More and more people were coming into Matt’s penthouse floor, all Hawking students.
At first, I was loving it. The guards around me were blending and I was huddled up with Torie, Tamara, and Melissa, so it wasn’t a big deal. I wasn’t getting the attention.
That lasted thirty minutes.
Liam showed up, and he was lit. I thought he’d been here the whole time, but it was apparent he’d stepped out. The brown paper bag was my indicator. His eyes were dilated, his hair a mess, and his grin was sloppy. Those were my other indicators, as he came over to us. “Heyyy, my girls!” He threw his arm wide—not the one holding the booze. “These are my girls. Hey! Hey. Carl. Hey. Did you meet my friends?”
Carl was the guy sitting next to Liam during the game.
He was the guy who had conversed with Melissa almost the whole game. He was one of the two that seemed to be a good guy.
Carl was also sober, unlike his very not-sober friend Liam.
He grinned, though, seeming all chill. “Nice to meet you guys.” His grin curved higher. “Again.”
“So guess what I did?”
Liam had missed the “again.”
Melissa and I shared a look, but I answered him for us, “What’d you do?”
He swung the brown paper bag forward, indicating me, before bringing it back and taking a long swig of whatever was in there. “I invited Hoda and the guys here.”
The music could’ve stopped with a screech. The same effect crashed over our huddle. Even Carl’s eyebrows shot up.
“Uh.” He was the first to speak, scratching behind his ear. “Say what?”
Torie was glaring. “You did what?”
Tamara chided, “Watch yourself. She’s going to go all Torie on you.”
Liam frowned at her, cocked his head to the side, and narrowed his eyes. “Have we met?”
Melissa was sharing another look with me. I couldn’t read her mind, but I felt it might’ve gone something along the lines of “Your friend is about to Torie on his ass and I don’t know what Torie means, but she seems super scary right now and I’m scared of her, so Liam better sober up real quick because he’s gonna get his ass kicked.”
Okay. She didn’t say any of that. Her thoughts were probably more like “Did you hear what he said?”
Either way, I was right there with her.
Torie was about to kick Liam’s ass, and he wasn’t sober enough to enjoy it. The dude would be all sorts of remorseful in the morning.
“You did. I don’t give a shit you don’t remember me. You better tell me you didn’t invite that bitch who sent out an image of my girl and her man in a private moment here? Where my girl is? Where her man is? And where her brother resides? Tell me you didn’t do that.”
Liam’s mouth was hanging open. He was gawking at her.
Carl sighed, shaking his head. “Oh, man. Here it comes.”
Liam said, “I’m usually chill, but fuck—you’re hot.”
Carl sighed again. “There it went.”
Carl seemed like a good bud.
I poked him in the shoulder. “Hey.” I nodded at Liam. “Get him out of here. He’s inviting people who want to hurt me. I have guards around me for reasons, so that’s not going to go over well.”
He looked around.
I didn’t know if he took in the guards or if he remembered them from earlier, but he nodded super-duper quick-like. “I got him. And for the record”—he leaned close—“he’s only being this way because he saw how Melissa wants to bone your brother. He’s in the feels, if you know what I mean.”
Carl really was chill. I would’ve liked him in another universe.
I nodded, stepping back from him. “Still not cool.”
“I know.” His hand came to Liam’s shoulders, and right there proved how beyond Liam was, because Liam had no clue.
Then I felt a presence behind me, a split second before a hand slid around my waist.
A rush of heat swept me, and I knew whose hand that was. I knew whose chest I leaned back against, and I knew whose lips were coming to brush my cheek before rising to my ear.
I ignored everyone’s attention.
“Hey,” I murmured, turning my head so Kash’s lips could find mine.
They did, and I wanted them to stay. They didn’t.
A soft graze and he pulled back, but his hand didn’t. He was tugging me away from the group. “I need a word.”
That didn’t sound good, but I was half-buzzed and too distracted to really take in how rigid he was, or how tight his shoulders were. He moved me into a corner with a semblance of privacy and turned his back to block anyone from watching.
“I have to—”
I didn’t wait. I rushed out, “I told Melissa at the game all the guys who liked her, and I told her to steer clear from Matt. I didn’t think she’d go for Liam. I really didn’t. But I’m excited for her, no matter who she ends up choosing.” I paused. There was something else, but I finally noticed the look in Kash’s eyes.
Alarm pierced me. Everything else vanished.
“What’s going on?” I gripped his hand.
“I have to go on a trip. I can’t tell you any details right now, but I’ll call you as soon as we land.”
He was leaving.
I tried not to feel dejected.
I failed. A pin popped my balloon, and I was deflating fast.
“Oh.”
He frowned, his forehead resting against mine. “I’m sorry.”
I closed my eyes. “It’s fine.”
He laughed lightly. “Don’t lie to me.”
A finger went under my chin, and he tipped my head up. I opened my eyes.
He said, “Not to me. Everyone else. Yourself even. But not me. Please.”
I whispered, “I really liked being normal today.”
His eyes softened. “I know you did.” He lowered his head, his lips finding mine. “I enjoyed it, too.”
“Boss.” From Scott, behind him.
Kash tensed, but he gave me another kiss, this one harder, with more feeling, before he ripped his mouth away. A last kiss to my forehead before he folded me to him. “Be safe. Have fun. I’ll come back as soon as I can.”
Then he was gone, and I no longer wanted to be there.
Matt came up. “You okay?”
I shook my head. I turned to him, knowing tears were there that I’d never admit to and never let fall, so I moved into him. “I want everyone gone.”
His arms closed around me, and a second later my brother barked over my shoulder, “Everyone out. Now!”
There were cries of protest, grumbles, a few curses, but they left.
My brother hugged me the whole time. Only my friends stayed, and I was including Carl.
I decided maybe I was wrong.
Maybe being normal was overrated.