Rage With Benefits

Chapter 14: Step Two... Oh sh*t

"Asher said it was stupid and apparently got Shawn to agree with him," Emery answered, shrugging into the black leather jacket he opted to go for. "He's hosting a blacklight party."

"Oh. Nice." Ian has never been to a blacklight party before since he rarely accepts invites. He's always wondered what it would be like to get drunk in a room full of colors, he only hopes it's not worse than he imagined.

"I heard Blake got arrested in one of these parties two years ago," Emery stated.

Ian let out a surprised huff. "Really? What happened?"

"I don't know. He's a lot worse person when he's drunk," Emery finished as he stepped out smelling like musk, a scent he supposedly hates.

"I wouldn't argue with that," Ian laughed, narrowing his eyes at Emery's choice of cologne. "Why are you wearing musk?"

Em shrugged. "It fits."

A couple of seconds later, there was a knock on the door, followed by approximately 20 loud doorbells that made Ian want to crawl back into his mother's womb. "What the hell?"

"Trick or treat motherfuckers!" a voice that sounded a lot like Blake's yelled from outside.

"Speak of the devil," Emery snickered, running down the stairs to welcome the boys. Ian frowned, leaning over the rails.

"You didn't tell me they were coming," Ian told him.

Emery ignored him and opened the front door, smiling as he was greeted by Asher and Blake, followed by Cameron, and then finally, Bryce.

"About time you fools show up," Emery said, eyes darting on Asher. "White shirt and jeans? Really?"

"What does it matter? We're all gonna be shirtless anyway," he countered.

Emery sent him a questioning look. "What do you mean?"

"He means body paint," Blake answered, smirking. "I'm thinking of getting Dwayne Johnson's face on my back."

"So I dressed up for nothing?" Emery frowned, making the rest of the guys snicker.

Bryce stayed silent on his phone behind Asher, face emotionless as he scrolled through whatever app was launched on the screen.

"Pretty much."

"Where's Ian?" Cameron asked as his eyes scanned the foyer before it finally landed up the second floor where Ian stood, waving his hand. After making sure Bryce wasn't looking up at him as well, he jogged down the stairs, feeling his phone in his back pocket to make sure that he didn't forget anything before they left.

"Let's go!" Blake exclaimed, running towards the garage and making his way up the front of their ride. "I call shotgun!"

"Hey!" "No way!" The boys protested as Blake shut the door close with a smirk.

Ian just laughed under his breath, eyes subtly swaying to the side in search of Bryce who was leaning against the wall across him, eyes still glued on the phone. He sighed, trying to recall what kind of stupid thing he could've possibly done last night that ticked Bryce off to not respond to any of his texts.

Inside Emery's car, Ian plopped in between Bryce and Cameron with Asher chilling by himself behind them. Blake was in front, of course, blabbering about the things he's gonna do tonight. They were all disgusting, so Ian decided to tune him out as the car pulled off the garage.

With Bryce sitting beside him, Ian could feel the tension building up in the confined space of the vehicle, leaving him uncomfortable and sweaty as he thought of ways to alleviate his nerves.