Freed

52

Six months later

"You fucking cheater!"

I burst out laughing as Ethan slammed a red solo cup down on the table, his hazy, heated glare finding mine across the table. Next to him, Damien, one of his best friends, brought another cup to his lips and downed the drink.

"Aye," Chase scolded Ethan playfully, throwing his arm around my shoulder to tug me protectively into his side. I rolled my eyes when he stumbled a step, clearly unable to find his balance because of how drunk he—no, correction, how drunk they all were. "Don't be mad because I taught your little sister how to play beer pong better than you."

"She cheated," Ethan growled, his voice barely reaching me over the sound of the loud music that reverberated through the apartment. My pulse pounded at the base of my throat; a result of the music pumping through my veins. People moved around, half of them intoxicated, while the others were close to being there. Voices and laughter intertwined with the music. "She moved the cups."

Chase rolled his eyes and tightened his arm around my neck when he almost stumbled again, using me to keep his balance. "You lost, Kingston," he boasted. "Fucking deal with it."

My eyes flickered over to Damien, who was watching the exchange with amusement. When he felt my eyes on him, his dark blue gaze drifted over to meet mine. He raised his dark eyebrows in question, as if he was asking why I was staring at him.

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Loser," I mouthed and he rolled his eyes, flipping me off before he walked away, running a tattooed hand through his dark hair as he disappeared into the crowd.

"Want a drink?"

My gaze drifted over to Chase as he held out a cup for me. I hesitated, before I reached out my hand for it. My fingers had just grazed it before it was knocked away and Ethan was grabbing my wrist.

I winced as he yanked me towards him, his dark grey eyes swirling with anger as he forced me to meet his gaze. "Are you stupid?" He gritted out and I scowled. "What was my one rule that I made pretty clear to you before you started coming to these?"

Chase groaned from behind us and I resisted the urge to laugh when Ethan's glare traveled behind me, towards his best friend.

It seemed like this was always the scenario: Sydney and I always managed to convince Ethan to let us come to the parties he and his friends hosted, Ethan made me promise that I'd follow a bunch of rules every time to keep myself out of harm's way, Chase and I found our ways to each other, we behaved like long lost friends who'd just found each other after years of searching, and we both managed to piss Ethan off every single time in the process of making sure we both had fun.

"No alcohol," I muttered, shrugging my arm out of Ethan's grip.

He nodded. "Exactly," he snapped and his gaze whipped over to Chase. "If this happens again, your little annoying ass friendship with each other is over. Stop being such a pain in the ass."

I yelped as Chase yanked me into his side again, playfully ruffling my hair with his hand. "Impossible," he declared mockingly, squeezing me to the point where I couldn't breathe. "Izzy and I are inseparable. No force in this world can tear us apart."

Ethan rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, I can," he mocked back, the earlier anger that had surrounded his demeanor dying down. His dark gaze met mine again and it hardened. "I'm serious, Izzy, you're risking a lot being here. I won't let you destroy everything you've worked for."

My smile faded at the seriousness of his tone and I nodded, all my previous amusement blinking out. He was right; one wrong move and I could turn into a mess all over again. Every day was progress, and I was doing good. I wasn't going to let anything ruin it.