“Aren’t you going to do something about this?” Kaylah asks, coming to stand by my side as she watches both of our boyfriends make fools of themselves as they try to perform the lift at the end of ‘Dirty Dancing.’

  “Nope,” I laugh, watching on in amusement. “I want to see who they decide will be the girl.”

  “Damn,” Aiden murmurs on my other side. “I’ll be the girl in that sandwich.”

  I laugh before rolling my eyes. “I told you, I’m not good at sharing my toys.”

  He grins back at me before watching the boys once again. “You know, if you two just started running towards them, I bet you’ll both end up in the air.”

  Tully scoffs. “Or they’ll both end up in the hospital.”

  “Yeah,” Kaylah says. “I’m not taking that risk.”

  “Fuck it,” I laugh. “I am.”

  I take off and Tully’s high-pitched squeal of terror has Noah spinning around to face us. He takes me in and a moment later, I’m right before him. “You better fucking catch me,” I yell as I take my last step.

  Naturally, Jesse gets in his way just as I launch myself into the sky. Noah’s hands find my waist and I’m launched up as the two boys go down beneath me. I drop down on top of them with an 'oomph' and lucky the alcohol in my system has me seeing the funny side and not the side where I wake up in the morning feeling like I was in that car accident all over again.

  “Fuck me, babe,” Noah laughs. “Are you alright?”

  “Fuck that,” Jesse groans from somewhere beneath me. “This better be Henley’s ass in my face and not yours, Noah.”

  “Nope,” I laugh. “Not mine.”

  “Ugh.”

  The boys scramble around and before I know it, Nate and Tora are right there, taking advantage of Jesse being down on the ground, turning this into the best kind of brawl.

  As the night goes on, so does the fun. I can't believe I was fighting this at the start. Tonight is one of the best nights I've ever had and that's partially because Noah can hardly control himself. I've never seen anything like it when it comes to him. He's usually so composed and in control, yet the love of his life suggests that he's a pussy and he's willing to do just about anything to prove her wrong.

  Noah has disappeared with Maxen and I'm assuming they've been talking about the new track, but really, with the state the two of them are in, they could be doing anything right about now. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if tonight turns into the second night I have to bail him out of a jail cell.

  Everyone has shown up. It’s been incredible. We had Spencer walk through the door not long after Aiden arrived and he even managed to give me a small smile and held an apology in his eyes for the rumors that were spread. Had that not happened, I probably would have shown him the door, but considering he offered an olive branch, I let him stay. Though, that might also have something to do with the fact that he’s Aiden’s cousin and he tells me over and over again that Spencer isn't such a bad guy, hoping I give him another chance. I guess, we'll see about that, but for now, the guy can stay and party.

  The real shock though was looking up from my red Solo cup to see Monica squeezing her way through the dance floor. Rage instantly flared through me until I remembered that I shoved her head into her desk a few weeks ago when she didn’t deserve it. We have already sorted our differences and I've already gotten revenge for what she'd done to me, so really, the way I acted the other week when the video came out was uncalled for.

  Monica’s eyes met mine over the top of the red Solo cup and at that moment, I decided to put it all behind me. You know, be the bigger person and all that shit. I nodded and she nodded right back, and then I watched on in amusement as a massive weight lifted from her shoulders. A second later, she happily joined the party and as far as I'm concerned, she's been enjoying her night ever since.

  I guess it feels good to finally close the door on that chapter, but one fuck up from her and I'll be more than happy to open it right up again. I have a feeling she doesn’t need me to warn her of that, though. The message is crystal clear.

  Chapter 8

  With the party in full swing, I go searching for Tully and Aiden who have been spending most of the night hovering around the fire out the back. They’ve been doing a great job of pretending that they’re together. They flirt and touch each other all the time to the point no one would even question it despite the fact that not a soul has seen their lips lock and that Aiden’s eyes have been traveling over all the football players asses since the second he started at Haven Falls Private.

