One of the Guys

by A. R. Perry

  “Was looking for someone.”

  “Got a name?”

  “Um, someone from school.” I search his face again but I don’t recognize him. With a build like that, he’s gotta play sports. And because of my brothers, I’m familiar with most of the guys on the team.

  “Can I get you a drink?”

  “No.” Nerves clench my stomach and I glance around, but no one is paying attention to us. I don’t know what it is, but this guy kind of icks me out. “I should go.”

  “But you just got here.” His hand settles on my upper arm. “Let me get you a drink.”

  “No it’s—” My gaze slides past him into the corner of the kitchen in time to see Jax shove his tongue down the throat of some random girl. Awesome. So he’s decided I’m not worth the trouble too.

  The guy in front of me follows where I’m glaring. Realization dawns on his face and he nods. “Seems like you do need that drink now. Come on, legs, let’s get you something to make you forget about tonight.”

  Forgetting. That’s exactly what I need.

  I follow him into the crowded kitchen keeping my back to Jax. He passes me a red plastic cup and I chug the bitter liquid before he’s had the chance to pour himself one and without asking what it is.

  His laughter rings out above the music. “My kind of girl.” He passes me another cup, tipping his against it and we both knock them back.

  A tiny voice in my head is screaming this isn’t me. I don’t drink. I don’t party. And I sure as hell wouldn’t be letting a guy I don’t know run his hand down my arm and urge me on as he passes me a third drink. But I also wouldn’t have kissed my best friend and changed who I was to score a guy who couldn’t care less if I hung around. So maybe I don’t know who I am. Maybe this is me.

  I gulp down the liquid and smile as a warm sensation works its way through my stomach and mixes with the drunken flapping of butterflies. The guy smiles down at me and I realize I never caught his name.

  “Rylee,” I shout and point to my chest.

  His smile grows and he mumbles out something that sounds like it doesn’t matter and passes me another drink.

  This time, it doesn’t taste quite as bitter as the other three and the warm sensation turns almost numbing, helping me to block out my pain.

  Perfect.

  What feels like hours later, I stumble through the house as it spins around me in dizzying circles. Just like being on a Tilt-A-Whirl.

  My new friend grips my waist as he maneuvers me through the crowded space toward a door and the fresh air I requested. Sweat drips down the back of my neck and I have to choke back the urge to vomit.

  Cool air hits my face as I stumble out the door onto a pitch-black brick path. I glance around and in my distorted vision, I see there isn’t anyone but us here. Closing my eyes, I tilt my head against the cold surface of the house and breathe in deep for the first time since arriving at the party.

  Nothing has ever felt as good as standing outside in the middle of the night. Except maybe when Spencer’s lips were on mine.

  Crap.

  I was supposed to be forgetting about that jerk. It’s not as if it will ever happen again. Might as well force him out of my mind and move on.

  A warm hand on my cheek makes me crack my eyes open. Mystery Man stands in front of me, grinning from ear to ear as he stares down at me. He would kind of be cute if it weren’t for the crooked teeth and all-around cocky manner about him.

  “I need to get home,” I mumble as he steps closer, forcing my body flat against the wall to keep space between us. Not a lie either. I’m fairly certain I’m past curfew. “Can you call me a cab?”

  He shakes his head, the grin on his face never wavering even as his hands circle around my wrists and force them over my head. Even as I buck and slip sideways on the brick twisting my ankle. Not even as I say no and he crashes his mouth to mine and thrusts his tongue deep into my mouth almost choking me.

  Pounding on my front door rouses me from the crappy dream I was having. Though I’m pretty sure Rylee telling me to go screw myself is a lot better than what she’ll really say to me when she finds out I didn’t move to Washington but right up the road.

  I stumble around the mess of boxes lining our new apartment living room and fling open the door expecting to see my mom who forgot her key when she went over to grab the last few items from the house. Instead, Ryan is standing there running an agitated hand through his hair.

