Heather

My phone buzzes as I'm applying my makeup—shades of red and white eyeshadow with a bright red lipstain.

Ali

Don't forget to wear #23 to the party or a Space Jam outfit. See you soon! xxxxx

I respond with both a smiley face and a thumbs up emoticon.

I raided my Dad's closet earlier for a Michael Jordan jersey. He has more than one, since he lived in Chicago during the 80s, when MJ was playing for the Bulls. He worked there until his early thirties when he moved to Los Angeles and met my mother.

I slip on my Dad's oversized jersey with a short pair of athletic shorts underneath, giving me coverage, but making a very sexy outfit. I add some long gold necklaces and my pair of white converse to the ensemble. As I apply a sheer coat of lip gloss over the lip stain, I hear the doorbell ring.

I run to the front door and open it for Kayne. "Come on in." Kayne follows me into the living room and then through the house to my bedroom. He takes a seat in my desk chair.

"Is that what you're wearing?" I ask in disbelief, taking in his plain outfit.

"Well yeah. I have nothing to fit the theme, so I figured white t-shirt and leather jacket would work."

"Kayne, you've worn that outfit enough times that people are going to think you don't own anything else."

Kayne rolls his eyes dramatically. "It's no big deal."

Now it's my turn to roll my eyes. Boys are so predictable with their clothing choices—they just don't care. I could never be like that. Picking out cute outfits is one of the little things I can control nowadays.

"My dad will have an extra Bulls jersey you can wear. Stay put and I'll go get it." I cross the house and wander into my father's bedroom. I return to the closet where I found my own jersey.

I search through the jerseys hanging up and select a white Bulls jersey. "Ooh, what about a hat?" I say to myself, searching for a matching hat. I spot a box in the corner labeled with the number 23. I move across the room to find more MJ related items in the box. Before I get to it, my eye catches on a hat rack above a wall of shoes. I stand on my tiptoes to reach a hat and decide I don't need anything from the box.

"Here, put these on," I tell Kayne, handing him the jersey and hat.

He removes his leather jacket and then bashfully turns away from me to tug off his shirt.

"C'mon, nothing I haven't seen before." I tease. To my delight, Kayne looks back to give me a sarcastic smile, but I notice a slight blush in his cheeks.

I am pleased to watch his back muscles rippling as he slips into the jersey. He puts the hat on backwards before turning to me and gesturing for approval. I nod my head and he resumes his seat at the desk chair.

"How are we getting to the party?"

"We're going to walk. It'll take about twenty minutes."

"Got it. Is Fletcher meeting you there?" Kayne says, his voice unwavering although I know what he's thinking.

"Faulkner is not Fletcher's favorite person, so Fletcher is staying home. Honestly, I think he's pretty sketchy myself, other than the fact that he's a drug dealer."

"Ah. Yeah he gives me that vibe, too." For a moment, I am about to tell Kayne what happened at the last party when I bought the drugs. I decide against it, instead asking, "Should I try to get more pills tonight?"

"I was hoping you would. I brought cash for the transaction." Kayne says, pulling out a wad of cash for me to keep in my purse. "Plus, you already have Faulkner as a contact." I nod at Kayne in agreement.

"Are you ready?" I ask Kayne.

"You bet." Kayne grabs his leather jacket, but I put my hands up to stop him. "What?" He asks innocently.

"Leave the jacket. It doesn't go with your outfit." I point to the chair for him to put it down.

Incredulously, he says, "What? I'm literally wearing black pants and a basketball jersey." Kayne throws his hands up and wraps the jacket on the back of the chair.

We leave the house and start walking through the neighborhood to Faulkner's house. I pull up the address on Apple Maps and then hand the phone to Kayne to navigate. I don't trust my directional skills—or lack thereof.

Breaking the silence, I ask, "So, what are you doing for the history assignment?"

"Local mining strikes in the 1890s." Kayne replies, focusing on the GPS.

"Well that will go hand-in-hand with our field trip." I reply. Kayne nods, looking from my phone to the street names.

"You?" He questions, directing me to turn onto the next street.

"I'm talking about the Northwest Fur Trading Company's relations with the indiginous peoples, the Schitsu'umsh."

"That will be an interesting presentation." Kayne says.

"Yeah," I say, the conversation dying. Neither of us seems willing to talk about what is really bothering us—last night.

We walk the rest of the way, casually talking about our classes and assignments. When we make it to Faulkner's house, Ali is in the yard waving to us. "I was just about to call you, Heath. We've been waiting," Ali says cheerily.

"Sorry. Kayne showed up without a costume so I had to fix that." I laugh. Kayne rolls his eyes at the two of us giggling.

