Page 80 of Disobedient Pawn

As usual, I felt like an outsider. I should be used to this feeling, it wasn’t new, but I’d secretly hoped this party would be different and I’d have a great time, feel confident to talk to new people and maybe dance or try something crazy like play a game of pool. Instead, I watched everyone around me get hammered while I stayed sober until I was no longer involved.

I kept an eye out for Blake or Myles as I moved from one open space to the next. Was it stupid of me to still be looking for Myles? Oh, it definitely was, but I still did it. I stared at a guy chugging two beers at once while making a complete mess of himself. Avoiding him as best I could, I stepped around him and ran straight into a solid chest.

“Hey, watch where you’re….”

I looked up and locked eyes with Nash. My body flushed as the memory of laying over his lap skipped across my mind like it was playing fucking hopscotch. Of course, he was here. I’d hoped he wouldn’t be, and when I hadn’t seen him all night—even though Vicky was floating around with her group of Chaos Creators—I thought I’d lucked out.

“You were saying,” Nash said, his mouth pulling up at the corner.

“I was saying watch where you’re going. You almost ran me over,” I said, then gasped when his arm snaked around my waist and pulled me into his body. “What the hell Nash? Have you been drinking, or are you just this stupid? I don’t want anything to do with you. Why is that so difficult to understand?”

I expected the glare and the threats, but I wasn’t ready for him to drop his head to the side of my neck and inhale. An uncontrollable shiver started all over my body, and my stomach flipped and twisted into knots.

“Keep telling yourself that, Princess, but we both know better. Remember, I heard your moans and felt you wiggle under my hand. If you want, I could take you to a room right now and finish what we started.” His warm breath fanned my ear, and I could just make out the hint of alcohol.

“I’d rather eat chocolate-covered dog shit. Now let go of me before your girlfriend sees and thinks I have something to do with her boyfriend being a jerk who can’t keep his hands to himself. She’s already a pain in my ass, I don’t need her having anymore reason.”

He chuckled, and the deep sound vibrated against my neck. It took all the willpower I had not to rub my legs together. Nash lifted his head just enough that our eyes once more found one another, and all I could hear was the pounding of my pulse in my ears as it drowned out the thumping of the loud music.

“I told you I was going to fuck you.”

“And I told you I’m not interested.”

We were at a stalemate, neither of us pressing forward or yielding, and even though Nash’s terrifying aura made me want to slip around him and hide, I knew I couldn’t. Nash was a bully, and if he thought I was scared, it would only feed the need to keep pushing me around. I refused to give him that satisfaction.

“You’ll change your mind, Princess, and when that day comes, maybe I’ll be the one not interested.”

Nash stepped around me, and as his hand caressed my body, leaving a searing sensation. After the other day, that feeling was committed to my memory. I took a shuddering breath.

Just walk away, don’t look back.

Why couldn’t he leave me alone? He had a fucking girlfriend, and whether I liked her or not didn’t matter. There was no way I was getting between that mess. No, scratch that. Even if they were no longer together, I wanted nothing to do with Nash. He seemed determined to try and break me just because I stood up to him, but I never would. One of us would end up killing the other.

I slipped into the bathroom and took my first deep breath since I arrived at the party. After using the toilet, I washed my hands but couldn’t bring myself to head out into the group of partiers.

“What was I thinking,” I said to my reflection. I sat down on the edge tub and put my head in my hands. For once, I wanted to feel normal, like a teenager that did normal teenager things, but I wasn’t normal and wouldn’t know the meaning of the word if it hit me in the face. I was the girl that people avoided inviting to parties or did, but only so they could make fun of me. There wasn’t a cool bone in my body. I wasn’t gorgeous or popular or really anything else. I was this bore, that didn’t drink, smoke or do drugs. I studied hard and was in bed when I was supposed to be. I was genuinely the kid everyone else hated.

Wiping a tear from my cheek, I couldn’t help wondering about what Myles said earlier. Could he be telling me the truth? Could he actually be the one person that is interested in me despite all my strangeness? It seemed far fetched.

A hard knock at the door made me jump.

“Just a second.”

Standing, I glanced at myself in the mirror before opening the door and stepping out into the attack of the Chaos Creators. That could be a video game. Vicky was leaning against the wall with her girls fanned out beside her, each wearing an identical scowl.

“Wow, you look like a happy bunch.”

I stepped away from them as Vicky stuck her head in the bathroom.

“Ew, were you shitting in there?” She yelled, drawing looks from all those standing around.

A couple of kids swung their phones my way as they laughed, and I could feel the heat radiating up my neck.

“No, although it is a natural bodily function. Maybe that’s why you’re always full of shit. You’re backed up,” I snarked. “Try some fiber. I’ve heard that helps.”

Vicky’s grating voice called out as I walked away.

“Oh yeah, then why do you have shit on the back of your dress. I didn’t think that rag could look any worse, but you pulled it off.”