  “What’s up?” I ask as he shoves his way inside.

  “Where’s Rylee?”

  I flinch at the twisting in my gut at the mere mention of her name. “No clue. Maybe she’s with her boyfriend.”

  “She’s not here?” Ryan’s eyes go wide and he curses, reaching inside his pocket for his phone.

  “Like I said, she’s probably with Jax.”

  Ryan pauses what he’s doing to throw a glare almost as good as Rylee’s my way. “She’s not with Jax.”

  Sure looked that way this afternoon.

  “I’m telling you she—”

  “And I’m telling you she’s not!” Ryan snaps.

  Fear floods every vein in my body and I have to swallow down the lump in my throat just to speak. “What’s going on?”

  “She left a little after eight dressed like some chick from a rap video. Wouldn’t tell me where she was going and now I can’t get ahold of her. It’s past curfew. She’s never late.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying we need to find her before my parents get home.”

  “Where’s Will?” Unease grows in my stomach rooting me to the floor even though Ryan hasn’t stopped pacing. Normally, I wouldn’t be too concerned. So she’s not home on a Saturday night, who cares? But Ryan is showing an uncharacteristic amount of concern, which has me thrown.

  “He’s checking the skatepark.” Ryan glares at the screen of his phone. “Do you know of any parties tonight?”

  I shake my head, sucking my bottom lip between my teeth so hard I’m surprised it’s not bleeding. Ryan grips the phone in a fist and looks as if he’s seconds away from throwing it across the room. That’s when I notice the case. Rylee’s case.

  “Is that her phone?”

  “Yeah. She left it. Found that out forty minutes ago when I called it.”

  “Here.” I motion for him to hand it over with frantic fingers. Once it’s in my hands I type in her password and click on her text messages.

  “How do you know her password? I’ve been trying to figure it out all night.”

  I roll my eyes and throw him a withering look. Then I do the one thing I never wanted to do and click on the text chain from Jax. To my relief, there isn’t anything new for almost a week. Relieve turns sour in my stomach because that means his stop by her house wasn’t planned.

  “Anything?” Ryan asks.

  “No.”

  I go to lock the phone when a thought so disgusting I almost ignore it pops into my head. It’s the last thing I would ever want to do but if Rylee is in trouble somewhere and I didn’t do everything in my power to help her, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.

  I click back into her texts and type out a nauseating message.

  “Sexy?” Ryan grumbles over my shoulder.

  “I’m grasping at straws here.” I hit Send and together we wait, both pacing a hole in the floor for the ten minutes it takes for Jax to respond.

  “What does it say?” Ryan asks, grabbing for the phone.

  “It says she should have taken him up on his invite earlier. Now he’s got a better offer.” I growl in frustration as Ryan snatches the phone from me.

  “Let’s give him some motivation then.” He types in a response that will have Rylee kicking his butt when she finds out.

  “She’s going to kill you.”

  “Whatever.” Ryan grins as Jax’s response comes through almost instantly. “He’s at Malcolm’s. I’m assuming that’s where she went.”

  “But he hasn’t seen
her, clearly.”

  “You got a better idea?” Ryan throws over his shoulder as he bolts out the front door.

  No. No, I don’t. So I follow him out and down the stairs to where his car is waiting. We better find her there, because I’m facing my own curfew violation and a month grounding if we’re caught.

  Fifteen minutes later Ryan pulls up outside of Malcolm’s house.

  “It will take forever to find a parking spot.” I scan the road but there’s nothing. Not even up his long driveway.

  “You go. I’ll find a spot.”

  I hop out and run up the lawn as Ryan peels out and flips around. Ducking past a group of kids from homeroom on the porch, I fly into the house and scan the crowd. It’s so damn crowded I can only make it in a couple of inches so I resort to height, searching for a mess of brown hair that sticks up above the rest.

