Obsession (Dangerous Love #1)

CHAPTER 27

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RIDE OR DIE

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I was still engrossed in Harris’ explanation when the car came to a stop.

I lifted my eyes to the huge mansion in front of us, surrounded by laser lights and thick smoke, while loud music shook the ground and I could feel it even in the car.

“Oh my God,” I groaned, not knowing if what followed was good or bad.

Harris smiled and got out of the car, motioning for me to stay in the car. I rolled my eyes and watched as he crossed in front of the car and opened the door for me. I took his hand without saying anything and got out, feeling the cold night air envelop me.

I had asked V for a jacket, but she said I would get so hot that I would want to take all my clothes off.

I didn’t really want to think about that.

We were surrounded by indescribable chaos. Drunk and euphoric teenagers crowded around dozens of cars, one more powerful than the other, all tuned up.

It would be a lie to say that this was not the life I had hoped for when I moved to Seattle.

As soon as he made his presence known, the demon was met with a wave of whistles and cheers. We were quickly surrounded by people I did not know, all wanting to shake his hand. Harris put his arm around my waist and hugged me to his body in the sexiest, most territorial gesture possible. As if any more clues were needed to know that I was his. Our friends were behind us, but they weren’t making as much noise as we were.

I found myself among dozens of friendly people trying to greet me and compliment me on my outfit.

With difficulty we got inside the house, just so we could step outside again, but this time to the backyard where the real debauchery was taking place.

There was a huge pool filled with a little too many drunk teenagers trying to swim and I noticed that most of the girls were naked, some dancing around in lascivious movements, others struggling to stay on their feet depending on their alcohol level.

Ah, so this was what V had been talking about.

Booze and drugs were everywhere, and I could feel the euphoria in the air, and I didn’t think I needed an injectable to get high.

“Demon!” A booming scream rang out above us, and we both turned at the sound.

Up on the balcony was a black-haired guy with a bottle of liquor in his hand.

“That’s Mike,” Harris said to me.

I knew he’d come up to us, but I was hoping he’d take the stairs like any normal person would, instead he held onto a thick rope attached to the railing and came down it like it was a zip line, landing in the middle of the pool, howling.

Harris started laughing, and I jumped back, hoping the wave he caused wouldn’t touch me.

In a flash, Mike got out of the pool and came towards us, higher and happier than everyone else around.

“Demon,” he shouted again, pulling Harris into a strong hug that made him cough on impact.

I tried to step back from them because he was soaked, but Harris would not let go of me as he put an arm around Mike and then pushed him away.

“Thanks for the refreshment, man,” Harris teased.

“What’s up, bro? I thought you weren’t coming,” the guy grumbled, slapping Harris on the shoulder as he took a swig from the whiskey bottle that was half-filled with water. When he felt the taste, he wrinkled his nose and threw it away.

“And miss this party?” Harris laughed.

Mike grinned and pointed at the naked girls in the pool.

Okay, that didn’t sit well with me.

“All you want, as much as you want. We got pussy for a week, brother. Even virgins, just the way you like them,” he winked cheekily and, fuck, it was hard not to react.

Harris laughed and shook his head.

“Nah, man, I got everything I want right here,” Harris said, grabbing my hips to pull me closer, as if that were possible. We were already glued to each other.

Mike seemed to notice me for the first time, probably thinking I was just another drunk girl clinging to Harris’ arm. His eyes suddenly widened.

“Fuck me… is this Katherine?” he asked in shock as he pointed at me, looking at Harris with the gaze of a drunk, unbalanced person.

I was surprised to see that he had heard of me.

“Yes,” Harris smiled, “Katherine, this is Mike. Mike, this is my girlfriend, Katherine.”

Had he said I was his girlfriend to mark his territory again?

Mike shook his head, almost as if he was just waking up from his drunken state.

“Nice to meet you, Katherine. You have no idea how much I’ve heard about you,” he said in a normal voice this time, holding his hand out to me with a smile.

I took his cold and wet hand, “Nice to meet you too. I hope you’ve heard good things.”

“Only good things, which is fucking weird coming from this one,” he pointed at the guy strangling my waist.

I started laughing and Harris rolled his eyes.

Mike resembled Harris physically, only with fewer tattoos. His hair was wet and cut very short, and his blue eyes sparkled in the laser beams. Harris had told me he’d graduated a year before us, but Harris had missed a year of school, which meant they were the same age.

“Fuck, you got another tattoo?” Mike suddenly jumped up and grabbed Harris by the chin to turn his head so he could see the tattoo better.

“Is that a …” he leaned forward as if he were seeing things, “K.”

He almost whispered, then immediately turned and looked at me. He’d made the connection pretty quickly, even in his drunken state.

“What did you do to him?” he asked, and even though it was weird, I couldn’t contain my laughter, and neither could Harris.

“She drove me crazy,” Harris explained.

“You were crazy before, but now you’re batshit crazy,” Mike’s eyes were still as wide as they could be, and in contrast to his drunkenness, he looked downright ridiculous.

Then he smiled, astonished and apparently happy.

“So you found her , huh?”

Harris just nodded. It took me a while to figure out what he was talking about, but then I remembered that Harris had said he was only supposed to get that tattoo if he fell in love. Mike had known that, V and Jay hadn’t, which meant he was a much closer friend.

I felt embarrassed and happy at the same time as they both looked at me.

“This deserves a public announcement,” he grinned, turning his back to us and shouting as loud as he could, “Everyone listen up. We finally have the girl who managed to mark our demon. Ladies, gentlemen, sluts … Katherine,” Mike yelled like a real MC, grabbing my arm and lifting it up like I’d won a boxing match.

I tried to get out of his grip, but he wouldn’t let me go.

Everyone was looking at me and Harris didn’t seem to mind. I tried to hide behind his back, but he pushed me forward.

“It’s true,” he confirmed.

Oh, for fuck’s sake!

“I belong to her, but she’s mine too,” the end of his sentence sounded like a threat, then he pulled me into his arms and pressed his lips to mine.

“Translation: if you touch her, you’ll die a very painful death,” Mike concluded, pointing at us.

Another wave of cheers rang out as Mike jumped around us and pointed at the tattoo on Harris’ neck.

But no matter how awkward the whole situation was, he managed to distract me from it all with his kiss.

Harris waved his hand as if to dismiss them, and everyone complied and went back to their previous activity.

Mike led us to one of the tables outside, where dozens of plastic cups were stacked on top of each other, alcohol bottles and beer cans, sodas and energy drinks. He gave Harris a Monster Energy can, because he didn’t seem to want to drink here either.

“You want a drink, Katherine?” Mike asked, pointing at the huge selection of alcoholic drinks.

“No, I’ll have an energy drink too, thanks,” I smiled as Harris popped his open and handed it to me.

Mike gave him another, and when I took a sip, the liquid hit my throat like it was battery acid. It was strong, fizzy and sour, but in a way that burned. I wasn’t a fan of energy drinks, but there were no other interesting non-alcoholic alternatives.