  They’re the perfect couple, apart from the question of his sexuality. They get along great, they’re constantly laughing, they watch the same movies, they’re constantly giving each other advice and building the other one up. To be honest, I think I’ve been replaced though it doesn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. It’s more of another person to hang out with opposed to someone taking my best friend away.

  I barge my way into my best friends and grab each of their hands. “Come on,” I tell them, dragging them back towards the door. “We’re dancing.”

  “Slow down,” Tully demands.

  I look back over my shoulder and laugh as I realize that she can barely stand on her own two feet and has Aiden struggling to hold her up, but they’re both more than willing to join me. Maybe we’ve all been drinking a little more than we should have tonight, but who cares? It’s my birthday and I have a shiny yellow car that’s so much more kickass than anyone else’s…maybe even Noah’s, though I won’t let him catch me saying that.

  Speaking of Noah; I wonder where the hell he is.

  Tully, Aiden, and I get ourselves inside and start shaking our asses, just as Noah had instructed me to. We dance, we laugh, and we get stitches when it all becomes too much only for us to do it all over again. I mean, for the rest of the people here not to realize Aiden is gay is some kind of miracle. I know he looks like every other jock in the room, but he’s the only one of them whose style of dancing isn’t to grind his junk into some chick’s ass, though I have a feeling Tully would approve if he wanted to give it a try.

  Someone crashes into my back and I spin around to find Alyssa staring at me in horror. “Shit,” she cringes before she begins rambling. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I promise. It’s just this guy knocked into me and I fell and…”

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” Tully demands.

  I place a hand on Tully’s arm as Alyssa turns towards her, her eyes instantly trailing over the black cast Tully still wears on her arm and the pink scars from the accident. “I…I…Um.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I say to Alyssa. “It’s fine.”

  “Um…what?” Tully grunts.

  I turn back to Tully. “It’s fine. You know just as well as I do that Rivers was using her, just like you were doing with Rocko. What the hell is happening with him, by the way?”

  “Your point?” Tully prompts, clearly not wanting to discuss Rocko right now.

  “My point is that Alyssa didn’t know that Rivers was going to vanish into thin air the way he did. It’s not her fault, just as it’s not yours, or mine, or Noah’s. Alyssa was just a pawn in whatever game he was playing.”

  “I know,” Tully grumbles towards the floor, “But I still don’t like her.”

  “Yeah, you’ve made that clear,” I scoff before narrowing my eyes on Alyssa. “Why would you come though? Don’t get me wrong, it’s a party and you’re welcome, but if I was in your shoes, I’d probably have sat this one out.”

  Alyssa’s eyes flick to Tully and it’s clear that she’s worked out that there’s a little more than friendship between Tully and Rivers. “I just had to see him,” she says before letting out a sigh. “I figured that if there was going to be a time that he showed his face, it would have been tonight.”

  “Yeah,” I grunt. “I think we were all hoping for that.”

  Her eyes drop to the ground. “He was never really into me, was he?” she questions before looking to Tully again. “Because he’s already in love with you.”

  Tully’s eyes tighten and I see a wall come down as Aiden slips his hand around her back, giving her the comfort we all know she needs right now. I mean, talking about Rivers and seeing the girl he was with instead of her surely couldn’t be easy. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tully says, dismissing her.

  “Oh,” Alyssa mumbles, looking away and making it clear she doesn’t believe her. “Well, um…”

  “I think you should walk away now,” Tully says.

  “Right, um…ok.” And with that, Alyssa quickly scurries off.

  “Did I even want to know what the fuck that was about?” Aiden questions, looking between me and Tully. “And who the fuck is Rivers?”

  “Shit,” Tully moans. “We’re going to need a few more drinks if we’re going to get into this.”

  “Damn straight, we will,” I laugh, taking both their hands and squeezing our way through the house towards the kitchen.

