Surrendering (31 page)

Chapter 30

Birthday Weekend

I’m actually pretty impressed with myself. I’m ready to go with five minutes to spare even though our shopping had taken longer than planned. Abbi decided we needed new outfits for the show tonight since we’d probably see a lot of people home for the holidays; she wants to look ‘hot’. I have the impression she wants to impress a certain someone, but she doesn’t want anyone to know.

Will was a good sport with all the shopping at first, but by the fourth store, he demanded we ‘find our shit’ and head back. Lucky for him, I had already found the perfect top and Abbi had found the shoes she was searching for.

We stopped for a late lunch/early dinner and then headed home to get ready for The Steamroom.

Declan had left around noon to go home and head to the bar early. They were expecting full capacity tonight and he wanted to make sure we had a reserved table and backdoor access to the band room. He wanted us there by 7:45 to avoid the crowds. I heard him tell Will that he was going to ask Mark to watch our table as well.

Since there was a good chance I’d be meeting some of the Collins’ old friends and my birthday hit at midnight, I wanted to dress up. I choose a pair of black skinny jeans with my knee-high boots and an emerald green wrap around with three-quarters length sleeves. The shirt is the exact color of Declan’s eyes; it cuts low, but has a hidden snap right above the breast line to keep it closed. My hair is falling in long loose curls down my back. I spray on my Marc Jacobs
oh Lola
and head to meet the group.

“Whoa Nelly! You look HAWT!” Ella screams when I get to the kitchen. She’s pouring us each a drink.

“You too! I love that dress!” She’s wearing a navy blue jersey knit dress with nude peek toe pumps.

Abbi walks in and I whistle. “Smokin’ hot. You look incredible. Jimi’s going to go crazy.” She’s in a black dress with red strappy heels. Her hair is pulled back with a few loose strands framing her face.

“You really think so? Wait, why do you think I dressed up for Jimi?”

“Oh come on, Abbi. You two aren’t fooling anyone. It’s obvious that you two are dancing around each other. He looks at you the same way you look at him. I think this is a good thing.”

“You really think so? We’ve been talking a lot lately and he doesn’t seem the playboy I thought he was.”

“It only takes one girl, sis. Look at Declan with Raven. He did a complete one-eighty when he met her and I’m pretty sure she’ll be our sister one day.” Ella adds.

“That’s true. I guess I’m going to see if Jimi’s ready to step up, or if he still wants to keep playing games.”

I totally ignore the ‘sister’ comment from Ella. “Abbi, you’re gorgeous, smart, fun, and an incredible friend. Jimi has taken notice and I think the games end tonight.”

We raise our glasses in cheers as Will enters.

“Well, hello ladies, aren’t you all visions of beauty? I’m one lucky bastard.” He looks at us all but winks toward Ella.

Ella turns pink at his compliment. Yep, I need to conduct some matchmaking among my friends tonight. Jimi and Will need a little push in the right direction.

I offer Will a Cosmo, but he declines since he’s working, which is great because he can be our designated driver.

All our phones ding at once with text notifications.

Declan: I’m sending this message to all of you- someone call me back ASAP!!!!

Abbi decides to call him back and she puts him on speaker when he answers.

“Where are you?” He barks into the phone.

“What the hell, Dec? We’re at the house having a martini. By the way, you’re on speakerphone.”

“Thank fuck I caught you. We have a huge problem. Blake’s a fucking moron and messed up his guitar. It’s a long story, but I need one of y’all to go into my house and get my extra one. Abbi, you know which one it is in my office. I can’t leave and you three have a key to my place. Then I need you to get here soon because he still needs to warm up.”

“K, we’ll finish here and be there soon.”

“Throw ‘em back and get moving. I’ll buy you a fucking round once you get here.” He hangs up.

“Okay, ladies, you heard the man; suck ‘em down and let’s go.”

We grab our bags, set the alarm, and head out. I purposely put Ella in the front seat and tell her to give the directions to Declan’s house to Will. When we pull up, Abbi jumps out to get the guitar and I make an excuse about having to go to the bathroom. I want to leave them alone for a few minutes.

When we get to the front door, Abbi fumbles with the door for several minutes. I step in and take her keys. “Jesus, Abbi, did one Cosmo get you drunk?”

