Imperfect

Ten - Callan

With some help from the guys, we managed to get Ethan completely and utterly wasted. It took them a few minutes to catch on to what I was doing when I suggested playing drinking games, like we did when we were in college. They looked at me like I was insane. But Ethan had always been competitive and driven and it was easy to get a few drinks down him and then even easier to convince him to keep going.

And a few hours in, he sat on one of the black couches in the back room, a small brunette on his lap with her tits in his face and her tongue down his throat. I laughed at the sight. He definitely needed a good lay.

"Jesus Christ, she's eating him alive," Noah muttered from beside me. The two of us were slouched beside each other on the couch, taking a breather while Ben and Elliot played a game of beer pong with some of the girls that had danced on the stage. Although I think they were playing a slightly different version of the game as every time someone managed to get the ball in the cup, an item of clothing seemed to disappear. Mostly from the girls – which was saying something since they were only in their underwear to start with.

There weren't many of us in the back room. People were still either crowded around the bar, yelling their drinks orders, or they were on the dance floor, losing themselves to the music. The heavy base still thrummed through my whole body, beating up through the floorboards even from several rooms over. But it was quieter in here, easier to have a conversation without my throat going raw from yelling over the music.

It was also cooler, with huge glass patio doors that opened out into the back garden. The cold fall breeze was soothing against my sweat soaked skin after being crammed on the dance floor amongst a sea of sweaty people for hours on end. My head felt heavy from all the drink and my eyes were a bit blurred but I was content to just sit in this room, a beer bottle still in my hand, listening to the faint hum of the music and the chatter and laughter of my friends around me.

"Can I join?"

I heard some new people approach and join in the game of beer pong across the room, some guys, some girls, but I didn't really pay attention to the newcomers. Not until I heard one voice. "Hey, Ethan."

The tone was too aggressive for my liking and the voice, cold and sharp, sounded familiar, although I couldn't place it. Beside me, Noah raised from his slouched position, caution written across his face as he looked to E. I followed his gaze and saw my best friend brush the girl on his lap to one side, leaving her to bat her eyelashes, flustered and confused, while he rose to his feet. His skin was flushed red but not from the girl he'd just been lost in. His fists curled at his sides as I turned and I rose to my feet with him. There, on the other side of the couch E had been sitting on, was Ryan. I knew I'd recognised his voice. And his tone, one of pure arrogance and elitism.

Alyssa's ex.

Everything about his appearance was sharp. He was tall, almost sleek looking, with fair hair, piercing blue eyes and a razor-sharp jawline. Every edge of him was angled and smoothed to perfection, every movement was swift and calculated and every word was spat with purpose, puncturing where it would hurt. He was deadly, but not in the way that I knew, not in the way I was used to, with people in the ring. This man would never resort to physical fighting, not when it was so far beneath him. His weapon was his words and he wielded each one carefully, dangerously.

Alyssa had always been a sucker for a blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy. When we were younger, I'd found her magazines with all the boys that fit that description circled in pink love hearts. I'd made fun of her weeks about it. Threatened to show Ethan and told her he would go out and find every guy with blonde hair and blue eyes and that he'd make them all stay away from her.

She believed me. And I didn't blame her. I wouldn't put it past E to try.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Ethan snapped, his words slurring a little but still, he sounded enraged.