Embers (Ch. 13)

GISELLE

I chose the worst possible time to try and quit alcohol, weed, and cigarettes. The party I was hosting at the old welding factory had grown in body count within the last hour and I had no idea half of them would even show up, much less know they'd be passing around drugs like this was ninety eighty-eight. All of the high school cliques were in the same room, getting wasted, dancing to the same music, embracing the same false freedom that came with drugs and alcohol. It numbed you for the time being of course. But it wasn't a long term solution to the shit we constantly walked around with all day, and every day.

Samantha had found me sitting by the rusting rafters, which overlooked half of Pasadena High on the dance floor below us, and sat beside me, hooking her arm in mine as she took a puff out of her joint and blew it away. She offered some to me, and I had to admit, I was craving one badly, but I refused it. I knew trying to quit cold turkey was dangerous but that's what made it a challenge, and I've never backed down from one before. I wasn't about to start now.

"Good for you," Sam complimented, pride in her gaze as she smiled at me and I rolled my eyes at her.

She was higher than a rocket, and I'd count the seconds until she tried to make a move on me, and I refused her again. Sam had always struggled with her sexual orientation, not being able to decide on what she actually was over what the world around her perceived her to be. She was a beautiful and confused straight girl, who occasionally turned into a lesbian when she was either high or drunk. It was annoying, to say the least. However, she was still my friend and I loved her to pieces.

"Sam, we've talked about this," I reminded her as I leaned in closer so she'd be able to hear me over the loud dance music.

She took the opportunity to turn my cheek long enough for her to plant a kiss on my lips. I would've pushed her off had we not been sitting on a couple of rusting metal beams, which would cause us to fall about eight feet to the ground and land on our heads. I wasn't trying to die tonight, so I kissed her until she needed to break away from me for more air. The starstruck look in her eyes punched me straight in the gut, as I realized I had to put a stop to her antics and send her on her way. I had no time for love. Especially not with a girl who had no idea which team she was on.

"You are so pretty," she added, her smile widening, as she pushed back a strand of my hair behind my ear and reached in for another kiss.

I turned away, cursing underneath my breath for hurting her like this, but it needed to be done.

"I'll see you around, Sam," I stated, looking her straight in the eye so she'd know I wasn't kidding around.

By the time the second tear fell down her cheek, I was climbing down the rafters, looking for Charlie so he'd take her home. I found his flat ass trying flirt with my cousin Zach, and I pulled at his shirt, stepping in between them. Zach breathed a thank you into my ear before he walked into the dancing crowd.

"Can you take Sam home for me? She's not doing so well," I informed him, and he took one long puff of his cigarette and followed my gaze towards the rafters, where Sam was already climbing down.

"What'd you do to the poor girl?" Charlie asked, and I hiked an eyebrow at his disgusted tone.

"I did what I needed to. You know how she gets. One day she's straight, the next she's all vagina, all the time. I can't deal with her shit anymore," I answered and he nodded in agreement, patting my shoulder before he finessed his way through the dancing crowd to get to Sam.

I focused on finding my other cousin, the grouchy one who'd been in a sour mood as of late. I had a feeling it had to do with the fact that the boy was sixteen, lost and not that experienced in the girl department. Or it’s possible he let one experience with a girl wreck him into a thousand shards of glass. People say you tend to enter your midlife crisis around the age of fifty. They’re wrong of course. You get to have one at sixteen too.

"This party blows," I claimed when I finally found Zander lounging about in the parking lot, laying on top of the hood of his car, his eyes closed as if he were sleeping.

When I heard him snoring, I slapped his face and he woke up instantly, falling off the hood of his car, causing me to die in laughter.

"What the fuck, Giselle?"

"Hey, watch your language young man. It's not tolerated in these parts," I teased him as he dusted off his hoodie and flipped me off.

I grinned and hopped up onto his hood, sitting beside his tall ass when he rested his behind against the car door.

"Shouldn't you be inside? Doing all sorts of bad shit for no reason?" he replied in his usual grumpy tone and I rolled my eyes, wishing that were the case.

"Why aren't you? Your parents let you come willingly and you decide to take a nap on top of your car?"

"I can't do shit when Zach is around. I have to look after him," Zander answered, the tiresome tone in his voice made me feel bad for the guy.

His brother was very dependent on him, and vice versa. They were lucky to have each other though. I'd grown up alone, surrounded by adults, dropped off with kids at daycare who I didn't particularly care for. I should've been grateful Uncle Freddy had decided to take me in. And I was. I would've ended up in the foster care system, had he not found out about me through a ridiculous fake murder mystery my father had instructed his widow to follow through with, in an attempt to bring his gang of friends back together. Look how well that all turned out.

