Rhydian

I was jerked awake by my phone ringing. Swearing, I fumbled for it in the dark. My immediate thought was that something had happened to one of my friends, and my chest clenched, before I focused on the name onscreen.

What the actual fuck?

Lily was calling me?

Concern shifted sharply to anger. I answered the call with a stab of my finger.

"What the hell do you want?" I snapped.

"I need your help." Her voice sounded weird, all high and breathy.

"It's one in the fucking morning."

"Please, it's Cole. I-I don't know what to do."

I sat up. "What? You're with Cole?"

"He's in pretty bad shape. I couldn't get hold of Darius and I didn't know who else to call." Her voice wavered, like she was about to burst into tears.

Shit. I raked my fingers through my hair. "Where are you?"

She rattled off a street name I didn't recognise. I pulled up a map as I jumped out of bed.

"I'll be there in about thirty minutes," I said.

Lily sniffled. "Thank y –"

I hung up.

I grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt, tugging them on even as I was heading out the door.

***

I made good time, finding the street in twenty-five minutes. Lily sat on the pavement about halfway down, Cole sprawled in her lap. An empty gin bottle was still clutched in his hand.

"What the hell happened?" I called, jogging over to them.

Lily raised her head, pure relief flashing across her face. "He's really drunk and I think he's taken something, and I couldn't move him. I didn't know what else to do."

I was more interested in how they'd ended up out here together, but that could wait.

"Cole?" I crouched beside him, and he blinked, grinning slowly as he focused on my face.

"Rhyd! You joining the party?"

I softened my voice. "Doesn't look like much of a party."

"What are you talking about?" Cole slurred. "We've got a hot girl and booze." He lifted the gin, then realised it was empty. "Oh," he said sadly.

Lily tried to get him to sit upright, but he resisted her like a stubborn child.

"You're warm," he said, snuggling against her and wrapping one arm around the soft curve of her hip.

Lily looked helplessly at me.

"And you've got great tits," Cole mumbled.

Lily rolled her eyes.

Despite myself, my own eyes slid down. Lily was wearing another of those flowery dresses she liked so much, cut seriously low in the front. Her tits were practically spilling out – no one could blame Cole for looking.

"Did he hurt himself when he fell? Hit his head or anything?" I asked.

"No," Lily said. "He's just really smashed."

"Nothing new there." I tugged Cole's wrist. "Come on. Time to get up."

"No," he said, closing his eyes.

I stifled a sigh. "Lily, take the bottle so he doesn't drop it."

She prised it from his fingers. He made a half-hearted grab, but she held it out of reach. The movement made her dress ride up, and suddenly she was showing off a lot of thigh as well as a lot of tit.

Not that I was looking.

I hauled Cole into a sitting position, then slung him over my shoulder so I could carry him to the car.

"Not really the ass I wanted to see tonight," Cole mumbled.

I opened the backdoor and slung him onto the seats. "Puke in here, and I'll kill you," I warned.

Cole gave a lazy grin.

Lily had come after me, but stopped a few feet away, still clutching the empty gin.

"Are you coming?" I said.

"With you?"

I spread my arms. "Do you see anyone else offering you a lift?"

Indecision flickered on her face, then she scuttled forward. She was wearing some stupid high heeled things that clacked on the pavement with every step.

"Leave the bottle," I ordered.

She looked at it as if only just realising she still had it, then carefully set it down close to a wall.

I'd have preferred it if she sat in the back, but with Cole sprawled across the seats, she had no choice but to slide into the passenger seat beside me. I wrinkled my nose, slamming the door.

"Did you wash yourself in fucking candyfloss or something?"

"It's called perfume," she said.

"You smell like pick 'n' mix."

"Delicious? I agree."

I shut my mouth.

Lily

I hadn't expected him to offer me a ride but apparently even Rhydian Byrne wasn't enough of a bastard to leave a girl stranded in the middle of nowhere. It didn't occur to me that I hadn't given him my address until we were in Hampstead, and I realised he was taking us both to his house. He'd probably forgotten I was still in the car – he hadn't said a word to me the entire journey. Cole's soft snoring was the only sound. Or maybe he hadn't forgotten me, per se, but his focus was on Cole and getting him to safety. He seemed to genuinely care about his friends, though I still didn't understand why anyone wanted to be friends with someone so prickly.

