“Hell if I know,” I muttered. “I stopped keeping track of his whores.”
My tone came out uglier than I’d intended, and Duck gave me a sharp look.
“Sounding a little bitter there, Emmy Lou,” Duck said. “You aren’t in the mood to have fun, maybe you should go home. This isn’t a family party and Picnic’s free to screw whoever he wants. Not your job to judge.”
I sighed, knowing he was right. Dad was definitely free—to the best of my knowledge, he hadn’t even had a steady hookup since Mom died. I wasn’t in charge of his social life and if I was going to be uptight about sex, I was in the wrong place. I looked over to see two blondes with long legs, short shorts, and cutoff tops wrapping themselves around Painter, taking turns giving him congratulatory kisses.
Oh hell no.
I wasn’t leaving him alone with those hos. Tonight was do or die—he’d be mine or I’d be done with him. If I stayed, I might end up in Painter’s bed. I might not. But if I left? One of them would be sleeping there for sure.
“What he does is up to him,” I muttered. I left Duck to grab a couple of cups, filling one for each of us. I brought it back to him and then stood and watched the crowd.
Everywhere I looked there were couples.
Marie and Horse, Bam Bam and Dancer . . . Ruger and his random skank of the week.
“Holy shit,” I burst out, almost spewing my beer.
“What?” Duck asked.
“That’s my teacher from cosmetology school over there with Ruger,” I muttered. “Oh, she is such a cunt. She failed me three times in a row just because Dad didn’t call her back after he f**ked her.”
Duck snorted out a laugh.
“Good thing you’re all graduated, because Ruger won’t be calling her back, either.”
And just like that, my good mood was back. Go Ruger!
“I’m gonna congratulate Painter,” I said.
“Have at it,” Duck said. “But remember—this is his time to cut loose.”
“I know,” I replied. “Maybe I can help him celebrate.”
Duck’s expression clouded.
“Emmy Lou, tonight isn’t the night.”
“It’s never the night,” I said, shrugging. Then I chugged my beer. “Don’t worry, Duck. You’ve always taken good care of me, but I’ve got it covered. I’m an adult.”
“Yeah, I know,” Duck replied. “I guess when I look at you, I still see you with pigtails and a doll.”
I rolled my eyes. Then I tossed my cup in the garbage and headed over to the newest Reaper.
• • •
Painter stood next to the bonfire, the two girls still hanging off him. I ignored them completely, because they were just club sluts and I was the president’s daughter. They didn’t rank compared to me and we all knew it. Painter gave me a slow smile as I walked up, and from the glassy look in his eyes I knew he was already well on his way to shitfaced.
“Hey, Em,” he said, reaching out and pulling me into his arms for a hug. Oh, he smelled good. Kind of woodsy and smoky, with an underlying scent of motor oil from the shop. His arms were hard and roped with muscle around me, and his body was hard, too.
Hellfire.
Painter’s dick was hard. I thought it was my imagination at first. Then he pulled me closer and I felt it again—bigger. Yeah, I know. V card. Little Miss Innocent. But just because I’d never done the deed all the way didn’t mean I was ignorant. I knew damned well when a guy’s c**k was poking my stomach.
Then he let me go and I stepped back, thankful that the sun had set because I knew my face had to be flushed. Painter looked down at me, and something almost magical hung between us. He stared at me like I was the most beautiful girl on earth, the woman he planned to claim as his own.
My dad walked up and slapped his back.
“Congratulations, son,” he said. “Proud of you.”
Just like that, Painter dropped his arms and turned away, apparently oblivious to our magic. Dad was well and truly cock-blocking me, and it was bullshit.
Wait, did it count as a cock-block if you didn’t have a cock?
“You have fun tonight,” Dad was telling him. “Tomorrow you rest and recover, because after that we’ve got work for you.”
Painter nodded, running a hand through his hair. One of the blondes who’d been hanging off him attached herself to my dad, and the other oozed back up to Painter right in front of me. I wanted him to tell her to f**k off. Maybe rip out some of that bleached hair. Instead he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for a hard kiss.
Damn it.
Dad’s eyes flicked toward me, assessing.
I turned and walked away.
Fuck that shit. I had my pride.
• • •
Two hours later I was well and truly drunk.
Maggs and I sat in the old tree house that attached to the children’s play structure with a rope bridge. I’d barely made it over the swaying net and wasn’t entirely sure I’d be able to get back down without help.
“Life is short,” Maggs said suddenly. Her face was sad.
“You thinking about Bolt?” I asked. She nodded.
“Yup,” she said. “I think about him every day, but particularly at parties like this. I’m tired of watching everyone else have fun with nothing at home for me but my magic bullet.”
I snorted out a little laugh, then forced it down because it wasn’t exactly appropriate. I couldn’t help it, though.
“Buzzzzzzzz . . .” I hummed with drunken precision. “You go through a lot of batteries? I know I do. Can you make it walk across a table if you turn it on high enough?”