After a few more sips, I started to get used to the taste, while Harris and Mike carried on a conversation I wasn’t paying attention to.

“Kath,” V came up to me out of nowhere and pulled on my arm, but I couldn’t move because Harris’ arm was still coiled around me.

“What are you doing here? Let’s dance,” she demanded.

I looked at Harris, even though I didn’t need his permission to dance.

He opened his mouth, but another voice calling his nickname stopped him. A boy who looked no older than sixteen made his way out of the crowd, running up to Harris and giving him a brotherly hug when he reached us.

“I thought I told you to stop coming to these parties,” Harris scolded, ruffling his hair.

“Yeah, like you could stop me,” the boy grinned, making Harris laugh.

He had brown hair and was quite tall, but he was younger than us and it was easy to tell.

“Is this Katherine?” he asked Harris.

Okay, did everyone know me?

Harris nodded and confirmed silently.

“Nice to meet you, Katherine,” the boy said, extending his hand.

“Nice to meet you too…”

“Keith,” he said.

“Keith,” I repeated as I took his hand and gave him a smile.

I already liked him. One of my New York friends was also named Keith, but I hadn’t seen my Keith since the Decepticon fast food fiasco.

“Okay, you’re done, Casanova, go away,” Harris said with amusement, yanking his hand out of mine.

We all laughed.

“Yeah, yeah, a lot of people to meet. Kath, you’re coming to dance with me,” V ordered impatiently, tugging on my arm.

Harris turned serious and scowled at her.

“Oh, come on, no one’s going to steal her away from you.”

V rolled her eyes, which made me giggle. I realized that I really wanted to dance, and for the first time since our arrival, I listened to the music. Upstairs on one of the balconies, a DJ was spinning Eminem’s White Trash Party .

Before he could contradict her, another group of boys barged into our group, grabbed Harris by the shoulders and greeted him.

“See? You’re busy,” V said, pointing to the new boys around us.

They all looked at me, but I’d had enough of meeting people.

Mike snapped his fingers in front of one guy’s face to get his attention. I could read my name on his lips, but I didn’t hear it. Everyone automatically averted their eyes as Harris watched them intently, waiting for that exact reaction.

Hell, everyone present seemed to know who Katherine was, and my name was now associated with danger to anyone who wasn’t Harris Elay Stone.

Some might have seen me on the tracks, too, but my hair was blonde then, and no one had introduced our couple like Mike had earlier.

“Come on, Harris, she’s your girlfriend, no one’s going to touch her,” Keith said, putting an arm over Harris’ shoulder while discretely winking at me.

The kid seemed to get a free pass from him.

The only person being treated like a five-year-old in this equation was me.

Harris sighed.

“Don’t let her out of your sight,” he threatened V.

Hello? I’m right here.

V squealed gleefully and tugged at my arm, but Harris quickly pulled me back, wrapped his arms around me and looked me in the eye.

“Be good,” he admonished, his lips an inch away from mine.

I started to laugh and nodded, before his mouth crashed against mine and provoked another wave of whistles and cheers.

V yanked me out of his arms and dragged me away through the suffocating crowd. Even though we were still outside, it was surprisingly hot, stifling even, because of the dozens of excited people.

We got to the center of the so-called dance floor, which was on the other side of the pool, where everyone was stomping around on the grass and, in some cases, fainting on it. I could still see Harris talking to his friends and watching me. I smiled and winked at him, although I wasn’t sure if he could see it, but the cheeky grin he gave me confirmed that he did.

“What are you drinking? Ugh, Harris made you drink that garbage too,” V got upset and looked at the Monster can in my hand.

I stuck my tongue out at her and then took a sip. It was starting to taste good.

She held out a blue plastic cup to me, but I refused it and stuck to my energy drink. I knew the reason Harris wasn’t drinking very well, and I didn’t want to make him uncomfortable by reeking of alcohol in his presence.

V wrinkled her nose, then pulled a small plastic packet out of her bra. I had to squint to make sure it was what I thought it was, and not a lighter.

No. It was what I was thinking.

“Want some?” V grinned when she noticed my interest.

I bit my lip and turned my head to look at Harris, who was now busy listening to something Mike was saying, but I was sure he’d notice if I did something stupid. And V really wasn’t helping me be good as I watched her snort the powder through a straw like it was a fucking vacuum.

“What is it?” I asked, trying to hold back.

I felt like a cat walking around a jar of sour cream. I knew I wasn’t supposed to eat it, but it looked so appetizing.

Grinning, she pressed a finger to one nostril and then snorted the rest of the drug, tilting her head back and gritting her teeth.

I could have sworn her eyes sparkled and goosebumps formed on her skin.

“PCP. Jay and I were really hooked on it a while back. He’s stopped now, but I can’t quite kick it, it’s too euphoric.”

After the first word, I didn’t hear anything V said. PCP. God, my drug .

I didn’t need any further explanation from V, I knew very well what PCP euphoria felt like. I hadn’t tasted it in so long that my brain was salivating as I looked at the packet. I reached for it and took it from her hand, unaware of my action.

V started to laugh.

“Hurry and be subtle. If Harris sees you, he’ll skin me alive.” I would have laughed too had I not been so hypnotized by what I was holding in my hand. I took the straw and brought it to my left nostril, then inhaled, and I couldn’t control the reaction that followed.

I straight out moaned.

Amphetamine had nothing on it. It was like comparing beer to the best whiskey.

I could feel it entering my body, warming my blood, making it run faster and speeding up my heart. I could even feel my brain activity suddenly increase in intensity. It was as if everything became more intense; the people around me, the smells, the heat, the music, the vibrations… all of this flowed through me in just a few seconds after my favorite essence had entered me.

“Fuck, girl, that’s enough. This isn’t child’s play. It’ll mess you up if you take too much.”

V reached for it and took the packet from my hand. I grinned with satisfaction and tilted my head back while I wiped my nose and only now realized how beautiful the sky was tonight.

I could make out every star and compare their size and brilliance.

“I know what PCP is like, V, believe me,” I said, still looking up at the sky.

When I looked back at her, she was staring at the packet in shock, unable to believe how much I had taken. Her eyes were big and wide, mostly because of the drugs and alcohol.

“If you’re not going to have some pretty fucked up hallucinations, then there’s something seriously wrong with you. When I was an addict, I couldn’t withstand this much.”

I grinned and winked at her.

“You don’t have my training, honey. I used to take a lot more,” which is why I was close to dying so many times.

She looked at me again and slipped the packet back into her bra before Harris could see us, because then we’d both be in trouble.

“So you’re not the good girl you seem to be.”

I laughed, “I seem to be a good girl? Wow, thanks…I guess.”

“After snorting that like it was powdered sugar, you have definitely changed my mind. Harris said you only get high once in a while.”

