26. Bellamy

TWENTY-SIX

bellamy

Wolf bounced a quarter across the table, ringing the cup then telling Hendrix to drink while I shot off a text: You're sure Arlo can stay again?

Miss Wright: For the third time. Yes. He's begged all day. They're having a good time.

Me: Thank you. I'll be there to pick him up at ten.

"Who you over there texting, Bell?" Hendrix moved behind me, craning his neck to try to catch a glimpse of my screen. "Drewbers?"

"Fuck off, shithead." I closed out of my messages and slipped the device back into my pocket, then bounced a quarter into the cup and told Hendrix to drink.

"Happy Birthday in prison, Zepp." Wolf tipped back his beer.

Hendrix grabbed a Miller Lite from the cooler, cracking it open and pouring it into the sink while humming the birthday song.

This was shit. I bounced the quarter and rang the cup. "Drink, Hendrix."

He chugged his beer, then sank into the chair across from me. "Zepp said they didn't give him a cake. Such bullshit."

"It's a prison, dude," Wolf said.

Hendrix pushed his sleeves up and leaned back in the chair. "I told Zepp when I saw him today that we beat Harford's ass again. He said that was the best birthday present ever." Hendrix cackled, then fell silent, twisting the tab on his beer back and forth until it pulled loose.

We sat in silence for a minute, drinking and thinking. The doorbell rang, and Hendrix shot up to answer it. Girls giggled, and seconds later, Hendrix had them in the kitchen, plying them with cheap vodka. Music cut on in the living room as more people filtered in. And this was what we all needed, a distraction from the shitty reality of Dayton.

"Hey, Bell!" Hendrix shouted, holding a tequila bottle in one hand and whiskey in the other, pouring them both into a Mega Gulp cup. "Mary thinks you're hot." He waggled his eyebrows toward one of the girls he'd escorted in.

"Congratufuckinglations, Mary," I said, barely glancing at her.

Wolf laughed, and Hendrix scowled before putting the liquor down and rushing to Mary's side to wrap his arm around her. "It's all right, Mary. I think you're hot." He shot another glare at me.

"Dude," Wolf slid the quarter across the table to me. "You just passed up a hot girl."

"That?" I thumbed back to the girl I probably would have thought was hot before Drew. "Nah, man. That's nothing."

He lifted a brow. "That's not nothing? That's a pair of double D tits and a girl who I've heard has a suck like a vacuum."

And nothing about that appealed to me now. I scrolled through my phone, changing Drew's contact back to Baby Girl. Medusa didn't fit her, even if she was most likely going to seduce me, then fuck me up.

I shot off a text: When are you going to come back over so we can finish what we started?

More people came into the kitchen. Girls in tight dresses, guys who wanted a piece. The pungent smell of weed filled the air as some people passed a smoldering bowl back and forth.

Baby girl: I don't know. That's twice you've left me hanging. I expected more, bad boy

The balls on this girl. I took a sip of my drink, leaning back in the rickety kitchen chair.

Me: We were already at third base in my head until cock block happened.

Baby Girl: Peehead actually

Baby girl: And just so you know, getting frisky on a driveway is not my regularly scheduled Friday night activity

Me: Yet…

The thought of having my hand up her skirt, my lips on hers, sent a drop of precum rolling to the tip of my hardening dick.

Baby Girl: Maybe it was a limited time offer. Maybe I only want to fuck you when I really hate you...

Hate me. Like me. Those words seemed to be interchangeable these days. And I'd take that.

I tossed the quarter into the cup and told Wolf to drink.

Me: On a scale of 1—10, how much do you hate me right now?

Baby Girl: You're sitting at about a 5. You need to up your game

Baby Girl: How much do you hate me right now?

Me: More than enough

A girl in a short skirt perched on the table beside me. "Heard you beat up Bennett?"

"Yeah. Fuck off."

She frowned. Another girl took a seat across from Wolf. "Yeah, Nancy. He beat him up over that Barrington girl."

I glanced up just as she rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I did. You got a problem with it?" They both pushed up, shouldering their way into the living room. Girls got on my damn nerves.

Baby Girl: Good. It wouldn't be half as much fun if you didn't.

Me: I want to see you.

Baby Girl: When?

Me: Now.

Seconds ticked by. Those little bubbles popping up then disappearing.

Baby Girl: I'm grounded.

Me: And?

Me: Rich girl with daddy issues who has a thing for the bad boy of Dayton...

Bullshit, you'd pay attention to being grounded

Baby Girl: Who said I have a thing for you?

Me: Your wet pussy when I had my fingers in it last night.

Baby Girl: And they say romance is dead...

Me: You should come to Hendrix's house. It would ruin his night....

Baby Girl: Maybe...

Hendrix whacked me on the back of the head, then shoved a beer at me. "Drink, you hairy sack of balls." Then he wandered off into the living room, grabbing a random girl and grinding against her to the beat of the music.

"What you wanna bet, he pukes before midnight?" Wolf said, nodding to Hendrix, already stripping out of his shirt.

"Probably."

And then I pulled up the FindAFriend app on my phone, smiling when I saw that she hadn't blocked it. Because like I'd told her, she craved this chaos. And, damn, wasn't it shit she was moving to New York for college?