Chapter 13
The first thing I do when I leave the hospital is text Sam for the address of the party. The sensible side of me would be to not text her and go home where I can sit down with a good book or catch up with homework. After this week, I feel that going tonight to the party and having a few drinks couldn't hurt anybody because for once in my life, I can let my hair down and enjoy myself.
I won't have to worry about changing unexpectedly, I've proven all that I needed to prove, so for that I won't let anything stop me from having somewhat of a good time.
“So whereabouts is this party?” Max asks as he takes out his car keys and twirls them around his fingers.
“I don't know, but I've texted Sam to ask where it is because she's probably there right now dancing on the tables or something.”
He chuckles. “Is that something she does at every party?”
I shiver against the gust of wind that passes by which makes me rub both of my hands together. “She likes to have fun which is the complete opposite of me.” I sigh and shake my head in despair. “I don't even know why I'm going to this party. I mean I hate social activities.”
Max takes off his leather jacket and places it around my shoulders. “Here, this will keep you nice and warm.”
He presses the button to unlock his black Range Rover, stands on the passenger side, places his hand on the door and looks at me. “You're going tonight because you wanna look out for your friend, and that makes you a good person. Maybe you know deep down that she needs someone to look after her.”
I consider his words and slowly nod.
He opens the door of the car and waits for me to sit so that he can close it behind me. In that moment I get a text from Sam with the address. I show it to Max as soon as he closes his door.
The first thing I notice when we arrive closer to our destination are the cars lined up along the pavement and the people scattered everywhere along the property. I see people dancing, drinking and even some already passed out.
I get out from the car and walk alongside Max towards the house, the music playing so loud I can recognize the song from inside.
The house is hidden like the trees are purposely hiding it from view. I can't imagine what Ryder's house must look like.
I look around to see nothing but trees and it instantly makes me wonder what lurks beyond these woods.
Max and I follow a path that leads further into the woods, I place my hands in his jacket to keep warm when suddenly I inhale the intoxicating aroma of musk and pine needles overrunning the fresh air.
I walk a little farther, come to the clearing of the woods when I see the flickering flames of a campfire. I look at each person individually but see no recognizable faces.
We pass the campfire without a backward glance and slowly reach the house.
Wow...
The only word that comes to my mind when I look at this house is utterly breath-taking. The house is surrounded by glass and from the exact spot to where I'm standing, I can see everything. From here I see people dancing together, playing beer pong and some even doing body shots.
Hopefully Sam wasn't embarrassing herself in there.
I decide to go inside before changing my mind and take the stairs two at a time. Max can choose whether to follow or stick around outside but I have someone that I need to find. I push through the bodies that are in my way, to which I receive dirty looks and murmurs that are too quiet for me to understand. I finally get myself into the living room where I see a lot of people kissing and some doing things that I wish they could take outside.
People dance in the middle of the room but Sam is nowhere to be seen. I look behind me to see Max pushing his way through with the look of annoyance on his face, I call out his name but it's drowned out by the sound of music.
Having looked around the living area more than once, I decide to look for Sam in the kitchen, and the first thing I see is a stunning girl propped up on the steel counter wearing a tight silver dress covered in sparkles. The minute Silver's eyes meet mine she rolls her eyes.
“If you're trying to get Ryder's attention, he won't spare you a glance dressed like that.”
She takes in my black skinny jeans, the band t-shirt and leather jacket.
I ignore her and get right to the point. “Have you seen Sam anywhere?”
“Why would I care about where your annoying little friend is?”
She picks up the solo cup next to her and drains the whole thing.
“Because I'm trying to look for her, and I'd really appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction?”
Silver gets down from the counter and sways seductively to stand in front of me. “Sure I'll point you in the right direction. Go find Sam yourself, leave this house and stay away from what's mine, otherwise I'll kick your ass.”
I look at her in confusion. “What are you talking about?” “Stay away from Ryder.”
“I couldn't care less about him. All I want to do is find Sam because she came on her own, and I just wanna see if she's alright.”
“Look little wolf. You have no business here so take your blonde trash ass and get the hell off my property.”
