I Found You, Something Told Me To Stay - (Jason Berry/Zacky Vengeance)

Chapter Thirty-Seven.

I knew immediately that he’d have stolen it, but I smiled gratefully all the same and he began leading the way up a garden path and to the worst-looking house in the whole street.

As soon as someone opened the door, I was hit by the distinct smell of weed and alcohol. Unfortunately, it’d stopped surprising me, seeing as it was such a common occurrence now. As usual, some drugged-up guy greeted us at the door, sharing some sort of handshake with Ronnie and then smirking at me as I walked past him and entered the house.

Instead of leading me into some abandoned room and just getting drunk with me like he usually did, Ronnie grabbed my hand and pulled me into what I was guessing was supposed to be the living room. There were a couple of old, dusty armchairs that were occupied by two guys, both with a girl each on their laps. Everyone else in the room had taken to the floor.

A guy and a girl were knelt down at a coffee table, each snorting a line of cocaine, while in one corner, another guy and girl were making out. There was just one other guy who seemed pretty content by himself, sat in another corner, smoking a joint.

I felt uncomfortable already. Ronnie seemed to mistake it an enthusiasm somehow, as I glanced at him and he grinned at me, tightening his hold on hand and pulling me over to the loner guy in the corner.

“Nathan, dude, this is Midge.” Ronnie said to him, kicking his leg to gain his attention. “Midge, this is my cousin Nathan.”

With that, Ronnie pulled me down to the floor so that I sat directly in front of Nathan. He said nothing for a moment, his joint still hanging out of his mouth as he slowly inhaled the smoke, staring me up and down. Eventually, he took the joint away from his lips and held a hand out to me, at which I hesitantly shook it.

“Where’d you find this one, huh, Radke?” He chuckled, continuing to stare me up and down as he shook my hand. “She’s tiny.”

“Honestly?” Ronnie laughed along. “I met her down at the station.”

Immediately, Nathan looked more interested. He retracted his hand and stared between Ronnie and I, tilting his head as he began to take drags on the joint again.

“Okay.” He said. “I’m gonna go ahead and guess...you got caught with alcohol?”

My eyebrows immediately shot up as I wondered how he could’ve possibly known. He didn’t seem at all surprised at my reaction. He actually looked slightly amused.

“How did you...” My words trailed off as I stared between him and Ronnie, still surprised. Ronnie just chuckled.

“I know your type.” Nathan shrugged. “You look pretty innocent. I knew it wouldn’t be anything too radical.”

“I wouldn’t go making any judgements just yet, Nath.” Ronnie laughed. “She only looks innocent because she’s small. Just wait until you get to know her.”

Nathan simply nodded, removing the joint from his mouth and holding it out towards me. I stared down at it with raised eyebrows, my thoughts immediately flickering to Zacky and how mad at me he would go if he found out.

“I’ll pass.” I shook my head. “Thanks.”

He glanced at Ronnie with a frown, mouthing something to him that I couldn’t quite catch, and Ronnie just shrugged. It just made me feel even more uncomfortable than I already did, but I tried my best to shrug it off as he handed the joint to Ronnie and sat back, staring at me.

“Drink your vodka, Midge.” Ronnie said, staring at me as he took multiple drags on the joint. “Enjoy it.”

I cracked it open and began to drink it from the bottle, simply hoping that it might take the edge off of me a bit. I was used to sharing it with Ronnie, but there seemed to be plenty more bottles around, so I had it all to myself this time.