Playing with Fire

e p i s o d e | f i f t e e n (pt. 2)

Henri watches the commotion of the party with his arms anxiously set on his knees, his eyes set on the entrance of the house.

"Damn, when are the Silvers coming?" he snarls. "I need to see Kai's despicable face before I pummel his ego into the ground."

I don't see how Kai dating Milana is any of Kai's fault, but I keep quiet. People are already flooding the house, and it's early in the evening. I don't recognize at least three-quarters of the people who are in my house right now. It's almost as if I've invited the entire city.

I get up from sitting on the couch and lazily start towards the kitchen, my goal being to absolutely pass out from drinking. Unfortunately, Henri comes sliding towards me with a triumphant grin on his face.

"Silver is here. He brought Milana with him, too. If you need me, I'll be in your room, exacting my revenge."

"Your what?"

"My revenge." He rolls his eyes. "Fun shit."

I just brush his words off as he storms away. I have no idea what he plans to do, but I'm sure everyone will know about it by Monday. If he's successful, he definitely won't forget to brag about it to the world. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing Kai get fucked up.

Kai and Milana walk into the living room, and I get a good view of them from the kitchen. Henri is lurking close by, pretending to be on his phone. I notice Valentine Silver elbow Benjamin Knight when he attempts to shield her from a group of guys who approach her. The typical stuff.

I lift a beer bottle to my lips, already bored. Just as the drink touches my tongue, I notice someone else walking into the scene.

The alcohol comes spewing out of my mouth.

"Jesus, Hawthorne!" one of the guys in the kitchen exclaims, as the others burst into impressed laughter around me. "What the hell was that? Had too much to drink already?"

I ignore them and place the beer bottle back on the counter, widening my eyes to make sure that I'm not hallucinating. I'm completely sober right now. There's no way I could be imagining this.

Anna Silver makes conversation with Benji cheerfully, when he gives up on attempting to tame Valentine. Her brown-black hair falls in cascading waves over her shoulders, while her eyes have been lined darkly. She looks like she did when I first saw her in my house – and when I dragged her out. Yet her face still retains that innocence about it that could only come from her. And this time, she seems to have more of an air of confidence as she talks. She's smiling. The only time I notice her discomfort is when she flinches as a stranger holding a red cup passes by.

All the same, she needs to get out of here.

I start towards her, when Valentine suddenly notices me and makes a beeline for my path. I immediately curse under my breath.

"Hawthorne!" she exclaims. "Nice party, as usual. So tell me. What's the occasion?"

I barely hear her words. "Anna," I say under my breath.

Valentine looks at me with a baffled expression. "Anna?"

I finally snap back into reality and face her. "Why is Anna here?" I demand, suddenly angry.

Valentine crosses her arms defiantly. "Excuse you, but if you're thinking about kicking her out of your house again, I'll fight you. She personally said that she was going to come here, okay?"

She personally said that? I crane my neck over Valentine's head to catch another glimpse of Anna. She's still talking to Benji. That means she's okay so far.

"Hello?" Valentine waves a hand in front of my face. "Since when have you cared so much about Anna's well-being?" She gasps. "You're trying to take advantage of her, aren't you? I swear to everything on this earth –"

She lifts up an arm wildly, but I grab it to stop her. "Why would you ever agree to let her come here?" I snap. "You of all people – you're her sister. And how the hell did Silver agree?"

Valentine frees her arm angrily. "Anna insisted!"

"Then you should have stopped her." I can no longer contain my frustration. Kai had said that it was his responsibility to protect Anna. What a lame-ass job he's doing right now. "You're going to allow her to come to a place that contains her worst fears just because she insisted on it?"

Valentine just stares at me for a long second, her mouth half-open, before smirking to herself. "Wow. I don't know what happened between you and Anna, but you're definitely out of your mind." She takes a step away from me. "Don't go near her. She'll be fine."

I glance over her head again to look into the living room, but Anna's gone. My eyes rapidly search the area. "Where is she?" I ask in a hushed voice.

"What?" Valentine follows my eyes and swivels around to look into the living room. Panic starts filling her gaze. "Wait. Where'd she go? I told her to stay right there!"

I push away from her and walk into the living room. Kai Silver looks over at me briefly, before continuing to converse with Milana and Benji. They're all here. So, who's missing?

My heart falls into my stomach when I finally come to the realization that Henri is no longer in the room as well. Ignoring all of the greetings I get as I pass by, I rush up the stairs and head for my room door.

It's closed.

The only other way inside is through the bathroom. I hurriedly storm inside, ignoring the drunk guy passed out on the floor and the girl puking into the toilet.

A flood of relief washes through me when I push the door leading to my room open and burst inside.

"Anna!"