On the Mountain (Follow your Bliss #5) Read Free Page B

fight
with her mother, the realization that her friend had come to her under Anne’s
direction, and the commencement of school. London uncorked a bottle of bubbly
and thrust a flute in Baskia’s hand. They clinked glasses, and London
disappeared into the throbbing crowd, everyone eager to party with her.
    After another glass of champagne,
Baskia found herself on the dance floor, forgetting time and place, parents and
old friends, losing concerns and dreams to the rhythm of the pop music. A guy
with short cropped, brown hair grinded behind her, running his hands up and
down the sides of her chest and her waist. She didn’t care; she was gone.
Baskia had taken flight and hardly acknowledged the gravity that held her to
the earth.
    Their hips moved together,
winding up and down, twisting, and turning to the changes in the music. She
felt his breath, whisper soft. He almost, but not quite, kissed her neck. The
room was a mass of gyration, a single organism fueled by alcohol, pills, and
lust.
    He took Baskia’s hand in his,
leading her off the dance floor to a vacant leather banquet along the perimeter
of the room.
    Baskia was no stranger to hot
parties, where people unabashedly pursued their deepest pleasures. The
club-goers made out or swallowed what made them feel good in the moment. The
fallout, or hangover, wasn’t always pleasant, but she hadn’t gone out that
night to think about the immediate or distant future. Instead, she let the guys
in the room look her up and down. She gave herself permission to do whatever
she wanted. At that, the guy who’d danced with her spun her bare knees in his
direction.
    “I’m Pierce. I’ve seen you
around. You’re friends with London, right?” he said in a French accent. He
dispensed champagne. “We’ve never met, but the first time is always the best, oui?”
    Baskia was used to being the one
in the know, but London had been hitting the party circuit hard the last month.
“Yeah, London lives with me.”
    “Let’s take the party back to
your place then,” he said.
    She didn’t say no.
    After another glass downed, they
pressed through the crowd, losing minutes to dance, tossing back more drinks,
and gathering other people to take back to her apartment for an after-party.
Finally, she found London straddling Nels in a smoky corner.
    “Where have you been? Having fun,
I hope.” London wiped her nose.
    “Not as much as you,” Baskia
answered, eyeing Nels. “We’re going back to the apartment, the party
continues,” she slurred over the blare of the music.
    London launched to her feet. “You’re
not serious?” She drew everyone’s attention with her hiked up skirt and the
impish grin that promised a good time.
    “I am.”
    “Whoa, wait, after all this time
and all my begging and pleading, you’re finally opening the door to a party, at our place?”
    Technically, it was Baskia’s
parents who owned the penthouse apartment and let her stay there on the
condition she not have parties or guests unless they were trusted by the
family, like Mellie. Even letting London stay there was a stretch, but Baskia
had sold London’s story about not having anywhere else to go, which wasn’t
really a lie. Up until that day—when Baskia watched any notion of her fun and
carefree life wiped away and replaced by studying what, she didn’t know—she’d
said an emphatic no to gatherings there.
    “We’re gonna have a party,” London
shouted, busting a sultry move to the beat-heavy music. “You hear that
everyone, party at my place!” She whooped.
    Baskia ignored this, lost in
Pierce’s lips after he pulled her to his chest, their mouths meeting in one
swift motion. The next thing she realized she was back at the penthouse,
fumbling to get the key in the lock as a loud group pressed behind her.
    After making out with Pierce on
the couch, she pulled a few bottles of liquor out of a cabinet. Somehow, open
bottles and cans already littered the countertop. The room blurred as