The guy completely ignored Cole and leered hungrily at me. “Who’d you come here with?”
One match and I could have blown up the whole room fueled solely by his breath.
Cole took my arm and led me away and as slurred as Mike’s speech was he was able to pronounce the word bitch quite clearly.
“Sorry about that,” Cole said. “He wasn’t really invited. In fact, he’s never really invited, but he shows up anyway. His father owns a record company so most of us with family in the business just accept his presence. The dude really needs to go to rehab though. His liver is going to be toast before he’s thirty.” Cole walked me over to where his groupies were waiting anxiously for his return. They looked less than pleased to see me. I guess one more girl just meant one more competitor. “Hey, everyone, this is Eden. She’s a friend of the family’s and she’s staying with us this summer.” I guess it made complete sense that he’d made up a reason for my presence other than the true reason. But it was hard to know if he was doing it to protect Finley or himself. Surely other people in the room had to know that Finley had problems. For one, it would be ignorant for people in this kind of party hardy society to not notice that she never left the house. On the other hand, they all seemed so enamored with themselves, it was entirely possible they’d never taken note of it.
I nodded politely at Cole’s friends and then sipped my drink to keep from having to converse. The girls had no problem ignoring my presence until I asked a question that seemed to peak everyone’s interest.
“Where did Jude go?” I asked Cole.
“He rarely shows to my parties.”
“He was here just a second ago.”
A wave of pretty, powdered faces turned my direction. “Jude was here?” one girl asked. There was a glimmer of hopefulness in her tone.
“For a second,” I repeated and now regretted bringing it up.
One girl laughed. “I swear that boy does this just to torture us.” She looked at me and took the time to check out my shabby outfit before speaking again. “If you see him, you tell him that Kiley and her friends are waiting to see him.”
Cole threw me a small, almost imperceptible shrug.
I smiled back at the girl. “I will definitely tell him that. Cole, what time is it?”
He pulled out his phone. “It’s twenty-five after. Do you have some place you’ve got to be?” he asked with a grin. He caught sight of something over my head and motioned me to look that direction. Finley was sitting with Max on a small couch. She looked extremely happy and completely oblivious to her surroundings.
“Do you think she’ll be all right?” I asked.
“Yeah, she’ll be fine.”
“Who?” Kiley asked nosily.
“Our cat. She wasn’t feeling great this morning,” Cole answered.
“You know,” I said, “it’s kind of stuffy in here, Cole. I think I’ll step outside for some fresh air.” I plastered a smile on my face. “Nice meeting you all.”
I stepped outside onto the small patio off the party room. There were several people sitting out there on chairs, so as far as I was concerned, I was technically still at the party. And according to my estimation, I had about half an hour of the drudgery left. Hopefully, Finley wouldn’t be too upset if I left early. A hand took hold of mine. My thoughts seemed to have conjured her.
“Eden, I feel bad. I hadn’t meant to abandon you like this. It’s just that I haven’t seen Max in so long.”
I held her hand in mine. “Finley, please don’t worry about it. I can handle this alone, but I’ll probably turn in early if that’s all right with you.”
“See, you’re bored. I knew you would be.”
“Really, Finley, it’s fine. I’ve never been much for big parties. I’m just glad you’re having a good time.” I smiled. “So do you still like him as much?”
Her blue eyes sparkled beneath the fringe of white bangs. “I do, Eden. He’s gotten even better, if that’s possible. And it looks like he’ll be sticking around town longer now. He’s going to work with his dad.”
“Great. So you’ll be able to see him more.”
“Yep.” A small frown pulled at her mouth.
“What’s the matter?”
She sighed. “It’s just Max knows I’ve had some problems in the past, but I don’t think he knows that I can’t leave the house. What am I supposed to say when he asks me out?”
“Can’t Cole explain stuff to him?”
“My brother doesn’t admit it much, but he’s embarrassed about me.”
“Then we better start moving forward on your goals so we can get you out on a date with him.” My optimism sounded a little forced even to my own ears, and the look on Finley’s face was gloomy with defeat. It was definitely a daunting situation, and I had no real answers for her except to continue with small steps and see where they led.
“You’re right,” Finley said quietly. “For tonight, I’m not going to worry about it. I’m just going to have fun.” The conviction in her tone and words seemed genuine, and I was relieved to hear it.
“Good idea. Go back to him, Finley. I’ll be fine. I might even have one more of those super sweet drinks just to help me get in the party mood.”
She hugged me and went back inside. Seconds later, my alcohol soaked friend had found me again. This time he had the nerve to take hold of my arm.
“There you are, garden of Eden. I was hoping we could share an apple together.”
“I’m not really in the mood for fruit.” I pulled away from him and hopped down the small flight of steps leading to the yard. I was confident he wouldn’t have the balance to walk down stairs, but he proved me wrong. Annoyance was quickly morphing into fear. I looked around, but the few party-goers who had stepped outside were too busy with their conversations to notice drunken Mike staggering after me like a horny Frankenstein. With large feet and a lumber that bordered on clumsy, he was alarmingly fast on his feet. He grabbed my arm and twisted it. There was nothing I hated more than a scene, and I concentrated on keeping my cool. After all, I had my wits and one big advantage, I was sober. He, on the other hand, was having a hard time focusing as he swayed back and forth like a giant tree about to fall. I shoved him hard with my free hand, but it was like pushing against a brick wall. My theory of him being an easy pushover had been squelched. Leaving the patio had been a huge mistake.
I took a step back and realized we were tucked securely into a corner of the rose garden wall. Unfortunately, our location did not escape his bleary-eyed notice either. With no small amount of force, he had me pressed against the wall. He stuck his thick thigh between my legs and held tightly to both my arms. He leaned forward and smothered my scream with his disgusting mouth. He released one of my hands and grabbed at the shoulder of my shirt. I shot my fist into his stomach, but at such close range, it had little impact. Then a hand grabbed his wrist.
“Damn, is that you, Cole? I’m just having some fun,” Mike mumbled without looking away from me.
“Guess again.”
This time Mike’s face snapped up and he backed away. “What the hell, Jude? Where did you come from?” Mike grabbed my arm again. “I found her first.”
“Let go of her now and then get the fuck off my property.”
“What are you, the bouncer?” Mike attempted to sound calm, but there was a streak of terror running through the center of his words.
Before I could take a breath, Jude had him pressed up against the wall with his arm across Mike’s neck. “I don’t know. Let me bounce your thick skull off this wall a few times and we’ll find out.”
Mike’s face turned red, and he flailed an arm at Jude but missed.