Piecing Together Sydney (A Sydney West Novel Book 3) (15 page)

I peeled myself off his hot, sticky body and laid next to him. We spooned and fell asleep with our limbs mixed together. I always wanted to go to sleep this way. Forever and ever.

A few days ago, Gaby text me about my bachelorette party, and one thing led to another. Now Gaby, Amelia, Kylie, and I were sitting inside Jumanji, a new dance club with an extremely long bar. Amelia wasn’t happy, but she was the designated driver. She even had the bracelet to prove it. At least that provided her with free water or soda all night.

Kylie wasn’t as joyous due to the whole Jason and their father not getting along thing, but she still came to have fun. She was currently dancing to some rap song with a tall guy who had sleeve tattoos of roses and thorns.

Gaby nudged me. “Sydney, all your drinks are on me tonight.” She winked and gave me another Sex on the Beach.

I took a sip through the little black straw. It was a bit stronger than usual, but still good. “Thanks, girl.”

Amelia finished her Sprite and rubbed her ever-growing stomach. “I’m going to pee, again,” she said in my ear before slipping off her chair and walking toward the restroom.

Gaby motioned to Amelia with her drink. “Buzzkill!” She grabbed my arm. “Come on, Syd. You’re getting fucking married. This is the last time you can play the field.” She pointed to a hot guy with a beer in his hand standing at the bar. “Go get one last summer boy!”

I stayed seated. “No. I don’t want to fuck some other guy just because this is my bachelorette party. I want to drink, dance, and have fun.”

She rolled her eyes and hit my glass with hers. “Drink up then, girl! But just an FYI, you don’t get the point of a bachelorette party. You’re supposed to get strippers and enjoy being single. After the wedding, you have to be with one guy for the rest of your life.” She stuck out her tongue. “That’s so sad.”

That girl didn’t understand love. It didn’t make much sense to me still, but I knew that I couldn’t bear another man touching my body. A quick fuck wasn’t fun anymore. I already tried getting over the love bug last summer when I denied falling in love, and all I did was compare every guy to Jason. There was no point in doing anything with another man when I gave my heart to Jason.

“Love fucks with the mind, but it’s worth it.” I finished my drink and placed it on the table. “Wanna dance?”

“Of course!” She ran to the dance floor and wiggled around in her tight pink dress. Her silver bracelets made their own music as she threw her hands over her head. A guy in dark jeans and a black shirt came up to her. She gave me an evil smile and ran a hand down his hairy cheek. His hands were on her hips for a second before finding their way to her ass. I kept dancing alone, looking for Kylie. She was up by the lion statue, still with the same guy. As I turned to hit the bar up for another drink, someone took my wrist and pulled me toward my left.

“Hey darlin’, you have some great moves.” He ran his big, greedy hands over my breasts, moving down my sides. “I’d like to see some more of them.”

“Not on your life, buddy. There’s not enough liquor in the world to get me to dance with you. Fuck off.” I yanked my arm back and walked away.

“You’re a tease, bitch.” His words rolled off my shoulders. I was a proud bitch, and a taken one at that.

I was too annoyed for a drink, so I went back to the table to sit with Amelia. “You still got it, Syd.” She nodded toward the floor.

“Ugh, you saw that? I hate those pigs. I wouldn’t have fucked him even if I was still single. Nasty bastard.”

She picked up her soda, must’ve gotten it while I was gone, and held it up. “To being done with assholes!” she shouted over the pounding music.

“Cheers!” I used my old glass and took a sip of the melted ice with a hint of alcohol.

Suddenly, I felt too old for the scene. I was over it. After partying all over California every summer since I was a teen, it never changed. Yeah, clubs came and went and the music wasn’t always the same, but pretty much nothing changed. There were always the girls who barely wore clothes, the guys who thought they were the shit and so weren’t, the drugs in the dark corners, sex in the bathroom or parking lot, and I could go on. It wasn’t fun anymore. Going out for drinks with friends was still fun. Maybe even staying in and making our own drinks or simply hanging out at the beach, that was more my style now, especially with a pregnant best friend.