  “What are you doing here?” I spin around as Zoe makes her way over to me, swinging her hips so hard I’m surprised she’s staying upright. “I don’t remember you getting an invite. Not after how you treated me.”

  “Have you seen Rylee?” I ask scanning the hallway behind her.

  “Rylee Everett?” She examines her nails not even bothering to fake interest in the conversation. “She was here earlier in the most ridiculous outfit. Desperation never looks good on anyone.”

  My glare is sharp enough to at least break through her bitchy attitude for the briefest of seconds. “Where did she go?”

  “My guess is she bounced when Jax wouldn’t give her the time of day. Last I saw she was making a fool of herself in the kitchen.”

  “When was that?”

  “About five minutes ago.”

  I don’t wait for her to say any more. I race into the kitchen knocking into a few people in the process, ignoring the cursing and threats on my life.

  She’s nowhere to be found.

  But there’s Jax in the corner with his tongue so far down a girl’s throat I’m surprised she hasn’t suffocated.

  My heart starts to race and I grip the wall to keep myself upright. This isn’t her. She would never put herself in a position like this. So where the hell is she? My gut tells me she bolted after seeing the guy she’s been after for years going at it without a care in the world. If that was the case though she would be home. Safe.

  I notice a door to the backyard on the fall wall and push my way to it. When I stumble outside there are three guys hovering by a fire pit not far from the porch. I take a deep breath, reveling in the silence for one heartbeat before I hear it.

  “Stop,” Rylee whimpers.

  Her words are followed by grunting and what sounds like a solid hit against a face. Through the fear and rage clouding my vision, I round the corner and I can just barely make out Rylee sitting on the ground with her head propped against the wall. Her short skirt is pushed dangerously high. At her feet, Ryan has a guy pinned beneath him and is landing blow after blow to the guy’s face as he tries to block and throw him off.

  I run over to her, gripping under her arms and pulling her up. She lets out a sigh as her snaking arms wrap around my middle. Her shirt is torn on one shoulder, dropping down to reveal her black bra. Her makeup is smeared and her eyes are glassy. She looks nothing like my Rylee.

  I’m going to kill this guy.

  “Spence…”

  “Shh.” My hand trails down her back as the other yanks down the hem of her skirt. A sickening gut feeling tells me what almost happened and rage boils through my veins in a way I’ve never felt before.

  If Ryan wasn’t in the middle of an epic smackdown I would beg for a turn. Whoever this guy is deserves a brutal lesson in keeping his hands off things that don’t belong to him.

  “Are you okay…did he?”

  She shakes her head, burying her tear-stained face into my chest. That’s all I need to know. I can’t handle hearing anything else.

  “Stay the hell away from my sister!” Ryan spits, as he climbs off the guy wiping blood from under his nose where he must have taken a shot to the face. The only shot judging from the condition of the guy groaning on the ground. “And the next time a girl says no, you listen.”

  The guy moans, curling into a ball as I scoop Rylee into my arms. I don’t care about her weak protests or the fact that a small group has gathered to watch the fight. All I care about is getting her to Ryan’s car and back to the safety of her house.

  None of this would have happened if I had stayed calm this afternoon. If I didn’t push her away and lie about where I was moving to. She would be at home right now, no doubt with me by her side as we ate our weight in pizza and watched her favorite movie for the thousandth time.

  Instead, I was a selfish, vengeful prick.

  “What happened?” I ask once we reach the street and I’m positive the guy or his friends won’t be coming after us.

  Ryan’s still running off adrenaline, physically vibrating at my side. “He had his hands all over her, man. She was saying no, and he didn’t stop. If we hadn’t gotten here when we did…”

  Swallowing past what feels like razor blades I glance down at her face all squished against my heaving chest. The mere thought of him touching her makes me want to go back and break every bone in his freaking hands so he can never lay a finger on another person.

  Ryan props open the passenger door and shoves the seat forward giving me room to set Rylee down. When my hands leave her back, she reaches out for me whimpering.

