“Sloane. Hence the vodka.”
“Damn it,” I hiss quietly, although not quietly enough it seems, when his brow furrows.
“My cousin doesn’t have a say in who I spend time with.”
“Ah, so you’re aware of how she feels about me, then.”
My knees threaten to give out, and I stumble a little.
“Are you okay?” he asks, reaching for me.
“Y-yeah. I just need to…” I thumb toward the door just behind me, hoping like hell it’s a bathroom, because I need a moment.
“Go for it. I’ll wait out here.”
I pause for a second, looking back at him.
“What?” he asks.
“You’re a good guy, huh?”
He shrugs, a slight blush hitting his cheeks.“Give me a chance and you might get to find out.”
I walk into the bathroom, more confused than ever. I thought he was using me to piss Theo off. Maybe he is. But I’m not sure if that’s all it is.
Guilt hits me, because I was fully intending on using him. But knowing that he’s being a gentleman and taking care of me right now… well, it makes me feel like the shittiest human on the planet.
I lower my arse to the toilet after fighting with my irritating but sexy bodysuit thing and undoing the poppers. Why I thought this was a good idea to wear on a night where I wanted to get off-my-head drunk, fuck only knows.
I’m still wrestling with the bloody thing some ungodly amount of time later when a knock on the door startles me.
“Emmie, you okay in there?”
“Shit,” I hiss, wobbling on my one leg, the other propped up on the toilet as I attempt to do the poppers back up. “Y-yeah. I’ll be right there. Underwear malfunction,” I say, quieter.
“Okay. Do you need… er… help?”
I run the idea through my head for all of half a second. “No, no. I’m good.”
Finally, I get the damn thing done up, make quick work of washing my hands, and pull the door open.
I find Ben standing with his hands deep in his jeans’ pockets and almost lose my fight not to roll my eyes at him.
“You good?” he asks, pushing from the wall, concern etched into his face.
A shadow at the end of the hall catches my eye as a coldness washes over me, but I push it aside. I’m too drunk to take it seriously.
I nod. “Get me another drink, yeah? That good shit your cousin would probably hate to know I’m drinking.”
“You got it, babe.”
His hand finds its home at the small of my back and we walk back down the stairs once more to rejoin the party.
A couple of people give us curious glances, seeing as the back of the house we just emerged from seems to be out of bounds, but I guess those rules don’t apply to family.
My steps falter the second we turn into the kitchen when we walk straight into Theo and Sloane.
“Cous, give us two more of those vodkas.”