“How can you say that?
You don’t even know me.” “Because you didn’t let me drink any more, and you didn’t want to sleep with me, and you don’t want to tell your mom because you don’t want to hurt her, and you love your other dad,” I count the reasons off on my twelve fingers.
“Trust me, you’re nothing like him.” Shocked, she blinks at me and takes a moment to reply.
“I’m starting to doubt whether or not you’re really drunk,” she says.
“If I was, I wouldn’t be trying to make you feel better, believe me,” I answer her.
“I might not forget this, but I won’t use it against you; I promise.” Her smile is adorable, just then.
“Thank you, it’s really sweet of you to say that.” I shrug.
“I won’t be this nice in the morning, so you better make use of it.” “Ah, so you’re the type that becomes adorable when you’re drunk.
I hope you stay this way sober,” she says.
I smile at her, just because she’s nice.
“So what’s your secret?” Excited again, I lift myself up from her legs and lean toward her face.
I hear her sharp intake of breath in surprise.
For a moment, I’m distracted a little.
I can’t remember what I was going to say because suddenly I want to kiss her.
From the way she’s looking at me and how her heart is beating, she does too.
I get close enough that our lips touch just a little bit, and I wait to see how she will react.
She doesn’t move away, even though I stay still for several seconds.
But when I go for it, she suddenly puts her hands on my shoulders and pulls back.
“Um,” she shakily says.
“You, uh…
you haven’t…
told me your secret.” Just like that, I remember what it is I was going to say, and I completely forget that I was this close to kissing her.
I’m excited again about telling her my secret.
But I don’t want anyone to hear, so I put my hand and mouth to her ear.
“My secret is… my twin is a girl,” I whisper to her, and then immediately pull away to look at her face.
She frowns at me, disappointed and confused.
“I was wrong.
You really are drunk.” “Nope,” I deny, popping the ‘p’.
“It’s the truth.” She blinks as it fully registers.
“That’s impossible.” I shrug again and am about to explain to her how this happened when I hear the rhythm of the music change into a familiar song.
“Oh I love this song!” I cheer and stand up.
“Let’s go dance!” She’s still distracted and shakes her head to clear the confusion.
“I need a drink.” She grabs a bottle on the way down and gulps down half of it at once.
I tug at her arm as I wait for her to finish.
“Come on, you said we’d dance,” I whine.
I take the drink from her hand and she follows me to where everyone is.
We dance face to face first, and I take a few sips from her drink every now and then.
But then, she gets bold somehow –I’m guessing because the alcohol is kicking in.
She turns her back on me and leans into me.
Now this is what I’m used to.
The child in me disappears as we start moving together sensually in a way that excites me on a completely different level.
I want to kiss her again.
I lean my head over her shoulder to speak in her ear so she could hear me.
I’m probably going to get back to being a jerk when I’m sober, so I might as well ask her out now.
“Do you want t-?
Oof!” I’m cut off by a hand grabbing me and yanking me away from her.
“Hey!” she protests.
I sway in place for a little, and my vision dances the way I was seconds ago, before I look for the source.
“Mickey!” I enthuse.
I want to introduce him to my new friend, but then I realize I don’t know her name.
“Have you met Sadie’s sister?” is what I settle for.
He throws a simple glance in her direction before getting closer to scream in my ear.
“Danny, your friends are upstairs.
We have to go and get them back to Nico’s place.” My friends?!
“What?” I yell back.
What friends?
The only friend I have right now is the girl whose name I don’t know.
When I turn to ask her what her name is, I find her sitting on the couch a few feet away with a distant look on her face.
I take a step toward her before I stumble on someone else’s foot and surge forward, landing face down next to her on the couch and passing out immediately.
Michael The house is alive with music, lights and bodies dancing all around.
The party barely even started an hour ago, and already, people are dancing like their lives depend on it.
I make a vow to myself that I would only hang around Sadie or my brothers all night.
