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Dean returns his glare, confidence and anger radiating off him. “If the tiny shoe fits.”
Terry grabs the beer bottle closest to him on the bar and whips it at the floor, sending pieces of glass flying everywhere.
I squeal as glass torpedoes around us, but I’m not hit, because as I jump, Dean does as well, pushing me back and holding me to his side as he does.
Adam and Dylan jump the opposite way so they’re now facing us, and I meet Adam’s wide eyes.
“I thinkyoushould leave,” the bartender tells Terry, noticing his hostile behavior for the first time.
“I think you should leave!” Terry fires back at the innocent bartender.
Dylan snorts. “Quick comeback, my guy.”
“I’ve had enough of you—”
Security is on us now, cutting Terry off and showing up right before it looks like he was going to take a swing. They’re about to remove all of us, when the bartender says something in Spanish and security rounds on Terry, pulling him out of the pool party and leaving the rest of us alone.
Terry’s friend is left behind. “Sorry, guys. He’s not usually that bad. He’s drunk and fighting with his girlfriend. Not making excuses, but yeah. Sorry about that.” He rubs his neck awkwardly before turning to follow his friend.
Dean, Dylan, Adam, and I are all staring at each other, trying to process what just happened.
Dylan’s the first to speak. “Dude wasdefinitelyovercompensating.”
And with that, the tension evaporates, and we all start laughing. I realize belatedly that I’m clinging to Dean’s side, his muscled arm wrapped around me, pulling me close, and heat spreads through my face and down my neck in a bright blush.
I step back from him and angle some hair in front of my face to conceal the redness. Dean looks at me and smiles reassuringly.
“Is everyone okay?” Adam asks, since we’re a bunch of half-naked people around broken glass.
We all take inventory of our various body parts and determine that we’re unhurt. We offer to help the staff clean up the glass, but they shoo us away. It’s a good thing there are multiple bars at this party or there would’ve been more people around to witness Terry’s wrath.
“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I need to get drunk ASAP after that fiasco,” Dylan says once all the glass is cleaned up. He leans over to the bartender. “Four shots of tequila, please.”
Tequila?! I’ve never had tequila. It’s basically Faye’s drink of choice when she goes to a party, but I’m not really a drinker.
Those four shots better be all for Dylan.
“Hey, what happened with that guy, anyway?” Dean asks as Dylan tips the bartender more than necessary, probably for having his back.
“Literally nothing,” Adam says, eyeing the little shot Dylan offers before reluctantly picking it up. “Dylan and I were talking, waiting for our turn to order, and he backed up intoTerryby accident.”
“Yeah, the whole dropping-his-beer thing was an over-reaction,” Dylan adds, holding a shot out to Dean, who takes it, and then turns to offer one to me.
I stare at the drink but don’t make a move to take it from him. It smells like rubbing alcohol. Everyone’s looking at me, waiting expectantly for me to accept the shot, but I hesitate.
“I’ll take it for you,” Dean says with a gentle smile, reaching for what would be his second shot, and it hits me: no one’s forcing me.
Faye’s not here ordering me to have fun, and my parents aren’t here demanding I be responsible, and the guys aren’t peer-pressuring me into doing something I don’t want to.
I take the drink from Dylan’s outstretched hand before Dean does because Iwantto.
“It’s okay,” I tell Dean, holding the sticky glass between my pointer finger and thumb.
“Hell yeah!” Dylan exclaims, holding out his own shot. “To Terry!”
We laugh and echo his statement, clinking our glasses together before downing our drinks in one gulp. I almost choke on it, and it stings the whole way down, but I still force a swallow. Dylan laughs and hands me a lime, which I gladly accept and greedily suck on to get rid of that awful lingering taste.
“Four more tequilas, please!” Dylan immediately orders, then turns to face us with a mischievous gleam in his eyes.
