Alec coughs. “Hi, remember me? The best friend to your boyfriend, Jen?”
I spin, tilting my glass towards him. “Don’t blame me for this. He’s the one that turned an innocent comment into something indecent!”
Bing steps back innocently. “Don’t turn this around on me, Jen. You know how my mind works.”
“He has a point.” Lexy finally turns back to us. “Rub, or any variation of the word, is a dangerous thing to use around my brother. He could turn a rubber band into something sexual.”
Bing grins wickedly, putting a hand in his trouser pocket, and rocks back on his heels. I can almost see the cogs turning in his brain, making a rubber band into something sexual, and a very small part of me wants to know just how sexual he could make that. It makes me slightly worried that I’m entertaining those thoughts.
But then I accepted a long time ago I’m not mentally normal, so I’m not sure if worried is the right word.
Alec sighs, shaking his head, but a smile is touching on his lips.
“Don’t look now,” Lexy mutters, looking down. “…But this party is about to get a show.”
“I’m not stripping, if that’s what you’re hoping for,” Jayna’s sickly sweet voice says as she and Adrian join our group.
Ooo-kay. Their definition of staying away and Bing’s are clearly different.
I glance up at Bing, noting his hard eyes and tight jaw. Yep. Their definitions are as different as sex with a man and sex with a vibrator.
“If you were looking for someone hoping that, you’re about three streets over from the Blind People’s Monthly Convention,” Bing grinds out. His head snaps towards Adrian, and I see Alec glaring at the newcomer out of the corner of my eye.
If there was any more testosterone in this room, I’d have to wonder if I’d walked into a fourteen year old changing room at the leisure centre.
“It’s no wonder you’re single, Bing, with the way you talk to girls.” Jayna glances at him with disdain.
“Who said I was single?” Bing raises his eyebrows.
Woah, woah, woah! Stop right there and pull your thong from your ass. Bing isn’t single?
What?
“What?” Lexy asks, staring at him. “You have a girlfriend? Since when?”
“Since yesterday.” He laughs.
“Yet you’re here with another girl?” Adrian smirks. “Way to start a relationship. Are you sleeping with Blondie too?”
“Your balls are still on my list of Christmas decorations for Big Ben, Adrian. Don’t push it.” I smile at him, my voice deathly calm.
“I thought I told you to stay away from my sister, anyway?” Bing glares at him.
“Jayna wanted to come over.” Adrian looks at Lexy. Alec steps closer to her, and I bristle as the tension climbs another notch. Someone keep heavy objects away, because it looks like a caveman needs a club.
I fight my smile at myself again. Damn.
“Well she’s here. You can always go and get yourself a drink, Adrian.”
“I think Lexy can speak for herself, Bing.” Jayna looks between brother and sister, and I narrow my eyes at her. So what if I’m imagining what she’d look like if someone accidentally tipped wine all over her head?
“I can, and I think it’s best if Adrian leaves.” Lexy’s words are quiet but firm, and there’s no doubt in my mind that wasn’t a request. No, she was telling him to go. I feel like I need some pom-poms or something to cheer her on.
“Lexy,” Jayna implores. “We’ve been friends for years-”
“Things change, Jay. I’ve changed. Clearly I’m the only one that grew up this summer. The only reason you’re here is because your parents are friends with mine, and the only reason they’re here is because I befriended the lost little girl in year eight when she changed schools,” Lexy says coldly. “When I leave this hall tonight, that part is over. Friendship is a two way thing based on respect, and rubbing yourself against your “best friend’s” boyfriend the first time you meet him is not, by any stretch of the imagination, respectful. You have your life, and I have mine.”
Jayna sucks her bottom lip into her mouth, glancing at me sourly before looking back at Lexy. “That much is obvious. No need to get your knickers in a twist, Lexy.”
Adrian’s mouth curls up on one side. “Yeah, your boyfriend might not be able to untwist them for you.” His eyes find Alec’s. “But I’d be more than happy to help you do that.”
I move at the same time Alec does, jumping in front of him. Once again, I find myself nose to nose with Adrian, and this time I’m more pissed than a mama bear.
“You have five minutes to make an excuse and get your sorry ass out of this hall before I put you out myself,” I threaten. “Do not underestimate me. I’ve already told you once. No-one f**ks with my friends, especially not the ones that are like family. Fuck with them, and you f**k with me.”
Clearly not done, I prepare myself for the smartass comment that will come with the curve of his lips.
“I might have to carry on then, because failing Lexy, you wouldn’t be a bad person to f**k with, would you, Jen?” he whispers.
My hand shoots up. It meets another, larger hand. The fingers of the other hand link inside mine and lower it. I’m tugged to the side, and I find myself pulled through the throngs of people by Bing. He nods to someone stood by the stage where the DJ is set up, and they nod back, moving into the crowd.
“Who was that?” I ask as he drags me from the main hall.
“Security.”
“Security?” I realise he’s holding my hand. “Get off me.” I shake my arm.
“Nope.” He shakes his head. “I can’t trust you not to go running back after Adrian.”
I grind my teeth together. “I wouldn’t do such a thing.”
He looks back at me disbelievingly, and opens a door. He pulls me through it into a small room, and after he shuts the door, he lets me go. He leans back against the door.
I look around for another door. None.
“Let me out, Samuel.”
“No.” He smiles, crossing one ankle over the other, and folds his arms over his chest. It’s a dangerous pose in that suit, and as a bit of my anger at Adrian slips away, the anger at myself for being attracted to this prat grows.
“You can’t keep me in here.”
“I can. I have the key.” He grins. “You’re not going out until you calm down.”