Pack or no pack, I’m still me, and I still hate parties just as much as I always have.
Sadie has shown me around the house.
On the outside, it’s kind of nice looking, with brick walls and a flat ceiling.
Inside, it’s even better.
There are three levels and a basement.
In the basement, a game room is set up, with video games and televisions.
A narrow wooden spiral staircase leads the way down there.
The top two floors are bedrooms.
There are fourteen in total, and eight bathrooms are spread out on all four levels.
The first level is where the party is mostly taking place.
The living room has been emptied out of furniture to make room for a dance floor and a sound system, also, to clear the breakables away.
There’s already a bar in the back that’s being used for the party.
The kitchen is also on this floor.
Compared to ours, it is gigantic.
There are three fridges at the right side decorated with magnets, one of which has a piece of paper magnetized to the door with the word “drinks” written on it.
The other two are for food.
Two big stainless stoves are at the wall adjacent to the one where the fridges are.
The rest of the kitchen is lined with closets, cupboards and counter-tops.
There are two rectangular tables of about seven feet long by three feet wide, each in the middle of the room, with about twenty eight chairs around it.
I’m guessing that even though only one pair of the adults live here, the parents must all come over for meals.
Very few people are sitting at the table.
A couple of werewolves are rummaging through the food fridge, while three are searching for drinks.
I am suddenly reminded of the strange sight we drove into when my brothers and I first got here.
“Hey, why are there humans here outside?” I ask Sadie.
Her lips twist up with amusement.
“Oh, they’re just crashing the party.” She says it so calmly that it takes me by surprise.
Doesn’t the pack care that humans have intruded on their private Welcome Home party?
“And…
that doesn’t bother you guys?” She shrugs.
“The bigger the crowd, the better the party.” “So…
you don’t actually care about keeping it private?” I ask skeptically.
“If we didn’t want anyone crashing, do you really think they would have been able to?” I pause, considering it.
“I guess not.
But why?” “How old do you think most of us are?” she asks teasingly.
“A few of the guys found their mates at some of these things.” I crack a smile.
“Yeah, I’m sure plenty of guys have fallen in love during parties,” I say with sarcasm.
Sadie pretends to be offended.
“Hey, I will have you know that my first night with Cade happened at a party not much different than this one, and it was magical!” I cringe in disgust.
“Why the hell did you feel the need to share that with me?!” She smirks.
“Because I knew it would bother you, obviously.
You ooze virgin out of every pore, and knowing you’re not like other shallow guys who only care about getting laid, gives me enough reason to torture you.” Whoa!
Is this really the same sweet and innocent Sadie that I met at the beginning of the week?
“Who are you and what have you done to my friend?” She laughs loudly.
“Oh this is going to be fun!” “What is?” “You and I being best friends.” For a second, I think my ears ring with shock.
Did she really just call me that?
“Is that what we are?” “Not completely yet, but we will be,” she swears, winking.
“I can tell.
I have a sixth sense about these things.” Ignoring the joke, I blink at her a couple of times.
“Won’t it bother your boyfriend that you have a guy best friend?” She sighs at the mention of his name.
“I love Cade,” she says dreamily, although there’s still a rebuttal in her voice.
“But he doesn’t control me.
He knows that he can trust me, even if he gets jealous.
Besides, you’re not really my type.” I grin.
“Good, ’cause you’re not my type either.” She cocks one hip to the side and jabs her fist over it.
“Are you saying I’m not good enough for you?” I pretend to study her from head to toe and then shrug.
“Meh, I could do a whole lot better.” She throws her head back and laughs.
Then she grabs my arm and starts to drag me out of the kitchen.
“Come on, let’s go.
I need to have a drink in my hand.” The first drink Sadie has is a punch.
By the smell of it, I’m guessing there’s some vodka in there.
She introduces me to some of the pack members as we walk around and strikes up conversation with a few of them while I stand awkwardly to the side.