Almost Innocent by Carina Adams Read Free Book Online

them to turn a blind eye to the flowing booze and the half-smoked joints everywhere.
    When I pulled open the door, it wasn’t blue and badges that greeted me. Instead, it was the disappointed faces of four teenage girls.
    “Declan,” Olivia Martin sneered.
    “Livie,” I scoffed, knowing how much she hated the nickname. “What do you want?”
    She gave me a look that told me she clearly thought I was a moron. “Where’s Dustin?”
    Of course, she was crashing the party to try to hook up with my brother. That would explain why she had layers and layers of makeup caked onto her face.
    “I’m not his keeper. He’s inside somewhere.”
    She rolled her eyes and shoved past me, leaving her friends to follow. Liv lived two houses down, and we’d been friends once. Before I realized what a bitch she was and before she decided she was going to do whatever it took to be my brother’s girlfriend. I found it hilarious that he wouldn’t more than glance in her direction.
    I knew the three girls who came in next, following their leader into my house, because I’d grown up with them all. I had at least one class with each of them. The two girls who stayed outside, as if they were debating leaving, caught my attention.
    I almost didn’t see them standing in the shadows, whispering to each other, but as I moved to close the door, the chubby brunette put her hand out to stop me. I knew those girls too. Not as well as Livie and her merry band of bitches, but Watertown was a small city. I was surprised these two were here.
    The blonde, Gabby, looked terrified as if she wanted to be anywhere but in front of my house. Ivy, the brunette, whispered to her friend, and the fear instantly disappeared from Gabby’s face, a determined look crossing it instead. She pushed her shoulders back, nodded at Ivy, and stepped inside, her arm brushing mine as she did. She glanced at me, gave me a small smile, and thanked me for holding the door open for her.
    Watching the two of them walk toward the rest of the people who had invaded my house, I decided I was in the mood to join the party after all. I found Mark making out with some random chick, and I sent her on her way. My best friend shook his head at me but took the beer I offered.
    Leaning back against the wall, he smirked. “Thought you decided to bail.”
    “I did. Until I found something more interesting.” I nodded at the newcomers standing in a circle at the keg.
    He snorted. “Liv?”
    “No, you bastard.” I laughed back.
    “Who let the kids in?” Dustin interrupted, throwing an arm over one of my shoulders and his other over Mark’s. “Someone want to tell them this is a party and not a fucking daycare?”
    “Hey, Liv’s here to see you.”
    “Of course she is.” He didn’t sound as annoyed as I thought he would. I wished he would just sleep with her then dump her, so at least she’d know what an asshole he was and she could move on. “Wait a sec”—he pulled my head toward his—“who is that?”
    “Uh, Liv dressed like a stripper?” Mark answered, making me laugh.
    “No, dipshit. The blonde.”
    There were three blondes in their group, but only one that he wouldn’t know.
    “Gabby Forte. She came at the beginning of the year,” Mark told him.
    “How don’t I know her?” Dustin asked. “And why in the fuck is she with Liv?”
    He had a point. Gabby and Ivy stuck out like sore thumbs from their group, although Gabby was the one who really didn’t fit in with the rest of them. Wearing tan corduroys, a pair of flip-flops, and a plain black tank top, she either hadn’t gotten the memo that it was fall in Maine, or she didn’t care. Her long bleached-blond hair was pulled back with one of those stupid clips my sister left lying all over the bathroom, and she didn’t have much, if any, makeup on. A polar opposite from Liv.
    As if she knew we were staring at her, she glanced our way. When she caught us all gawking, she didn’t blush or glance away. She took