“Harris doesn’t always have to know everything,” I winked at her and she put her arms around my shoulders.

“I’m starting to like you more and more, babe.”

I smiled and wrapped an arm around her waist, then we both started moving to the music, Such a Whore by JVLA was blaring from the speakers, and I didn’t think there was anything more explicit.

“Come on Kath, unleash your inner whore, tonight we’re partying,” V spoke into my ear, then she grabbed my hips.

She wanted me to dance with her, so I gave her what she wanted until we both started touching each other in a lascivious way. V’s hands wondered over places only Harris had touched, and that amused me more than it should have, because my hands weren’t shy either.

The drug was playing tricks on me, my body and my brain, and I let it.

I let myself get carried away by the madness around me, screaming with the people around while I danced with V and other girls I didn’t know who acted like we were best friends. Only one of them looked at me strangely, but I didn’t pay much attention to her.

The song was addictive, and I was in the mood to cause trouble, immediately remembering Harris’ warning.

We were surrounded by green laser beams and a machine kept spraying smoke, making the mood even more euphoric.

One by one, they all stripped out of their clothes and jumped into the pool, and I had the stupid urge to do the same as I was already sweaty.

I threw away the energy drink, swiped V’s cup and gulped down the cold, bitter beer.

The song switched to LMFAO’S Outta Your Mind , and I hoped I would not lose my mind too.

The atmosphere was getting hotter and hotter. I could feel the taste of drugs in the air. V screamed like a crazy party girl and I did the same.

When the song changed to One True God’s Emptiness , she glued herself to me. We were intertwined and dancing lasciviously when something caught our attention.

Harris and Jay were standing next to each other, a few steps away from us, both watching us with amusement in their eyes, but also… with something else.

V put her arms around my shoulders and bit my earlobe as they came closer, and I could see Jay grinning.

“I think I’ll keep her,” she called out to Harris.

I laughed, and Harris squinted, then his palms slid between us. It had been interesting dancing with V, but as soon as I felt his touch on me, my brain crackled and I clung to him like I was under a spell.

“I don’t think so,” Harris grinned.

I heard her laugh, but I didn’t turn back to her. I left Jay to deal with it and focused on the god standing in front of me.

He wasn’t dancing, but I didn’t mind moving on my own as long as I was glued to him.

“I need to get you out of here,” he almost groaned into my ear, and I pushed back to look at him.

“Why?” I bit his lip.

“Because every fucking pair of eyes at the party is on you.”

I looked around and it seemed like no one was looking at me because everyone seemed to be having their own fun.

I pressed myself against him.

“I’m yours, everyone knows that.”

I bit his earlobe and his whole body shook in my hands. I wanted to dance with him, at least the way I’d danced with V, who was now doing just that with Jay.

“It’s not just that, baby,” he held me tighter.

I waited for the second reason. It came when he sank his teeth into my neck and bit down without restraint as his hands squeezed my flesh and my head fell back as I bit my lips to stifle my moan, but then I thought, Why stifle it? I let it escape from my throat over the music.

He was turned on.

Actually, turned on was putting it mildly, I could feel him ready to tear me to pieces. He had watched me dance with V and he had let me do it until I drove him crazy.

In the midst of the high, euphoric crowd, he kissed me until I went as crazy as he did. I didn’t even dance anymore as I struggled not to rip his clothes off because the drug was wreaking havoc inside me.

When we parted, I was breathing heavily and Harris licked my lips.

“You want another drink?” he leaned down to my ear.

Fuck, he’d smelled the alcohol on me.

“No, I’m fine,” I replied quickly, shaking my head.

He smiled in that way that made me higher than PCP.

“Come with me,” he grabbed me by the hand and pulled me through the crowd, and it did not escape me the way everyone cleared a path for him. He took me to the same table, which was filled with drinks. After snorting a lot of, drinking was a stupid idea, but I was there to have fun, wasn’t I? It wasn’t the first time I’d crossed the line.

Harris reached for a tray of lime slices, then grabbed a tequila bottle, and I knew what he was up to.

“If you get me drunk, that’s the end of your plans, you know that, right?”

He looked at me curiously.

“I’m going to fuck you tonight,” I warned him.

His eyebrows shot up, then he started laughing as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer to him, then whispered in my ear.

“I didn’t really want to get you drunk, but now I’m tempted.”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“That’s your risk,” I said, taking a slice of lime from the tray.

He leaned his head to the side, allowing me to have my fun where he didn’t have a fresh tattoo.

I gripped his tank top in my hand and rubbed the slice against his neck, squeezing it a little until thin droplets slid down his skin, then shoved half the slice into his mouth.

God, that was so hot.

I leaned over his neck, stuck my tongue against his heated skin and began to lick the sour juice sensually. Harris moaned, his neck muscles tensing as he gripped my ass with his hands. His veins stood out, and I was ready to bite him like an animal.

I backed away, grabbed the glass from the table and downed all the hard liquor, feeling its burn down my throat. I reached for Harris’ lips, clamped the half slice of lime between my teeth and began to suck on it in unison with him. We kneaded the fruit in our mouths while our lips barely touched. It tasted good and refreshing after the burn of the alcohol until Harris pulled it out of my mouth, spat it out and pressed his lips to mine.

He captured my tongue in a dance that was even more lascivious than the one I’d done earlier, his hands still gripping my ass. I ran my fingers through his hair, trying to get as close to him as possible.

He was driving me insane, and I didn’t need any more drugs or alcohol, because he was both.

The atmosphere was tingling, everything seemed to explode around us, especially me. He aroused me more than I had ever been aroused in my entire life.

We repeated the trick many times until control slipped out of my hands.

I wanted him to do it too, I even tempted him with a slice of lime that I squeezed over my neck. He sucked on my skin until I turned to gelatin in his hands, but he didn’t change his drink.

The energy drinks seemed to be hurting him more than the alcohol, because he was on his fourth can. He wasn’t drinking Monster anymore, he’d switched to Venom, and his eyes were sparkling with energy, just like V’s after the drug. If I slept with him now, he’d tear me to shreds.

Jay and Ken had a competition to see who could down ten shots of Stroh faster . Ken won, and Jay blamed the bottle because it had a tighter opening, even though he was drinking from glasses.

I tried to stop, but I kept catching myself gulping something down, and when I drank from Harris’ energy drink, my brain shuddered.

“Who’s up for some blackjack?” Jay asked, barely able to stand.

The idea sounded good to everyone, and I lost myself in thought as I tried to remember how the game worked.

We went inside, where the same chaos reigned, but the smoke coming from the joints was much thicker, and that didn’t help with the excessive amount of drugs already in my system.

I could barely stand and laughed mindlessly as Jay argued with Ty about V’s hair color being green and not purple.

They were sitting around a big round table in the living room covered in cards and poker chips. That would be interesting.

But my bladder had other ideas.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” I whispered to Harris.

