Existing (16 page)

Ben pulls Cora back into her seat. “Leave it
, Cora.”

Gabriella laughs and blows a kiss at us. “It’s been lovely
, ladies, but I’ve got to go. I need a shower to, you know, wash the smell off me.”

“U
gh,” groans Charlotte. “You make me sick.”

Gabriella stands unsteadily. “
Come back to me when you’ve learned how to show a man a good time, Charlotte. Even Riley got bored of you. Don’t you know that men don’t really enjoy the missionary position? It doesn’t quite hit their spot.”

“I swear to God you’d better move that skinny ass of yours,” spits Charlotte.

“Or else what?” laughs Gabriella.

“I’ll knock you into next week,” threatens Charlotte. “Now just fuck off.”

“I don’t have time to stand here and compare sex stories with you anyway. See ya around.”

We all watch open-
mouthed as she disappears through the sliding, double doors and into the house.  Before we’ve recovered, Cabe bursts through the gate and onto the grass, panting. He locks eyes with me when he finally sees us sitting under the wooden pergola. I shake my head and turn away from him.

“Cabe!
What a man!” laughs Ben.

“What?” he asks, walking toward
us. His eyes quickly flick over to me. “What are you talking about?” He comes to stand next to me, making my skin prickle at his closeness.

“You,” Ben says
, pointing at him, “and Gabriella. I would shake your hand dude, but I’ll fall over if I stand up.”

I look up and see the flicker of confusion pass over Cabe’s face. “Shake my hand for what?”

“Doing Gabriella, of course. We’ve all thought about it, man. I think Ashley was planning on playing with himself while thinking about it later.”

“
Wh-,” splutters Ashley through a mouthful of beer.

“What was it like?” Ben continues.

“Come on,” whispers Ashley as he grabs my hand. “Let’s liven this party up.”

He stands me up and pulls me with
him. He literally drags me through the kitchen and into the laundry room, where he pulls down his jeans. I quickly avert my eyes and look at the ceiling.

“You can look
, Rose. I don’t mind.”

“What are you doing?” I hiss.

“I told you, I’m making this party more exciting and I’m showing Cabe what it is that he’s missed out on.”

I freeze. “What do you mean?”

He shakes his head. “Girl, I’ve seen the way you look at him. I watched the two of you out there, and then he goes and does that to you with that long-haired, skinny bitch. It’s payback time, even though I didn’t really have him pegged as the sort of guy that could do that. But it just goes to show you how much I know.”

I put m
y hand on my hip. “I don’t like Cabe Evans, and what exactly are you planning on doing? How are you going to show him what he’s missing out on?”

He grins and waves two small bottles of vodka at me. “We’re going to show people how much fun you really are.”

I step back and shake my head. “No way, Ash.”

He smiles. “Come on
, Rose. I’m not going to do anything stupid to you. It’ll be me doing stuff anyway.”

I narrow my eyes. “I want to ask you a question.”

He stops undressing and stares at me. “Is this something about the new person’s pact?”

I roll my eyes. “Can we please stop calling it
that? It sounds stupid and childish.”

He laughs. “We can call it what
ever you want.” He holds out the bottles to me and nods. “Drink and I’ll answer.”

I take the small vodka bottle
from him and take a sip, making a face as the hot liquid slides down my throat. “Why are you pretending so much? Why can’t you just let yourself be who you are?”

He blinks and takes a swig of his own drink, which I notice is rum. “Well, why are you?”

I snort. “I’m not.”

“
Rose,” he says, stepping toward me. “You can’t kid a kidder.”

I step back and
realize he’s bare-chested and wearing a pair of Hawaiian shorts. I blink.  “When did you change into those and what are you talking about?”

“Okay
, I just changed into these and I know you’re not being yourself. There’s something going on, and I’m saying you can’t kid me because I know. I’m doing it too.”

I sigh. “You’re such an ass.”

He grins. “So, you’re not going to tell me?”

I shrug. “
Tell you what? What do you want to know?”

He nods toward
my bottle. “Drink first.”

I frown. “You drink too.”

We watch each other as we each take another swig.

“That’s gross.”

He smiles. “It’s vodka. Now what did you do to your eye?”

I shake my head.
“Nothing.”

He cocks his head to the side and I can’t help but think how attractive he is. How the little dimple that appears in his cheek when he smiles is sexy and the way his eyes remind me of the sky in the summer. “Come on
, Rose. New person’s pact, remember?”

I roll my eyes and huff.
I don’t want to have this conversation with him. Especially not when we’re locked in a tiny room, and especially not while he’s half naked. “Why don’t you tell me what you think I did to my eye?” I ask.

He drains the remains of his first bottle and sighs. “Okay,” he
says untwisting the cap of the second bottle, “I think your Dad hits you.”

I cough and shake my head
while picking up the bottle and draining the remains in one go. “It’s not my Dad.”

Ashley raises his eyebrows
. “Boyfriend we don’t know about?”

I laugh.
“Hardly.”

“Who is it then?”

“I fell.”

He slams his fist down onto the washing machine. “Don’t lie to me
, Rose. Please. I’m asking you because I want to know. I want to know because I like you, and I don’t want to think it’s your Dad if it isn’t.”

I blink and suck in a quick breath. “It’s not my Dad.”

He opens his mouth and then closes it again quickly. He takes another sip and shakes his head. “Are you drunk yet?”

I shake my head but feel a little dizzy. “Tipsy.”

He nods at the bottle in my hand. “Drink up then.”

