Kitty watches and does the same. “What’s the point of drinking something that tastes bad?” Her face flushes. “I don’t drink very often.”

I file that tidbit away. “First of all, don’t talk about my boy Jack like that. Secondly, depends on what you want from the night. Different kinds of alcohol make people feel different ways. Wine drunk is emotional. “Oh my God, I love you so much,” I say in a mock high-pitched voice that pulls a small laugh from her friend. Beer drunk is loud and obnoxious…” I wave my hand toward the keg in the dining room. The guys around it push and shove while they take turns filling their cups, smack talking so loud you can hear their taunts above the rest of the noise in the house.

“And this.” She lifts her empty cup. “What kind of drunk will I be?”

“Fun and invincible.”

The girl next to her snorts. “Until tomorrow morning anyway.”

“Some truth to that,” I admit.

“Tabitha,” the redhead introduces herself.

Katrina glances between us. “Sorry, I thought maybe you two already knew each other.”

“Joel, nice to meet you.” I extend a hand to Tabitha.

Before she can shake, Nathan butts in. “Shots, shots, shots,” he sings in his best Lil Jon impersonation, which is fucking terrible.

He has an empty pizza box he’s using as a serving tray and it’s filled with shot glasses of whatever party concoction he’s created.

He offers it first to Tabitha and Katrina who both take one.

I hold up a hand to pass. I know my limits. I like to teeter right on the brink of wasted. I’m toeing the line as it is. The mixture of booze and the adrenaline pumping through me at the sight of Katrina right here when I least expected it has me lit.

“Shut up. You’re not pussing out. It’s only ten o’clock. Party’s just getting started.”

“I’m pacing myself,” I say, annoyed, but take one anyway. I lift it to my nose and sniff, try and get some idea what I’m getting myself into. All I smell is a fruity punch of some sort.

“What is this?”

His smile is fast and wicked.

Ah fuck. “There Everclear in this?”

Fuck that. I place the shot back on his tray. And no way in hell I’m letting Katrina drink this. Girl will be blackout drunk before she knows it.

Too late. I look over in time to see her pretty face contort in a mixture of confusion and disgust.

“Oh God, what is that?” she asks after she’s taken half the shot.

I swipe it from her hand and drink the rest of it before responding. I catch only the slightest hint of the ridiculously high proof alcohol, but my body shivers as if it knows I’ve just fucked it.

“Hey, I was gonna drink that.”

“Trust me. I did you a solid.”

Tabitha sets her still full shot glass down and glares at Nathan. “What’s in that?”