He held on to my waist, supporting almost all of my weight, because my legs did not seem to be communicating with me anymore.

“I’m coming with you,” he said, already starting to move.

“No,” I argued, almost shouting.

The alcohol was clearly exaggerating my reaction, but the idea disgusted me.

He rolled his eyes and looked at V, and I already knew he was silently asking her to go with me, and I pouted like a spoiled child.

“No. Where’s the restroom?” I asked, looking at V.

“Last door on the right,” she replied, pointing to the stairs. I nodded my thanks.

“I’ll be right back, no one will eat me,” I said to Harris, grimacing as I walked past him.

I heard him sigh behind me, but I ignored him and stumbled up the grand marble staircase, passing many drunken teenagers. God, that was a lot of stairs, and the house was huge and looked like some kind of palace. I wondered what Mike did outside of racing, or rather what his parents did? Did he have the same situation as Harris?

I shook my head and concentrated on my bladder problem for the time being.

I barely reached the second floor. The corridor was almost empty, so I could walk quite quickly, but it was also very long, crammed with doors left and right behind which I could hear all sorts of noises, from moans to outright screams, and I was jealous because I wanted to be in one of those rooms with Harris.

I had almost reached the end of the hall when a door opened right next to me and a tall blonde with tousled hair came out, pulling her corset over her breasts.

I continued on my way to the bathroom until her voice stopped me, “You’re Katherine, right?”

I immediately turned around. Although I had gotten used to everyone here knowing me, there was something about her I didn’t like.

I noticed her scrutinizing me with a mocking grin on her face.

Well, that was it.

I was about to explode, but I froze when she straightened her head and I got a better look at her. My tongue instantly ran dry.

My legs began to shake with rage as my eyes noticed the tattoo on her neck. Nothing more than a simple letter, that fucking thorny letter I’d seen on another girl before. Harris’ infamous mark.

I squinted, suppressing the instinct to lunge at her and rip the letter right off her neck.

“Yes, I’m Katherine,” I replied coldly, closing my mouth before adding Harris’ girlfriend, though she probably already knew that.

“Hmm, you’re nothing special,” she said, wrinkling her nose and turning her back to me.

Oh, someone’s going to lose their hair tonight.

“What did you say, bitch?”

She turned to me, a mischievous cat smile on her face.

“You think I don’t know who you are?” she asked, looking at me like I was spoiled milk. “You’re Harris’ new plaything. You must feel so important right now, don’t you? But I’ll talk to you in a few weeks, although in your case, it might be days,” she wrinkled her nose in disgust.

I already knew that the alcohol and PCP in my system had a lot to do with my behavior, but I couldn’t suppress my instincts any longer, and the next thing I knew, I was shoving my hands into the blonde’s hair.

She started screaming, immediately fighting me off and trying to escape, but you couldn’t call another woman a toy and expect to get away with it, especially when that woman was drunk.

Insults spewed from our mouths, and adrenaline pulsed through me as I threw her to the floor when her hands grabbed my ponytail. After releasing her hand from my hair, I slammed her wrist to the floor and straddled her, then grabbed her by the hair again and smacked her head on the floor a few times as the fight inside her seemed to die down.

“Toy, huh? I’m going to show you a toy, slut.”

She tried desperately to shake me off, but she stood no chance as I tightened my thighs on either side of her waist and slapped her across the face. I was nothing special? Was that what she was saying? She was so weak that it wasn’t even fun to hit her.

I heard a thick voice call my name, and moments later I was pulled away.

“Let go of me, I’ll rip her head off,” I screamed, struggling against Harris’ grip, flailing my arms and legs as he lifted me up.

“Katherine, calm down,” he scolded in a stern voice and I turned around to take all my anger out on him.

“Whose side are you on, anyway?” I shouted, still struggling in his arms, but it would have been easier to escape from iron chains.

Harris turned his eyes to the disheveled trash I’d left on the floor, and they filled with rage as the blonde stood up, panting like she’d just run a marathon; her gaze threw daggers at me.

“You fucking bitch,” she screamed, trying to reach me, but Harris’ arm let go of me, and I winced as it flew right into the blonde’s neck, pinning her in place.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Harris asked coldly.

His green eyes looked venomous now, so angry and beautiful.

His reaction was over the top, but I dangerously liked the way he kept her away from me. She looked at him with undoubted fear.

“Harris, please,” she pleaded.

His grip wasn’t tight because she wasn’t gasping for air, but it didn’t look comfortable either. He released her and pushed her back.

“I asked you a question,” he insisted as his arm tightened around me again.

“Are you trying to hide us all because of her?” the blonde replied, giving me another ugly look.

What ?

“All of you?” Harris asked as his voice sounded more like a growl, “Who else is here?” he continued as his anger grew and he looked at her with so much hatred that I became afraid for her.

The others? The fourteen? Oh, fuck. I was going to have a lot of action tonight.

“Just Melissa and me,” she admitted, looking down.

Melissa, that must have been the girl who’d been giving me dirty looks on the dance floor. I didn’t bother remembering her face, but I was sure I’d seen something strange about her, and that something was Harris’ tattoo.

“Why are you acting like this? You never cared if we knew each other. Why do you want to keep us away from her? Did you think she wouldn’t find out who we are?” the blonde asked, probably wishing she could rip my head off.

“Who you were,” Harris corrected her, “she’s nothing like you. You were all just fun, and you knew it from the beginning.”

“Oh, and what is she, I ask? Do you think just because she’s wearing a dress with a turtleneck that people don’t know she has the tattoo?”

I think I had some of her hair between my fingers and wanted to pull more of it out.

“Oh yeah, and it’s done with invisible ink,” I replied, baring my neck and showing her the non-existent tattoo.

This confused her and I wondered if she was blind as she hadn’t noticed the tattoo on his neck. The pride in me exploded, and I gently ran my fingers over Harris’ neck, right over my tattoo, grinning like a devil.

“Is that enough for your little brain to figure out what I mean to him?” I grinned wider, and I noticed a smile at the corner of Harris’ lips.

“What the fuck?” the blonde gushed, “Y-you t-t-tattooed her i-initial on your neck?” she stuttered.

He just looked at her, but his eyes said so much that I almost felt sorry for the poor creature.

From the same room from which she came, a drunken boy showed himself, who, upon seeing Harris, dropped his eyes to the floor and immediately disappeared down the hall. He had just slept with one of the demon’s possessions, and that probably meant he was going to lose his head. At least that was before, because Harris paid him no mind as he frowned angrily at the girl, who was equally terrified for the boy who had come out of the room.

“If you touch a single hair on her head, Jennifer, you or any of your new allies, if you insult her or even show your face to her one more time, I will do what I have never done in my life or want to do, but I swear I will wipe the floor with all of you. What’s done is done, but it’s over. I have politely asked you all to get out of my life and leave me alone, just like I did. But if you don’t want it nice, we can try the second option, which I guarantee you won’t want to try,” Harris threatened so coldly that I began to shake with her.