“I'm not going anywhere until I find Sam.” She sighs, 'You never listen, do you?'
Suddenly, Max comes to joins us in the kitchen with relief written on his face. “I didn't know how to get through without pissing somebody off.”
Silver sneers at Max. “What the hell do you think you're doing?”
“What?” Max looks taken aback.
“Who said you could come to this party?” She places her hands on her hips.
“Well, I thought that if someone's throwing a party, then everyone's obliged to come.”
Silver tuts. “You thought wrong new guy, and for that you better watch out before someone really shows you how things are done around here.”
Max squares his shoulders and approaches her. “Silver, isn't it?”
She arches her brow in confirmation.
“See, where I come from, people don't usually talk like that and get away with things. I may not be good enough to pass as being a cool or a tough guy, but at least I have the decency to treat others with respect. Fair enough if you don't like me, because truth be told I'm not utterly fond of you either. So, the next time you threaten me or anyone I care about Silver, you won't like the outcome. That I assure you.”
Silver shakes her head and murmurs. “You're dead.” Then walks away.
He turns back to me with an expressionless look on his face. “Did you find Sam yet?”
I shake my head.
“We'll search the house. I'm sure she's fine Alice.”
Knowing Sam she's probably somewhere really obvious because she blends in so well with these people. Maybe she's found some guy to spend the night with and doesn't want to be disturbed, but as a concerned friend I just want to see for myself that she's okay.
“I think I'm gonna look for her upstairs to see if she's in one of the bedrooms. Do you mind checking outside?”
“Sure. We'll meet up in a few minutes by the campfire?” “Yeah.”
I rush out of the kitchen and make my way up the stairs. People are sitting on the steps which makes it extremely hard for me to pass - I slither my way as quickly as possible to reach the second level of the house and to my left, I see three doors, one of which is open, one ajar and one closed completely. I look to the right and see another three doors, two of which are open and one closed.
With my new ability, I try as hard as I can to reach out to hear Sam's voice but fail to hear her for I have no idea on how to use it.
With a disappointed sigh, I walk to the left side of the house and come face to face with the door that's ajar. The room is cast in blackness and the first thing I notice is the distinctive smell of beer and the sound of deep male voices. I open the door slowly only to see Bane and Kellan playing what looks like a first person shooting game, but the moment I step foot inside both of their heads turn in unison to my direction - it takes them a while to realize who I am. Bane looks at me for a second but loses interest and carries on playing the game, Kellan however smiles and gets up from his position on the couch.
“Alice! Didn't know you'd be attending our amazing party?” He picks me off the floor and crushes me tightly to his chest.
I scowl even though it's pretty hard to breathe considering his strength and the unmistakable smell of beer. “Please let go of me. You stink of alcohol.”
Kellan just chuckles. “I might be drunk right now, but I'm still happy to see you.”
He lets go of me and goes to sit back on the couch and picks up the controller, I take this as an opportunity to ask if either of them have seen Sam.
“Hey guys, have you seen Sam anywhere? She said she'd be at this party, but I can't seem to find her.”
Kellan thinks for a moment then nods. 'I saw her a few hours ago but she was more interested in our big sexy beast over here.” Kellan nudges Bane suggestively but receives what sounds like a menacing growl in return.
“Where is she now?”
Kellan shrugs. “I've no idea. One minute she was all over Bane, and the next she ran off crying.”
What could he have done to make her run off? “Bane?”
He doesn't acknowledge me. “Bane? What did you do?”
I wait a few seconds to see if he'll say anything but when I realize that he won't answer me, I march up to the TV and switch it off.
“What the fuck is your problem!?” He roars in agitation.
“Right now you're my problem asshole. What did you do to Sam?”
“Who the fuck is Sam?”
I can't believe this is the guy Sam's pining after. “Sam? The girl you were with that ran off crying.” My patience is starting to run out.
“I make a lot of girls cry. That's why it makes it easy to forget their faces.” Bane dismisses me as he gets up from the couch, looks out the window where he sees people
outside enjoying the party.
