Stephan(19)

She stumbled along following me. “I won’t be in debt to you?”

I hid my gin before I glanced at her. “No. I promise.”

“Okay. Before we go can I borrow your phone to call Cassie and tell her I’m okay? I also need to get my things from her house.”

I pulled my phone out and gave it to her. “Cassie knew you were with me. I can take you to her house to get your things.”

She nodded and stepped away from me and dialed the number. We stood in the hall and I listened as she talked to Cassie. When she was done I walked to the kitchen. I didn’t bother turning I knew she followed.

“Everything is clean. You’d never even know you had a party here.”

“The cleaners have been here. The caterers would have cleaned up after themselves too.” Jade looked around and he could see the awe on her face. I took her through the kitchen exit to the garage. Punching in the code to unlock the door I opened it and pushed her in shutting the door. Jade stood still in front of me staring at the garage.

“It’s huge. Who needs this many cars?”

“Most of them belong to my parents. They don’t ‘need’ them, but they are fun.”

I went to the cabinet, put my code in, and took the keys to my jeep. Jade still hadn’t moved. I walked back to her and took her hand guiding her to my car. I opened the passenger door and Jade sat and did her seatbelt. Shutting her door, I went around to the driver’s side and got in, did my seatbelt and put the keys in the ignition and turned on the car. I reached into the glove box and pressed the remote and the doors opened.

I could see a bunch of cars still parked. I wasn’t worried, I knew they would come back for their cars when they woke and sobered up. I drove to Cassie’s house first.

*****

Jade





Cassie had been grinning like a loon when I saw her. The bitch hadn’t felt any guilt for leaving me to Stephan’s mercy at the party. I was angry with Cassie. I’d grabbed my backpack and changed clothes. I didn’t want to go home to grandpa, and especially didn’t want Stephan to wait while I got dressed at my house.

We hadn’t stayed at Cassie’s house for long. I was happy because I didn’t like the questions in Cassie’s parents' eyes when I came in with Stephan. We were now driving toward the highway. “Where are you going?”

“Sydney to one of the big shopping centers.”

“What? Why? All we are doing is getting me a replacement phone. We don’t need to drive an hour to do that. There is a shopping center in Reed Creek.”

“They don’t have much of a choice there.”

“I don’t need a choice, I’ll just have the cheapest they have.”

“No you won’t. I’m going to get you a good one.”

“I can’t afford one that isn’t prepaid. The new ones all seem to be on plans. The one you broke was a cheap thirty dollar one. That’s all I need again.”

“No way am I getting you another piece of shit phone.”

“Hey, a phone is a phone. We can’t all afford the snazzy new ones with all the gadgets.” I glared across at him, but he didn’t look at me he was watching the road.

“I can afford to buy you a good phone.”

“I don’t want you to spend that much money on me. I already feel bad I agreed to let you buy me a new one. I should have not worried, as I said the one you broke cost me thirty dollars.” I was panicking; I didn’t want to be stuck in the car with Stephan for an hour.

He grinned. “You just don’t want to be in the car with me for an hour then be at the shops and have another car ride home. You were hoping to get a cheap phone and leave me as soon as you had it.”

Damn straight that’s what I was going to do. I didn’t say anything because he’d been spot on. Crossing my arms over my chest I looked out the window. He stayed quiet for a while and I enjoyed the peace.

“You can turn the radio on or plug in my iPod. It’s in the glove box. What type of music do you like?”

“I like most things. I’m not a fan of techno music like you had on last night.” Ha, take that, wanker. I reached into the glove box, got his iPod out, and started going through it.

“As I’m sure you can see I have a wide range. The techno last night was what the DJ had on.”

“There was a DJ last night?” Wow, I really had been drunk. “Where was he set up?”

“He was set up outside?”

“I didn’t get that far? You have a massive mansion for a house.”

“You didn’t get that far because you were too busy letting my cousin chat you up.”