Unleashed

Chapter 3

Compared to the rest of the house, the kitchen was slightly less crowded, perhaps because everyone appreciated having access to the amateur liquor store that crowded the island countertop.  Elly didn’t know how her sister had gotten her hands on all of this—as far as she knew, Noel didn’t have a liquor cabinet, although she supposed it was a possibility.  Still, there were many more bottles on the counter than she figured any liquor cabinet would contain, and she doubted any of these people were much older than her or her stepsister. 

Standing around the island were three guys who just screamed “jock.”  They had a certain air of confidence, and one even had on a Jefferson Preparatory Varsity Football t-shirt.  Elly watched them as they laughed and joked with each other, occasionally pouring out shots of some clear liquid, as she tried to determine how best to shut down the party.  She would’ve preferred to simply shut off the blaring music and tell everyone to leave, but the house had a sophisticated Bluetooth speaker system, and Elly had no idea whose phone was controlling the playlist.  That left the drinks.  As far as Elly could figure, there were two things that made a party a party: the music and the booze.  Since targeting the music was a bust, she needed to figure out some way to cut off the bar service if she wanted to end this ridiculous party.  Surveying the kitchen again, Elly realized something: the only bottles she saw were liquor bottles, but some of the red solo cups the partygoers held had the unmistakable sour smell of beer.  That must mean that there was some other place they were getting those drinks.  Deciding to leave the jocks to their booze for the moment, Elly left to investigate.

The throng of partiers spilled from the house into the backyard, the throbbing beat of the music blasting from the speakers around the pool and patio area as well.  The persistent pulse was starting to grate on Elly’s nerves, as a low ache took up residence in her temples from the noise.  Gritting her teeth, she surveyed the scene in the backyard, noticing a couple of large plastic trash cans where people seemed to be filling up their cups.  She drifted toward the nearest one, trying to look nonchalant as she watched one girl reach into the can and grab what seemed to be a hose with a nozzle, which she used to fill up her friends’ cups before topping off her own.  Elly had an idea.  She made her way to the gardening shed at the edge of the yard and slipped inside.  She searched until she found a medium-sized pair of sturdy-looking gardening shears, then made her way back out toward one of the three bins spread across the yard.  Grabbing an empty cup from the stack next to the bin, she waited while the guy in front of her filled up his cup.  Glancing around to make sure no one was paying attention to her, she leaned down as if she was reaching for the hose to fill up her own cup, wrinkling her nose at the strong sour smell so close to the source.  She reached down and quickly cut the rubber hose off as close to the base as she could, then slipped the shears into the pocket of her hoodie and made her way to the next one.  Soon she’d managed to snip all three hoses, and she grinned to herself.  One problem down, one to go.

Elly returned the shears to the shed and made her way back inside to deal with the bottles of liquor in the kitchen.  The throbbing bass of the music had now taken up permanent residence in Elly’s temples, and she gritted her teeth as she dodged and wove her way through the intoxicated crowd.  No matter which way she turned the problem in her head, she couldn’t think of how she might get rid of all of those crystalline bottles crowding the kitchen counter, but when she finally managed to worm her way out of the crowd she found that the jocks had moved on, presumably to join the ruckus, and she breathed a sigh of relief.  Deciding not to overthink it, she moved to the sink and grabbed the nearest bottle, washing its contents down the drain.  The sharp smell of the clear alcohol burned her nose, and she could feel bile crawling up her throat as the scent made her stomach turn.  She wasn’t sure how she could possibly get rid of all of the bottles without throwing up or passing out from the stench and the strength of her noise-induced headache, but she couldn’t think straight enough to come up with a different plan.  Elly gritted her teeth as she reached for the next bottle, when suddenly her wrist was caught in a crushing grip.

“What the HELL do you think you’re doing?” an angry male voice shouted in her ear as he yanked her around to face him.  “That’s 20 bucks you just dumped down the drain, what’s wrong with you?” he cried, shaking the arm he still held in his grip.

