Next to Me by Emily Walker Read Free Book Online Page A

smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. It turned out she really enjoyed football, which was not something he ran across a lot, so they got along well and had just started to play a game of pool together when his phone rang. The time said it was almost midnight, and the number was Whitney’s. He ignored it thinking she was probably just drunk dialing him to talk about how great the party was.
    Lila, the girl who liked football, had taken a first incredible shot sinking the solid three ball, and then immediately sinking two more solids. Who is this girl?
    After he scratched on his first try, his phone was ringing again. He excused himself to the corner and answered in an irritated tone.
    “What is it, Whitney?” The voice that greeted him was not hers, but Sophie’s, and she sounded concerned, which automatically put his nerves on end.
    “Zane, I’m sorry to bother you, but you need to come and get Whitney from Lisa’s. She is making a complete ass of herself and falling down drunk.” Zane started taking deep breaths. Whitney sure knew how to pull him out of a good time.
    “Where is her biker boy? I’m kind of busy.” He was tired of rescuing her every time she needed it.
    “That’s why she is so drunk. He stood her up. Zane, there are guys here I don’t know, and she is wearing a dress. She just keeps falling over and showing them everything. I’m worried and need to leave because I don’t feel comfortable here, but I don’t want anything to happen to her.”
    “I’ll be there soon.” Zane sighed and looked at Lila, who had stopped playing to watch him curiously.
    “You’re leaving, aren’t you?” She actually pouted, which he thought was adorable.
    “I have to. A friend of mine, she’s my best friend actually, is in a bad situation at a party.” Lila’s face sank as she heard the word she. Zane knew it sounded bad. “Give me your number, though. I will make up for cutting this date so short.”
    He realized he may have jumped the gun calling it a date when he’d just met her, but something about her made him feel relaxed for the first time in months.
    A little of the light returned to her face, and she took his cell phone, putting her number in and giving it back to him. “You better call me.”
    “I promise I will.” Zane dreaded telling his buddies he was leaving. “I gotta go, man.” He walked up behind Cole as he was preparing to do a body shot off a couple of busty coeds.
    “No, this is your celebration. Besides, I thought you were hitting it off with that little hottie.” He smiled at Lila as she made her way back over to the dance floor to find her girlfriends.
    “I was and I got her number, but Whitney’s in trouble and I have to go get her.”
    “Sometimes a pretty face isn’t worth all the trouble, man. She needs to find someone else to clean up after her,” Cole said.
    “She’s my best friend, man. We’re always there for each other.” He hated defending himself for her, partly because he knew Cole was right.
    “No, you are always there for her, and she needs to fall on her face. Have a good night, man.” Cole turned back to the body shots, and Zane went outside to call a taxi to take him to Lisa’s house and then texted Sophie to get the address.
    “Here I come, Whitney.”

    Whitney had too much to drink and she knew it. After she hadn’t heard from Walter all day on Thursday or Friday, she was not very happy. She couldn’t help but think it was because of the way her face looked. To top it Hannah had made her working in the kitchen the past two days, so she’d made no tips, and Tina had continued to taunt her every minute she could.
    Once Walter hadn’t responded to a text message on Friday morning, she had called Thor to bring her a bag. When Walter finally did respond with an, I’ll call you later and didn’t, she started in on the bottle. By the time she arrived at Lisa’s she was well on her way.
    Knowing she was the only one hammered, she had been