Fuck, how angry he was. And how sexy. And how close I was to peeing my pants.

“She attacked me first,” the blonde jumped up.

I arched an eyebrow, not bothering to defend myself because Harris didn’t seem to care.

“I don’t think you heard me,” he said quietly.

Jennifer took a step back, even though he hadn’t approached her.

“Harris, we’re as much a part of this group as you are, you can’t… you can’t keep us away from all our friends,” the blonde stuttered, much more embarrassed now, and another grin spread across my face.

“Wanna bet?” Harris asked, “They’re my friends, not yours. You know them because of me.”

“Have you forgotten everything that happened between us?” she asked as his arm tightened around me.

This was a discussion I didn’t want to be a part of.

“How we made you feel,” she continued in a flattering tone.

We? He slept with several of them at once? I started to shake and wanted my hands back in her hair to finish the job.

“Jennifer,” he pronounced her name with a grin, “do you remember what I said when you first came to me?”

Her face turned serious, “yeah.”

“What?”

“That it’s just fun.”

“Good, the fun’s over. Get lost!”

I noticed tears in the blonde’s eyes as she nodded and gave me another blank look before turning her back on us and walking away on wobbly legs.

Harris let go of me and then looked at me.

I bit my lip and wrapped my arms around his neck.

“That was mean… and sexy,” I bit his lower lip and watched the girl walk away.

She had some revoltingly long legs and looked annoyingly good. The thought that she had been naked in Harris’s bed made me angry. That he felt better with her than he did with me, because he hadn’t slept with me yet and didn’t seem to want to anytime soon.

My mouth felt dry and the boy walking past us with a glass of beer in his hand came at just the right time. I took his blue mug and drained it in a second as he looked at me briefly, but when he saw Harris next to me, he went on his way.

The liquid was cold and did my heated body so much good until it started to burn from my tongue all the way down to my stomach. Fuck, it wasn’t beer. It was Stroh, probably 80 degrees. Who the hell drank Stroh out big plastic cups?

Nevertheless, the poisonous, burning taste was surprisingly well absorbed by my dazed body. As I gulped down the liquid, Harris had no idea what I was drinking. I crumpled the cup and threw it on the floor before he could figure out what it was.

My balance was off as I couldn’t feel half my body and my mind was going incredibly crazy.

PCP and now Stroh. Officially, I was in big trouble.

Harris caught me again before I could fall.

“So, one left,” I said between hiccups.

He raised an eyebrow.

“Melissa,” I quickly clarified, trying to stand on my own two feet.

The little bitch in me was ready for another catfight and hoped the second one would be a better sport.

“Baby, forget about them,” Harris’ stern voice surprised me, “they’re a thing of the past, I have told you that countless times and I promise you’ll never see them again.”

“Why do you keep them away from me?” I asked, looking him in the eye.

God, they were so beautiful, and sparlkin… sparl… fuck, even my inner voice was drunk.

“Because I don’t want them around you. I don’t want you to be confronted with my past and what I used to be.”

“A sex god?” I assumed, wiggling my eyebrows.

He laughed and hugged me tighter.

“I’m not going to let you drink anymore.”

“What do you mean? I’m not drunk,” I defended myself, stepping away from him to show him that I could stand on my feet without his help.

But I couldn’t. I wasn’t just drunk, I was also high, but shhh, he didn’t know that.

Harris laughed again and caught me before I could hit the ground harder than Melissa, or was it Jennifer? Fuck them, I needed to make a list.

“Did you go to the bathroom?” he asked.

Ah, so that’s why I couldn’t stand because my legs were pressed tightly together. I was about to pee my pants.

“No,” I complained and made my way to the toilet.

A girl came out, covering her mouth and holding her stomach, and I would have bet anything that she had thrown up. I wrinkled my nose in disgust, and Harris had the same reaction.

“Come with me,” he took my hand and walked in the opposite direction.

“Harris, I’m peeing myself,” I complained again, because my manners flew out the window.

“You could take twenty minutes to beat up Jennifer, you can take two more.”

Her name made me hiss like an angry cat. I would have liked to see her again, because we had some unfinished business to attend to.

Harris pulled me up another flight of stairs, but I was about to explode.

“Baby, I can’t hold it anymore,” I screamed like a child, gritting my teeth and stopping in the middle of the stairs.

If I had moved another inch, I would have literally wet my pants.

He sighed in exasperation, picked me up and started running up the stairs with me, which made my situation even worse.

Please, God, don’t let me pee in his arms.

“Next time I want to come with you, don’t talk back to me,” he scolded, and I nodded.

Embarrassment quickly turned to amusement, and I started laughing like an idiot. Harris did too, only not with me, but at me.

His long strides helped him cross half the hallway quickly, and he stopped in front of a door and rummaged in his pocket for something. He took out a key and unlocked it with one hand while holding me with the other. Who locks toilets? I asked myself, until Harris turned on the light and I realized it wasn’t a bathroom, but, god, a real king’s bedroom.

He ran off with me in his arms and opened another door that led to a divine bathroom.

He set me down right next to the toilet and made sure I could stand.

“Get out,” I said quickly, already pulling up my dress.

“Just pee, Katherine,” he scolded.

“I can’t pee when you are in here, get out,” I scolded back, pointing at the door.

He sighed in exasperation, but got out and closed the door behind him.

I sighed too, but with relief, then sat down on the toilet and released the immense pressure.

God, that felt good.

The bathroom was as big as the entire second floor of my house. The mirror was about nine feet wide, as it covered almost the entire wall, and the sight of the whirlpool bathtub almost made my mouth water. It looked like my dream bathroom.

I washed my hands and wished I could splash some water on my face too, but my makeup wouldn’t have been able to resist. Surprisingly, I still looked perfect as the brawl earlier hadn’t done much to me. I tightened my ponytail, and I was as good as new again.

Grinning, I thought about how much I used to love catfights, because in New York I’d had two or three almost every night, with Nicky by my side.

But my eyes were red and I could see myself wobbling on my feet. Fuck, I was a little too drunk.

When I came out of the bathroom, I concentrated on putting my legs in front of each other, because they had a tendency to step forward at the same time. Left – right, left – right … right – left… fuck!

Harris was lying on the bed holding a picture frame.

I looked around the huge room. The walls were gray, and the floor was matte black. There were two large chairs and a black leather sofa on the right-hand side. The seating area surrounded a glass coffee table, while a large flat-screen TV was mounted on the wall opposite the couch. On the other side, there was a large black wooden closet that took up three quarters of the wall.

The bed Harris was lying in was huge and covered in black silk sheets, but the magic of the room emanated mostly from the outer wall, which was made entirely of glass.

“Whose room is this?” I asked, staring up at the ceiling above us, which was lit up like a starry sky.

“It’s, well, it was… mine,” I turned my gaze away from the sparkling ceiling and looked at him.

