Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 98992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 495(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 495(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
As the delightful flavors of cherry bounce around my mouth, I hear Ry bite, “Yeah, well, at least her pussy didn’t smell like fucking Joe’s Crab Shack.”
Low.
And intentionally hurtful
“Why would it, Collins? The different combinations of cum from fucking you, your friends, and half the varsity as well as the junior varsity team would totally give it a completely different stank.”
Too far.
Yup.
Definitely too far.
The crowd goes crazy crowning me once more winner of the battle, which pushes Bambi and Ry out of the area.
I raise the filled shot glass I don’t remember grabbing – or being handed – and lift it in victory. “Champion!”
“Champion!” They echo back.
I shoot the tequila and happily let it burn its way down my throat.
Wash away the guilt regarding everything I knew I had no business saying, the emotional pain I’ve caused the pawn that is Bambi, and adding to the turmoil I know eats at Ry every night he goes to sleep.
The disgust, thankfully, vanishes.
At least for now.
To my surprise, immediately afterward, Brandon slips a lime into his mouth before he points to it insisting that I suck it out.
I giggle.
Grin.
And do.
Carmen saunters over on a devious snicker just seconds after my tongue has taken an open-mouthed swipe at Brandon’s. “Alright, Presley.” She helps keep me from flashing the entire party on my way down. “I think you’ve had enough.”
“I’ll say so,” Blaze grumbles, shoving his hands in his pockets.
“Let’s go ahead and get you home before you turn into that Joe Nichols song.”
“That’s a good song!” Brandon immediately points out.
“At least this one has great taste in music,” Carmen compliments during the process of turning me the direction of the door.
“Bye Brandon…” I wave seductively at him despite being led or dragged away. “Call me tomorrow, baby.”
“You bet that sweet ass I will,” he calls back to me.
Wait.
Did I even give him my phone number?
The three of us meet Eli and Justus at the front door to walk to the parked cars together. During the process, I do my best to try and sober up a bit; however, it doesn’t take long for me to realize it’s pointless.
That the booze I gulped down isn’t leaving anytime soon.
Eli and Justus get into Eli’s car announcing their plans to go check on Nathan, but Blaze declines harshly, insisting that Carmen will just take him home since he lives on the way to her house.
As soon as the car is in motion, Blaze leans around my passenger seat to bite, “You have fun, ma?”
I drunkenly nod. “Soooooo much.”
“Do you think you did anything that maybe you shouldn’t fucking have?”
“No-huh.”
“Fo’ real?!” Blaze unexpectedly raises his voice. “So that shit-”
“You’re very fucking loud,” I complain, holding a hand up to his face. “Lower it less than megaphone or shut the fuck up.”
Carmen laughs while she lights her cigarette along the curvy road.
“You think this shit’s funny?” He snaps at her next.
“I think it’s fucking hilarious,” she swiftly clarifies, “but snap at me again and you’ll be walking your Cuban Slim Shady ass home on the side of the road.”
My laughter unfortunately recaptures his anger.
I know it’s probably deserved, but between the high from all the attention, the liquor, and inability to understand why all the guys I date feel they have to lie to me, I just can’t seem to actually care.
“Ma, you really think it’s okay to grind on some other asshole in front of me?”
“You could’ve left the room.”
“What the fuck did you just say?”
“I said,” my body whips around so we’re eye to eye, “you could’ve left the goddamn room.”
“Why you actin’ like this?”
“You mean like you?” I vindictively point to him. “You can’t believe I blew you off all night around my best friend the way you do me every day of the fucking week? You can’t believe I got drunk, because you didn’t know I could drink just like I didn’t know you still smoke fucking weed? Or you can’t believe that I let Braeden-”
“Brandon,” Carmen quietly corrects.
“-get that fucking close to my face and in my space knowing I have a boyfriend? Kind of the way Ava is always on your lap or how you two have little play dates you didn’t think I knew about?”
His jaw tries to help words escape yet, not a single one reveals itself.
Just silence.
Pure and beautiful speechlessness.
“Do you have a problem with all that bullshit or the fact that my nuts are bigger than yours because I did it in your fucking face rather than behind your back like a punk bitch?”
Blaze opens his mouth once more to retaliate, but the last smidgen of liquid courage remains.
“Don’t care what the answer is. I’m done.”
“But ma-”
“We’re done.”
Carmen shoots me a wink from her side of the vehicle. “Still reigning champ of the night…”
--
“Holy shit,” Katherine excitedly exclaims from where’s she leaned in closer as though she had been hanging on my every word. “Pretty sure me and that Presley would’ve literally burned bars down had we hung out.”