  “God, I love you,” she mumbles and then vomits all over the sidewalk and my shoes before passing out.

  Ryan laughs for the first time tonight as he rounds the car. “Knew it,” he says, then slams his door leaving me alone in silence.

  She loves me?

  A grin forms on my lips as I climb into the car. I would have preferred to hear those words from her sober and not seconds before vomiting on my shoes.

  But hell, I’ll take them any time and any way I can.

  My head pounds in time with my heart. Moving my head to the side to find the time was enough to make me want to vomit.

  Something I did at least once last night judging from my hair.

  Not to get into too many details, but let’s just say there was a bit of physical evidence.

  I run a clammy palm over my forehead and wish for death. It has to be better than how I feel this very moment.

  “Good morning, sunshine.” Ryan pops his head into my room and I flip him the bird, rolling over.

  I have no clue how I got home—or really anything after the fourth drink—but I’m pretty sure Ryan played a part. I definitely remember seeing a beat-up yellow Mustang.

  “Told Mom you started yacking after eating sushi. She bought it for now, but I would get up and at least brush your teeth. Unless you want her to find out you drank the football team under the table.”

  “Go away.” My lips crack from the movement, stinging as I run my dry tongue over them.

  “I’m serious. You need to get up.” His weight hits the bed, bouncing me and I once again cover my mouth and force down the urge to puke. “At least drink some water.” He shoves a water bottle in my direction.

  When I focus on him I gasp and rear back making my head pound again. “What happened to your face?”

  His grin is fleeting as he shakes his head. “You don’t remember?”

  I remember not thinking anything through when I went to the party. Once I got there, it was clear Jax never cared about me and most likely saw our relationship—if it can even be called that—as another conquest.

  Then alcohol.

  Lots and lots of alcohol.

  “What did you do?” I ask as so many scenarios of my brother going full-out protector mode and embarrassing me in front of half the school flashes through my mind.

  “Beat the crap out of some guy who got handsy. You’re lucky Will was off searching for you at the skate park.”

  Small snips of the party crash in. A strange guy. Red cups. Night air. Creepy hands roaming all ove
r my body. There’s even a glimpse of Spencer but that makes no sense because he should have been on his way to Washington.

  “Now, if you weren’t so hung over, I would make you pay for making me show the school how much I care about my baby sister.”

  “By three minutes,” I mumble, which gains a smile.

  “Just know there will be revenge.” He pats my ankle as he stands. “When you least expect it,” he throws over his shoulder and shuts the door.

  I groan and roll over, smashing my face in the pillows. No way I can deal with any of this right now.

  So I go back to sleep and pray I don’t resemble death when I wake.

  My mom wakes me sometimes before dinner. A look of pure concern washes over her face when she sees me and I know if I don’t at least try to eat, she’ll make me go to the doctor.

  So I get up.

  And wish again for death.

  I’m never drinking again.

  I trail her downstairs, throwing my hair into a messy bun to hide how gross it is. I’m just thankful my dad is at some team-building thing for work today because he can spot a hangover. I do have two older brothers after all. Mom prefers to remain oblivious. Something I’m so very thankful for at the moment.

  “It lives,” Ryan mocks as I hit the bottom step.

  “Be nice to your sister. She’s under the weather.”

  “Uh-huh.” Will gives me a nasty glare as he walks into the kitchen.

  So he knows about my drunken escapades. Awesome.

  “You’re going to wish you listened to me about brushing your teeth,” Ryan sings as he catches up to Will.

  It’s not until I follow him into the kitchen that I realize what he meant. Because there sits my best friend who should be in Washington according to the quick mapping I did before the party.

  Yet, here he is in his same old chair with an expression bouncing between amused and annoyed.

  “You really should check your phone,” he says as he accepts a soda from my mom with a quick smile.

  Okay, true. But to be fair I have no idea where it’s at. Haven’t seen it since before the party.