Free Assumption (Underground Kings #1) by Aurora Rose Reynolds Page A

the people still dancing and laughing. Screw it. I want to live a little. “What are we drinking?”
    “How about tequila?”
    “Never had it.” I shrug, watching as the bartender makes his way towards us.
    “Seriously?” Tara asks, looking at me with wide eyes.
    “Seriously,” I repeat.
    “Okay, you have to have a shot.”
    “Why?”
    “You are not an adult until you’ve had tequila,” she tells me, her voice all serious.
    “Is this a rule?” I ask with a smile as she gives the bartender our order.
    “One of many.” She looks at me and smiles. “Body shots are another, but we’ll get to that another time.”
    “I’m never doing body shots.” I roll my eyes at her.
    “A couple shots of tequila and you will do a whole lot you never thought you would.” She hands me a little glass of clear liquid and a wedge of lime. “Lick your hand,” she instructs. I do, and she picks up a saltshaker, dumping some onto my hand. “Lick it, shoot it, suck it.” She nods, and I shake my head but follow her directions.
    The salt is grainy on my tongue as I close my eyes and shoot back the tequila. The cool liquid burns down my throat, making me gasp for air. My hand is suddenly shoved towards my face and I cram the whole piece of lime in my mouth, pressing it up against the roof of my mouth, and then I chew on it to try to get rid of some of the heat.
    I open my eyes when I hear laughing, and I pull the lime out of my mouth and look around. “What’s wrong?”
    “You’re not supposed to eat the whole lime.” Tara laughs and Stan shakes his head, smiling. “Watch me, and then you’re going to do it again.”
    “Okay.” I watch as she does exactly what I did, but in the end, she just puts the fleshy part of the lime into her mouth.
    “Voila,” she says, taking a bow. “Now, it’s your turn.”
    “Okay, but this is the last one,” I tell her, taking the salt from her hand while she gets the tequila from the bartender. I do the shot just like she did, the burn filling my chest as I shove the lime between my lips. “Holy cow,” I breathe out.
    “Now, let’s dance!” she shouts, and before I can tell her yes or no, she’s dragging me out onto the dance floor.
    *
    “Oh God, kill me now,” I moan, covering my face. My head feels like it’s going to explode, my stomach feels like a million bubbles have taken up home in it, and my body feels like it’s been run over by a sixteen-wheeler.
    “Go back to sleep,” a male voice that sounds like Kenton’s says and my body goes rigid.
    Praying I’m wrong, I peek out from between my fingers. Nope, not wrong. What the hell happened last night?
    “What are you doing here?” I ask, not sure I want to know, seeing how I’m wearing nothing but a sheet, his body is naked at least from the waist up, and his arm is draped across my stomach, his frame plastered to the length of mine.
    “Sleep.” He squeezes my waist and my stomach slightly contracts.
    I try to remember last night, but my brain is coming up with nothing. My whole night is blank after my second shot of tequila.
    “Stop thinking and sleep.”
    “I have to get up,” I tell him, trying to lift his giant arm. My body feels so weak that I stop trying after a couple of seconds.
    “You were up all night. You just went to bed two hours ago. You need to sleep. I need to sleep, so stop moving around.”
    My eyes widen when I realize that his very evident erection is pressed up against my leg. “I can’t remember anything,” I tell him, covering my face.
    “Seeing how you drank a shit-ton of tequila last night, that’s not surprising,” he mumbles sleepily.
    “Please don’t say that word.” I shake my head. Just the thought of that drink alone has my body ready to revolt. “How did I get home?”
    “I’ll tell you every embarrassing detail from the time you texted me until now when we wake up later.”
    “Oh God, I texted you?” I groan.
    “You did. Now, go to sleep.”
    “I feel