by Piper Rayne
“You, my dear,” Tom says with his eyes locked a bit lower than Claire’s pursed lips and dipped chin, “will never, ever,” he accentuates the words just like Claire did, “be better than me at drinking games. It’s impossible. I am a god. And you, my beautiful babe, are a simple peasant when it comes to the same.” When Tom finishes, his smile is so big, I worry it may crack his face in two.
Claire smiles back, sweet as sugar, and then pours the sticky liquid all over Tom’s head. Her smile never waivers as she does it either.
Girl is savage.
He sees it coming, knowing she doesn’t bluff, and opens his mouth to catch as much as he can.
“Wasting good booze is a serious offence,” Tom says as he claws his way out of the sand faster than I thought possible. Either Colton didn’t pack him down very well or Tom is some kind of dark wizard. Or maybe it’s a bit of both.
Who knows. It’s entertaining to watch either way.
Then Claire is shrieking and running as Tom chases her. They both laugh, though Claire’s is more like a cackle mixed with screams. Even if Tom were blind, he’d be able to find her, no problem. And he catches up quickly, picking her up to tickle and kiss her.
“You know, if someone was listening and didn’t know them—they’d think all Claire and Tom do is fight. That they hate each other,” Charli says watching them laugh a ways down the beach.
“Guess that’s why they say not to judge a book by its cover. There’s so much more to them, to anyone, beneath the surface,” I add.
After the show is over, I lie back against my lounge chair again, lifting my book up from my stomach to try reading some more. I didn’t get very far before, and I know I probably won’t now either. But hey, I’m not going to give up on the opportunity to read on this freaking gorgeous beach.
Charli picks her magazine back up too, and Ray eyes her over his newspaper.
What kind of monster reads the newspaper on vacation?
Claire and Tom are in the ocean now, splashing at each other, making me smile.
I sigh, sinking deeper into the comfort of my sun-warmed towel. And I mean to read. I swear, I really do, but my melting margarita is calling my name. Every few paragraphs, I take a sip, making my already slow reading pace even worse.
Snails can crawl faster.
By the end of the second page, my drink is empty, so I lean over to see if Colton wants another one too. But he’s not on his towel anymore. Not that it matters that I’ve lost sight of him, but my eyes scan the beach instead of my book for a long while. Not like he’s going to run away or get into trouble on his own, but…but I don’t know.
When I do spot him, not all that far from where Claire and Tom are now, my chest loosens a little.
That is until my eyes narrow, the beating in my chest speeding up. But this time, it’s with an entirely different emotion—one that I don’t want to name or spend any time focusing on.
Colton’s got his hands on his hips, hips with swim trunks loosely hanging onto them. And he’s facing the epitome of a bottled blonde. I bet her name is Barbie. She’s basically a human doll, with huge tits and a teeny-tiny waist. I stake money on her teeth being all capped, and that she doesn’t have one split end.
Rude.
I don’t know why, but I hate her immediately.
Maybe it’s the way she batting her—very fake—eyelashes at Colton. Maybe it’s the way she keeps finding reasons to touch my best friend like she owns him—his shoulder, his side, his hand. Ugh. Or maybe it’s the bogus-ass laughter that I can hear all the way over here. She’s stroking his ego like it’s his…
The fawning is just gross.
And her laughter is all high-pitched giggles, like she’s trying to sound way too young.
I don’t care how many times I have to say it.
Barf.
It’s not cute to act like a little kid, women of the world. Okay? That’s feeding into a lot of gross patriarchy bullshit. So stop. Be an Amazon. That’s so much hotter.
Finally peeling my eyes away from that train wreck, I look to Charli again. She’s set down her glossy reading in exchange for a fishbowl-sized drink. Both of her hands are wrapped around the huge glass, and her sweet lips are puckered on the rim.
“Get it girl,” I say to Charli as she sits back.
“This is what vacations are for, right?” she asks me with a smirk.
There’s a quick sniff that I ignore, as I point to Colton and the plastic mannequin who’s all over him. I swear, it’s amazing that she has her swimsuit on still, considering how tiny it is and how badly she’d like to show him what’s underneath.
Not that Colton seems to mind at all.
“Look,” I say, shaking my finger in the direction of our friend and his new groupie. Charli does, look that is, then turns back to me as I start to mime gagging on the same finger I was just pointing with. Rolling my eyes and sticking my tongue out at the same time, I really get into the gesture.
