Swallow

Chapter 1.84:

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Riley scolded me and jumped back in disbelief.

Shit.

The girl took half a second to stare at her drenched shirt. My eyes slowly followed hers, surveying the damage I had done.  The whole front of her light gray shirt was stained with the brown, pungent liquid. 

The tattered edges of regret and remorse began seeping in instantly.  I had lost control of my body and mind again. My conscience searched for some way to remove the blame from itself and place it on her, but it came up empty-handed. 

I started to open my mouth to mumble out an apology and offer to take Riley back to the band house when the upset girl darted away from me. She headed straight towards the bonfire, walking as quickly as her legs could carry her. 

I took two steps and latched onto her forearm to stop her.

"Where do you think you're going?" I asked, pulling her back towards me. I was tired of watching her back as she threw her little immature pissy fits. 

"Don't you ever come near me again?"  She whispered harshly and wrenched her arm from my fingers. 

I crept up behind a furious Riley to grab ahold of her waist to stop her from leaving when I saw Anna, Aiden, and Brynn gawking at us with their necks craned in our direction.  All three of them watched every move we made and were ready to get up to come rushing to her defense.

I backed off from my Riley pursuit and let her go. It wasn't out of cowardice or fear of what those three would do, but more about not wanting to get the whole group involved in my battle against Riley.

There were things I knew we both weren't ready to share yet. Putting ourselves on display was a risk.

It was none of their business anyway and I sure as hell didn't need anyone else's input tonight.  Riley was nudging me too close to the edge of my sanity.  I was holding onto nothing but the air around me to keep myself from falling off.

"Riley, what happened?" Anna asked suspiciously as soon as the blond stepped in closer to the fire's warmth and protection. The flames flickered and wrapped Riley in an orange glow.  The flickering light reflected harshly off the liquor stain covering her. There was no way she could hide it.

Anna noticed the spot and gave me a hate-filled, accusatory scowl. I raised my bottle to congratulate her for successfully finding a way to irritate me even further.

I tipped the bottle back again to my mouth and sipped down another shot worth. The bottle had grown significantly lighter since Riley was now wearing most of it.  I would have to go back over the table for another sooner than later.

"I'm just clumsy. Where's the bathroom?" Riley asked in a tiny voice, insecure voice.

"I'll show you." Aiden's tail wagged as he jumped in again to play her savior.  Before I could step between them, he grabbed her hand and began pulling her up the hill towards the empty house.

Riley was wide-eyed when she turned her head to search my face hoping for a reaction. She was enjoying what this was doing to me.  I could feel the blood already pooling in the base of my neck.  My back tensed and spasmed. I clutched my fists tightly until my knuckles were white.  My teeth were going to crack under the pressure as I ground them down to nothing.

Why was she so determined to destroy me?

"What's wrong, Ezra? Did someone take your ball away?" Anna mocked me.

"Fuck off." I hissed, watching Riley walk away with Aiden instead of me.

They were busy, side by side, whispering secrets into each other. They couldn't get close enough to one another.