"You look really hot, Kayne," Ali flirts shamelessly.

"Thanks, Abbi." He replies. I try my best to not burst out laughing.

She leads us into the living room, where George, Patrick, Faulkner, and a few other guys are lounging on the sofas. Laurie is sitting on Patrick's lap as he chuckles at something George just said.

"Hey, guys," I greet the group. Beside me, Kayne offers a wave.

Faulkner and Patrick stand up and high five. "Now the party can start."

"Heather!" George approaches to give me a hug. While we are hugging, someone grabs my hand and wraps a hard piece of plastic around it. I look down at my hand and discover that it's zip tied to George's.

Patrick grins at my surprised expression as he walks across the room to Ali and Kayne to join their hands together before Kayne can object.

Ali gives me an excited look about being paired with Kayne. She looks up at him and smiles seductively, but he just rolls his eyes and shoots me a pleading glance. I shrug my shoulders in response, still not fully understanding what's going on.

Faulkner and another guy link up and then Patrick links himself to Laurie, who is already giggling after a couple of drinks.

"Welcome to our annual zip tie party!" Faulkner announces.

If this is annual, Kayne and I must have missed the memo. I look up at George and he realizes that I'm confused.

"The rules are, you must remain zip tied to your partner until you finish either a fifth or a full bottle of wine." Faulkner explains.

I gulp and look back at Kayne. A subtle anger encroaches on his handsome face.

George leans over to me, "I think we should stick with the wine bottle so we don't die tonight." I nod my head in agreement. George tugs me across the room to a table where there are a lot of bottles of various alcohols.

He selects a bottle of Barefoot rosé and hands it to Laurie, who removes the cork for us. George, ever the gentleman, passes me the bottle for the first swig.

We each take a long drink and finish a third of the bottle immediately. It shouldn't be too hard to finish. If we each drink half, it will only be two and a half glasses each.

We sit down on the sofa and shortly make room for Kayne and Ali to join us. They also selected a bottle of wine. Faulkner and his partner chose a fifth of Tito's vodka. Laurie and Patrick are swigging from a bottle of coconut rum.

I lean in to Kayne's ear and whisper, "Just make the best out of it."

"Either way I lose. Either I finish the bottle and get trashed or Ali purposefully takes small sips, thus prolonging our zip tied togetherness." Kayne grumbles, making me giggle as I'm already feeling giddy from the wine.

"We are going to play some drinking games to hurry the process along," Patrick says.

The others sit around the wooden coffee table where two decks of cards wait.

"We're playing Up and Down the River." Patrick, with help from Faulkner, explained the game to the group. I started to get a hang of it after a while and it turns out that I was pretty lucky. However, that means that George and I were the furthest behind with our bottle of wine.

Just to get us back on track, I take a long drink from the bottle. The guys all delight in my eagerness to drink. So, the rest of the time, everyone picks on me to be the one to drink until I'm down to the last sip in the bottle. George ends up finishing that when the game ends.

At this time, I'm starting to feel as good as I am feeling lightheaded. Patrick passes a pair of scissors to George who cuts our restraint. I rub my wrist where the plastic was cutting into it.

Faulkner and his friend finished their bottle of vodka a few minutes earlier. The only people left were Ali and Kayne with a fourth of the bottle left and Laurie and Patrick who hadn't even reached half of the bottle of rum.

The game concludes with Kayne finishing the bottle and being freed from Ali. He sighs a breath of relief.

As we played the next game, Kayne started to relax more.

Leaning over to me, he whispers, "At least they haven't made us play spin the bottle. Otherwise, our secret would be out." I turn to Kayne, surprised at his forwardness.

I giggle at him. "I think you might have had a little too much to drink, Kayne." I notice Faulkner watching our exchange.

"It's just wine. I've thrown back many more shots with my old buddies." I raise my eyebrows at Kayne, aware that he's referring to his past.

"Let's not talk about this now," I warn him. He salutes me in a silly manner.

Faulkner gets up from his place on the floor and walks into another room. I get up and follow him, hoping he's not heading for the bathroom.

When I walk into the kitchen, I don't see Faulkner around. I take a few steps more into the room and the door shuts behind me. Faulkner is leaning against it.

Trying to hide my nervousness, I say, "Happy birthday, Faulkner," There is no emotion behind the words.

"Thank you," he says, before changing the subject. "Sorry we didn't partner you with your boyfriend," Faulkner says. I tilt my head in confusion.

"Who, Kayne?" I say, a blush creeping across my face. Quickly, I clarify, "Oh, no. We aren't together."

"Really? But, I could see all the looks you were giving each other all night." Faulkner's face has a sly grin that instantly makes me uncomfortable. "It's not good to pair off with someone so soon after moving to town. Limits your options." He says, his voice grating.