“Yours?!” I asked, having to pick my jaw up off the floor.

My reaction was greatly exaggerated by the obscene amount of alcohol coursing through me. Was this the house he lived in with his mother?

“Yeah,” he stood up from the bed and walked towards me, “I used to live here before I bought the garage with Jay and the others.”

I stared at him.

“When I joined Carter’s group, I became friends with Mike. Carter allowed me on the tracks, but I couldn’t sleep there. I couldn’t go back home either, for a plethora of reasons, and Mike took me to his place. His parents are business people, they have a lot of money, but they are almost always on the road, so they allowed him to bring me here. So for two years this was my home.”

He handed me the frame with a photo of two boys leaning against the hood of a car. My eyes widened as I recognized the serious boy with the dark, lighter hair that reached his shoulders and the much less tattooed arms crossed in front of his chest. He was thinner, but still tall, and had the face of a kid in the middle of puberty, but with all that, the same frown he had now stained his features. The other boy appeared to be Mike, only younger, but sporting the same mischievous grin.

“We were barely sixteen, I hadn’t started going to the gym and taking steroids yet,” Harris smiled, amused at his own image. I smiled too, for it was nice to see a childlike image of him.

“Why did you leave here?”

“I don’t know. I loved this place. Mike and I were like brothers and we had wild parties almost every night. This is where I lived out my rebellious phase,” I looked around, trying not to think about all the girls he had surely brought to this room, “But after that, I went back to my mom’s and…you know the rest of the story,” he continued, pulling the pendant out from under his tank top and rubbing it between his fingers.

“I loved cars and wanted to be around them all the time, to feel the speed coursing through me and the oil on my hands when I was working on an engine. Living in this house made me feel like a spoiled prince. Mike’s parents treated me like their own son, and no matter how much trouble we both got into, they never scolded us. We never had do to without, Mike never had to do without. After I bought the garage, I felt like I could finally be myself, a wild demon in his cave, not a pampered one in a castle.”

I smiled at his choice of words.

“And you two lived here alone?” I asked, starting to walk across the room, but I soon tripped over something and felt Harris’ arm around me, holding me tight.

I looked down and noticed three steps leading up to the platform bed. Jesus.

“Not quite, there were the maids and the people who did everything we wanted and then cleaned up after us,” he laughed, helping me up the steps.

I rolled my eyes.

“And you still come here?” I sat down on the bed.

It was so comfortable.

“Once in a while, I’m always here for the parties and Mike gave me a key even though he was really mad at me when I left.”

He sat down in front of the bed, grabbed the back of my knees and looked at me warily.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked, frowning.

“You’re so beautiful,” he explained with a sweet smile, a little too sweet for him.

“Even when I am drunk?” I raised an eyebrow, and he laughed.

“Even drunk,” he chuckled as he started stroking my thighs.

“And how many girls did the demon prince bring here?” I asked.

“I knew you’d ask that,” he shook his head and pulled me closer to him to make room between my legs, “many, but none like you.”

I rolled my eyes.

“If you keep rolling your eyes, I’ll bite your ass.”

I grinned and smacked him over the head.

“Bite me,” I baited him.

He shook his head as if he just realized what kind of trouble he got himself into when he chose me.

I stood up in front of him, because I loved watching him from above when he was on his knees in front of me.

“And what did you do with your victims in this room?”

“Do you really want to know?”

I wrinkled my nose. Nope. When I shook my head, he laughed.

He didn’t move from his position, but he didn’t touch me, the asshole. Slowly, I spread my legs, well aware of how I looked in this dress.

“Who would have thought we would be here,” he arched an eyebrow, waiting for an explanation, “considering how you came on to me at the beginning, I thought you’d throw me in bed as soon as I gave you the green light, but look at you now. Did you suddenly repent or something and forgot to tell me?”

Smiling – not at all like a repentant person – he stood up in front of me and the height advantage I had was gone.

“We talked about this.”

I wrinkled my nose.

“Yeah, whatever you say. I’m going back to V, I think it would be easier to convince her to fuck me tonight.”

I tried to pull away from him, but he immediately grabbed me by the waist and pulled me back, laughing.

“Do you really think we will make love for the first time when you’re drunk?”

I melted in his arms. Making love… that sounded so good, even if it wasn’t going to happen any time soon.

A vibration on my leg made me flinch, and I looked down to see what the hell was buzzing on my ankle. It was my phone, which I had forgotten I had tucked into my boot. I giggled as I pulled it out and – quite deliberately -- pressed my butt into Harris’s crotch as I bent down to retrieve it.

He exhaled heavily and grabbed my hips.

We both looked at the caller at the same time.

Harris groaned angrily, and I grinned as a diabolical plan came to mind.

I knew exactly how to drive him crazy.

“Wha…”

“Hey, Thor,” I answered Adam’s call before Harris could finish what he was going to say.

I put the call on speaker, simply because I wanted to play with fire.

The demon’s sweet and amused look had vanished into thin air as he was now fuming.

“Katherine! Oh, my God, what happened to you? I was just about to get on a plane and fly there. Are you all right?”

Harris was scowling at the phone, and I looked at him like a seasoned witch.

“I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be?”

Another hiccup climbed up my throat, but I managed to stop it in time.

Adam’s sigh was audible.

“I want to talk, Kath, I want to explain what happened. I’m so sorry that I did not tell you, I am sorry that you… hate me now.”

It wasn’t long before I realized that Adam was also buzzed. First, he was being unusually honest, and second, it was two in the morning, and he chose this time to apologize.

Harris turned even redder, and I put my finger to his lips when he was about to say something.

“Why do you care if I hate you, Adam?” I asked, looking at Harris.

Was I being a bitch? Probably.

Adam sighed again and the sound of a broken bottle filled the room. Yeah, he had been drinking.

“Because I’ve been stupid. I’ve been stupid all along, not just now.”

I took whatever I wanted from that, but Harris clearly understood his words better than I did.

I tried to pull myself together for a second, because I wasn’t in the mood for Adam to confess God knows what to me.

“I’m not angry with you, Adam. I just needed some time, but I’m fine, don’t worry about me.”

“I want to see you. I want to talk …”

Harris took the phone from my hand.

“Listen to me, you little shit, if you get within a hundred miles of her, you’re going to wish the bullet had hit your brain, because once I get my hands on you, you’re going to come out of them in pieces, got it? If you call, look for her and keep bothering her with your sentimental bullshit, I’ll smash your skull with a hammer. Thor style.”

Then he hung up. I hadn’t breathed since he snatched the phone out of my hand, and when he looked at me, his anger hadn’t subsided.

“Did that motherfucked just say he loves you?” he panted like a bull, holding the phone up like it was Adam’s head.

“He didn’t say exactly that.”

“Oh, but he did.”

I shrugged, it was all I could do.

“That’s your reaction?”

“Hey, Amber loves you too, and probably a dozen other girls, so what can you do?”

