Page 136 of Insincerely Yours
Whatever pathetic attempt at a threat I spew is cut off as I realize he’s already hung up.
Bolting from the fort, I don’t even bother using the ladder. I leap from the deck, hitting the lawn with a little more impact than my ankles like. Pain radiates up into my calves, but I don’t care. Dashing across the property, I battle my way through the crowds.
Ushering a chorus of apologies as I fight through the throng, I suddenly smack shoulders with a girl, and the force knocks me back.
“Ahh,” she moans, rubbing her beaten arm. Her eyes finally lock with mine, and I quite literally cry with relief.
“Maggie!” She doesn’t have time to react as I ensnare her in a massive hug.
She laughs with an intoxicated giggle I know all too well, not sounding the least bit put off. “You made it! Good to see you finally letting your hair down. Wanna do some jello shots?”
She goes to hand me one, but I knock it aside. “What happened with Trent?”
Mags just looks at me blankly.
“What did he do to you?”I have to reiterate.
She laughs again, but it’s more out of confusion. “Is this a trick question?”
“He called me from your phone…”
Maggie pats down her pockets and checks her clutch, coming to the obvious realization that she doesn’t have it. “Shit!”
Given her current blood alcohol level, it’s not surprising that she thinks it’s a good idea to go confront the fucker to get it back, forcing me to drag her to a halt.
If I were a betting kind of girl, I’d say Trent is now tucked away in one of the empty bedrooms upstairs, assuming blind panic will send me running in there. “We’ll get it back tomorrow. And if he doesn’t want to, I’ll buy you a new one. I promise.”
All I want is to just get the hell out of here.
Since the last thing I want to do is go back through the party, I try directing Maggie towards the side of the property so we can just walk around the house.
“You wanna leave?” she all but whimpers. “I was just starting to have some fun.”
“Can’t say the same. And I have a feeling you’ll thank me in the morning.”
“Oh, come on. Don’t be a party pooper. It’s notthatbad—”
As if on cue, a commotion breaks out from inside the house, and Maggie can’t help but be curious. She pulls out of my hold and heads back to the patio. Gritting my teeth, I have no choice but to go after her. We make it to a set of sliding glass doors, but it’s too dimly lit inside to see much of anything. All I can discern are numerous silhouettes standing in the kitchen. Everyone inside must be privy to something we can’t see out here, because the whole room gasps. Before I know it, the full-sheet glass window beside Maggie and me shatters with an ear aching explosion as two bodies crash onto the patio’s quarry tiles.
Some spectators start egging them on, thirsting for a fight, but everyone falls quiet as they get a better look at the combatants sprawled on the ground.
Jase?
And…Trent?
What the everloving Hell?
“I take it this probably isn’t the best time to ask for my phone back?” Maggie mutters, looking just as put off by the scene as everyone else here.
Trent attempts to pull himself up off the ground, but Jase snatches a hold of his ankle, wrenches him back down on his ass, and swings his fists into the asshole’s face. Trent manages to get in a punch, grazing Jase in the cheekbone. It’s not an all-out hit,but given his size, any punch from Easton is bound to feel like getting hit by a brick.
But it doesn’t deter Jase. Going through the glass door has left several cuts across his arms, and he looks to have already taken a few punches while inside, so the addition to his injuries is hardly a deterrent. If anything, it only seems to fuel his rage. He climbs on top of Trent and continues leveling hit after hit after hit into Trent’s mouth, nose, and eyes.
“Get the fuck off me, you psycho!” Easton hollers, and in seconds, the rest of Trent’s crew and his younger brother race over and haul Jase back.
That doesn’t stop the fists from flying. When Jase can no longer reach Trent, he turns that fury onto the others, and it takes three of Trent’s friends to restrain him.
Trent rolls over on his side and spits out a mouthful of blood, along with a broken tooth. “Hope you enjoy a cell next to your old man, because you just fucked yourself,” he seethes, climbing back to his feet.