Ignoring my gut feeling to walk away, I continue the conversation. "That's not why I came in here," I assure him. "I want some more pills."

"What's in it for me if I give you more pills?"

"I have cash to pay for it." I say, raising my purse for him to see.

"Not that sweetheart. You know it's my birthday, so I want you to help me unwrap my present."

Calmly, I say, "You're a sleazeball. Did you think that line would actually work?"

"Doesn't matter. After that kiss last time, I know you're into me," he replies before pushing me against the wall and aggressively pressing his lips to mine.

I try to push him off and move my head away from his lips' advance, but he just moves closer and holds my face still with one hand. I slam my fist against the wall, hoping someone will hear it over the music and decide to investigate.

"Shh," Faulkner whispers. "You don't want to get caught buying drugs. We're going to have to go upstairs to my room." My stomach fills up with dread as he suggests his bedroom.

Faulkner lifts me up to carry me upstairs, keeping his lips attached to mine so I can't make any more noise. He makes it up to his room and pushes the door open. I bite his lower lip hard and then scream out, "No!" and "Stop!" I just manage to piss him off, so he throws me onto the bed. I look up at his sleazy grin and then close my eyes, praying to be anywhere else.

Faulkner is clearly larger and stronger than me. There's no way I'll be able to push him off for much longer.

I hear footsteps across the floor and then I hear a crashing sound. When I open my eyes again, letting a small tear slip out, Faulkner is nowhere to be seen. I quickly hop up from the bed and run to the hallway. Kayne has his hands around Faulkner's neck in a chokehold.

"You like raping girls?" Kayne asks Faulkner, who is looking to me for help.

"It's not rape if she's into it," Faulkner says, causing Kayne to tighten his grip around his neck.

"She's not into it if she tells you 'no' and 'stop,'" Kayne replies, looking up at me with sympathy.

He heard me. He heard me and came to look for me.

Faulkner breaks out of Kayne's hold and takes a swing at his face. Kayne ducks and Faulkner's fist drives into the wall. Kayne takes the opportunity to kick his midsection, sending Faulkner into the wall behind him. Then, Kayne delivers a punch to his face and a knee to the groin.

Grabbing his junk, Faulkner cries out in pain and slides down the wall. Faulkner puts his head on the ground in the hallway. Sure that he's down for the count, I run back into Faulkner's room and take a quick glance around.

I search through his top drawer which was left ajar after its last use. Underneath socks and underwear, I find a stash of pills similar to the ones I got before. I tuck one of the bags into my purse. Underneath the stash is a Highpoint handgun which stops me in my tracks.

I wonder if Faulkner has ever used it before in a drug deal. He doesn't seem to be that high up on the dealer chain of command, but maybe I am wrong.

Thankfully, Kayne walks over to me, grabs my hand and pulls me down the hallway to descend the stairs. We walk through the living room, heading straight through the front door without saying goodbye.

"Sorry we had to leave so early. I just figured we wouldn't be welcome after that." Kayne says, still not letting go of my hand as we stroll down the driveway.

We turn left out of the driveway, preparing for the twenty minute walk back to my house.

Although the cool air hit me when we left the house, it didn't start to affect me until five minutes into our walk. I begin to involuntarily shiver, which Kayne immediately picks up on.

He wraps his arm around me, pulling me into his chest. His body heat gives me instant relief. It also sends a different type of heat up my spine, one that brings back memories of last night.

I break the silence, "Kayne, thank you."

"Anytime, Heather," he replies, holding my gaze. His smile gives me warmth.

I stop in the middle of the street. Kayne follows suit and turns to me. I lean into him and press a soft kiss to his lips. Although he's started to kiss me back, he pulls away and looks at me with uncertainty.

"What?"

"This is moving a bit fast," he replies quietly.

"You don't regret last night, do you?" I say, feeling my heart drop into my stomach. This is what I was afraid of happening with Fletcher.

"Absolutely not," he says quickly. Then looking at my expression, he realizes he's not convincing me. To reassure me, he plants a deep kiss on my lips. I bite his bottom lip, causing him to open his mouth so my tongue can explore. His hands wander up my arms, resting on my shoulders.

When he finally pulls back, tingling in my stomach inspires an uncontrollable smile. Kayne's smile matching my own briefly before he turns serious again.

"What about Fletcher? I thought you liked him," he asks, stiffening while waiting for my answer.

"Last night, I recognized my feelings for him were just friendship. Every time he kissed me it just felt awkward and wrong." I pause. "It's different when you kiss me." Kayne's eyebrows raise. "Instead of awkwardness, I feel passion. Where it feels wrong with him, it feels right with you."

