Love and Relativity by Rachael Wade Read Free Book Online Page A

was sexy.
    “Mind if I join you?” he asked, his hand already on my hip. I gave him permission and shut my eyes, surrendering to the music, swaying with them both until all I could feel was the vibration of the blaring tunes reverberating in the souls of my feet. I brought my left arm up and over my shoulder, loosely wrapping it around Jace’s neck to pull him closer, and let Brian lean into me from the front, sandwiching myself between them.
    “This dress is sexy on you,” Jace said, mouth to my ear. “Shows off your neck. I like it.” His fingers found the base of my neck and I rolled my head to the side, onto his chest, as we continued to move.
    “Yeah?” I pressed into him and slipped my fingers up into his hair.
    “Oh, yeah.”
    I could get used to this. Flirting with these guys was easy. Fun. Something I didn’t make much time for back home, with the one exception of my nights at Pete’s Tavern with Whitney. But time for guys? Whitney was right. I barely bothered dating. This was just dancing. No pressure. Perfect . The best part was I’d never have to see them again after this weekend if I didn’t want to.
    Brian broke away from us to grab another drink, returning with two cups and another water in hand.
    “A friend of mine and some idiot are fighting over there,” he said. “Hey Jace, I think we should go try to break it up. It’s getting ugly, man.”
    I gratefully reached out for the water, standing on my tip-toes to peer over his shoulder and find the source of the commotion he was talking about. Brian’s body suddenly flew toward me, the drinks in his hands splattering over my dress, and I stumbled back and slammed into Jace’s chest, the impact knocking the wind out of me.
    People started to yell, the music fading into the background. Glass was breaking, and a group of people to my left started filing out of the side doors.
    “Are you okay?” Jace steadied me from behind.
    I nodded and regained my balance, bending over with him to help Brian up. His shirt was just as soaked as my dress.
    Brian stood to his feet and threw his hands up when he looked down to find the mess. “Damn!” Spinning on his heel, he turned his attention to the shouting in front of us. The entire sea of bodies surrounding us had shifted, pushing us farther and farther to the back of the room, making it impossible to see what was going on.
    A flicker of movement to the far left caught my eye as I surveyed the backs of the heads before me, and I craned my neck to follow it, gasping when I zoned in on Whitney’s wide eyes. She was across the room, waving frantically to me, calling out for me to join her.
    “I’m sorry, guys,” I turned to face Brian and Jace, “but I have to cut this short. My friend needs me.” Before they had a chance to respond, I darted forward and pushed myself into the crowd, forcing myself through the small gaps of people to get to Whitney on the other side. The yelling grew louder, with everyone trying to peek over everyone else to get a glimpse of the scuffle that had broken out near the center of the room.
    I wiggled my way to the clearing and stopped short when I caught sight of Jackson and some guy I didn’t recognize in the middle of a brawl, Jackson’s fist pounding into the guy’s stomach, the guy gripping Jackson’s head and throwing his weight forward to knock him backward. Whitney screamed and waved again, even more desperate this time, and I zipped around the fight, jutting my head back to steer clear of its punches. Ruben appeared next to Whitney and charged forward into the clearing, reaching for Jackson to pry him off of the guy.
    Whitney reached forward and locked hands with me, pulling me back into the crowd and as far from the fight as possible.
    “What happened?” I shouted. I couldn’t keep my eyes off Jackson. His shirt was torn and his eyes were wild, a nasty smear of blood spread across his cheek. I’d seen him get into shouting matches with people at Pete’s