“How long should we stay here until we can move on?” I whispered to Amelia.

“Gaby’s your friend. Just tell her you’re done.” She pointed behind me. “Here she comes.”

I turned, and sure enough, Gaby was stumbling over with two drinks in her hands. The liquor lapped over the glasses as she avoided walking into a couple. She shouted something at them and then smiled at me.

“Syd!” she shouted, closing the distance between us. “Here, this is amazing. It’s called Rock the World.” She gave me a dark blue drink.

I took a sip, tasted a bit too fruity, but not too bad. “Thanks. Hey, Amelia and I were thinking we should move on or maybe go home now.”

“What the hell? You two are acting like old hags! We’re fucking young!” She sipped her blue drink. “Just another hour, please?”

I looked over at Amelia. She rubbed her temples. “Fine. But then we’re gone.” One of her hands went down to her belly. “I’m tired and I keep getting headaches. It’s probably a sign the baby isn’t a fan of this music.”

That made me laugh. She was probably lying about the baby to try to accelerate our escape. “Well, at least your baby has good taste. Not a fan of hip hop myself.”

Amelia and I shared a smile.

I finished the drink Gaby gave me, and she replaced it within a heartbeat. I started feeling strange, not buzzed or even drunk. No, I felt alive! Like I could dance forever and be in a mosh pit and party my life away.

“We need to dance!” I screamed, grabbing Gaby.

Amelia gave me a look of confusion.

Kylie came by and I got her to dance with us. We were in a triangle, copying each other’s moves. That was until a guy built like a football player came and cut in. He wanted to dance with me, and I couldn’t say no. His arms were extremely buff, and I liked them wrapped around me.

After the song, I broke away to go back to Amelia. I felt genuinely weird and wanted to leave. My vision grew blurry, my heart pounded like a war drum, and I had chills. Gaby followed me with that guy in tow. “Syd, you can’t abandon this hot stud muffin.” She shoved him into a chair, then pushed me on top of him. “Make out! Live a little for fuck’s sake.”

The dude pulled my hair to angle my head right and locked his lips with mine. He tasted like beer and cigarettes. I wanted to push him off, but this strange feeling in me wanted more. What the hell?

Amelia pulled me away and stood in front of me. “What the fuck, Gaby? Syd is getting married and doesn’t need this shit.”

“Relax! It’s fine to doing some kissing. That E sure loosened her up!” She laughed and downed her drink. “I fucking love it.”

Anger bit into the chill running through my body. “You drugged me? I trusted you, bitch!”

My stomach was in knots. I kissed another guy, and a friend betrayed the girl code in the worst way possible…putting something in her friend’s drink.

“Syd…” She gave me a worried smile. “We’ve done worse together. I wanted you to enjoy this and you were being so uptight. E makes everything a fiesta! We did E before, remember? Like that concert and—”

“I knew I was taking it then! This isn’t the same.” My heart raced like a wild mustang, faster than it had in a long time thanks to rage mixing with ecstasy. “And not cool when I’m getting married in a couple weeks! Son-of-a-bitch, Gaby. I can’t believe you.”

The need to hit her face made my left arm twitch, but then everyone would get excited for a cat fight.

The guy remained in the chair and kept looking between us as if waiting for a boxing fight to start. Then it would be almost impossible to leave; well, until the bouncer tossed us out.

“Scram you asshole!” I shouted to the jerk who kept staring at me like I was a beast.

He got to his feet and took off, making sure to avoid being within arm distance from me.

My stomach flipped again. I kissed that guy. I wanted to bury that old Sydney deep, and being drugged brought her back. She wanted more. She wanted sex with him. Would that have happened if Amelia didn’t step in?

A grave illness turned my blood cold. “I want to go home now.”

Amelia nodded. “We are. I’ll text Kylie in the car to see if she wants a ride, since I have no idea where she went.” She took a step forward and pressed a finger into Gaby’s chest. “And as for you, I hope I never see you again. I so wanna slap you right now.”

I tugged my best friend back. “Come on. You need to calm down. The baby doesn’t need you all worked up.”

