slaps me in the face. It’s surprisingly warm out and my mouth dries out completely. I need another cocktail, stat.
The house would’ve looked luxurious and amazing to me a few months ago, but after spending so much time at North’s place and then over at Sage’s, the whole mansion spectacle has worn off on me. I really don’t give a shit how many wood-paneled libraries and butler’s wings a house has.
I care about whether or not the people in them are assholes.
Sage swipes a couple of bottles of wine on our way through the house and even though wine tastes like ass, it feels like a win. Neither of us want to be here or deal with any of these people, so we’re both fully aboard the get-blackout-drunk train.
I decide straight away that the Gifted community is too freaking small because once again, there’s council members everywhere, which means North is probably here, lurking in a corner somewhere and drinking alcohol he hasn’t had to steal while he schmoozes with all of the other stuffy, condescending assholes here.
Sawyer tries to discreetly find wine glasses as we work our way through the kitchen and dining rooms but I’m not willing to wait around for that sort of luxury and drink it straight from the bottle, giggling with Sage like children when we find a storage room somewhere on the first floor to hide in until the council members all clear out of the house and into the garden.
We need to be as drunk as freaking possible before then.
Because we’re in an obscenely luxurious mansion, there’s a couch and table in the storage room. There’s also some stacked barstools, and the wifi is so good in here that Sawyer just pulls out a seat and fucks around on his phone while Sage and I both chug the wine down like we’re pros.
Sage clucks over her phone, “Felix can’t make it, he’s going to some study thing with the other pre-med students.”
I snort at her because she’s fooling exactly no one with her attempts at keeping him at arm’s length. I’m proud of myself when my words come out without even a little slurring, “You should definitely bone him. Just once, give it a shot, and if it’s not all that great, then go back to being awkward friends so you can both move on with your lives.”
She groans and guzzles a little more of the wine. Her phone buzzes again and she gets back to texting Felix, totally engrossed with it because she’s just as obsessed with him as he is with her. The only thing that’s actually keeping them apart is fear and the damage that Riley has done to Sage. I think with enough patience and gentle prodding, she’ll get past that and be much happier with the infatuated footballer.
Gabe finds us an hour later, cooped up and giggling over our phones together. He takes one look at us all and rolls his eyes. “Fuck me, that’s a thousand dollar bottle of wine you’re chugging back there, Bond.”
I shrug and hold it out to him. “It tastes like swill.”
He shakes his head at me, taking the bottle and then scoffing when he realizes it’s already empty. I’m not sure that I’ll be able to stand up and keep my legs under me if he insists we go out and socialize, but at least I no longer care about… well, anything.
“Did you guys bring swimsuits at least?”
Sawyer scoffs and rolls his eyes back at him. “Well, they didn’t bring fucking floaties and they’ll drown without them in this state.”
I decide that this type of slander against my ability to hold my liquor is unacceptable and I pull myself onto my feet, slow enough that I’m sure I won’t faceplant on the hardwood floor, and Sage groans at my decision to get a move on.
“If I’ve been forced to squeeze into one of Sage’s swimsuits and come to this stupid council-circle-jerk party, then you bet your ass that I’m going swimming.”
Sawyer has to help Sage get out of the storage room but when Gabe offers me an arm, I brush him off. He huffs at me and I very kindly keep it to myself that I could’ve told him to keep his fucking bond the hell away from me while I’m not at full capacity because my own bond is still straining after him in my chest. If he touches me, I might end up fucking him in the middle of the