Page 21 of The Right Guy
“Aaaaaaddddddaa!” She slurred my name.
“Kim, where are you?” I stood and paced, my ears pricked to the background noise of raucous roars and rap music.
“I’m with that guy from the pool party. When you nearly drowned. I’m so glad you didn’t die, girl.” I lost her sentiment under the amount of alcohol pumping around in her veins. She was drunk and mindlessly gibbering with unfinished syllables.
“Tell me where you are, and I’ll come and get you.”
“Some dude’s house just outside of campus. I walked here,” she shouts over loud music. “Take aleft,or a right.Sooooo easy to find. It’s Jack or Jake or Bob’s place. Who cares? We’re going to Siren beach now.”
“Oh no, you don’t!” The next thing she’ll be skinny dipping in the ocean, then pulled under the surface by an ugly sea creature that no one has ever heard of before. “I’m coming to get you right this second. Do. Not. Move.” I shoved my feet into the tennis shoes, kicked off earlier, and jogged to the door.
“Ada, are you coming to the beach party, too?” Obviously, she hadn’t understood my urgency.
“Don’t leave the house. I’m on my way.”
I rode the elevator to the ground floor and sprinted out of the dorms. I continued to run until I left the campus grounds and turned left. Thankfully, I found a narrow house with flashing lights and loud bass beats vibrating against the front door. It was easy to push inside, past the bodies and booze and strobe lights. A faint waft of marijuana tainted the stuffy atmosphere.
I instinctively held my breath and pushed through the drunk students. The beat echoed in my skull, the roars and cheers made it impossible to call out to her, and the strong waft of liquor and cigarettes made my stomach heave. The thought of alcohol made me gag after my drunken night at Theo’s.
Finding Kim was like searching for a rare gem in the dirt. The crowd broke up, and there she was, plonked on her ass like she’d slid down the wall. She waved a bottle of tequila in one hand, and her mobile phone in the other. An elastic band gripped her hair in a severe ponytail, andthe pastel pink tee she adored was splatteredwith bright green liquid. I looped her waist and hauled, but her drunk, limp body was a dead weight.
“Hey!” I tapped a guy on the back, expecting help, but when he swung around to face me, I realized hewas wasted. He wobbled on his feet, so there was no way he could let help Kim to hers.
There was only one thing to do: call Ro. I wasn’t calling him for myself. I was calling him because he’d be there in a flash to help his sister. AndTheo, well, he was probably balls deep in Nancy. The last thing he’d want would be an interruption to add more fuel to his bad mood. My heart lurched when I imagined my Theo’s lips all over that woman. I hated myself for breaking us.
It took a few rings before Ro answered. His voice was rough and croaky. “Kimmie, what’s up?”He sighed sleepily.
“Ro, it’s Ada.” I heard him gulp. “Look, I need your help. Well, Kim needs your help. She’sat aparty outside of campus and needs a lift home. She’s too heavy for me to carry, and there’s no oneelseto help us.”
“Brian’s party? Are you telling me she’s drunk?” His warmth turned sub-zero. “How could you be so fucking stupid? I’m on my way. I’ll bring the car out front.”
He ended the call without giving me the chance to explain. Iwasn’t involvedin her rebellion. I didn’t lift tequila to those pretty lips of hers.
As I slotted her phone into my pocket, fingers tightened around my forearm. I spun around, my hair whippingtheface of a guy who swayed and slurred. His pores sweated sweet liquor, and his breath was bitter with stale cigarette smoke.
“Shots?” His hand lifted, bringing a bottle of vodka up with it.
“No, thanks.” I shook my head and jerked away from him.
“Have you got a lighter?” The guy tucked the bottle under his arm and staggered sideways. A stream of clear liquid poured over his shoes. He rammed a hand into his pocket and pulled out a packet of cigarettes. “I need a smoke,” he slurred.
“I don’t smoke. That guy over there has a lighter.” I nodded behind him, pinpointing no one in particular because I was bullshitting, so he’d leave me alone.
“Thanks, gorgeous,” he added with a drunken enunciation and a slow wink.
“Ada?” Kim’s eyes opened, and she unscrewed the tequila lid. “You want some?”
I plucked the bottle out of her hand. “Nope. I think you’ve had enough, Kim.”
“Spoilsport.” She stuck out her tongue and blew araspberry,but her cheeks didn’t puff.
The music stopped, and Ro’s voice followed the hush. “Where the fuck is my sister?”
I glanced back to find him standing by a large speaker with a scrawny guy in a chokehold. Navy sweatpants nestled around lean thighs, and a loose-fitted tee held wrinkles like he’d thrown it on without thought. A red sports cap shaded his eyes, and those pouty lips of his were tight as he wrangled with the poor guy who wriggled like an unruly calf. When Ro’s face lifted into a ray of blue light, the haze colored his features, giving him a sexy hero vibe.
He’d been my hero at Lux, and now he was rescuing his sister.
“Over here.” I waved at him. A set of piercing eyes found me, then urgently cut to Kim. He swung the lanky guy to the ground and stepped over him in one stride. Ro stormed toward us, flipped off his cap and raked his fingers through choppy hair like he had just woken up, or got laid. He paused at my side, glowering at Kim. Without saying a word, he repositioned the cap back on his head and folded his arms. After a beat, he growled, “You’re drinking tequila?” Ro snatched the bottle away and banged it down on a console table.
