Chapter 1
Jade Rivers
The music thumping through the speakers did something to my insides. Every single party. Every single time. It made me feel a way I could never feel when I was at home, especially when I was alone. I closed my eyes and my body moved with the music. Every beat drop, every thrum, every note. I sighed with contentment. My body stayed with the tempo. Music was the only thing that could break me from my shy shell. It was the only thing that gave me the nerve to approach guys, especially the ones with the tattoos and piercings. It was the one thing in my lonely life that gave me something my parents couldn’t buy. It made me feel.
Tonight there was someone new. There was always someone new, but this one didn’t look like the bad boy type. No, this one didn’t pretend to be bad. His arms were covered which was a surprise for how hot it got in these parties. His face was clear from any piercings and his hair was cropped short. No, he didn’t look like the typical bad boy I went for. But he didn’t need tolookdangerous, he felt it. Danger rolled off of him in giant waves, waves bigger than the music pulsing from the speakers. He held a beer in his hand but he didn’t take a sip from it. He watched the room with calculating eyes. Eyes that seemed cold when they finally landed on me. But cold was the last thing that I felt with his gaze washing over my body.
If it hadn’t been for the music wrapping around me, I wouldn’t have grinned at him. My lips stretched away from my teeth and I gave him the best smile I could muster. His dark brow inched up his forehead and he turned away from me. I ran my tongue over the front of my teeth as the smile disappeared. He wasn’t here to pick up women, he was here for something else. Something I couldn’t give him. Which was fine because there was a man at the other side of the room giving me the grin I had just tucked away. This one had a gold ring through his lip and his neck was covered in black, swirling tattoos. My heart skittered to a stop. I winked at him and closed my eyes as I continued to move to the music. Maybe he would get the hint, maybe not. Whether or not he did, it didn’t matter. I would carry on with my night and someone else would try to entertain me.
After a few seconds, the right amount of time it would have taken for him to get to me, I opened my eyes. I was ready to throw him a disappointed pout, except he was gone. And so was Mr. Danger that had been hanging out on the other side of the room with his untouched beer.
My Apple Watch dinged on my wrist and I groaned. I knew this was going to happen. I had wasted too much time scoping the guys out and not enough time making moves.
A text rolled through from my Dad-“Your car isn’t in the driveway. Don’t forget you still have a curfew while we are away.”
I pushed through the throngs of people bumping and grinding against each other. The front door was wide open and the lawn to this home was trashed with beer bottles and red plastic cups. I stepped over a passed out couple on the front steps. The cold metal of my car keys dug between my thumb and my pointer finger. I knew better than to walk to my car alone this late at night and not be prepared to fight. It had happened a few times. I liked to party alone and it had caused some of the worst types to take notice. Not in the ways I liked either.
The ones that followed you to your car in the middle of the night weren’t looking for something kinky, more like something permanent. Like death. My keys had saved my life more times than I wanted to count. You would have thought I would have come to learn not to go to parties alone anymore, but I kept coming back. Any rager was a good time, even if it meant a little danger in the process. After all, that thrill did pull me in.
But that was my problem, I had always been attracted to the bad boys. The bullies especially. The ones that had such a bad, wicked gleam in their eye that most people had the right mind to stay away. Not me. There was something about that sinful gleam that had me coming back for more each time.
This time had been a bust though. My parents had surveillance all around the house. They loved to know what their only child was doing while they went away on vacation. I didn’t mind, I preferred the solitude, but I didn’t exactly like the constant watch in the sky. When I did get to go on vacation with them, when I wasn’t at school, it was always enjoyable. In fact, I probably got into more trouble while we weren’t in our little university town. Parties were always better internationally.
The wet grass squashed under my boots as I found my car one street away from the party. The party I didn’t remember getting an invite to. I scratched my neck as I thought about it. How had I even learned about this party? It wasn’t like it was a secret but usually I could remember more about it like a text or a flyer that had been passed around after class or stapled to a door somewhere.
The music could still be heard from all the way over here, even after I got into my car and closed the door. I was surprised the police hadn’t been called yet.
My little beater car started up quietly and I pulled away from the street that was entirely too close to the university I attended. That was probably why the cops hadn’t been dispatched. There weren’t many people around here who cared, who weren’t at the party themselves, and the rest? They were probably too old to hear the music anyway.
