CHAPTER463
“Sophiee, you know I lurve you a million times over babes.” Leila slurs over the top of me, alcohol breath almost flooring me with its sheer toxicity, captured in her crazily strong embrace as we both sway. I’m a little worse for wear too, having drunk one too many champagne cocktails. The party is wearing down, but Leila is beyond wrecked and slobbering a gush of emotion all over me as I try to say my goodbyes to her.
“Baby, come on, Sophs is being suffocated by the fumes coming off you.” Daniel is trying to extract his wife’s arms from me and guide her towards the door, “trying” being the word, as he fights with octopus limbs in a bid to coax her away. A lot of guests have departed already, and Leila is being taken home to pass out or get up to whatever they get up to when drunk and childless in an empty house for the night. I do not even want to know what my sister and her husband are into if I am being honest, the thought terrifies me.
Daniel moves in a little closer, pulling her into his embrace and brings her face gently to his.
“Come on, beautiful, we have some drunken sex to be getting on with, to celebrate another year of marriage without killing each other.” He smiles down at her before planting a kiss on her smudged red lipstick. Not caring if he is now sporting a matching shade and gazing at her as though she is still the most beautiful girl in the world. Despite all me seeing is a makeup smudged hot mess, who can barely see straight.
“I know! God, I love you …” She pauses to kiss him back a little harder, groping him openly in full view and I turn away rolling my eyes, used to the naughty behavior of my overly sexed sister and Daniel over the years. Yet it still is not something I want to witness when I am practically attached by clingy limbs. Leila breaks free with a giggle and another sway my way.
“I just need to make sure my baby sister is okay, you know, cos I love her more than life, and the world, and the earth, and the …” She breaks off as something catches her eye, swinging under Daniel’s arm, she grabs a passing dark suit and hauls them towards us backwards.
“Arree!” She chants and startles him half to death with her ninja-style maneuver. Arrick stumbles a little with the sudden backwards force, righted by Daniel with a quick reaction and turns to face us all completely confused by the sudden assault. It isn’t hard to tell he is probably as drunk as Leila, unusual for him, well, at least it was three months ago, and the swaying he has going on matches the completely out of whack look in his eyes as he clears his throat. His eyes immediately come to me and scan me in one obvious swoop before looking back at my sister. I try to ignore the goosebumps or internal fluffy sensation it triggers and keep my eyes locked on Leila.
“What, Leeloo?” He sways in, bopping her on the head adoringly and almost bangs noses with her, pretty much falling into Daniel who shakes his head in my direction, as if to say “drunks”. He pushes them apart and keeps hold of Arrick’s arm too, to keep him steady on unstable legs.
“Take Sophie home and look after her. She needs a real man to take care of her, not that gay guy she hangs about with, making moon eyes at my husband.” Leila is slurring so much worse now, barely coherent, but Arrick frowns, leaning in with a severe look of “what?” on his face. My face gets hot and I try not to react, hoping he assumes my sister is crazily under the influence.
“What gay guy?” He’s slurring too and genuinely confused. Daniel starts pulling Leila in the direction of the door once more, in a bid to control her wandering body and throws me a deep frown.
“Christian! He’s lovely and all, but Sophie needs a real boyfriend, Arrick. Why don’t you love my sister? She’s awesome and beautiful, and she adores you. You would make such cute babies and look; we would be like a real brother and sister.” Leila grabs his face clumsily and plants a kiss on his nose, in a mortifyingly cute, yet kind of gruesome way. Daniel has obviously had enough, and a wary glance my way which reminds me that he is Jake’s best mate, for like the past twenty-odd years, and probably aware that Arry has no clue that I am not dating Christian. I suddenly realize what Leila has said in letting the cat out of the bag and the tell-tale blush hit my cheeks as it dawns on me that he might get pissed about this little facade. I was never good at maintaining this kind of deviousness and kind of care that he just caught me out, even if I shouldn’t.
Shit!
“Come on you.” Lifting her and scooping her legs, Daniel is drunk too, but as a seasoned ex-party animal he is handling it so much better than she is, and I am grateful that he takes care of my fireball sibling; even though she claims she doesn’t need him to. Despite a rough start, they ended up being another fairy-tale couple who truly make each other happy, even if it is in weird ways. I am so glad of him at this moment.
“Leila, I’m staying here. I don’t need anyone to look after me and I don’t need a boyfriend. I’m fine.” My face is burning, aware of the way Arrick is staring at me as if I have two horns, and his gaze has not left my face once since she said it. I literally cannot look at him as heat courses through me and my heart plays the rhumba, knowing fine well he will probably be wondering why I even carried on with this charade at all. I feel strangely guilty, ashamed, and yet also a lot of mad at him that he will even judge me for this. I hate that I sort of lied, but he did so much worse to me.
I make a move to help Daniel maneuver my sister to the door, pushing through milling party stragglers and handing him her shoe as it slides off. Staying close to catch discarding items, like her bag, bracelet, and more than aware that Arrick is right behind me. He seems unwilling to be parted and I have no idea why he is even following us. I am trying so hard to ignore him.
When we get to the door Leila hugs me around the head, slobbering a few more kisses my way, unwilling to let me go without a shower of love and garbled sentiments. Daniel expertly disentangling limbs, so I can get free before carrying her off towards home which is only fifty yards away.
I wave her off with a relieved sigh at finally being free, turning to head back inside when Arrick grabs my hand, blocking my route with his body and a crazily serious expression on his face that stuns me. He yanks me back outside with him, giving me no option but to obey and I’m not even sure how I should be reacting. He does not say one word, just hauls me, as though he has a right, into the darkness so that I start tripping with shoes on soft ground. He tugs me towards the side of the garden, out of sight, towards the Carrero house. For a very drunk male, he moves with too much speed and I am literally hauled with him without any resistance. I am too damned drunk myself to really fight in any way and have to focus fully on not falling.
“We need to talk,” he slurs, vice-like grip of hot smoothness holding my hand in his and I try to wriggle it free. The cool air hitting me, suddenly makes me realize how much more drunk I am than I thought. My legs instantly turning to Jell-O and head getting fuzzier by the second. I try to tug my hand out of his again, but his hold is relentless, and I start to trip over my own feet with every step as he speeds us up.
Damn heels!
“Arrick slow down, wait!” I’m falling, struggling to keep pace with him in stupidly high shoes not meant for this terrain, as he pulls me diagonally across the street from the corner of my front garden, towards the house he grew up in. I try to look back and see if either of my friends is milling around near the entrance, but I know it’s futile. They were both engrossed with other people last time I saw them, in the marquees out back with every other straggling guest. No one else is here.
“Why did you let me think you and he were together?” He spins on me angrily, creating a human wall as soon as he’s hauled me down the side of his own home, concealed by bushes and much quieter; away from the eyes of anyone leaving the party. We are in the weird narrow side area to his house, a narrow grassy lane that is closed in on both sides partially by tall bushes, and completely by a high fence on the other side."