Elly looked up to meet the glare of one of the jocks she had observed before.  He would have been handsome, she thought, if he hadn’t been directing such a hate-filled stare toward her.  He had golden brown hair swept away from his tanned face in an effortless style, and his brown eyes had flecks of gold in them, but all Elly could focus on was his angry expression and the fingers that were wrapped like a vise around her wrist.

“Please take your hands off of me,” Elly ground out between clenched teeth as she glared right back at the boy.  Like hell she would let some guy manhandle her, especially not in her own house.

“Not until you tell me who the hell you are and why you just dumped out a perfectly good bottle of Bacardi!” the boy retorted.  Elly narrowed her eyes at him as she felt anger flare to life in her chest with such force she could almost swear she was vibrating from it.

“Let go of me,” Elly growled.  “I’m not going to ask nicely again.”  She was so not in the mood to deal with this guy’s B.S.  She just wanted everyone to leave her house so she could go back to reading her book in peace and quiet and not have to worry about the police showing up or getting in trouble for underaged drinking.

Instead of complying, the boy tightened his grip around Elly’s wrist and took a step toward her, invading her personal space and boxing her in against the kitchen counter. 

“You’re so cute when you’re angry,” he smirked.  Elly could smell the alcohol on his breath.  She raised her other hand to push him away, but he caught that arm in a grip equally as bruising.  Narrowing his eyes, he leaned in towards Elly and she tensed, but before she could decide what he was trying to do (and how much bodily harm to inflict on him), he paused, and a look of confusion flitting across his face.

“What the hell is that rumbling sound?  Did you turn on the garbage disposal?” he asked, but then he shook his head and, without warning, yanked Elly’s wrists so that her body crashed against his.  “Never mind,” he said, angling his face towards hers.

Elly saw red.  The rage in her chest exploded out as a guttural cry ripped from her throat.  She reared back and, on pure instinct and fury, slammed her head directly into the jerk’s nose.  He cried out in surprise, relinquishing his grip on Elly to cup his now bleeding nose, and she shoved him away with all her strength.  He must’ve been off balance, because he stumbled backwards and crashed into one of his buddies, who had been standing back watching the show, and they both tumbled to the ground.  Elly glared down at them and then cast her gaze around the room at the other spectators who had apparently shown up while the handsy jock was trying to make his move.

“Get the hell out of my house,” she practically snarled at the shocked partiers, her chest heaving from adrenalin.  The boys on the floor were scrambling to their feet, the guy she’d headbutted still clutching at his nose as blood dripped from behind his hand and stained the front of his shirt.  No one seemed to move, staring at the bizarre scene and exchanging glances with their friends while the techno dance music still thumped through the room from the rest of the house, until another guy pushed to the front of the crowd.

“Okay guys, clear the hell out.  I think this is enough excitement for one night.”  Slowly, the crowd trickled back out of the kitchen area.  The guy looked over at the jock and his buddies, some of whom were glaring in Elly’s direction, and snorted.  “Serves you right for trying to make a move on some random girl, Cody.  Go home before you bleed all over the damn house.”  The jock, Cody, glared at the new guy without a word as he left the room as well with his friends.

“So,” the new guy said as he turned to face Elly, “is there any particular reason you decided to headbutt our star wide receiver?”  He grinned, knowing full well why she’d hit the jerk, as Elly took a deep breath and made a conscious effort to relax her tensed muscles.

“Stupid jerk had it coming,” she replied as she grabbed a roll of paper towels from by the sink to wipe up the scattered blood spatter from Cody’s nose.

New guy laughed.  “I don’t disagree with you there.”  Just then they heard shouting from the other room, and the oppressive music cut off abruptly.  He grimaced.  “I’d love to stay and chat, but I think maybe I should go help clear everyone out.  It was nice to meet you.  I’m Ray.”

“Elly.”

“I’ll see you around, Elly.”