Page 61 of Wright Together

She pulled back to meet my gaze. “Why do I hear mischief in your voice?”

I grinned. “You wanted me to have some fun, right?”

“We’ve been having a lot of fun.”

“Ready for some more?”

I could see she was before she nodded. I tucked her hand into the crook of my arm and then escorted her off of the dance floor. I left our friends to their good time and was out of the hall and halfway to the elevator when I saw a face that I hadn’t expected. All the excitement from a moment ago fled my body.

“Colton, what are you doing here?”

He was with three older boys. One surreptitiously hid a bottle of tequila, which I would bet money they hadn’t paid for. I didn’t recognize the other boys. Only that they were all on the verge of wasted.

Colton enough so that he laughed when he saw me. “Boss man!”

There should have been fear there. Instead, it was only idiocy. Fuck.

Eve squeezed my arm and did a perimeter sweep. As if she knew before I had to say it that no one else could see this.

“Are you supposed to be here tonight?” I reached for his sleeve.

Colton brushed me off, gesturing to his friend. “Monk thought it’d be fun to come see my dad’s big party.”

Monk was the one with the tequila. The ringleader then. I didn’t know how Colton didn’t see that he was bad news. He was dressed nice in khakis and a polo with boat shoes, but Colton had more sense than to be fooled by private school flunkies. Where was all of his New York City smarts?

“Hey, man,” Monk said, offering his hand.

I just glared at him.

Monk slowly lowered his hand. “Lame party anyway. Come on, Colt. Let’s get out of here.”

Colton shrugged. “Whatever.”

My hand came down hard on Colton’s shoulder. That wasn’t happening. “Who drove?”

Colton pointed at another kid. “Chet has his license.”

Chet was a tall, scrawny kid who looked high as fuck. He had a joint tucked behind his ear. The third guy was smiling like an idiot, as if he found all of this to be a huge joke.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Colton tried to free himself from my grip with no luck. “We’re just having a good time.”

“You’re smarter than this.”

He seethed at those words. “I don’tneedyour help.”

“Colton Wright!” A voice cracked across the divide.

Colton and I winced at the same time. We both recognized Jensen’s voice from a mile off. The other guys should have known what was coming, too. They all should have gotten out of there while they could. This wasn’t going to be pleasant. I’d done what I could to try to save Colton, but there wasn’t going to be any saving once his dad took one look at him.

“Dad,” Colton said, finally jerking out of my grip.

“What are you doing?” he asked, striding toward us with all the power of a man who always got his way.

He was dressed like the mayoral candidate in a black suit and tie. None of the familiar good ole boy who wore jeans and drove a pickup truck tonight. Colton wasn’t just getting the enmity of his dad; he was getting it from the man who would own the city.

“Just heading out,” Colton said.