Wings of the Wicked
Page 52

I stumbled and laughed when he caught me with an arm around my waist. “Want to take a break?” he asked.
When I righted myself and still felt like I was spinning a hundred miles an hour, I nodded and pressed a hand to my forehead. He took my hand and led me from the room and toward the stairs. As I took that first step, I hesitated, trying to figure out where he was taking me. No way. I was not going into his room. “Where are we going?”
“Don’t worry. Kate and Jay and some other people are up here chilling. If we don’t find them, then we’ll come right back. Okay?”
I chewed on my lip before nodding and following him upstairs. He checked one empty room before moving on to the next. We found a room full of people and went inside. Jay and Kate were sitting on a raggedy couch together, and Mohawk Guy and his girl sat on a lumpy futon next to the couch. Brian sat on the bed, and I sat shakily down next to him.
“There you two are!” Kate exclaimed with a wide joyful grin on her face.
“This is my room,” Brian said. “That’s Rob and Maggie.” He gestured at Mohawk Guy and his girl.
Maggie gave me a smug smile, and Rob acknowledged me with a nod.
“Hey,” I greeted them nervously.
Rob winked at me as he packed a bowl with weed. His eyes were already blazing red. “Want to smoke, gorgeous?”
Maggie shot him a ferocious glare, which he ignored. He puffed his chest and blew out a thick cloud of smoke before hacking painfully. He passed it to Maggie, who also took a hit. Brian’s turn came next, and then he passed it to me. I held the bowl and lighter in my hands and stared at them. The weed smelled like something had died on Bigfoot’s ass and then had gasoline poured all over it.
I frowned at it and passed it on. “No, thanks.”
Brian fixed us more drinks, mixing from multiple bottles. Before I knew it, he was passing us shots and cups of liquid that, after a while, didn’t taste anything at all like alcohol. The TV was suddenly on. We were watching one of my favorite late-night vulgar cartoons. The next moment, we were watching something else. What time was it? I was leaning against Brian. His hands were around my stomach, fingers toying with the hem of my shirt. My boots were off and across the room. How did they get there? Kate and Jay were making out on the couch. Brian’s nose nuzzled my hair, and it just annoyed me. The new show on TV was really funny. Like really funny. I didn’t even know what was going on, but it was amazing. Then Rob and Maggie were gone. It was just me and Brian sitting on his bed. Suddenly Kate and Jay were gone, too. When did they leave?
“Where did everyone go?” I asked, turning around to look at Brian. Turning made my mind swim, and I let my head sag heavily to the side.
“Just downstairs,” he said. “They’ll be right back.”
I moved away from him, but he stopped me. His hand rubbed my side and swept down my waist, tugging me closer to him. My head felt immensely heavy and his shoulder was there, so I laid my cheek on it. For some reason, the cotton of his shirt felt extra cool compared to the air of the stuffy room, and I played with the soft collar. The cotton felt amazing to the touch. I tried to avoid looking up at him.
“How old are you again?” he asked, his hand now grasping around my bare thigh. I felt very self-conscious in that skirt suddenly.
“Seventeen.” I looked around for Will, but the room spun like a tornado and my eyes bulged as nausea flooded over me. I pushed myself away from Brian as I remembered that Will was nowhere near, because I had told him I was going to this party without him. I had a sudden strange feeling, like a hole had been ripped inside me.
I was lying on my back, but I had no idea how that had happened. I couldn’t remember. The bed was incredibly soft and cool, and my body felt like it was burning up. Brian’s body on top of me didn’t help at all.
He kissed my neck and nibbled on my earlobe, but it only annoyed me. I felt no little warm shock in my nerves like the ones Will gave me with the slightest touch.
“You’re really hot,” Brian breathed into my ear. Beer smell blasted my cheek.
I grimaced and turned my face away. “Thanks.”
He leaned over me, pushing his chest into me as he sucked on my neck sloppily. His mouth moved and his lips shoved against mine. I jerked my face away and pushed at him, but he was so heavy. Whatever he was doing was kind of gross, like a dog slobbering all over me.
“Don’t do that,” I said with a grunt. “Brian, no.”
He pushed me deeper into the bed. I shoved my hand into his shoulder, but I didn’t have the strength to do much. The effort made me so tired, and I relaxed. His hands covered both of my breasts, and I lashed out in fear and shock.
“Okay, Brian,” I said, almost suffocating beneath his weight. “That’s enough. I said no. Get off me!”
One hand squeezed my hip and played with the bottom of my skirt, his fingers treading dangerously north. I squeezed my knees together and brushed at his hand to move it away, but he pushed his thigh between both of mine, parting them, and his hand kept going. A burning hot finger hooked around the elastic of my underwear.
“Brian, stop!” I shoved my hands at his uselessly as tears budded in my eyes. This was getting bad. So, so bad. If my head hadn’t been spinning so much, I could have stopped this, but it was impossible to summon my powers.
When his mouth pressed against mine again, my body locked up and I twisted my face around. My power surged weakly, and he startled at the zap against his skin, but his confused pause only lasted an instant before his hand grabbed my chin and forced my head straight and he kissed me harder. I couldn’t focus enough to shove him away. Panic was sapping my strength.