My composure was driving him crazy, I could tell, because my plan was working a little too well. He stepped menacingly closer to me and breathed through his nose. Nothing good happened when Harris breathed through his nose.

“Don’t change the subject.”

“I’m not, I was just emphasizing my point. Maybe Adam just...”

My brain cracked as he pressed against me so hard I thought he threw me to the floor, but he just kissed me.

“Do not you ever say his fucking name again, do you hear me?” he murmured with his lips pressed to mine.

He grabbed the back of my neck and glued me against him.

“You’re mine,” he continued to growl as he kissed me fiercely.

Oh, there he was. I had managed to get the true demon out.

It was time for me to launch the next attack.

“Prove it,” I bit his lip, “I don’t belong to anyone else, but you don’t make me feel like I’m yours either.”

A few years earlier, I had gone to Louisville with my parents – as a parenthesis to my current situation – and had seen a giant anaconda. At the time, I had wondered what would happen if I stepped on the creature’s tail.

Now I got my answer.

Harris held me so tightly that I felt my bones crack, then he lifted me up and threw me onto the bed. My already dizzy brain shook from the impact. In one motion, he pulled off his tank top and was on top of me. He devoured my lips, my tongue, and my words, and I didn’t even have time to whimper.

“You don’t feel like you’re mine? We’re about to change that.”

He pushed my dress up, and all the hormonal activity inside me leapt through the ceiling, right between those little lights.

He leaned over me and clamped my earlobe between his teeth.

“You want to make love, baby?”

I froze. He said it differently, in a way that sounded anything but romantic.

The devil was toying with me, grinning against my ear.

“Or, let me rephrase the question,” he paused, breathing in my skin and the madness seeping from my pores, “You want me to fuck you?”

My eyes widened as those few words instantly took my breath away.

“Do you want me to rip that innocence that I cherish so much to shreds?”

I had already gotten more than I deserved, as only hearing him say it brought me to the very edge.

“Say it,” I felt his teeth grit as he became the dangerous monster he had always protected me from.

“Yes,” I breathed.

I wish I could have said more. I wish I could have answered his challenge in the same agonizing way, but I did not have the words.

That word was enough for him.

He sank his teeth into my skin, right over the spot he’d kissed, and I moaned and screamed at the same time.

He managed, I had no idea how, to undo my dress and then it was easy for him to pull it down and expose my breasts. I wasn’t wearing a bra because V wouldn’t allow me to. His moans echoed through my veins, burning my skin, and I writhed beneath him as he took one nipple into his mouth. He sucked hard, possessively, to the brink of pain as he bunched my dress around my waist, exposing only the parts that were of interest to him.

Harris didn’t bother to remove my underwear, but ripped it off me as he usually did. The thin lace did not stand a chance and immediately collapsed under the brute force he exerted on me.

I reached between us for his belt, then unzipped his pants.

He couldn’t get away from me. No way.

He sat up on his knees and pushed his pants off his thighs.

I moaned, whimpered and swallowed within seconds. I’d touched him before, but I’d never seen him like this. So close and… fuck me, so big and erect.

He didn’t give me much time to admire him as he leaned over me and captured my lips in a pulverizing kiss. He had lost all control and forgotten all the plans he had in his head because all that radiated from him was wild, masculine, raging lust.

“Harris,” I moaned his name, only to drive him deeper down the rabbit hole, even though it pleasured me to say it.

He moaned over my lips as I felt him hovering over the right spot. Without meaning to, I tensed as he positioned himself between my legs.

I used his body as an anchor and clung to him as I raked my nails down his back.

His teeth grazed my neck as he thrust, but I only had a second to whimper before he stopped as a phone rang next to my head. His phone.

Harris blinked, as if waking from a high. He looked at the phone, then at me, then closed his eyes and muttered a curse.

No. No. Fuck, no! No.

And those weren’t his words, they were mine.

I dug my nails deeper into his skin.

“If you stop now, I’ll kill you with my own hands.”

I squeezed him between my legs, and he looked at me before leaning in to kiss me. He wasn’t in yet. He had thrust just enough to cause a little pressure.

The phone kept ringing and it was annoying us both.

Harris picked it up and answered it angrily.

“What?” he yelled as his grip on the device tightened.

I couldn’t see the caller, and I couldn’t hear what was being said on the other end because my ears were ringing with rage.

Harris’ face changed and I couldn’t follow his expressions. Ecstasy, fury, shock, fury again, a combination far too complicated for my drunk ass.

“Be right there,” was all he said, and he stood up before I could stop myself.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I yelled.

He left me lying on the bed, my dress bunched around my waist and completely unsatisfied.

He pulled up his pants and then rubbed his palms over his face. “Fuck, was I about to do that? Take you like that?

“Like that?” I repeated, offended.

He leaned towards me and I backed away from him angrily, but he grabbed my thighs and pulled me towards him.

“You have managed to mess up my control again. I know we’re in a serious relationship now, but that’s not going to happen after you made me jealous with your stupid New York friend.”

Okay, I could see his point, but that didn’t mean I was any less angry.

I pushed him away with my foot this time.

“If you keep putting this off, it might never happen.”

My threat didn’t scare him, but made him smile as he managed to pull me back.

“You’re angry and horny, but you forget who compared herself to a sex toy a while back.”

“And now you’re punishing me for it?

“No,” he kissed me tenderly, “I want you to feel like an cherished girlfriend, worshipped, respected,” he continued, kissing me after each word, “you’ll realize later what a sacrifice I’m making for you right now,” he whispered as he stroked the bandage on my temple.

I clung to the clarity and held it tightly before it flew out the window again. The asshole was as good with his words as he was with his fingers and tongue.

“I know the sacrifice you make, but sometimes I can’t stand it. Your abstinence sucks.”

I arched my back and whimpered slightly as he pressed a kiss between my breasts.

“If it’s annoying for you, baby, it’s hell on earth for me,” he pressed another kiss and then sucked my skin into his mouth, “Don’t ever say you don’t feel like you’re mine again.”

“I said it to break your stupid restraint.”

“I know, but I still don’t like it.”

I took his face in my palms and pulled him towards me.

“I’m yours, asshole. Every cell in my body moves and acts according to your wishes. Sometimes I feel like I wasn’t even alive before I met you. That’s how much I feel like I’m yours.”

His satisfied grin made even his eyes sparkle.

“That’s more like it,” he moaned against my lips, then kissed me.

Then he stood up. Ah, I wanted to kill him.

“Don’t come out until I get you, okay? And lock the door so no one barges in.”

The stupidity of his sentence caught my attention.

“What, I’m not locking myself in here. I’m coming with you.”

I tried to get off the bed, but Harris put his hands on my shoulders and stopped me.

“No, baby, please wait for me. I want to stay here longer, not go to the party.”

To do what? I wanted to yell at him.

“Who called you?”

