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My stomach twisted inside and out, thinking about Roan with another girl. With Ledger’s arm slung around my shoulders, I gave Devyn a smile when she high-fived me, for what reason, I don’t know.
My eyes drifted to Roan’s again; with his arrival, everything had gone quiet.
Licking his lips, Roan studied me with a predator’s eyes, and I could see him considering his moves and what he’d do next. He knew how bothered I was by who was standing behind him, and he played the curveball to his advantage.
Pressing my lips together, I gave him a glare he understood before closing my eyes. When I opened them, I held his gaze.
“Want some?” Tiller asked, sending the bottle Roan’s way.
Shaking his head, he knocked the bottle aside. “No, dude. That shit’s nasty.”
It was. Absolutely disgusting but it gave me the numbness I had been craving so it didn’t matter what it tasted like.
Tiller laughed, always combative. “O doesn’t think so,” he said, gesturing to me.
I giggled, rolling my eyes. “It’s awful.”
Roan watched me, his temper spiking that I would be here, acting my age, instead of chasing him around. I saw it in his constricted grimace and the narrowed eyes. It was there in the slight shake of his head from left to right and the air changing around us.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he asked, taking my drink from me and smelling it. “You’re too young for this shit.” And then he dumped my drink out on the pool deck.
“Oh, c’mon, man,” Tiller snapped. “She’s just having some fun. Lighten the fuck up.”
Ledger and Shade stood back, waiting for Roan’s reaction.
And he reacted all right.
He grabbed me by the arm and yanked me up. “Come on, let’s go.” His voice was low, steady and just as commanding as always. “Go inside.” And though he wouldn’t look at me, subtly ignoring me, he was paying closer attention than I gave him credit for because when I tripped, his hand reached out to steady me in the darkness.
“Jesus Christ, you’re not her fuckin’ dad, man,” Tiller pointed out, taking a seat next to Shade again, drinking straight from the bottle. “Lighten the fuck up.”
My heart was beating so hard, so fast, it felt like if I didn’t get a hold on it, it might stop beating entirely. “Yeah, lighten up,” I said, trying to untangle myself from him. It was no use. I looked around and finally noticed the girl who’d been behind Roan, was now out of sight. I didn’t see her anywhere.
Roan regarded me again. There was tension in his stare, his voice, and white knuckles. He turned, facing me. His gaze slowly traced every dip and curve of my body. “Isn’t it past your bedtime?”
I felt humiliated and so angry with him to treat me this way in front of everyone. “Yeah, I suppose it is, stupid fuck.”
Just as I was heading inside, Ledger approached me. “I can give you a ride,” he said, looking from me to Roan and then back at me. “Or not….”
Roan shoved him back into the sliding doors that led into the house. “Get the fuck out of here.”
Ledger caught himself, breathing heavily. “You’re not her dad, Roan.”
Roan nodded, his jaw tight. He sniffed, turning to face Ledger, intimidation radiating through his stance and words with “What was that?”
“I said—” Ledger attempted to step forward, knowing what he was up against, but Tiller grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him away.
That didn’t work. Roan managed to get a hold of Ledger first, his knuckles white, his eyes dark with anger. “Fuck you. She’s falling-down drunk because of you motherfuckers. What in the hell would make you think I’d trust you to drive her home?”
Ledger swallowed, fear lighting his eyes. “I was just trying to be nice.”
“Don’t be nice. She’s none of your goddamn concern.” Roan shoved him. “Just get the fuck out of my face.”
No more was said by anyone, and Ledger gave up, backing away. “Whatever.”
Completely humiliated, I ran inside the house only to have Roan find me before I had gotten to the door. “Come with me,” he said, and then he retreated up the stairs.
I followed and the farther down the hall I walked, up another flight of stairs to the third floor, the more I tried to prepare myself for what he was going to say, or what I might say to him. When I opened the door, darkness blanketed the room, the only light the white glow from the television. When I shut the door, he said nothing, as if I wasn’t even there.