Against All Odds

Chapter 20

STELLA

"I love you so friggen' much!" Sadie slurred, her voice a lamentable little whine as she draped herself around my shoulders as we staggered over the threshold of the beach house.

I mean, I wasn't entirely sober myself, but it had been years since I saw her this wasted. A gentle laugh escaped me as I stroked her back and supported the majority of her weight and guided her towards the stairs. "Love you too, Sades."

"And you!" Sadie declared, snapping a finger towards a nearby ornamental vase set upon a sturdy stone pillar flanking the staircase. "I love you, too!"

I considered the stairs dubiously for a moment before changing direction, aiming for the elevator instead. Thank God for rich parents and extravagant beach houses.

"I love everybody!" Sadie continued to howl, lurching to the side to find another victim. Behind us, the other girls were making their drunken way inside. "MIA! Miaaaaa!"

I winced. Even if the property was vast, I was pretty sure our distant neighbours could hear that.

"Oh my God!" Mia said and stumbled against the stairs. "I am so hungry. Who wants a burger?"

Braylee fell against the bottom steps, her shoes dangling from her fingers as she snickered at nothing and everything. "I could eat five burgers," she said. "Mmm... cheese fries. Fuck yeah."

God, food did sound amazing right then. Sadie pivoted away from me, beelining towards the other two with a gait reminiscent of a newborn lamb. "Guys! Guys!" Her slurred speech was imbued in a tone of heavy importance, and I couldn't help but watch on to see what would unfold. The bride-to-be stumbled into Mia and together they fell atop Braylee, a heap of shrieking giggles and tangled limbs encased in ridiculous leopard print dresses. "Wait, wait!" Sadie urged around her laughter. "I need to tell you something!"

"What?" Mia asked, blinking owlishly. "You have burgers here?"

"No, no-"

"Sssh, she's trying to tell us she has cheese fries," Braylee interjected.

I wondered if I had stopped drinking sometime during the evening, conceding that in all likelihood I had in favour of Killian's attention. It was a drug in itself, a natural high- catching his eye from across the dance floor of a dingy pub, having his hand on my thigh under the table as we sat shoulder to shoulder.

Or maybe, just maybe, for the first time in a long while, I hadn't felt the blinding need to immerse myself in the party around me in order to have a good time.

Huh.

"No, no, no!" Sadie was whining. My gaze caught the entrance of Sipho, Killian and Dom as they swaggered with more grace than us inside the house, closing and locking the door while they were at it. Meanwhile, Sadie swung an arm around both Mia and Bray's neck, the gesture heavy and cumbersome as they all appeared to tilt wherever weight was shifted. "What I want to say," she slurred, dark tendrils of hair drooping over her face, "is that I love you. I love, LOVE you guys so-"

"Think that's our cue for bedtime," Sips announced. Effortlessly, he hoisted his fiancée into his arms, grinned widely at his friends behind him, and sauntered up the stairs with a few parting words. "Awesome party, Kills. Goodnight, everybody!"

A drunken slew of greetings followed in their wake, Sadie's protests drifting further and further away.

My skin prickled with awareness and when I turned, I found Killian's amused gaze. He came to stand beside me and everything within me came alive. Giddy, insensible- I was reacting like this was my first love all over again. Just the tiniest of gestures enough to send me reeling. Stifling the urge to shake my head, I offered him a small smile, which he returned.