She kissed me sloppily on the cheek, and I grimaced.
Not because it was gross.
I grimaced because I couldn’t feel where her lips touched my skin because my face was numb from excessive substance abuse.
Students, and a noticeably smaller number of soldiers, crushed around us in our old bedroom as speakers boomed. A gothic beat strummed eerily through the air, and the floor vibrated beneath us.
Vibrant red light filtered through the windows and made everything glow scarlet.
Once again, I shivered because I’d always thought the light at Elite Academy was a much darker shade.
I had a bad feeling the color had always been this rich.
I knew my vision had changed when I was younger, but I never realized it was to this extent.
Why had it changed back? That was also the question.
So many questions.
Still, no answers.
We’d finished strategizing, and after another day had passed with nothing to do but sleep and lightly exercise, we’d started going insane.
We were having another party for morale.
The angels were expected to return soon. We had days until we fought the ungodly again. Maybe a week if we got lucky.
Mental health recovery was very important to me.
That was why I was doing drugs.
Jinx had said there was no logical reason to party, but she hadn’t slaughtered thousands of men and women as they screamed for mercy and then watched as monsters erupted from them. Her boots didn’t stick as she walked.
So, what did she know?
War did things to a person.
We needed this.
I swayed to the music, arms wrapped around Sadie’s shoulders, multiple cigarettes and pipes hanging from my lips as I drowned myself in smoke.
It curled around my face like a mask.
Sadie grabbed my shoulders and yanked me closer.
“Hear me out!” She stood on her tiptoes and yelled, but her words were barely audible over the booming music. “Let’s scrap the shower sex plan. Why don’t we just make your men jealous—right now?”
She pulled back, mouth upturned in a manic smile as she wiggled her eyebrows.
Her ruby eyes sparkled with excitement. Golden skin was flushed as she practically vibrated with energy.
Now that I could see the full color spectrum, I was awe struck by how gorgeous my best friend was.
She seized my face with her hands and pulled me lower to her level. “Please, just kiss me—and maybe hump me a little. It will be so worth it! I promise.”
The partygoers nearest to us looked over.
I flipped them off.
Stunning ruby eyes twinkled up at me.
Before I knew it, my platonic best friend—who was mated to three ferocious shifter men, and a creep named Cobra—buried her one hand in my curls, yanked my head down to her vertically challenged level, ripped the multiple pipes out of my lips, and slapped her hand over my mouth.
It took me a second to comprehend the nuance of what was occurring.
Sadie was making out with her own hand.
Over my mouth.
Aggressively.
I tried to pull away, because I wanted to pick up my pipes before someone stepped on them, but she yanked my curls. She tugged harder. Her ridiculous nails were tangled, and she couldn’t get them free.
I narrowed my eyes.
Hers were closed like she was in the middle of a passionate embrace. She opened her mouth wantonly and licked across her palm like she was licking a lollipop.
Music spun around us.
Bodies danced.
As Sadie fake kissed me harder, her hand tightened across my face and obstructed my nose.
I suffocated.
I tried to pull away, and she tugged on my hair again.
Her kiss was rough and—what was with all the hair pulling? She bit down violently on her own palm, and I jolted at her aggression, glad it wasn’t my lips.
I hated to say it, but we were not sexually compatible.
Her interest in Cobra was making a lot more sense.
I suffocated. I’d had enough. Sacrificing a chunk of my scalp, I yanked away from her and slapped her hand away.
She slapped me back and tried to plug my nose. Her talons barely missed my eyes and stabbed the sides of my nose.
I hadn’t realized her nails were hot pink. I’d thought they were a neutral color.
They were a look.
After five minutes of wrestling, I used my height and strength to pin both her arms behind her back.
“Calm down. Stop it,” I warned her as she struggled.
She giggled. “How was that?” She wiggled her eyebrows and beamed like she was proud of herself.
“Literally—horrible.” I grimaced. “What the hell was with the biting? Are you a wild animal? What possibly made you think that I would want to be bitten aggressively in a sexual situation?”