  It's been such a huge night. We’ve had noise complaints which brought the cops who saw what was going on and realized that no matter what they did, we were still going to party. We’ve had angry parents showing up, looking for their kids. There’s been an idiot attempt to snort something off Violet’s good coffee table who was promptly kicked out on his ass, minus the goods.

  There’s nothing better than a true Haven Falls party.

  We get into the kitchen and realize the table set up with the drinks is an absolute mess, but that’s expected. Empty bottles have been tossed aside, half empty cups are littered all over, and the table is drenched where people have spilled and not bothered cleaning up after themselves like the pigs they are.

  The need to tidy filters through me and I start straightening out the bottles and throwing the empty ones into the trash. I mean, is it really that hard for other people to have done? It’s common sense, right?

  “Leave it,” Tully says as she works on pouring some more drinks. “We’ll clean it in the morning.”

  “No, I just want to…AHHHHHH,” I scream as an arm wraps around my waist and hauls me back towards the dance floor. I start clawing at it as it’s certainly not a tattooed, familiar arm.

  “Ow,” a voice calls. “Quit pinching me.”

  I look back over my shoulder and realize it’s Jesse dragging me away and manage to relax just a little, that is until I see the chair that’s been stolen from the dining table sitting in the center of what’s currently being used as the dance floor.

  “No, no, no, no,” I start shouting, desperate to get away. I know I don’t know Jesse all that well, but having a lone chair, surrounded by hundreds of people all cheering for me couldn’t mean anything good. Add Jesse Ryder to the mix and I know with one hundred percent certainty that this is not a place I want to be.

  Jesse shakes his head as he tackles me into the chair with a wicked grin before Maxen appears out of nowhere with a roll of duct tape. “I didn’t want to do this,” Maxen tells me, “But you leave me no choice.”

  With that, Maxen starts wrapping the duct tape around and around as Jesse holds me down in the chair. I notice Kaylah standing behind Jesse, clearing space as Tully and Aiden watch on with amused and confused stares. “Will one of you bitches please help me?”

  “No way,” Tully laughs. “I want to see what they’ve got planned.”

  “Come on,” I groan as someone turns down the music. I start looking around for my boyfriend, hoping he’s about ready to show his handsome face once again and save my ass. I mean, if he knew these guys that I hardly know were holding me down like this, I’m sure as hell that he’d have a problem with it. “Where the hell is Noah?” I call as Jesse stands back to survey his handiwork.

  I try to move but my arms and legs are held hostage. Jesse shrugs. "Don’t know. Haven’t seen the kid in ages.”

  Damn.

  “Will you at least tell me what’s going on?”

  Jesse grins, pretending to think about it. “Umm…no.”

  Once the boys are certain that I’m secured enough and that every eye in the room is on me, Maxen laughs. “Are you ready for your present?”

  If my back could straighten, I’m sure it would right now. I narrow my eyes on them but a commotion at the front door draws my attention away. Not a moment later, Maxen breaks away and start barging his way through the crowd, clearing a path from the front door.

  “Shit,” Tully grins, bouncing on her feet. “Please tell me there’s about to be hundreds of firemen strippers up in here.”

  Fuck. My eyes go wide. That’s the only thing that could make sense right now. I start shaking my head, desperate to be released. The last thing I want is some dirty ass strippers rubbing their junk all over me. “Let me go, Jesse,” I demand.

  All the fucker does is grin at me before winking as stepping back to stand beside his brother and Tora. “Come on, guys,” I whine, pleading with big eyes to Tora.

  She looks as though she’s about to cave when Jesse leans over and whispers something in her ear before she bursts out laughing and gets herself comfortable, leaning against Nate with his arm wrapped securely around her.

  Kaylah soon joins them and it’s clear by the smirk on her face that she already knows what’s going on and I shoot her a look, one that she would know means that she’s in trouble. All she does is smirk.

  The commotion at the door quietens down and before I know it, I see Maxen standing by the front door with a massive box that’s currently balancing on a skateboard.

