I wasn’t an idiot or a prude. Colorado had legalised marijuana a few years ago, it was perfectly legal to smoke it, I just chose not to. The guys were the same, they respected the right to do so, but it wasn’t for us.
Jay greeted some guy, who instantly unnerved me with his tattoos and piercings. The guy handed his smoke to Jay who took a big hit.
This was a bad idea coming here, I needed to leave.
I started to pull away from Jay’s side, but his arm tightened around me. He handed the joint back to piercings and looked down at me.
“Calm down darling, you’re fine, I need a drink,” he slipped his arm from around my shoulders and grabbed my hand pulling me to the kitchen.
I kept my head down as we made our way there. I didn’t want to catch anyone’s eyes or attention. The party had loud music, which was fine, but it had a tense atmosphere, I was not comfortable here.
The kitchen was packed. Jay shouted out greetings to several people and a lot of fist bumps and bro hugs ensued. He never once let go of me, I think he knew I was going to run.
He glanced down at me and chuckled. “Relax, no one’s going to bite you,” his eyes darkened, “except me that is,” he planted a kiss on my lips. I moved my head away. I wasn’t interested in being bitten by anyone.
“What do you want to drink?” He asked as he smirked at me.
“Water please. Bottled.”
He groaned and tugged me into his arms to face him. “Darling, what’s wrong?”
I looked around, there were more than a few people watching him, watching us. I didn’t want the attention. I smiled at him.
“Nothing, I just want water, driving remember?” I teased. He smiled and dipped his head again and I let him kiss me again.
He turned to get me a water and himself a beer when I noticed a few faces I recognised. They were glaring at me. One in particular was coloured several shades of purple and with a sinking realisation I realised this was almost certainly the guy that Colton had gotten to mid-week.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I was in trouble.
I tugged Jay’s hand and got his attention. He looked at me and I reached up to whisper to him. His eyes flicked up to the group of guys and he looked surprised to see them.
He handed me my water and then pulled me back into his side, we left the kitchen and he led me to a hallway. It was crowded and he started walking me up it to another room.
“Ok I didn’t know they were going to be here,” he started.
“I want to go,” I interrupted.
“We just got here, it’ll be fine. Trust me those guys aren’t going to do anything when I am here. Your boy got Gerry good, did you see his face?” Jay laughed out in disbelief. “God that guy can fight,” he added almost wistfully.
“You seem to appreciate Colton fighting an awful lot,” I muttered.
“He made us good money,” Jay replied sharply.
“What?”
“Nothing,” he sighed, “look if you want, we can leave.”
“Yes. I want to go,” I sighed. “You can stay, you don’t need to come with me,” I offered.
“No, I’ll come with,” he lowered his head and nuzzled my neck, “we can have some quality time alone.” My stomach lurched. Yeah, that wasn’t happening.
Just then the door from the kitchen opened and bruised face and a buddy came into the hallway. I noticed them and tensed.
Another door opened and a girl stumbled out of the toilet.
“I need the bathroom,” I murmured to Jay indicating the door.