Where We Began

chapter twenty-two

"Spin the bottle," I said to Rebecca and I took my seat next to Cole and he pulled me in for an eager kiss as if to say you're mine.

"Dare," Zane said as it stopped on him.

"I dare you to make out with Mandi." Rebecca laughed, "and use tongue."

"But she's with Brad," Zane said, confused looking at Rebecca, then me and finally at Mandi.

"And?" I questioned him, smirking, "wouldn't be the first girl you've kissed today."

"You kissed my girlfriend in front of me TWICE today," Cole laughed, "Don't pussy out now."

"Fuck it," Zane said taking Mandi's hand and pulling her across the circle onto his lap where she immediately put her hands in his short hair, pressed her chest against him and began to move her hips in a circular motion as he kissed her like she was a porn star.

I thought Brad's eyes were going to pop out of his head when he saw the way Mandi was grinding on Zane as he moved his hands under her shirt, unclasping her strapless bra and launching it behind him. I jokingly reached up to cover Cole's eyes and he laughed, putting his hand over mine to shield his eyes from the live foreplay that was unfolding beside us. Zane had his hands down the back of Mandi's pants as he finally broke their hot a heavy make out session.

"What the FUCK?" Thea yelled, slapping Zane hard and jumping to her feet, "you're a fucking man whore!"

No bitch got to slap my best friend. Especially when she was fucking her best friend's boyfriend. I stood up ready to fight her for Zane but Mandi stood up at the same time and stepped to Thea.

"You have no right to call ANYONE a whore," she spat at Thea walking her backwards into a wall, "I know you've been fucking Brad every chance you got. I found YOUR nudes on HIS phone."

"Sit down," Cole growled at Brad who was trying to stand up to get between the girls.

"Our hotel didn't get double booked in Tampa, you fucking cancelled it! You knew if Tampa fell through we would come here and you could spend time with Brad," Mandi was still going and Thea looked terrified, "I know about all the times you were at a friends and he was too busy working to come up for the weekend but you were actually meeting up in a hotel halfway here. I knew he was cheating on me but I never in a million years thought it would be with the person I had started to consider my best friend."

"Maybe you should learn to pick better friends," Thea spat back at her, "ones who aren't willing to satisfy your man's needs when you can't."

"Maybe you should remember the reason I wasn't sleeping with him was because he had just caught chlamydia from the other skank he was seeing," Mandi laughed taking a step back from Thea, "oh and in girls it takes about three months to show up so I'm sure you'll start feeling the itch any day now."

"You bitch!" Thea yelled lunging at Mandi who, despite her sobering speech, was still tipsy enough to trip over her own feet and fall back while trying to move. Luckily Zane caught her as Thea hit him again.

"Brooke," Zane hissed, seconds from losing his cool demeanor.

"Listen Thea," I stood between her and Zane who had Mandi behind him, and spoke calmly, "you can either leave now with Brad on your own or I can be the one to escort you out. Which will it be?"

"You can't make me you slut," Thea growled, "you're no better than me. You've kissed almost every person in this room today alone."

"See the difference is," I said, my tone sharp yet demeaning like I was explaining something overly simple to a child, "I not only had permission from everyone here but I know I can trust these people and they know they can trust me. We have eachothers backs no matter what. You step to me, you step to them. Yes I kissed Zane and Eli today, hell I even had Rebecca's tongue down my throat at one point, but not once did I go behind anyone's back. That is the difference between us."

"You just think you're so good," she mocked, moving closer to me, "you're just a scared little bitch who puts on a big front."

"And you're an adult still playing in 10th grade drama so let me bring this down to a level you can understand," I replied, gaining a snicker from Eli I'm sure, "you think you're so attractive when in reality your fake tan is orange like someone shook you in a bag of cheetos. Your eyelash extensions look like a preschool art project and your tattooed eyeliner looks like it was done by some guy named Steve in a crack house kitchen. Oh and you should really tone your extensions to match your hair, they're looking a bit brassy."

Thea's mouth formed an O as she raised her hand to slap me. I caught it right before it hit my already bruised face. I was not getting bitch slapped twice in one day.

"Were you looking for a reason to get your crooked nose fixed?" I asked, still holding her wrist in my hand, "because if you lay a hand on me I will break your nose."

"You wouldn't you pussy," she spat, yanking her hand out of my loose grasp.

"You want to test that theory?" I asked coldly, raising my eyebrow.

You could hear a pen drop in the room as Thea glared into my eyes. No one dared to move from where they stood in the room. My heart raced with adrenaline ready to be unleashed like a caged coon dog ready to go on a hunt. Part of me wished she would give me a reason to knock her lights out. I mean she could probably use a nap anyways.

"Let's go Brad," Thea growled, shoulder checking me as she walked toward the door with Brad on her heels, "someone needs to come get her shit out of our room."

"We will," Rebecca said, taking Eli's hand and following them out the door.

I reached down and picked the bottle of Jack up off the floor, unscrewed the top and took a shot straight from the bottle. Then I handed it to Mandi who copied me and laughed at the burn.

"You are insane," she said, wrapping me in a hug, "thank you."

"You have no idea," Zane laughed, smiling at me, "you wanna hear what else she did today to land us here in the first place?"

Zane's voice trailed off as he and Mandi walked into his room pulling the door closed behind them leaving us alone as I felt Cole's arms wrap around my shoulders from behind. His embrace was comfortably tight. It was safe. It was where I belonged. His embrace was my home. He kissed my cheek and rested his head on my shoulder breathing against my neck and leaving little playful kisses.

"Do you know how hot it is to see you in just my shirt?" he whispered in my ear.

"No, How hot is it?" I giggled

"It's something I could wake up to everyday," he spun me to face him and lightly kissed my lips before going to shut and lock all three doors in our room so we wouldn't be interrupted again.