I turn the lock and push the door open a little too forcefully because it slams back into the wall. Abbi starts giggling behind me, “Let’s not tell Declan I put a dent in his wall.”

“Okay, RJ, but I have a feeling he’ll figure it out.” When I find the light switch and flip it up, the whole room erupts.

“SURPRISE!”

I’m in complete shock. A few flashes go off around me. The room is filled with all my friends. I hold onto the doorframe to steady myself. Kendall, Charlie, and Harper get to me first, engulfing me in a group hug. I’m quickly led into the room where I’m greeted with a bear hug from Robbie and kisses on the cheek from all the other guys. I finally find my voice when I see Declan across the room. He’s leaning against the wall with his arms folded across his chest and smiling at me.

“What’s going on? How?”

He grabs me by my waist and pulls me to him tightly. “Surprise, Sparkle.”

“You did this for me? How did you do it?”

“With a lot of help and weeks of planning.”

I look around and see Abbi, Ella, and Will laughing at me from the doorway.

“Y’all knew? How did I let this slide by?”

Abbi shakes her head at me, “I got lucky that you had to pee because the whole way over here I was trying to figure out how to get you out of the car and up to the door.”

“So the whole
‘Steamroom’
thing was fake?”

“Yes, baby, we’ve been working on this for awhile. The only reasonable thing I could think of to tell you was that we were doing a special show tonight. Then you wouldn’t be curious about what everyone was doing because you’d think they were meeting you there.”

I look around at the whole crowd “I can’t believe you all were able to keep this a secret. Even Charlie.”

Harper cracks up and slaps me on the back. “That’s because we didn’t tell her until last Tuesday. We wanted you to be surprised and she would have ruined it.”

Charlie slaps Harper in return on the shoulder. “Bitch, I can keep a secret.”

“No you can’t,” we all yell together. She rolls her eyes and laughs. I look around and see that the whole room has been cleared of furniture and the band is in the back of the room near a bar. The bar looks fully stocked. In the front corner, there’s a DJ station set up. I raise my eyebrow at Declan.

“I told you this took a lot of planning. Kendall got Adam for the night.”

“Oh my gosh, you’re kidding!!”

“Nope, I knew he was your friend and I wanted there to be music. So, we worked out a small deal for tonight and he agreed.”

“There are at least twenty people here- where are all the cars?”

“Most people carpooled. The others parked around the neighborhood and my neighbors’ driveways.”

“You thought of everything.”

“I tried, baby. I aim for this to be the best birthday you ever had. Sorry your parents couldn’t be here.”

“That’s okay; I’m taking all the pictures for Jenna and James. I’ve already texted the picture of when she walked in,” Charlie says from beside me. She’s pointing her phone at us to smile.

“Your parents insisted on doing something so they actually catered the party. I tried to stop them, but your dad can be very convincing.”

“Do I even want to know?”

He grins and shakes his head at me.

“God, I love you.”

He gives me a quick kiss and I hold on. I don’t let him go until I hear the insistent click of Charlie’s phone.

“That’s hot! Should I send that to James?”

“Not if you want to live.” I smile over at her.

A little while later, Blake, Cooper, and Nate wave me over and serve up shots. I yell for the girls to join me, but only Charlie and Kendall come over. Before I can pour the salt on my wrist, Declan grabs my hand. He licks his own wrist and shakes salt on it. He puts the lime in his mouth, pulp side out, and hands me the shot glass. We all lick and take the shot at the same time. I have to lift up on my toes to get to my lime. Declan bends down and releases the lime, but licks my lips as he pulls away.

“Seriously, there’s a house full of people here. Can’t you two stop for a little while?” Charlie says a little too loudly. Heads turn in our direction, but I laugh and roll my eyes.

On the other side of the room, I see a few of my classmates including Brent. I excuse myself to talk to them. There are five of us working together on a group project: Mari, Brent, Kyle, Anna, and me. Besides Brent, this is the first time I have seen them outside of school since we started our project.

“Hey, guys, nice to see you? How’d you know about this?”

“Your roommate, Abbi; I ran into her last week and she asked me to come. She told me to invite our little group.” Anna answers.