She backed away and sneered at Gaby. “I’m serious. Don’t even show your face at the wedding.”

Gaby frowned and hugged herself. “Sydney?”

All I could do was shake my head in disgust. The blurriness got worse, and the chill was making my insides shake.

Amelia put an arm around my shoulders, and we awkwardly made it out to my Charger. She opened the passenger door for me and walked around to get into the driver’s seat. I closed my door and eased the seat back, covering my face with my hands. “What have I done?”

She shut her door and started the car, getting the air going. “It’s okay, Syd. You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s all that Gaby and her stupid idea’s fault. Jason doesn’t even need to know about this.” Amelia patted my thigh before putting on her seatbelt.

I sighed. “I feel sick and shaky. My body liked his touch, despite knowing it was wrong.”

She grabbed my phone from me. “Isn’t that what ecstasy does? Make you have increased energy and sexual arousal?”

I rolled onto my side, facing her. “I suppose. I still feel it in my veins. I want to run and fuck and God!” I dug the palms of my hands into my eyes. “I wanna go home and sleep this off.”

“Okay, honey. We will. Let me text Kylie first. Not sure if she’ll get it, but she can get a cab and know we didn’t ditch her and not say a word to her.” She looked down at my phone, texting. “Just give me a few minutes, and we’ll head home.”

Everything felt like it was twitching, like I needed to do a million things at once. I moved to my other side and looked up at the sky. I could see the waning moon through the silver clouds and smog, but couldn’t see any stars due to the bright lights. I closed my eyes and replayed kissing that guy again. How his mouth sucked me in, and his large hands traveled to my ass. I could’ve grinded myself on him, taken him to the back room and…shit…I forgot how bad a drug trip was. It made my thoughts go haywire and not think of what could happen due to my careless actions.

My heart felt ripped apart once more. Did I cheat on Jason? I didn’t want to kiss that guy, I didn’t mean to, but I did.

I didn’t like it much though…

Yet you could’ve fucked him in a bathroom stall if given the chance. Jason would be disgusted by you.

Ecstasy made me horny as fuck! I’d rub up against anyone with enough of it in my system and the right dark scene to feel like I could do anything and get away with it.

I bit my bottom lip and whimpered. How could my bachelorette party go down in flames so fast? Why did nothing go as planned?

“Shh, Syd.” Amelia shifted the car into drive and pulled out of the parking lot. “She replied and said her mom can take her home. She’s going to be okay without us. Let’s get you home, party girl.” She placed my phone next to my leg and squeezed my arm.

I cackled, rubbing my temples. “Very funny.”

The entire ride home, I was back and forth between telling Jason what happened and letting it go to my grave. My stomach was still sick knowing I tasted someone else’s lips tonight. Maybe I couldn’t do clubs anymore. Too much temptation and risk to enjoy it anymore. These days, I couldn’t even trust a friend I’ve known since high school.

Once home, I took a shower with Amelia sitting on the toilet because she feared I’d fall, hit my head, and die. She then got me dressed and into bed.

“You feeling any better yet?” She touched my forehead, moving away a strand of hair from my face.

“Yeah, it’s wearing off now. I still feel like shit though.” I ran my arm along the side of the bed Jason belonged in.

Amelia perched herself on the edge of the bed, giving me a sympathetic look. “Just sleep for now. We’ll discuss the events over breakfast. I’m going to shower and hit the hay too. It’s fun going to bed at midnight instead of five in the morning, right?” She playfully hit my arm as she got up.

“Yup, just think of all the fun we have to look forward to.” I looked at her belly.

Her hands went to it as if by habit. “I know, but I’d rather have this than the club any day.”

“Last year, I wouldn’t agree.” I yawned and moved the pillows into a better place. “Today, I’d agree. That scene is so lame and not fun anymore.”

She was at the door. “Get some sleep. I love you, sister.”

“Love ya too. Good night.”

I curled into a ball and wondered what Jason and Hunter were up to. Tonight was Jason’s bachelor’s party. I didn’t know where they were going, but I trusted him like he trusted me. After tossing and turning for what felt like hours, I finally found a comfortable position and fell asleep.