I wasn’t counting on it. We’d spent the morning with them, and they likely had a lot on their plates.
We entered the loud football house, and Lil fell back to buffer Emiliana’s other side. A sliver of annoyance hit me that Marissa hadn’t thought of Emiliana’s issues with being touched or how her even going to a party was a big deal. Even tipsy, Lil had Emiliana’s back.
I tilted my head ear to shoulder and was rewarded with a satisfying neck crack. “All right”—I shook off my weird mood, reached for the bottle Lil held, and got into the reason we were at a party in the first place—“let’s do this!”
“Sofia.” Dane’s voice boomed over the music. The football player cast a wary but hungry glance at Emiliana before his gaze jumped back to mine.
Never gonna happen, Dane. He was one of the defensive ends and a total teddy bear wrapped in a mammoth body.
“Whatever you guys need, just let me know.”
I patted his solid chest and grinned. “Thanks. We’re going to dance.” I did a hasty scan of the crowd, picking out some of the players I knew. “Get Chase and Zion. We need a perimeter around us. Not interested in picking up any randoms, and it would be… better”—less blood would be shed—“if no one approached us.”
Emiliana snorted. “Why not make it interesting?”
“Evil, Em.” Lil shook her head. “Hey, Dane.”
We were only at the party because most of the guys on the team were cool. A few weren’t, but our friends kept them away, mainly because they worried about what we would do. It would be bloody if our families got involved.
Dane motioned over his head for the two guys I’d mentioned. People parted as we moved into the living room, where many danced. Dane stiff-armed the stupid ones who thought they could approach us. We could handle ourselves, but having football-player backup made it easier, less messy.
I caught a glimpse of Tony, who had found Marissa, in a corner and notched my head in their direction so that Emiliana knew. Eva waved then lifted her Solo cup in a toast from across the room. Guys were congregating around her. She was in her element.
As usual, Marissa did her thing, floating back to us like the social butterfly she was from time to time. She needed to talk to Tony about getting their own place away from his father’s home, so I wasn’t concerned that she’d already gone her own way. Some of the guards fanned out for better coverage. I didn’t see any close to Marissa, but it wasn’t unusual for Tony to tell them to back off, that he had her.
“Chase.” Lil smirked then pulled the mammoth guy to face her as she rotated her hips in a figure eight to the beat. His light eyes sparkled with desire, and she threw her head back and laughed.
I faced Emiliana, linked our hands, and raised them over our heads. She grinned before doing a similar move to Lil’s. With the guys surrounding us, Lil at Emiliana’s back and me at her front, she was as free as she could be in such an environment. Neither of us was drinking, and I would keep it that way to support her.
Laughter bubbled up, and I let joy fill me as the music changed to something steamier with a heavier bass, vying for control of my heart as I melted into the beat. Through the writhing bodies, I searched for a glimpse of Marissa. Emiliana did the same. We both spotted her, still drinking and dancing with Tony.
When Lil turned, pointing somewhere beyond Chase, I shifted until I had a direct line of sight on our party friend. Tony was no longer by her side, and Marissa had wrapped an arm around some random guy we couldn’t see through the crowd. “She’s crazy.”
“Crazy stupid.” Emiliana leaned close to be heard above the music. “Tony’s the jealous type. If he hears about her dancing up on anyone, he will lose his shit.”
I shrugged. “It’s Tony. She can control him.”
She frowned. “Maybe.”
“We’ve probably got about an hour before the guys show up.”
She nodded, and I did my best to dismiss the thought of Enzo or Stefano, or worse, one of my brothers showing up to kill our fun. They’d been tightly wound since we spotted Ivan. I got it. Big bad Bratva making an appearance wasn’t good. But it was our campus. No one would push us out or control what we did.
With that final thought, I let the vibrations of the music wash over me, heightening my energy as I laughed. It was bliss, and I sank into the experience of dancing and hanging out with Emiliana and Lil. My football friends were doing what we needed and keeping the idiots who didn’t realize the risk they took with their lives by approaching us at bay. Tonight, I preferred them over our guards, as it gave us a sense of freedom we didn’t quite have.
Emiliana grinned, and I moved in tandem with her, loving how her eyes sparkled. She was alive, free, and with us—comfortable enough to let go, creating memories we could share and keep.
Lil never strayed from our little circle, but I shot Chase a warning glare to ensure he didn’t take advantage of my friend's drunkenness. I didn’t think he was that stupid, but anything was possible.
Time passed in a blur of movement. Our bubble remained intact until it didn’t. I sensed rather than saw another body closing in. My fingers slipped under my shirt, curling around the knife tucked into a hidden slot in my jeans at the small of my back. I half pivoted as a tall, athletically built guy stretched his hand toward Emiliana. She shifted into him before I finished my rotation.
Emiliana stopped dancing and shoved him back. Then she leaned into his space. “Any part of you that touches me is something I’ll cut off.”
A glint of silver flashed when she drew her blade, taunting him to try it. God, I loved that girl. She was wickedly fierce.
He raised his hands, fingers spread and palms up as he took a hurried step away. I laughed. Zion moved half a second later, grabbed a handful of the guy’s shirt, and flung him backward. The drunken fool landed in a heap a few feet away from us while people shrieked at being jostled until they saw the look of imminent death on Emiliana’s face and fury radiating from Zion.
Lil snorted. “Fucking idiot.”