Page 122 of Wicked Empire (Knight's Ridge Empire 3)

“Are you serious?” I ask, eyeing her suspiciously. “You just ate your weight in Chinese. How can you want ice cream?”

She shrugs. “I just need something sweet. And ice cream isn’t really food so…”

Knowing exactly what she means despite the amount of takeout we both consumed, I push from the couch and head toward the kitchen to search the freezer.

Something tells me it’ll be empty. I can’t imagine the guys sitting around with tubs of Ben and Jerry’s and face packs on.

I burst out laughing at the visual that pops into my head.

“What?” she asks, looking at me from the couch, her brows pinched in confusion.

“N-nothing,” I stutter, still chuckling to myself. “Nothing. I think those cocktails were a little strong.”

“So…” she asks, her eyes flicking to the freezer door that my fingers are still wrapped around.

“No. No ice cream.”

“Dammit,” she pouts before taking off across the living room.

“What are you doing?” I ask when she shoves her feet into her boots.

“Going to the shop.”

“You need ice cream that bad?” She raises a brow at me in response.“Okay, fine. I’ll come with you.”

“No, you stay here. You’re not allowed to step out of the house,” she jokes. “You might set off an alarm or something.”

“Jesus, I’m not a dog, Em.”

She shrugs.

“It’s just the shop down the street. We’ll be back in less than ten minutes.”

“Okay, fine,” she concedes.

“Oh shit,” I shriek when I lift my first foot to put it into my Ugg boot and instead wobble and collide with the dresser.

“What the hell was in that cocktail?” Emmie asks, catching me before I hit the floor.

“Er… vodka and… whatever the bottle was at the back of the cupboard.”

“Jesus. Seb is going to kill me.”

“I can handle Sebastian.” I shake my head. Even I can hear how slurred my voice is. “The fresh air will clear my head,” I tell myself out loud.

“Come on then.” Emmie threads her arm through mine as if she thinks I need support down the stairs.

I’m tipsy, not freaking wasted.

“Oh shit, wait,” I say once we step out the front door.

I was half expecting to find Carl and Cass on watch duty, but clearly, the guys believed that I would stay put tonight, or just didn’t trust that they could stop me if I went against the rules again.

Guilt hits me as I pause, trying to remember why I stopped in the first place.

“I forgot my cell. Wait there.”

“Do you really need it?”

“One minute,” I shout, bolting for the stairs.

“I’ll be by the gate.”