hidden | ethma

sixty five

"call bryant, someone call bryant," zeke says quickly as we all stare in shock at our phones.  ethan puts his phone to his ear, chewing on his lip. 

"bryant? where are you?" he breathes a sigh of relief. "come here right away," he says before hanging up. 

"is he alright?" i ask. 

"he's fine, he got out of ivory a few minutes ago. he's on his way." ethan sits back down. 

if we were on edge before, we're now ten times more anxious. nate and levi play a silent game of cards and zeke lights a cigarette. max tosses his phone in the air and catches it in his lap, staring at the ceiling. 

"pass me one," ethan says to zeke and he hands him a cigarette. "emma?" ethan asks me and i shake my head. "are you sure, because last time you ended up mooching off mine." ethan smirks. 

i roll my eyes. "fine." 

zeke hands me a cigarette and lights ethan's and mine. i bring the smoke to my lips, inhaling slowly. i feel the nicotine coarse through my bloodstream, calming me down just a bit. 

by the time bryant raps in a coded knock on the door, the air is heavy with angst and cigarette smoke. i've busied myself with watching ethan smoke — the way he breathes in slowly, his pink lips surrounding the cigarette and then parting as he breathes out. he catches my eye and smirks. 

i quickly put my own smoke to my lips, looking away and flushing. 

he puts his hand on my thigh as max lets bryant inside the apartment and i lean on his arm, shutting my eyes momentarily. 

i wish wolfe enterprise didn't have to endanger us, everything would be so much easier. 

"you alright?" levi asks bryant as he sits back down. 

"i'm fine, but you might not be," bryant says, shaking his head. 

i stiffen. "what do you mean?" i lose the desire to smoke and toss my cigarette butt into the ashtray on the coffee table. 

"alec's pissed at you, beyond pissed. he's planning something on the twenty second, and i'll tell you, it's not only the party." 

my heart pounds. my nightmares surface to my brain, along with the silver pistol. violet's seductive eyes and aaron's evil smirk swim through my mind. 

i can tell ethan's thinking the same thing as his fingers dig into the skin on my thigh. 

"we can't go to that party," he says. 

"ethan's right, he's obviously got a grand scheme planned," nate says. 

everyone begins talking then about not going and breaking into ivory or something, but my vision blurs slightly and i shake my head. 

"no," i say and all eyes turn to me. i clear my throat. "we need to go to the party." 

ethan stares at me. "are you insane? that's just what he wants, emma, he-" 

"think about it," i say, rising from the couch. "we could turn this around, we've already got crystal on our side. alec is obviously going to be there, and if he's away from ivory then he's distracted."