Murder She Wrote (Book 2)

15. Gone Girl

Veronica's POV:

I searched through the entire house looking for Ryan. I couldn't find him until I came across a large circle of people crowded in one spot near the living room. I could hear Ryan's voice coming from the crowd and the sound of yelling along with laughter. I maneuvered my way in the middle of the crowd to get a glimpse of what was going on. To my surprise, I saw Ryan strapped to a chair in the center of the crowd. He had two different bottles of liquor being poured into his mouth by two women I hardly even recognized. His head was tilted back as he kept on drinking from the bottles. His drunk friends were clapping and hyping him up instead of thinking about how ridiculous and dangerous this actually was. He on the other hand, didn't seem phased about the large crowd he drew. He was probably enjoying every second of it. He looked a mess and his face was bright red. I can't believe he's stupid enough to go this far with drinking. I knew if I didn't put a stop to this, he would end up blacked out unconscious on the floor.

His words about me being too sensitive and uptight was still lingering in my mind. I'm frustrated, but confronting him about it now would be useless. I broke the crowd apart and shoved myself through the middle. "Okay, that's enough everyone!" I yelled. Everyone's cheers and laughter died down. The woman who stood by his side, stopped pouring the liquor into his mouth. That's when I finally caught Ryan's attention. "There you are! I was looking all over for you," he said with a stupid grin on his face. He could barely keep his eyes open. "You should join us! We're playing a drinking game," he kept on slurring his words.

"I shouldn't. And I think you should stop too," I said to him in a calm way so I wouldn't get stares from everyone around me.

"Why would I stop, I'm having fun like you told me. Right everyone!" He yelled out. The crowd started clapping and cheering along with him. I rolled my eyes in annoyance.

"Don't you think you're being a little bit irresponsible," I whispered closely in his ear.

"Relax it's just a little alcohol that's all," he responded back to me.

"You're drinking from two different bottles of alcohol, you can get really sick from it," I tried explaining to him even though he clearly wasn't listening.

"Fine, I'll do one more round I promise," he said.

"No. I'm sorry but I'm not letting you drink anymore.....I'm sorry everyone but we're gonna have to stop it here," I informed everyone around me. The disappointment from the crowd were clear from their facial expressions.

"No we're not. We're doing one more round," Ryan spoke up. I slowly turned my heel and looked at him with crossed arms. "It's my party, don't let this be another thing you ruin for me."

His last choice of words sounded personal and it slapped me right in the face. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I don't wanna do this now, not in front of everyone," he said.

"No, say what you had to say," I stood there not even caring if my voice was loud enough to be heard. "I know you're showing out in front of your friends, drinking and acting like a fucking child but don't think that gives you the right to disrespect me like that. You're 35 not 17. Act your fucking age."

His jaw clenched, knowing that every single one of my words triggered something within him. He got up from the chair and took a hold of my arm. The next words he whispered in my ears was something I wasn't expecting. It caught me off guard because I wasn't expecting him to say that to me, and I was hurt by it. I looked back at him to make sure he was actually serious, and the cold hard stare on his face told me he was more than serious. I snatched my arm away and walked away from him.