Page 154 of Shattered Pieces

“You really thought you were being slick,” he snickered, glancing at me. “If you wanted to come and party, you could’ve just asked. You’re lucky this is a friendly party, or Diesel’s jacket would’ve gotten you shot already.”

I pointed at Faris, smiling silently and making Faris huff. “Oh, so now you’re going to stop talking?”

Marco smirked, taking my wrist and tugging me closer. “It was totally all him, wasn’t it? C’mon, you might as well stay now. We’re hanging out in the den downstairs.”

Caden looked tense, but Tyler and I had no problem following Marco down, knowing him enough by now to trust he wasn’t dragging us into a trap. Music was booming, and I scrunched up my nose when I noticed three girls in the corner, completely naked as they took turns making out with a guy.

“Bryant didn’t turn you?” he joked, making me scoff.

“No. Even if she did, fucking in public with an audience isn’t my thing.”

“That’s a shame. Hunt loves public displays of debauchery,” he smirked as we arrived at his little corner. Preston raised an eyebrow at seeing me but shuffled over on the couch to make room for us, Marco dropping down beside him. Tyler sat next, pulling me onto his lap in the process, while leaving Caden to sit in the armchair.

“Here,” Marco chuckled, grabbing three pills and offering them to us. Caden declined, not trusting the Devils’ drugs in the slightest, but Tyler happily took one and swallowed it dry.

I eyed Marco’s hand, not sure if I really wanted to get fucked up here, but Tyler took it and pressed it to my lips.

“Come on, baby. Get high with me. Their stuff’s good, promise.”

It would be good to have some fun and block out all the bad shit for a while. Despite being in complete denial at this point about Slash, his absence was really starting to burn a hole in my chest, and the shit with Caden and Skeeter wasn’t helping.

Why couldn’t everything go back to normal?

I opened my mouth and let him push his fingers inside, a beer appearing in front of me as Marco offered me his.

“Wash it down with that. You’ll choke if you try to swallow it dry.” He took a sip to show me he hadn’t tampered with the drink when I eyed it skeptically, and I reached out to take it, downing the pill. “What a good girl.”

I flipped him off because there was no way I could talk over the music without fucking up my throat, and Tyler’s lips teased the back of my neck as he pulled me back against him more.

It was nice just hanging out as the guys talked and Marco sold pills, the smell of weed filling my senses as Marco and Preston started sharing a joint.

Caden watched us all like a hawk, but I kind of hoped being around the Devils would ease some of his doubt about them. They were assholes, but they were safe assholes.

My body felt so much more relaxed once the pill kicked in, and I became hyperaware of the heat radiating from Tyler’s body.

I couldn’t sit still any longer, so I stood and took Tyler’s hand, tugging him to his feet.

“If you run into trouble, let me know,” Marco called after us as I tossed Diesel’s jacket at him, making him huff out a laugh as I dragged Tyler towards the stairs with Caden trailing behind.

The bass thumped in my chest as David Guetta’s remix of Sweat by Snoop Dogg blasted, and I let myself be free for a while as I just danced. No prison cell, no guards, no one to tell me what to do.

Caden stayed close, his eyes sharp and alert on our surroundings, while Tyler danced with me. We were sweating, my hands in Tyler’s hair as I let loose, and for a second, I did forget about the bad stuff.

Laughter bubbled out of me and I closed my eyes, enjoying the beat and atmosphere as we danced, and it took a while to convince Caden to relax too, but he eventually joined us.

He danced close to me but didn’t touch me, his eyes flicking over my tattoos every so often.

We lost hours dancing, only stopping when we needed a drink, and I grinned when I spotted Hunter eyeing us from close by. Marco was with him, the pair of them in a heated discussion that was most likely about me.

My vision was cut off by Tyler as he kissed me, my body reacting by leaning into him as if letting him take over for me. He was totally going to get me off a million times tonight when we left, and I was here for it.

Caden pressed in behind me a little closer, and part of me wished we could just pretend that he hadn’t left me. Drugs were bad, they made you want to do naughty things with people you shouldn’t.

“Some guy keeps looking at you,” Caden murmured in my ear, trying not to draw attention to us. “I don’t recognize him.” He pushed his luck by turning me to face him and pressing closer, warning in his eyes. “I’m not making a move. Look to your left. Do you know him?”

I stole a quick glance in the direction he’d said, scanning the crowd. It took me a second to recognize the guy since he wasn’t in his jacket, but he was definitely one of Razor’s boys.

I ran my fingers into Caden’s hair, pulling him closer and pressing a kiss just below his ear so I could try to talk without looking suspicious.