Page 229 of Broken by my Bully

That’s why we’re all here, isn’t it? Searching desperately for oblivion.

Austin and iPhone are nearby, Austin trying to chat up one of the more naked chicks in our vicinity, and iPhone…

“Dude!” I yell, seizing his arm as I pause for a water break. “First time I’ve ever seen you without your phone.”

“Stocks are closed, bro!” He turns his grin on me. “And I’m fucking rolling.”

We laugh, clapping each other on the back as we turn back to the dance floor. With the UV lamps on full blast, the dance floor is a sea of glowing limbs, and I’m pretty sure eighty percent of the people out there are high, rolling, or drunk. Or all three, like me.

So many happy, smiling faces.

Not that far away, lightning pierces the sky. The clap of thunder is barely audible over the music, but tons of dancers throw their arms into the air, yelling for rain.

“Fuck, yeah!” I yell, arms held up high. “Bring iiit!”

“Kai.” Austin tugs my elbow, “Hey!”

“What?”

He leans closer, so he doesn’t have to yell at the top of his lungs and tugs up his animal mask. All the frat guys are wearing them. Mine looks less like something out of Donnie Darko.

“Isn’t that the charity case Ezra wants booted?” Austin points into the crowd, and I follow his finger to a pair of girls dancing a few yards away.

I take a swig of my beer, getting better at maneuvering it through the mask’s mouth hole every time.

Well, fuck.

Look at Haven, enjoying herself like she has every right to be here.

…you can all just suck it up. I’m staying…

If there wasn’t so much fucking molly pumping through my veins right now, I’d be mad. I tried to warn her, and she spat in my face.

Guess that was karma, for spitting in hers the first day she got here.

Jesus, she looks so hot, dancing with her eyes closed, head thrown back, letting the music move her.

Parker’s with her, but she’s caught up in some dude she’s dancing with, her back half-turned to Haven. Little Miss Heavenly’s in a world of her own, it seems.

Her own personal Utopia.

I sense a drop coming in the music, and my eyes are about to slide shut so I can lose myself in it when a guy comes up behind Haven and puts his hands on her waist.

She snaps out of her trance and spins around, shoving his chest.

Ha, ha. Loser.

She makes a point of turning her back on him, but the guy’s obviously on way too many drugs, because he doesn’t seem to realize she doesn’t want him near her. He slides up to her again, grabbing her shoulders, and skating a hand down the front of her?—

My breath knocks out of me as I leap off the platform.

Nobody touches her but me. Nobody.

Even when I hate her.

Even when she hates me.

Party goers make way for me, those that see me. The others I twist and writhe past, trying not to knock anyone over.