The delectable moan that left her beautiful lips was what I needed. Her scent was too much. Do you know the amount of strength it took for me to walk away from her? Especially with the way she is drinking, she doesn’t know what it’s like to be drunk.
All the boys in the room are staring at her, especially the fucking bartender.
This is her first night with alcohol, and she is being reckless.
I snorted a laugh at my thoughts. I was the same when I was eighteen. Fuck, I was the same when I was a lot younger than her. But now, at twenty, I’ve slowed down a lot on the alcohol front. Especially when me and Chase enrolled in the army. We both promised each other that if one of us didn’t get in, the other would drop their application but luckily, we both did. We were to leave on the thirtieth of September.
I loved the thought of being in the army, but fuck am I going to miss Darcey when I am gone. I took a picture from the family photo album of her from last year’s school summer fete, and once I’m gone I am keeping it on me, at all times. Having a little piece of heaven with me.
I walked over to Chase, Tyler and Ryan who were standing round a bunch of girls, all looking too desperate for my liking. None of them compared to Darcey. They were all batting their shitty false eyelashes at us all. Pathetic.
I took my whiskey off of Chase, holding it up to him.
“Cheers, fella,” I said before knocking it back, the satisfying burn travelling down my throat.
“How drunk do you think Darce is going to get tonight?” Chase asked me, humour lacing his voice.
“Knowing grunge, probably not overly,” slut number one piped up giggling. My mouth twitched at them using the vicious name I call her, and my temper rose.
“She’s probably drinking water, pretending she is drunk,” slut number two jibed before running her finger up my bicep.
“Fuck off,” I snapped at her, stepping closer to Chase.
“Enough,” Chase sniped at the desperate wannabes. “Have you seen her?’ he asked me, his voice now full of concern.
“Yeah, she’s pretty steamed already, to be fair. I did tell her to go steady, but when does she listen to me?” I shrugged.
“Never, mate.” He rolled his eyes. “Come, let’s go check on her.” He placed his, now empty, cup on the table behind one of the girls before stalking into the crowd as I followed behind him. The girls went to follow but I shot them a glare, and they knew better than to ignore me.
My eyes were already seeking her out.
“Mate, she was on the dance floor earlier,” I said in his ear loudly over the banging music. We split up, so I checked one side of the floor, Chase the other. I started to panic when I couldn’t see her.
Robyn was talking to a guy which made me tense as they were always together. There was no one else here who she really spoke to. She was a loner, basically invisible to everyone at school.
But to me she wasn’t.
She was all I saw.
I walked up to Robyn, grabbing her arm and pulling her back towards me. Her drink spilled out of her cup and onto her red dress. She threw me a look, her brows furrowed. She was fucked off.
“Where’s Darce?” I asked, ignoring her icy glare.
“Why should I tell you?” she slurred then giggled.
“Robyn, come on. Please.” I gave her my best smile and my puppy dog eyes.
“I dunno, she went somewhere with the bartender, that’s all I know. I promise,” she muttered, now sensing the urgency and following me as I ran towards Chase.
We stood in the middle of the dance floor. “No luck mate, but Robyn seems to think she has disappeared with one of the bartenders,” I shouted over the music. I didn’t even know what shit the DJ was playing, it all merged into one.
“Yeah, she did, about twenty minutes ago,” Robyn confirmed, her eyes wandering up Chase’s body.
“Let’s go check outside,” Chase suggested before patting me on the chest as we made our way through the hustle and bustle of the crowd. The thing with this stupid house was that there was nooks and crannies everywhere. The garden was on acres and acres, but hopefully she wasn’t too far.
Chase and Robyn ran in one direction, me in the other.
I ran out the oak doors, running down the steps that led down to the driveway. She wasn’t there. I walked through the random smokers, just to make sure she wasn’t hiding within them. I was the last person she was going to want to see, but at the moment in time I didn’t give a shit what she wanted.
I could feel my temper rising.
I always had eyes on her.
I picked up my pace and started running towards the back of the house and into the garden. I continued to run along the side of the marquee and towards the pool house. My eyes were constantly darting, I just couldn’t see her, I couldn’t feel her.
I normally feel her presence.
She stood out anywhere to me.
She could be standing amongst thousands and thousands of people and my eyes would still find her.
I got to the pool house, grabbing the handle and trying to open it but it was jammed, or locked. I was banging on the glass and screaming for her.
“Darcey!” I banged again on the door. “Fuck,” I growled as I walked back from the door then walked back up to it, kicking it with everything I had as it came off its hinges.
“Darcey,” I shouted again.
“Con...” I heard her voice.
“Shut up before I shut you up. You want this, baby, I know you do. You wouldn’t have been giving me the go ahead all night if you didn’t, you little cock tease,” I heard a man’s voice say. The hairs on the back of my neck stood, my blood boiled and pumped through my veins.
I ran down the spiral stairs, searching the room as I did, when I saw her in the corner, pushed up against a wall behind the sun loungers, the bartender grabbing her and kissing her neck as his hands pushed up her thighs, making her dress rise.
Her eyes were on mine, silently pleading with me.
I jumped over the bannister of the staircase. I just wanted to get to her as quickly as I could.
I sprinted over to where she was, grabbing the bartender round the back of the neck, turning him towards me and punching him, hearing a crack as my fist contacted his face, tossing him to the floor when I saw Chase staring, Robyn’s hands at her mouth.
“What the fuck?” Chase hissed as he ran over and kicked the bartender in the ribs. “What the fuck were you doing to my sister?” he shouted through gritted teeth, spit flying out of his mouth.
“She’s a cock tease. She had been giving me the come-on all night. Nothing but a slut,” the guy said as he went to stand, blood spilling out of his mouth when Chase kicked him again, giving him an almighty blow to the ribs before picking him up by the scruff of his neck and dragging him towards the doors.
“Stay with her,” he barked his orders. I had never, ever seen Chase so wound up. But this was his baby sister.
I turned back to her, her black eyes smudged and her mascara running down her cheeks. Her red lipstick spread across her beautiful face.
“Baby girl,” I said, breathless. I ran my thumb across her cheek. “Look at me,” I demanded, and her scared, blue eyes flicked up to mine. “Did he hurt you or touch you?”
I couldn’t believe the words were even coming out of my mouth. She shook her head, tears still streaming down her face.