For
a few minutes we stand and stare at each other, lost in our own world of thoughts. “So, it’s not your Dad?”

I shake my head. “Honest.”

“And you’re not going to tell me who it is?”

“I can’t
, Ash.”

He nods. “Okay. But it is someone
, isn’t it? Someone is hurting you?”

All the times I’ve wanted to tell
someone bubble away inside me and I know it’s because I’ve been drinking, but I want to cry. I can feel the lump in the back of my throat and I hate myself for being so weak. I look up at Ashley and nod, just the once.

He smiles
sadly and says, “Oh, Rose.” He quickly steps forward, pulling me into a tight hug. It’s so unexpected that I cough and splutter, spitting my drink all over the blonde hairs on his chest.

“Oh G
od,” I sniff, “I’m so sorry.”

He steps back and grabs
a towel from out of the laundry basket on top of the dryer. “It’s a good thing I’m not straight because I’d be really turned off right now.”

I wipe my face and smile.
“Yeah, sorry about that.”

He grins and says, “R
eady?”

The look he has on his face worries me.
“Ready for what?”

He winks and pushes the door open behind me. I feel his hand in mine and then he pulls me
out of the utility room. We push past two or three people, and then he turns around and thrusts a can of whipped cream in my hands.

“What is this?” I ask.

He laughs. “This is my secret.”

“You have a fetish for whipped cream?”
I ask, staring at the bottle.

“Squirt me
, Rose.”

I cough.
“What?”

He places his hand
over mine and directs it toward his nipple. “Squirt me!”

“No,” I say, suddenly aware of everyone
in the room watching us. “I can’t do that,” I whisper.

Ashley takes the can and squirts the cream all over his nipples. I watch the cream bubble and spit all over Ashley’s chest.
He grins, and before I know what’s happening, Ashley lunges toward me. I hear myself squealing, and then I turn and run away from him. He chases me twice around the island in the kitchen before I stop, seeing Cabe and Charlotte staring at us. Ashley crashes into the back of me, no doubt putting cream all over the back of my dress.

Cabe frowns and glances at Ashley and then back to me.

“Charlotte,” mumbles Ashley, “do you want to lick my cream?”

I try not to smile at Charlotte as her eyes widen in her head. Ashley laughs and then picks me up and throws me over his shoulder
, running out of the house and into the yard. I’m squealing and laughing at the same time as I’m asking him to put me down.

“I feel sick,” I call as we bound back into the kitchen. I quickly look around but there’s no sign of Cabe.

This makes Ashley stop and plonk me back on my feet. The room spins in front of me and I realize I have to get out of here before I make an idiot of myself. Ashley kisses my cheek. “Go and sit in the yard and get some fresh air. We’ve done what we needed to do.”

I frown at him but wobble out of the kitchen and down the steps until I get t
o the seats that we were all sitting on earlier. They’re now empty, so I sit myself down and lean my head against my arms.

“Are you going to be sick?”

I look up and see Gabriella sit down opposite me. “No.”

“You look like you’re going to be sick. You’ve gone green.”

I roll my eyes. “It’s dark. You can’t see what color my face is and I’m not going to be sick.”

“Whatever,” she sighs.

We sit in silence for five minute until she decides she wants to keep talking.

“So you’re the shiny new girl?”

“Looks like it,” I mumble.

“I don’t see what all the fuss is about really.”

I look up. “What?”

“You,” she says. “Why are all the boys obsessed with you?”

“I didn’t know they were.” I let my head drop back down and close my eyes.

She giggles, but doesn’t say anything else. I feel her leave the chair ten minutes later and let my eyes close.

My phone vibrates in my hand, waking me up and alerting me to the fact that my Dad is waiting outside. I stand up, quickly pushing my chair back. I look around the yard and see a few people mingling outside the back door, but all of the chairs around me are still empty. Shit, I think. I smooth my hair down and head back inside.

I wander through the kitchen and smile at Ashley as he slams a shot glass down on the counter. “Yes!” he shouts. “I won again!”

I give him a quick wave and wonder where he gets his energy and confidence from, and then move through the living room where I find Charlotte snuggled up to Ben. When I get closer, I realize they’re kissing.

I cough.

Charlotte pulls her face away from Ben’s and blinks up at me. “Where did you go to? I thought you’d left!”

I smile and lean down to hug her. “I was sobering up. I’m going now though.”

She squeezes me back and smiles. “Bye, Rose.”

“
Where are you going?” asks Cabe when I turn around.

“Thanks for the lift here,” I call to Ben. “See you both on Monday.” I give th
em a quick wave and head toward the door.

“Rose, hang on a minute.”

“Go away, Cabe.”

“Let me explain,” he says.

I weave through the numerous bodies and head toward the door. “It’s too late,” I say. “Gabriella did all the explaining for you anyway.”

“What do you mean?” he asks
, looking confused. “I haven’t done anything. I pushed her off after you walked off, but she wouldn’t listen and kept attacking me.”

“Poor you,” I say childishly.
“Must be terrible having a pretty girl throwing herself at you.”

He huffs at me. “It’s the
truth. That’s why I was only a few minutes behind you. I don’t want her anyway.”

I shake my head and ignore Cabe. I pull open the front door and walk outside
to where my Dad’s Range Rover is waiting patiently at the curb. I pull the door open and feel the warmth of the heaters smack me in the face.

“Hello
, darling. Did you have a good night?”

I fold into the leather seat and lean my head back. “Yeah, it was good. Different.”