"Oh," Kayne says, his cheeks glowing pink.

Feeling more daring, I say, "I like you, Kayne." His green eyes look almost hazel in the street light. "More than a friend."

"You're sure?" He searches my face for confirmation, though I already gave it. I nod eagerly. "Well, this has certainly complicated the situation."

He hasn't told me that he feels the same way, but that last kiss led me to the conclusion that he does.

"I know you're worried about your job and the investigation, so I understand if you don't want to jeopardize that with a relationship," I say. Kayne ponders my words. "We could even keep it casual if that's what you want." My heart breaks to even suggest it, but I want to keep him close. And to keep kissing him any way I can.

Eyebrows raised in suspicion, Kayne says, "We will both get hurt if we try to keep it casual, Heather." The sound of my name dripping from his lips sends a spark through me. "I mean, you just admitted having feelings for me." He pauses before saying, "And I like you, too. More than a friend." He says, teasing me. "But, it's complicated now."

I try to make it simpler for him. "Kayne, I want you." I run my hands down his chest, resting them above his belt. "All of you."

It's Kayne's turn to shiver at my touch. The expression on his face reveals that he's restraining a groan and thinking about the night before.

Reaching a hand up to my face to stroke my cheek, a natural smile returns to his face. "Okay. Maybe we can take it slow from here. Will you promise me that? That we'll take it slow?"

I grin up at him, throwing my arms around his neck in answer. He bends down to kiss me once more. This is a short kiss, but it seems to seal our agreement. However, knowing myself, even though I've just promised to take it slow, I'm already falling head over heels.

Kayne offers his hand to me and I grab it grinning from ear-to-ear. He intertwines our fingers together. Bursting with energy, I can't help myself from swinging our arms in a ridiculous way.

The only damper on my evening after the Faulkner fiasco is the reminder that I need to talk to Fletcher. I'm sure he won't be too upset since he seems to just be looking for a fuck buddy.

When we return to my house, I hug Kayne goodnight and place a kiss on his cheek. He grins at me and looks back twice as he walks to his car, chuckling to himself.

He drives away and I enter the house, finding my father in the living room watching TV. I sit down on the other end of the couch and soon realize that it's a mistake.

"Heather, is that my limited edition Michael Jordan jersey?"

"Uh, well, you see there was a theme—"

"My jersey is not to be worn as a dress," my dad scolds.

"I'm wearing shorts underneath, Dad." I defend myself. Trying to curb his anger, I say, "I'll wash it and return it to your closet tomorrow."

"No. You're not going in my closet anymore. I don't go into your room and rifle through your belongings. Just hang it up in the laundry room and I'll deal with it." He releases a small sigh and turns his attention back to the TV.

Still staring at the TV, he asks, "Where were you anyways?"

"A small gathering at a friend's house."

"Who drove you there?"

"No one. I walked there. It was only a few neighborhoods over."

"You walked?" Astonished at my actions, he begins what I assume will be a long lecture. "We live in a nice neighborhood, but the surrounding ones aren't filled with the best people. There are drug dealers, thieves, registered sex offenders, and other dangerous people in some of these neighborhoods."

I stand up, raising my voice to stand my ground, "Well, I'm sorry you chose a neighborhood for us to live that is filled with drug dealers and criminals, Dad. But, I was okay. Kayne was with me. I was safe the whole time." My words were true, but they reminded me of Faulkner's less-than appropriate actions.

"Do not raise your voice at me." He says in a stern tone. "You reek of alcohol. You're eighteen years old and the consumption of alcohol is illegal. You know that I'm a judge. Kids younger than you get mixed up with alcohol, and then get brought to me after they've gotten behind the wheel of a car and killed someone. This behavior of drinking and teen angst better stop immediately. How am I supposed to hold up law and order in society if I can't maintain it in my own house?"

Not deeming a response, I scoff and storm out of the room and down the hall.

When I reach my bedroom, I check my phone and see that I have two messages from Ali.

Ali

Kayne beat the shit out of Faulkner. What the fuck? Where did you go?

Is it scandalous that this burst of violence just makes me want Kayne more?

I stuff my phone under my pillow, leaving Ali's text on read. I don't care about keeping up appearances with her for once. Instead, I snuggle one of my pillows and think of all the kisses Kayne and I shared tonight. And his admission: I like you. More than a friend.

(A/N) Is anyone in their feels now like me? I can't wait to reveal the trajectory of this story to you all over the next (approximately 26) chapters!

Answer in the comments:

What fictional character would you want to be ziptied to at the party?

For me, it would be Peter from All the Boys I've Loved Before. I've read the whole book series and I LOVE him! <3 Who else has read the series??