

Irritation flashed through me at his words and the condescending tone his voice had taken, but it was quickly followed by amusement mixed with desire.

“I never assumed you didn’t,” I said.

“I’m sure.”

He reached out and slipped a hand around my waist to scoot me closer to him. I couldn’t breathe as fireworks of heat burst through me from the contact. Numbly my mind fumbled to make my arms push him away, but neither my arms nor my brain were listening at the moment. Another wave of people came down the hall. One girl was bouncing off the wall as she went and flailing her arms around while she rattled on about how she was the best and that some guy named Roy would regret the day he dumped her.

This was why Theo had pulled me into him. To keep me from getting trampled and beat up by Miss I Can’t Handle a Break-Up as she staggered down the hall with a group of people.

No matter the reason, I stood in the hallway, pressed against Theo. I felt nothing besides liquid hot desire flooding my body and mind.

We were getting too close and the tether too strong.

His warm breath, spiced with the scent of liquor, floated to my nose as we continued to gaze at one another, uncaring of our surroundings. My fingertips trailed along the defined curves of his arm muscles. My lips were on fire, and I knew the only way to extinguish it would be to press them to his—to give in to what my body, my magick, wanted.

“Excuse me,” a small-framed girl with bouncy ringlets of strawberry-blond hair said as she bustled past us and into the bathroom door we stood in front of.

We pulled apart to let her by and the distinctive splat of puke hitting the tiled floor met with my ears. It was enough to kill the strange moment building between the two of us.

“Umm…I have to go,” I said as I backed away from Theo.

My chest tightened and my mind froze at the same time. One thought penetrated through the immobile, solid frontier that was my mind: Why the hell was I just in Theo’s arms about to kiss him?

His caramel-colored eyes seemed blank and his expression slack as though he were just as confused by what had almost happened between the two of us.

I darted down the hall and broke into the living room/dining room area searching for Kace. He was still beside the beer pong table, talking with the dark-haired guy exactly where I’d left him.

“Hey, was there a line?” he asked with a slight smile as I walked up. His smile faded when he got a good look at me. “Are you okay? You look like you don’t feel well.”

“I think I’m ready to go home,” I said, licking my dry lips.

“We’ve got a barfer!” some arrogant ass shouted as he entered the kitchen from in the hall. “Glad this place isn’t mine, cuz there’s no way in hell I’d be cleanin’ that shit up.”

Kace shifted away from the guy he’d been talking to and placed a hand on my waist. “Did you get sick?”

I shook my head. “No, that wasn’t me, but I’m not feeling too well.”

“All right, hold on,” he said. He moved to Adam and Callie. “I think Addison’s ready to head home. Are you guys okay to take us?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’ll drive you guys home,” Callie said, her worried eyes meeting mine.

“Aw shit, does she need a bag or somethin’?” Adam asked. “She looks like she’s gonna barf.”

“If everyone keeps mentioning it, I will,” I said.

My nerves were shot and all I wanted to do was get home. An image of Theo coming down the hall and Kace spotting him flashed through my mind. I needed to get out of here. Quick.

Kace draped his arm across my shoulder and I leaned into him as we left the apartment. The night air felt even more amazing against my clammy skin than the time before, and I inhaled deeply as we continued to walk.

“Hold up,” Adam said as soon as we reached his Jeep. “There’s a grocery bag in here someplace; let me find it.”

He opened up the passenger door and rifled through the stuff on the floorboard before he scooped up the bag he’d been talking about. It was filled to the max with trash. Dumping the trash out right back where I was sure it had come from—on his floorboard—Adam held the bag out to me.

“Here, if you have to puke, at least do it in this,” Adam said.

I took the bag from his hand. “You didn’t have to do that. I’m okay, really. I’m just ready to go home.”

“I’d rather clean up trash than puke any day,” Adam mumbled as he slid into the passenger seat.

Kace opened the door for me, and I shimmied across the seat and over to the other side so he could climb in beside me.

“I’m sorry you feel bad, but damn, I have to say I loved my view just then,” Kace said with a little shake of his head and a wide smile.

I laughed and placed my hand on his leg as he settled into the backseat beside me. He was such a good guy. I bit my bottom lip as my stomach churned. I hated what had almost happened between me and Theo in the hall. I wasn’t the type to cheat. As a matter of fact, I was completely against even the idea of it.

So then, what the hell was wrong with me?

I leaned my head against the cool pane of glass and closed my eyes as Callie started the Jeep. Kace took my hand in his and squeezed. The flutters of warmth calmed the churning of my stomach, but not enough.

“Do you want Callie to drop you off at your place or do you wanna go to mine?” he asked me in the softest of tones.

I opened my eyes and met his stare. His icy blue eyes were dark and filled with a level of concern that stroked against my heart and made my throat grow thick with emotion. I needed to spend the night with Kace. Something told me if I didn’t, Theo would pay me a visit, and I couldn’t let that happen. Not tonight.

“Yours,” I answered. “Can I spend the night with you?”

Kace nodded and then brought my hand to his lips. He placed a soft kiss along the back and then set it down in his lap. “Absolutely, you don’t have to ask.”

I leaned against him, resting my head on his shoulder, and closed my eyes again.