  What the actual fuck?

  I look over to Tully and Aiden who both watch on in confusion. Tully’s eyes meet mine and I see devastation within their depths, clearly very disappointed that the house isn’t being overtaken by hot firemen. “What the hell is going on?” I question.

  She shrugs her shoulders. “I’ve got no fucking idea.”

  I look back to the box as it comes rolling towards me with narrowed, cautious eyes. Surely, the Broken Hill boys wouldn’t do anything to risk pissing off Noah so it couldn’t be too bad, right?

  The box comes to a stop before me and Jesse’s best friend, Tyson, steps forward to help lift the box to remove the skateboard from beneath it.

  People start stepping forward, wanting to get a closer look as curiosity gets the best of us all. Maxen pulls a pair of scissors from the back pocket of his low hanging jeans and holds the scissors over the top of the box before grinning at me. “Happy Birthday, Henley,” he says before slicing through the tape.

  The second he finishes; the box starts falling apart. All four sides begin coming down and it’s as if it happens in slow motion. I wait impatiently as the cardboard begins to reveal what’s inside and when it does, a slow grin starts spreading across my face.

  It’s a fucking cake. The biggest mother fucking cake I’ve ever seen with two massive candles at the top. “You got me a cake?” I laugh.

  Maxen steps up to the side of the cake with a light. “The cake is only the start of it,” he tells me, reaching over the top. The second the fire hits the candles; they turn into two little explosions. Fire streams out of them like fireworks and the whole room starts singing the most dramatic version of ‘Happy Birthday’ that I’ve ever heard.

  I let out a sigh. I never know where to look when people sing me ‘Happy Birthday.’ Do I look at the people and make it awkward? Look at the cake and appear like an idiot who can’t control her sweet tooth? Smile like a loser or keep a straight face? I freaking hate it. It’s the one thing about birthdays that truly sucks.

  I end up doing a bit of everything and feel extremely awkward, that is until halfway through when the cake explodes into a million tiny pieces and my boyfriend comes shooting out of it in nothing but a bright pink thong and a joint hanging between his fingers.

  Cake covers everybody. Girls squeal, guys laugh, Tully roars in horror, while all I manage to do is gawk at my drunk off his ass boyfriend in a fucking pink man-thong. He starts towards me, his heated eyes on me, proud as ever in his lingerie.

  Embarrassment floods me, but Noah couldn’t give two shits which is when it all goes south. Ginuwine’s ‘Pony’ begins playing through the speakers and he puts on one hell of a show, rolling his body and doing his best ‘Magic Mike’ impersonation as cake drops off him in chunks.

  I mean, it’s fucking hot, but he’s going to regret it in the morning. It’s clear as day he’s a mix of way too drunk and high, which no doubt will come back to bite him on the ass tomorrow. I mean, that joint between his fingers means he no longer has the power to hold my joint experience over my head.

  Checkmate, Noah Cage.

  As nearly every phone in the room hits record, I have no other choice but to relax and enjoy his willingness to put that exceptional body of his on display, knowing tonight is about fun while tomorrow’s theme will be ‘damage control.’

  Chapter 9

  The late afternoon sun streams through Noah’s bedroom window as I lay sprawled across the top of him, hating how my head has seemed to ache since the second I woke up half an hour ago. Noah hasn’t moved an inch since he passed out last night and I tend to keep it that way.

  He’s not going to be a happy boy when he wakes up later, especially when he realizes that he was getting around in a pink thong for hours. In fact, he’s still in it and while he’s confident enough in his sexuality to get away with it, it’s not exactly a look I ever envisioned for the man I’m desperately in love with. Don’t get me wrong though, it was certainly a sight to behold as he moved his body while I licked cake from his abs.

  The insistent screeching of someone’s phone comes from the living room. I ignore it for a while but on the fifth ring, it has Noah stirring beneath me and without a doubt, Noah needs another few hours before he can even pretend to act like a decent human being.