“This is not a joke Bane. Just please tell me where she went because I'm starting to think that something bad has actually happened to her, and with the murders going on. ”
He sighs and turns to look at me and Kellan. “Relax, she followed me up here, but I told her to leave me alone cause she was trying too hard to get my attention. She chose to ignore that and started groping me that may have had me insulting her.”
“I thought you liked it when women got a little frisky with you.” Kellan winks jokingly at Bane.
“Shut your damn mouth Kellan!”
Kellan might be amused, but I certainly am not. “So, after you insulted her she ran off? Do you know where?”
“It's not like I give a shit but she ran into the bathroom at the other end of the hallway.”
“See? Was that really hard to tell me.”
I leave the room to go to the other end of the hall. I have no idea which of the three rooms is the bathroom so I decide to knock on the closed door and wait patiently.
“Sam?” I listen intently for anything on the other side but still nothing.
I call her name again when I hear footsteps on the other end of the hall and see Kellan.
“She's in there.”
“How do you know for sure?” I try the door only to find that it's locked.
“I've been hearing her crying in there for over an hour.” “You could have told me that earlier!”
“I was playing a game. I wanted to beat Bane because he kept kicking my ass!”
“I seriously couldn't care less! Just help me get her out!”
The door surprisingly opens and the first thing I see is Sam's tear stained face with mascara running down both of her cheeks.
“You guys are so loud I couldn't even concentrate on crying anymore.”
I pull her into my arms. “You scared the shit out of me when I couldn't find you. I started thinking the worst.”
She steps away and wipes her eyes. 'Tonight didn't go as I'd hoped, but I just wanna go home and get the hell away from here.”
Kellan grasps a hold of her hands and smiles reassuringly at her. “Ignore Bane and what he said to you because he's like that with everybody. Like a girl such as yourself, he was probably intimidated by your beauty.”
Sam smiles back at him but says nothing in response.
Is that a blush!?
“I think someone needs to lay off the alcohol ”
The door on the other end suddenly slams open with Bane rushing down the stairs, yelling at Kellan to follow him.
The three of us follow Bane outside where tons of people have stopped and created a circle around the campfire. It's hard for me to see what's going on inside the circle, but with Bane pushing his way to the front it soon reveals who is inside.
The first thing I see are two male bodies throwing punches at each other, when suddenly they both fall to the floor with their faces facing away from me. The larger one out of the two has black hair with a muscular build while the smaller one has golden hair.
The bigger male head-butts the other and gains the upper hand by sitting on top of the other male's abdomen and starts punching him repeatedly in the face. The smaller male lies unmoving on the floor as the dark haired male rises off the floor and roars in triumph, but when his green eyes meet mine, I freeze and run to the bloodied body lying on the floor.
I run past Silver where I see her applauding for Ryder with a smirk on her face.
Lying on his back in his own blood with his face unrecognizable is Max. His face covered with bruises and cuts that without knowing the colour of his hair, I wouldn't have been able to make out who the person was.
I kneel down beside him and feel completely relieved when I see his chest slowly rising and falling. I gently caress his bloodied cheek comfortingly, but when he tries to speak, blood pours out of his mouth.
“Shhh.” I plead. “Try not to speak, okay?”
I look around me to see people leaving to go inside the house to probably carry on with the party.
I can't believe that not one person stopped the fight. Why is it that a fight is seen as entertainment? People get severely hurt and for what? To show who's bigger or stronger? Who does Ryder think he is?
“Sam!” I call her name from my position next to Max.
The moment she comes over she gasps in horror at the sight in front of her. “Alice!?”
“Can you help me carry Max to his car please?”
I get up and ready myself to pick Max's beaten body off the floor when I hear Kellan call out my name from behind me. “Here let me.”
I watch as Kellan picks up Max effortlessly off the floor, and leads him into the forest and out to where his car is.
“Are you coming?” Sam stops in her tracks when she realizes that I'm not following her.
“You go ahead with Kellan. I'll be right behind you guys.”
I turn my back to her, and rush back into the house in search for Ryder.