"Yeah, well your brother is the one with the serious condition and he's living his best life. I think you should too," I ordered, pointing towards Josie, who'd just been dropped off by someone with a car sporting tinted windows.

In my experience, people who still had tinted windows despite the law that banned them, had something to hide. It wasn't my business but if Josie wasn't careful, she'd end up someplace worse than the hospital this time around.

"Girls make me tired," Zander voiced as he yawned and straightened as Josie spotted us and turned to approach us.

"I hear that," I mumbled, causing him to raise an eyebrow as Josie walked up to him and gave him a hug.

He held onto her longer than he usually did, sighing in relief into her neck as if he hadn't just seen her a couple of hours ago in school. I smirked, knowing it wouldn't be too long before those two became an item or at least something close to it.

"Hi, Josephine," I greeted her in a teasing manner and she smirked as she nodded towards me.

Josie wasn’t a hugger. She also wasn’t the type to crash parties. Which made me curious as to why she was here and being overly affectionate towards my cousin.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be inside being the life of the party?" Josie asked and I sighed, hopping off the hood of the car.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm working up to it," I lied as I began to walk away, turning back to give my cousin a wink full of encouragement before I headed towards the entrance, where a bunch of stoners were blocking the doorway.

I glared at all of them, jealous I wasn't having nearly as much fun as they were as I brushed passed them and stumbled against somebody's backpack, straight into the arms of a stranger I hadn't seen around here before. His eyes were a smokey brown underneath the rusty hanging pendant lamp above us, allowing me to almost forget I was still in his embrace. His height definitely matched Uncle Freddy's, and his smooth caramel skin tone as well. But it was that wolfish smile that prevented me from pushing him away.

"You plan on staying in my arms forever? Not that I'd mind, but I'd like to know your name first," the stranger spoke, his deep voice causing a slight stir inside me, all the way down to my favorite of lady parts, forcing me to swallow hard and step back to take a better look at him.

Fuck, he was hot. But not in a pretty boy way. In a complete arrogant without being arrogant kind of way. The kind of handsome that required squealing in the comfort of your own room, while picturing those full lips kissing every single part of your body. I had to go home with him tonight. But I needed to know more about this guy before I went down that shady rabbit hole again.

"Giselle. Do those corny lines really work for you?" I countered, clearing my throat, regaining my cool as I straightened and shook his extended hand.

His coy smile was even sexier. Fuck. I wanted to sit on this man's face for days if possible. If not more.

"About as well as your attitude works for you," he teased, causing me to raise an eyebrow at his forward statement.

He gestured towards the parking lot, and we walked back outside, strolling away from the welding factory until we reached my car, and we sat on my hood.

"Are you new around here?" I questioned, studying every inch of him, from the top of his brown overgrown shoulder length hair, down to his dirty gray vans.

His grungy style did nothing to make me cool down and I hoped we could cut this conversation short soon so I could find out how much of a bad boy this guy really was.

"You could say that," he answered with another cryptic reply, and it made me even more curious to know his story. He looked to be around my age, maybe older.

I couldn't tell with the scruff on his chin and his youthful appearance.

"You got a name?"

"I do have one of those, yes," the sexy stranger was starting to rile me up with all of these vague answers to my questions, and I wondered if he was doing this just to tick me off or if he'd done it to see what my limits actually were, like I usually did with other people.

"Well, what do I have to do to get it out of you?" I asked, leaning in closer, staring straight into his gaze, letting him know I meant business and definitely pleasure.

But this guy didn't look like he was giving in any time soon. In fact, he took one deep breath before he hopped off the hood of my car and reached inside his pocket for what looked like a blue stress ball. He squeezed it as tight as he could, making me even more intrigued.

"Am I making you nervous?"

"I'm sure you already know the answer to that."

"No. This is... something different," I began, trying my hardest to figure him out, but nothing was coming to me.

Damn it. What the hell was wrong with me tonight? "Are you going through withdrawal too?"

That statement alone made him stop squeezing that ridiculous ball and turn to look at me, stepping straight in between my legs, bracing his arms on either side of my thighs. His lips were barely an inch away from mine and I had to bite the inner side of my cheek to keep myself from giving in first.

"Let's just say I have an addiction that can't be tamed around girls like you," he replied, practically brushing every word over my lips before he pulled away and stopped me from taking what I wanted from him.

I didn't get the chance to change his mind since the sirens were close by, cops ready to barge in and break this party up. I turned to say something to this alluring stranger, but he was gone before I could get a word out. Looking around for him, my eyebrows furrowed when there was literally no sign of him anywhere. Did I hallucinate him? Was that possible if you were sober?