Chapter Twelve
RAIN
The music echoed in a way that should be impossible. It was as if the building itself had become a speaker for the sound. The floor vibrated with the bass. The metal supports for all this glass resonated with the singer's voice. Whether it was country, EDM, or death metal, the sound quality was impressive - and the nectar I'd sucked back made it impossible to stand still.
For hours now, I'd been dancing. Usually that was with Aspen, but Hawke, Wilder, Keir, and even Torian had come to join us throughout the night. Yeah, and I may have had a few more glasses of the sweet syrup the fae loved so much.
Since that shit didn't cause a hangover - and was supposedly rejuvenating - I had no reason not to. Tonight was New Year's Eve. It was the end of the old and the beginning of the new. In so many ways, that was a metaphor for my life right now.
I'd been unwanted. Now I had dads. Two of them! I had friends. Most importantly, I had Aspen, and she kept looking at me as if I was the most beautiful girl in the world. The dancing had made us both sweaty, but the way her hair stuck against her neck looked good. Her electric blue eyes had me entranced. The rest of her?
As we gyrated to the song, I watched her breasts bouncing. The flow of her hands was almost a tease. I could imagine them sliding down my sides. The thing I couldn't get enough of, however, was her mouth. Thoseburgundy lips, painted to match her shirt, were full, lush, and parted a bit as she panted with exertion.
Fuck, she was beautiful. I wanted to kiss her and keep going. I wanted to see where my tongue would end up, no longer caring if I looked stupid doing it. I was scared of taking things further with her, mostly because I'd never done it before, but that didn't feel important right now. I just wanted her, because the stuff in this drink - was it even alcohol? - made all my fears and insecurities fade far, far away.
"Why aren't you into my brother?" she asked out of the blue.
I laughed and kept dancing, but when she ducked her head a moment later, it was as if she was reminding me to answer. Granted, Aspen had taken a few breaks to suck back some nectar too. Together, we'd had a few more glasses. Sometimes when dancing, sometimes not, but this shit was starting to add up.
"Seriously?" she pressed. "You know he's into you, Rain."
I scoffed at that. "Your brother is into himself!"
"He's really not," she assured me. "But is that why you're not hitting on him?"
"No, I'm not hitting on him because I like you more!"
And that made the biggest smile take over her face. "Yeah?"
"Yeah," I agreed, shifting a little closer so our gyrations matched.
Laughing, she backed up, waving a hand between us. "None of that! Nope. We're being good."
"But I don't wanna be good." I fake pouted, catching her hand. "I feel all warm and fuzzy!"
"Which means we both need another drink," she decided, using that contact to tug me to the side. "More nectar never hurts. Besides..." She flashed me the amazing smile she had. "...It's almost midnight!"
I sucked in a breath, trying to check the time. Just one little problem: I couldn't find my phone. Not that I didn't have it. Nope, I simply couldn't remember which pocket I'd put it in, and this outfit only had two where it would fit.
First, I grabbed one butt cheek. Next, the other - which had a suspiciously phone-sized lump. Pulling it out, I tried to read the screen while Aspen kept towing me onward, but my eyes just wouldn't focus. Granted, the smile on my lips was basically stuck in place too.
Yeah, I liked this fae stuff. It had all the giggles of alcohol without the downsides. Huh, I wondered why.
"Is this shit magic?" I asked, waving at my face.
"Yes, you're magical," Aspen assured me.
"The drink, silly!" I insisted, pretty sure I wasn't quite pronouncing my words properly.
The smile she gave me did nothing to prove me wrong. "Are you tipsy?"
I tried to scoff, but it sounded more like a raspberry. "Far past that!"
So she pulled me closer. "It's made from whatever the tree has that makes magic," she explained, now hugging my side as she angled us both towards the silver oak. "Humans usually get happy on it. Fae get drunk, because it's like magic - but not quite all the way to magic."
"Ah..." Somehow, that made sense to me. "So Wild magic likes it?"
"Dunno." She glanced over, running her eyes across me, but not in a sexy way - sadly. "I'm going to guess it does, because you are fucked up, aren't ya?"