“Mike,” he answered a little too quickly, almost as if he’d already thought about the lie.

Mike my ass. I am sure it was more than that, that’s why he wanted to lock me in the room like I was some kind of dangerous animal.

“What happened?”

He looked at me and then shook his head.

“I don’t know yet, but he asked me to go downstairs right away. He sounded serious, and Mike is never serious when he’s drunk.”

He was lying to me.

God, it was so easy to see it that it made all the alcohol fizzle out in me.

He’d promised me he’d never lie to me no matter what, and now I watched him do it without batting an eye. The look on his face after he’d answered the phone had told me that he’d been given an explanation and knew exactly why he was leaving the room.

“I promise I will be back quickly.”

I didn’t answer him. I didn’t even look at him.

He sighed, straightened his back and left.

“Lock the door behind me and don’t let anyone in.”

I nodded, then stood up to pull my damn dress back over my breasts.

“Katherine,” he called from the doorstep.

“What?” I blurted.

“I love you.”

I looked at him without blinking, then he went out and closed the door behind him.

I hadn’t gotten used to hearing him say that yet, and I wouldn’t anytime soon.

I followed him to the door and then locked it because he certainly stood by it until he heard the lock.

I leaned against the door and closed my eyes because my head was spinning.

“Fuck it,” I muttered and turned to unlock it.

I made sure my dress was snug and pulled down over my thighs, then like an angry, high, drunk, jealous and panty-less tornado – a great combination – I opened the door.

I poked my head into the hallway and examined the surroundings with open eyes and ears.

All clear.

There was no one on this floor, and all the noise was coming from downstairs.

If he wasn’t telling the truth, I was going to find out for myself, so I walked down the hallway and rolled up my imaginary sleeves like Tom did before he turned Jerry into a kebab.

I stumbled a few times as I walked down the stairs, but I reached my destination. My emotions were constantly changing, the drugs were having an exclusive party in my head, and my vision was cloudy at times, so I had to shake my head to pull myself together and put the images I was seeing in their proper place.

Fucking PCP, I’d forgotten what a monster it was.

I tried to keep moving, but I stumbled again. Mumbling curses, I took off my shoes and threw the boots away, even though I knew they weren’t the problem.

I examined the drunken and intoxicated crowd looking for a black head, but I found a purple one. V was sitting at a table with two girls I didn’t know, boredly playing some cards. Not a man in sight, and I walked up to them.

“V, do you know where Harris is?” I got straight to the point.

She raised her eyes to me and grinned because she knew what we’d been doing upstairs – actually, what we hadn’t been doing – and then noticed my toes in all their glory as they stepped on Mike’s filthy floor.

“Where are your shoes?” she asked.

I waved my hand, dismissing the subject.

“Short story, long dick. Where’s Harris?”

As I expected, because my sense of humor was top notch when I was drunk and high, V started laughing.

“I don’t know where he went, I think he went out with the boys. We stopped the game, but that was counterproductive anyway because Ken was wiping the floor with all of us.”

It was clear that V didn’t know much. She wouldn’t have been able to lie so naturally considering how drunk she was.

So the whole male asshole gang was involved. The tiger in me was already sharpening its claws, because it had a lot of faces to disfigure.

I turned on my heels and made my way through the herd of human trash. One guy grabbed my butt briefly, but by the time I turned to face him, he had already disappeared into the sea of heads. I cursed and continued on my way, grabbing a few more cups of fuck knew what on the way and downing them.

The drug began to overpower me and the world around me seemed to take on a different shape. The stars were no longer in the sky, but they were twinkling on the heads of the drunks around me.

I shook my head and kept walking, but no matter how easy it was to pick Harris out of the crowd, he was nowhere to be seen now.

My head was pounding with pain and I couldn’t take the music anymore, so I made my way to what seemed to be the garden, more to find a moment of peace where the strong bass and people weren’t constantly bumping into me. The house had so many nooks and crannies that I could have gotten lost walking around it.

I expected to find people there too, addicts snorting or something, but there was no one. It was also surprisingly dimly lit, with the only source of light coming from a neon tube. It was behind the west wing of the house, if my faulty GPS was still working properly.

I leaned against the wall, took a deep breath and tried to regain my balance so as not to lose my mind completely.

What the fuck was I doing?

I had gone off the rails.

I thought about going back to his room, because it was quite possible that he had come back and lost his mind when he found the room empty.

I half turned around the wall when a sound pierced through the darkness and sent goosebumps over my skin.

I stopped and turned my head towards the source of the frightening sound.

Someone had screamed, but it wasn’t the typical party scream, it was loud pain. It was a man’s scream, but not Harris’s.

It came from somewhere behind the corner of another wall.

My skin prickled, and I tried to turn and walk away, but my legs led me to the sound. Fucking traitors.

Swallowing, I took a few slow steps along the wall, only now realizing how cold and wet the grass was beneath my soles. My whole body was actually starting to freeze. I hadn’t seen anything yet, I didn’t know what was going on, but that sound had been enough to startle me.

I expected to see them when I peeked around the wall, but there was no one there.

There were no other noises either, and it was completely dark.

I was obviously out of my mind. The drug had completely taken over my brain.

I turned to leave but stopped when I heard his voice.

This time it was him, because I could recognize his voice anywhere, anytime, even through all the alcohol and drug fumes in the world.

“Tell me!” Were the only words he had shouted.

I hadn’t heard him sound that angry in a long time.

As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I noticed a door in front of me that I hadn’t seen the first time.

Trembling, I moved closer and peered through the door, which was ajar. I could see nothing but a staircase leading down.

“Fuck,” I whispered as I pushed the door open as slowly as I could. It was metal, but it didn’t make a sound.

I pondered for a second whether what I was doing was good or not.

It wasn’t, but I went in anyway.

I shivered as I felt the cold concrete under my feet. It smelled of wine and old wood, and I thought it was an old wine cellar, even though it didn’t look like one so far.

There was nothing to see, just a staircase that went deeper and deeper. The light was almost non-existent, so I did my best to walk carefully down each step. It had been a good idea to take off my shoes, as my footsteps were silent, but the dust I felt on my feet was anything but pleasant.

The noises became clearer, more frightening, with every passing second. Someone was whimpering in pain, and Harris was silent.

I reached the last step and walked through the dark, narrow corridor, then turned left and ended up in a fucking maze. I was right. It was a wine cellar, a huge wine cellar. There were barrels and bottles on endless shelves. The walls were made of concrete and I shuddered when I felt a spider’s web clinging to me.

I bit my tongue to keep from make a sound, then snuck through the rows of shelves and hid behind a barrel that was at least four feet taller than me.

That’s when I saw them.

I covered my mouth to stifle a whimper so I wouldn’t react in a way that would expose me.

Harris, Mike, Ty, Ken, Jay, they were all there. None of them looked like they did at the party upstairs.

In the middle of them, tied to a chair and covered in blood, was Joshua.