As we pulled into Rhydian's driveway, I stole a glance at him. His hands were tight on the wheel, his jaw clenched, blue eyes hard. He looked pissed, and although that was pretty much his default expression, I wondered if he was pissed at me for calling him, or pissed at Cole for putting him in this situation.

He always just seemed pissed at the world in general.

Rhydian killed the engine and climbed out of the car. As he opened the back door, I followed him.

"Need a hand?" I said.

Rhydian gave me a brief look, from the top of my teased hair, to the soles of my fabulous red shoes.

"You think you can carry him?" he said.

I knotted my fingers. "No, but –"

Rhydian ducked his head into the car.

I smothered a sigh. He was a dick, but he had come to rescue us, so I could hold my temper for now.

Rhydian hauled Cole upright, then across his shoulders again, and if he'd been anyone else, I might have found that kind of casual strength sexy. My mind flashed back to him lifting weights in the garden, bare-chested, gleaming with sweat.

"Why didn't you take him back to his place?" I asked, trailing after Rhydian as he strode towards the house.

Cole lived in Primrose Hill, only about ten or fifteen minutes away from Rhydian.

"I don't trust him to be alone right now," Rhydian replied.

It felt weird to walk into his house like this. He didn't turn on any lights until we reached the kitchen, and I couldn't get any impression of the place, except that the entry hall had a tiled floor and a staircase that led up into darkness.

Cole had sagged placidly across Rhydian's shoulders the whole way from the car, but as soon as the kitchen light went on, he began to struggle. His knee caught Rhydian in the ribs, who let out a soft grunt and dumped Cole on the floor.

Cole promptly bounded back upright, his eyes glinting with manic energy. When he'd fallen asleep in the car, I thought he'd stay that way, but apparently not. The short nap only seemed to have made him more hyper.

He darted to the nearest cupboard and flung it open. "Where'd you keep your booze?"

"Nowhere you're getting it," Rhydian replied.

Cole pouted.

Rhydian filled a glass with water while I hovered in the entryway, feeling out of place and ill at ease.

Cole pulled a small bag of white powder from his pocket and emptied it onto the nearest counter. The stress of the night had made my brain foggy – I was slow to realise what it was.

Cole produced a silver straw, put it to his nose and snorted a long white line. "Want some?" he said, offering me the straw.

I mutely shook my head.

Cole turned to Rhydian. "Rhyd? Fancy a little bump?"

I expected an irritated refusal, but when I glanced at Rhydian, he looked like Cole had just ripped open his chest.

Cole waggled the straw at him again, and Rhydian's eyes dropped to the small mound of cocaine still sitting on his counter. His lips parted but nothing came out, and I didn't understand the awful temptation on his face, until realisation slammed into me.

Rhydian was a former addict.

Cocaine had been his addiction.

He'd been clean for months, and though people had been taking the stuff at Cole's party a few weeks ago, that was a very different situation to a friend offering to share the drug one-on-one.

Rhydian sucked in a shuddery breath, clutching the glass of water so tightly it was a wonder it didn't shatter in his hand.

For the first time in my life, I saw him like I never had before, and pity stirred.

Before I could second-guess myself, I moved swiftly forward, putting myself between Cole and Rhydian. I swept the coke off the counter with the edge of my hand, blowing on it so it dispersed in the air. A few larger pieces fell to the floor, and I stamped them under my heel and kicked them away.

"What the fuck?" Cole stared tragically at me. "Why would you do that?"

There was no point explaining it to him when he was like this.

Cole crouched down and grabbed my ankle, lifting my foot like he thought he could still get some of the drug from the sole of my shoe. I jerked away from me, tottering on one leg and almost falling.

He looked up at me and smirked. "Nice panties."

Of course he could see up my skirt from here. I stepped back a little further, glaring at him.

Rhydian strode forward.

He hooked his hands under Cole's arms, and even though Cole made himself dead weight again, Rhydian dragged him out of the room. This time I didn't follow them.