JUST ONE GLASS.

“Oh, shit! Are you blind?!”

Payton cussed through the loud noise from the speaker as she glanced down at her white shirt that was now stained with red wine and then raised her head to look at the man who had bumped into her.

He definitely was not paying attention to where he was going. His head buried in his phone was proof on its own.

“I… I am sorry. I was not looking,” he smacked his tongue and glanced at the screen of his phone again.

“You definitely were not looking,” Payton hissed as she threw the man a cold stare.

She does not know what was making her more angry tonight. The man not looking exactly sorry as his eyes were still on his phone, or her step sister… hosting a birthday party for her fiancé.

When the man did not say anything anymore and only looked around like he was looking for someone while he took quick glances at his phone, she hissed and pushed past him.

As she arrived at the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror, the words her stepsister Ava had said to her flashed through her head again and she grunted.

“It’s not that deep. I just thought it was nice that I did this for him.”

She was at work when Max had called her to come to the club and she had come hurriedly hoping it was just a ‘us’ time.

What she was not expecting was meeting Ava and a few of Max’s friends here.

She had really not paid attention to it, but knowing the kind of person her sister was. It did not really sit well with her that Ava had hosted her fiancé’s birthday bash without telling her first.

She had excused herself from the party to get air when her fiancé was too busy partying with his friend than sparing her a glance.

She did not doubt that he would be knocked out by the time she returned there. He was a light drinker, and still, he would not stop taking the mixed alcohol that his friends were handing over to him.

Payton began to clean her shirt which was awfully stained and then shook her head at it again.

This stain might actually never leave again.

~~~

She made her way to the gathering where the party was being held and then creased her brows when she arrived there and met no one but Ava and two other guys.

“Where is Max?” She looked around as she moved over to Ava.

“Ah, Max? He left.”

“What?”

“He blacked out so his friends said they were going to help him home,” she answered with a smile.

Payton sighed and nodded her head. She knew she had nothing left to do there, so she just moved over to the side she was sitting before and prepared to pick up her bag.

“I should get goi-”

“Come on, don’t tell me you’re leaving too!” Ava stood up and hurried to Payton.

She collected the bag from her and pushed her gently back to the chair.

Leave?

The real party had not even started yet!

Ava twitched her lips upward rather menacingly.

“I should get going. I need to get out of this shirt,” she frowned distastefully as she glanced down at her shirt again.

The thought that she just got it and was just wearing it for the first time annoyed her more.

“Have a drink with me, come on. Are you still mad at me?” Ava pouted and leaned to the table to pick a glass of drink and carried a bottle of wine.

“I’m fine, Ava. I need to leave,” Payton protested and tried to stand up again.

“Tch,” Ava smacked her tongue and gently pushed Payton back to her seat again.

“Don’t be stubborn. Have a drink with me. Then, I’ll believe that you are not mad at me anymore.”

Payton groaned and then leaned her back against the chair. 

A glass of drink wouldn’t hurt, anyway.

“Just one glass.”

“Just one glass,” Ava repeated with a smile.

Payton glanced at the two men who sat side by side, discussing gently among each other before she turned to collect the glass of wine from Ava.

“They are my friends,” as if she could read Payton’s mind, she said and Payton nodded her head.

Ava picked up her drink, settled on the chair beside Payton, and then turned to look at her step-sister who gulped down her drink in a go.

“I’m done,” Payton said and dropped the glass.

“Goodness, Payton, take it easy,” Ava dropped her drink and then prepared to pour Payton another drink.

“Just one glass, remember Ava?” Payton squinted her brows.

“That is not classified as a glass, Payton. Who gulps down wine like a shot?” Ava hissed and handed another glass to her.

“Ava.”

“Drink this while you savor the taste,” Ava winked at her.

“Last one,” Payton frowned.

“Last one… only if you did not gulp it at a go again.”

As Payton sipped the wine gently, a knowing smile tugged on Ava’s lips gently and she twitched her mouth upward.

~~~

“It’s kicking in,” Ava squealed in excitement as she stared at Payton who tilted her head backward and she leaned closer to her to collect the empty glass of wine.

“Told ya that was a strong narcotic!” One of the two men burst into laughter and Ava clapped her hands in excitement.

“What do we do next?” The other guy asked.

“Can we get started already? I thought she needed to pass out first,” she raised a brow.

“No, we can carry on now. She’s not going to remember a dime when she wakes up tomorrow,” the first guy assured.

Ava intertwined her fingers and then stood from where she sat.

Happiness fully written on her face, she turned to face the guys again.

“Is that guy ready too?” she asked too.

“I've just confirmed that a drunken man has been kept in the room, so we just have to take her there,” he answered.

“This is going to work, right?” Ava breathed out nervously.

“Of course! You would be surprised by the outcome!”

“I got the room number!” the other guy said as he stared at his phone.

Ava pressed her lips together as she stared down at Payton who muttered incoherently and then chuckled darkly.

“I'm sorry, but not sorry, sister.”

===

As one of the men entered the room with Payton thrown over his arm, the other followed suit and instantly began to set up the hidden camera they had planned.

They had been hired by Ava to get the narcotic that was spiked in Payton’s drink and then place her in the room where they had readied a drunk man.

The man who carried Payton stared at the man who sat on a chair in the corner of the room, obviously drunk, and then dropped Payton on the bed.

Afterward, he moved over to the man, helped him up, and then moved him over to the bed too.

“I'm done,” the man setting up the camera said.

“Me too,” the other man said with a grin and then moved back.

“It's going to work, yeah?” he asked and then the other man nodded his head.

As they moved out of the room, turning to take a final glance at the people in the room, their eyes widened as they saw the man grab Payton and then crash his lips down on hers.