“I’m glad we came; this is a phat shindig. There’s more man candy in this room than at ladies’ night. Which one is your boyfriend?” Mari asks.

I point to the crowd at the bar, “He’s the one in the black Henley and grey jeans. I would describe him as the one with the tattoos and piercings, but that wouldn’t separate him from that group.”

“Holy shit, he’s hot. Are those his friends?”

“Yeah, that’s his band Sayge. They play around town, mostly at The Steamroom on Thursday and Saturday nights.”

“Sweet baby Joseph, he’s in a band too? You hit the jackpot.”

“Thanks, I think so.”

“Enough about that, tell me about the girls. I’m not picky because this room is filled with beauties.” Kyle breaks in.

I laugh at him, “Well, to be specific, none of them are involved, but I think my roommate Abbi is off-limits. The three you haven’t met before are my besties. They live in Atlanta now for school, but we’re all from here. They’re home for the holiday.”

Brent still hasn’t said anything, but I can see him sizing up Harper.

I feel Declan’s hands grasp my hips as he situates himself behind me. I look up at him and smile; he looks so happy.

“Baby, these are my friends from class. These are the guys I’ll be spending most of my time with until the end of the semester. Y’all, this is Declan Collins.”

Everyone introduces themselves and shakes his hand. He doesn’t say anything at all when Brent reintroduces himself. Maybe he forgot about meeting him at the concert.

“I’m so glad you guys could come. I wanted to meet the people Raven’s doing the school project with. Please help yourselves. The food is in the kitchen and the bar is fully stocked. Our DJ will be here shortly and then the real fun will begin. Don’t be surprised if we don’t have a microphone set up by the end of the night.”

Everyone laughs, but I know he’s serious.

I take his hand and we make our way to the food table. My parents went all out. All my favorites are here: shrimp and goat cheese bruschetta, spinach and artichoke dip, buffalo chicken pinwheels, and homemade pepperoni pizza bites.

“Declan, this is awesome.”

“I had a lot of help. Abbi and Ella had the job of getting you here and we couldn’t think of any reason for you to come over before the show so we made up the story about the guitar. I started freaking out last night when Will came into the picture and told everyone you couldn’t go to the bar for two nights. That’s when I took him in the kitchen and told him the real plans. Finn and Robbie said something about already checking out everyone on the guest list so he agreed. The whole elaborate drama thing last night was a set up too. But most of it was ad-libbed. When I talked to your mom and dad, they mentioned providing this food. It seems like a weird combination to me, but she assured me you’d love all of it. So she contacted the restaurants and arranged for it to be delivered. All I had to do was set it up.”

“I can’t believe this; I’ve never had a big birthday party.”

“That’s exactly why I did it. It didn’t sit well with me that your birthday weekend was always overshadowed. You should have a celebration. Hell, in my opinion, everyone should celebrate the day you were born. I know I will from now on.”

“You really are too good to me.”

I wrap my arms around his neck and lean into him for a kiss. I push against him trying to show him exactly how appreciative I am. He clutches my thigh and lifts it around his waist. I feel his hardness and I wish I’d worn a skirt with much easier access. With his hand still on my thigh, he adjusts so his fingers are grazing against my core.

“Jesus H. Christ! Get a room!” Charlie yells at us as she comes over to the table to get a plate. I reluctantly move back. He drops my leg, but turns me so I cover the bulge in his pants. He quietly curses in my ear.

“On no, Romeo, Raven can’t hide what you’ve got going on down there,” she waves her hands at his pants. “I could see that thing from the other room. I must admit, I’m even more jealous of RJ now. She finally decides to give up her V-card and she gets that- lucky bitch.”

“Charlie, I can’t believe you just said that! And lower your voice, people can hear you.”

“Why do you think I’m here? People are hungry and everyone’s scared to come in here and interrupt whatever’s going on. So I volunteered. As soon as I say the coast is clear, this room will be filled.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. Please tell me you’re kidding me,” I say as Declan starts laughing behind me.

“Not at all. And let me tell you, it was priceless to see Robbie’s face when he realized his baby sister was no longer a virgin. I think Finn was equally as upset.”

“How in the world would that even come up in conversation? Who told them?”

“Kendall may have let it slip without realizing they had joined the conversation.”