When I pulled into my freshly pressure-washed driveway another text rolled through on my watch.
Mom-“Thanks for meeting curfew! Goodnight, I love you!”
I narrowed my eyes at the doorbell camera. It was creepy that they knew everything. But they had grown up in a time that didn’t have all of this. They reminded me daily of the kind of peace it gave them to be able to see anything and everything on their property. One of these days I was going to figure out how to put it on a loop.
Chapter 2
Jade Rivers
Fire was all everyone could talk about come Monday. The party I had attended had turned more than rowdy after I had left. The upstairs bedroom had been ablaze while the rest of the house was untouched by it. The rumors swirled around me as I tried to pay attention in my classes and walk around on campus. No matter where I turned, everyone had something to say about what happened. No one knew anything according to the police. There were plenty of things that didn’t add up about it either, starting with the room being completely incinerated but the remnants of blood sprayed across the walls. How could they tell that if the room had burned so hot that they couldn’t identify bodies? The bodies had been burned so badly that all they could do was guess on who they were and go by eyewitness accounts. Neck tattoo boy had been one of the ones to go into the bedroom and never come out. At least that’s what the whispers said.
There didn’t look to be foul play but there wasn’t much to go off of. The police around campus knew a few students were into blood and fire play, and without a body, what could they prove?
I buried my hands in my hair as my history professor droned on about Ancient Egypt. It was usually my favorite topic but I couldn’t stop thinking about the guy from the party. If I had escaped with him that night, would he still have died or would we both be dead? A chill washed down my spine and I rubbed my hands down my arms to keep myself warm. I wasn’t usually cold in class, but something wasn’t right about what had happened at the party. Would this put a snag on others in the future? I felt guilty for even wondering that. But a girl had to get out and have a good time somehow. My professor cut his lecture short and laughed. It startled me from my thoughts.
“I always get so passionate about this!” He plucked his wire-frame glasses from his nose. “Your essays will be due next Monday. No class on Wednesday! Have a great week.”
I doubted I would be able to focus on any of it, my brain felt fried, which was weird enough. Usually after a good party, I felt rejuvinated and ready to crush all of my classes. I knew saving it for the weekend was a bust too. There was another party but this one was at one of the frat houses. An excited thrill washed through me as I read the text on my watch.
My friend Tracey from my math class texted me to tell me about it. I didn’t know if she was really a friend or just a fellow partier. But I didn’t mind. I enjoyed being let in on all of the school drama as well as the free booze that would come with the weekend. I didn’t always drink, but if Tracey was going to be there, I could let loose. I trusted her in a way I didn’t let myself trust others. I usually stayed away from others, but somehow she had managed to wiggle her way into my heart and life.
The rest of the week passed in a blur. I finished my essay at the library on Wednesday and forced myself to stop listening to the drama around campus about neck tat dude. It was bad enough he had been killed, but now no one would stop talking about it. His favored parking spot was full of flowers and art. After the first time I had walked past it, I decided I could park on the other side of campus. There was something about death that didn’t feel good. The thought of it always made me want to panic. With it being so close to me, I didn’t like it even more. It could have been me up there. How would my parents handle that?
Loss had never been something I had to go through, but I had seen enough movies to get the gist. Just one more day to the party and I could forget everything. I could get lost in the music again and hopefully find some hot company for the rest of the night. But it also meant that my nights would be cut short because my parents were coming home Sunday. That wasn’t something I wanted to think about either. That meant until their next vacation all they would want to do was stay up my butt. No late nights, no parties, and especially no boys. I missed them, but I liked having my freedom. I loved being able to go and do as I pleased with them only worrying about my curfew.
Thank goodness Tracey was going to be there and I could finally let it all go. I could finally party to my heart’s content. My last night of freedom for a little while. I could wait one more night.
I turned this way and that in the mirror. My hair was pulled up and away from my face. My clothes were as tight as I could manage. Tonight was going to be the night, the night I completely let go. It was time. I was going to find the guy that had danger coming off of him in tidal waves and I was going to kiss him. I was going to enjoy every single moment of this night. I was going to do what I could to seduce him. I deserved it, after all. It was like a treat for myself. I had finished my essay, I was making good grades, why couldn’t I just let it all go for one night? What could go wrong?
