I Want It That Way. Ann Aguirre
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was oddly hypnotic. Shaking my head, I turned away to grab a beer from the metal ice bucket in the corner.
Four hours ago, we weren’t remotely ready to host anything, but then Max roared up—on his working bike—along with five friends, and things came together fast. Between coolers, buckets, booze and multiple bags of ice, it started to look like a party. Girls wandered in later, each bearing chips or dip or a snack plate. It was amazing how Max got women he’d slept with to do this kind of thing. But whatever the magic, he had the apartment ready to rock by eight.
I, on the other hand, would be lucky to manage a side-to-side sway. To feign party spirit, I downed half my beer and joined a game of Kings Cup. The others were already pretty hammered, so it was easy to avoid losing by answering the questions right, and when the “all girls drink” came around, I sipped my beer. There was no way I was getting sloppy smashed.
“You look superserious,” Josh said in my ear.
I glanced over my shoulder and found Angus on my other side. I smiled up at them, pitching my voice to be heard over the music. “If I get distracted, I could be forced to drink that.” With a grimace, I pointed at the unholy cocktail in the center of the table.
Angus shook his head. “Then this would be forever known as the night Nadia got her stomach pumped.”
“You’re a wise man, Angus Starr.”
“Come on. This is disgusting.” Josh pulled me away from the game.
“Where are we going?”
“It’s better in your bedroom,” Angus said.
I smirked. “If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that.”
“You’d have a dollar.” Josh was sharper than Angus, more prone to incisive comments that could cut you to the bone; he laughingly called this tactic the queen’s razor.
“True.”
Dipping my head in mock-chagrin, I followed them down the hall and found ten people sitting on my floor in a circle. Nobody was humping on my bed yet, but the night was young, give it time. I shot Angus a curious look, but Josh was already asking them to make room for us. If this was another drinking game, I might hide in my closet for the rest of the night. Or...I could go to the library.
“Courtney is bending spoons with her mind,” a girl named Emily said.
“Sure she is.”
A big-eyed blonde spoke up. “No, seriously, watch. It will blow your mind.”
Belatedly I sniffed the air. No wonder. It reeked of weed in here, so Courtney could be cheating like crazy and these people were so baked they’d never notice.
I whispered to Josh, “Is it that time of night already?”
“Mess with the stoned people? You know it.”
“Are you ready?” Courtney asked. “I’m only doing this one more time.”
She threw me a wink; I stifled a laugh. With a dramatic flourish, she pressed a metal spoon to her forehead and slowly the bottom began to twist outward. The way she was holding it, you’d have to be sober and paying attention to catch how she was pressing with one finger. The tokers let out a collective gasp.
“See, what’d I tell you.” Emily tried to nudge me and almost fell over.
“That was truly amazing.”
Courtney stood, took a bow then said, “Now pony up. Twenty bucks, you dipshits.”
Wonder what the bet was. Crumpled singles made their way to her, and she counted them before throwing up both arms to make a rock-star exit. She shoved a path down the crowded hall to pounce Max with a deep, sexy kiss. Apparently, conning high people made her horny.
“Our turn!” Josh said.
I had no idea what was about to happen, but this was definitely better than Kings Cup. While Josh could be puckish, he was never cruel. He went on to explain the rules of the game, which he was calling Suckface Trivia. I could tell by their hazy expressions that he’d already lost them, but most of them were grinning like they didn’t care about being let in on the joke.
“I’ll simplify,” Angus put in. “If you answer the question correctly, you get to kiss whoever you want that’s playing the game. If you get it wrong, you kiss the person immediately to your left.”
Simple enough.
Though it might be slightly heartless, I couldn’t wait to hear the questions. This should be hilarious. Josh kicked the game off by pointing at the big-eyed, blonde girl. “At what temperature does water boil?”
“Um. Celsius or Fahrenheit?”
“Either,” Angus said. “In the spirit of being fair to our neighbors to the north.”
She thought for a few seconds, then said, “I dunno.”
It didn’t seem to bother her that she was sitting next to a girl, the one named Emily. In fact, they kissed for a good, long minute, sort of lazy and sensual. Huh. If they keep this up, there will totally be an orgy on my bedroom floor.
“You see how it’s done,” Josh said.
“Uh-huh.” Half the guys in the room now looked even more glazed.
I whispered to Angus, “I don’t think it’s gonna pan out the way Josh expected. Unless he’s trying to start a sex pile?”
Two easy questions followed—and each got it wrong—so there was more random kissing. In fact, two straight guys got so into it that the first pushed the other down onto the floor. I watched them together, hands digging into shoulders, breathing hard. My skin prickled, but I’d be lying if I claimed I wasn’t squirming a bit. This felt slightly indecent, but nobody was making these people play the game.
Angus smiled faintly. “Trust me, this is exactly what he had in mind. He’s devilish.”
“Next question.” Josh turned to me. “Your turn.”
I doubted he could stump me since I hadn’t smoked anything, and it was tough to cloud your brain with a single beer. “Go for it.”
“What’s the capital of Illinois?”
Springfield.
Now I had to decide if I wanted to play it safe—and give the wrong answer—which meant kissing Angus. If I answered right, I could get in on the real action. As I glanced around the circle, I noticed a couple of the guys were cute, if burning at low brain wattage. I could pick someone up for the night. There was no question I was in the mood, but...
There’s nobody here I want.
“Cairo,” I said deliberately.
Josh narrowed his eyes. “You cow. You just want to kiss my boyfriend.”
“Who doesn’t? Have you seen him?” I grinned teasingly. “But hey, it’s your game, J-Rod. I didn’t make the rules.”
Angus turned his head, offering his mouth, but I pecked beside it, instead. Smiling, he slung an arm around my shoulders and squeezed me briefly then let go. The guys from two turns back were getting hot and heavy, probably more than even Josh could’ve predicted. I got up and wandered out before I ended up watching somebody get lucky in my room before I did.
Outside, the rest of the apartment was just wall-to-wall people. I didn’t realize I’d made the decision to bail until I grabbed my purse and keys. No plan, I just couldn’t stand the noise for another second. I much preferred attending parties to hosting them. In that scenario, if I got sick of the bullshit, I could always come home. Navigating through the crush, I got out the front door and down the steps before I heard someone come after me.
Crap. I thought that was a clean getaway.
“Where’re you going?” Lauren asked.
“Out.