CHAPTER ONE
This definitely wasn’t how I saw my night going. If my parents found out where I was, I’d be helping them decide on my tombstone inscription and choosing a casket come morning.
With the way things were at home right now, maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. I didn’t want to die but a vacation a few feet underground wasn’t sounding too terrible.
I weaved around a couple that was practically dry humping in the middle of the makeshift dance floor, searching the mass of gyrating bodies for my sister. The sheer amount of people here made it hard to search for one specific person.
It would’ve been helpful if she told me what she had on. At the very least she could’ve relayed where I should go for us to meet up.
A guy dressed as a creepy pig bumped into me from behind, nearly knocking me down. The liquid in the cup I was holding sloshed over the side and onto my hand.
I steadied myself and glared at the back of his latex head as he shuffled by without offering an apology. He reeked of alcohol and something else. Why the hell was he even wearing a costume? Did he somehow confuse June with October?
Ugh. I hated everything about this situation. I hadn’t seen or heard from my sister in nearly three weeks. The last time I saw her was when our mother quite literally threw her out of the house. She dragged her across the floor and through the front door. It was one of the only times I’d seen her get physical with my siblings.
Fast forward to thirty minutes or so ago when I’d just stepped forward to order my large popcorn from the concession stand and she sent a random text asking me to meet her here.
Of course, I came. I don’t know why she did though. Lamia had always loved to party but given her current predicament this wasn’t anywhere she should be. Even I had declined tonight’s invite. I knew there would be a larger crowd than usual given it was early summer.
Some of these people were fresh out of high school. Others were university students like Lamia. A few had graduated from both a long time ago and still made an appearance. I personally found that to be a little disturbing when it came to the guys looking to pick up girls.
I continued making my way around the room, every so often recognizing a peer amongst the nameless, sweaty strangers.
The mansion had been transformed into a miniature nightclub decked out to the max for this occasion.
I’m not sure his parents would agree, but Troy Sainte had truly outdone himself this year. I’d ask him to help me find my sister, but I knew he’d want something in return, namely a blow job. That wasn’t happening. I’d sooner choke on a piece of shit.
With a defeated huff, I turned on my heel and rescanned the room as far as my eye could see. Taking a good look at the crowd, I began to make sense of why Lamia chose to meet here.
When she was thrown out, she was essentially exiled from my life. We weren’t supposed to be speaking anymore. This was a perfect place to meet without being spotted by someone on our parents’ payroll or looking to kiss some ass.
We were too well known to go anywhere local without risking it getting back to them. I would’ve agreed to that too, though. She was worth the potential consequences. Unlike the rest of the family, I couldn’t just forget her existence. I missed her more with each passing day.
My sister was one of my best friends which is why I assumed she would be eagerly looking for me too. She had to know that I’d be coming with Melantha and Gracelyn. I rarely went anywhere without those two.
Where the hell could she be for her not to have spotted any of us yet? I was starting to grow concerned. Had she left for some reason? We’d been searching a good twenty minutes and she was no longer reading any of my texts
It was too loud in here to call her.
The sheer volume of the music wasn’t going to allow for that. I could feel the bass through the tips of my red-bottomed pumps.
Just as I avoided a head-on collision with a girl in a mini skirt, Gracelyn reached out a hand to help me escape the vortex of aggressive twerking I’d almost been sucked into.
“You find Mia?” she leaned in and yelled, damn near destroying my eardrum in her attempt to be heard over the music.
I spared her the same pain and shook my head to indicate I hadn’t had any luck. She tapped the red cup in my hand with a perfectly manicured nail. “What’s this?”