Soul (Chaos #1)

Chapter One

Chapter One

My best friend slapped a stranger's arse so hard that she shook her hand with the pain. I was surprised she could feel anything after all the alcohol she'd consumed. But she deserved to drink herself into oblivion after an argument with her boyfriend of three years had ended in him saying he needed "a break."

The guy laughed and kept walking, but his girlfriend whirled around and asked, "Are you for real?"

Beautiful, belligerent Zoe grabbed my arm for support while waving her fingers in front of the woman's nose. "Pinch me and find out."

The young woman scowled and pushed her boyfriend ahead of her on the path."Waster."

Zoe's grip tightened. "What was that?"

The woman stopped, shook her head, and turned back to face Zoe with an ugly expression. "I called you a waster. Got a problem with that?"

"Jesus."I stepped between them and glared at the woman who looked as if she wanted to slap my best friend silly. I did, too, but I wasn't about to let anyone else go there. "She's drunk. Don't be stupid."

"She just-"

"I know. Now jog on."

She stared at me for a couple of seconds. She obviously saw the same thing most other people did in my eyes because she linked arms with her grinning boyfriend and walked away.

I turned to Zoe with a sigh. "Go home, Zoe. You're drunk."

Her mouth widened into a dopey smile. "I like peachy bums. What can I say?"

"No, you like bugging Darren."

As if on cue,her on-again, off-again boyfriend roared something incomprehensible at us. He and a group of our friends had somehow managed to get roughly half a mile ahead of us while I tried to shepherd Zoe to a taxi rank. In her state, it was no easy task.

She stuck out her lower lip and glanced around. "Should I have slapped her for calling me a waster?"

"You are a waster." Hiding my grin, I urged her toward our friends. "Taxis are this way. Move, please."

"How do you do that, though? Get people to just... back off? The look. Teach me it."

"I'm just charming. It's a natural-born gift that can't be taught. Now keep walking."

She tottered for a few steps until a passing car beeped at her. She whooped and made a move to lift up her top and flash them.

I grabbed her hands just in time then readjusted her clothes. I knew I should have hidden those extra shots she'd ordered right at last call."You're a disaster. I hope you know that."

Her pale blue eyes filled with tears. "A break, Cara. What the fuck is a break?"

"It's drunk talk for I want a night out with the lads."

She grinned. "I fucking love you."

"If you loved me, you'd hurry up before I freeze to death."

She made a face at my goose-bumped legs. "What are you waiting for? I'm starving!"

She ran surprisingly fast. I followed as quickly as possible, waiting for her to fall. She didn't, and the others slowed enough for us to finally catch up with them on Conyngham road, away from the brittle winds blowing over the River Liffey.

I reached the group just in time for Zoe to burst into tears because Darren refused to acknowledge her. Ignoring the inevitable argument, I folded my arms in a vain attempt to keep warm. On a December night in Dublin, I should have been wearing something ugly and heavy.