That’s when Charli steals the damn show as she splutters and spits out a mouthful of her drink. An ice cube does a little ricochet off the edge of her chair and twirls up in the air, while a fine mist of droplets goes all over her legs and her magazine, splattering onto me in the process.
I lose my shit right after, doubling over to hide my face as I snort with incredibly unattractive laughter. In a matter of seconds, I’m sucking in huge breaths and crying as I try to get a hold of my damn self. But I don’t. Instead my face gets hot, and I just keep going.
“Oh,” I try to say. “My god. What is wrong with you? Are you trying to kill me?” I demand of Charli as she calms down before I do.
“Me?” she counters, her mouth still twitching as she tries to stop herself from starting up again. “You’re the one doing a charades blow job.”
“What?” I shriek right before going into another fit of laughter.
“You’re…a…pervert,” Charli says between gulps of air.
“I swear, that’s not what I was doing,” I try to plead my case. But Charli just shakes her head at me continuously. “I swear I was trying to look like I was gagging, not…oh my god.” She doesn’t believe me.
I give up as Ray makes a disgusted face and rattles his pages, moving farther away from us.
“I will never think of throwing up again without seeing that face you made…and then think of sucking a dick,” Charli whispers to me, annoying her boyfriend all over again as we struggle to contain our immature selves.
“Hey, Ev,” Colton says, pulling me from the precipice of falling asleep in the sun.
“Hmmm?” I ask, rolling over but refusing to open my eyes. “What’s up, buttercup?”
“Would you mind if I brought someone to dinner tonight?” Colton sits down in the chair Charli was in earlier—before I started drifting off, at least; I don’t know where she is at the moment. Though, I could really use her to back me up, considering I can feel an argument brewing deep in the back of my throat.
Blinking my eyes open, I see the unsure smile on Colton’s face as he waits for my answer.
A lot of things go through my head at once. Impulses to be way too honest, to say words that I definitely shouldn’t, or to roll onto my stomach and take a good long nap. Or lie.
Instead I look up to the sky—where there are no clouds to distract me—and suck in a breath before looking back to Colton’s stupid, hopeful gaze.
“Why are you asking me?” I say. “You can do whatever you want. It’s your vacation too,” I add, going for honest if I can’t squeeze out sweet. It’s not quite as nonchalant as I mean for it to sound, but I manage a real smile after finishing at least.
“Okay, okay. I just thought that…”
I stand up while Colton starts his response, pretending that I don’t hear him.
“I’m going to go get a drink. Want anything?” I interrupt. “A beer, yeah?” I answer for him, even though his mouth is still closed from stopping his other sentence.
But before he can
counter, or add anything, I’m already walking toward the little straw-covered bar behind us on the precipice of the beach. And I don’t look behind me to see if he’s watching, or following, or if he’s even blinked yet.
It’s not that I care.
I really don’t.
What I said is the truth. It’s his vacation too. We’re both here for relaxation and fun, and whatever else you’re supposed to have on a getaway vacation.
The only reason it bothers me so much, even if it shouldn’t, is that he offered to join me here so that I didn’t feel like an extra wheel. And if he brings that groupie to dinner then I’ll go right back to that. An extra wheel that’s busted and squeaking down every damn aisle of the rest of this trip.
But it’s okay. It’ll be okay.
I’m a grown-up. I think. So I’ll be okay.
Letting my nails tap on the counter, I wait for the bartender to finish up with the guy next to me.
“Tall beer, whatever’s cheapest on tap, and a blended margarita. Make the marg a big one,” I say after making eye contact with the blonde bombshell bartender.
“On my tab,” the tanned dude next to me says before she can walk away to start blending or pouring.
“Thanks,” I say with a flick of my eyes. But I don’t turn to him all the way.
I’m just not in the mood. I know that it would be polite to chat, or give him a smile at least. But giving him any attention at all, just the thought of it, is kind of exhausting. So I stand there, watching the back of the bartender, chewing on my lip.
She has too nice of an ass. It’s not fair for her to live here and have that round and perky of an ass.
And as soon as she hands me the drinks, I grab them and go, shouting over my shoulder a quick second thanks to the dude. Hopefully his attempts work on someone else.
Colton’s watching me as I approach with his drink, and it’s making me twitchy. Somehow some of the beer sloshes over our hands when I shove it at him, making me frown.
It’s like his eyes are burning holes through me, and I don’t like it.
“Thanks, Ev,” he says, after shaking his hand out over the sand. No complaints. Then after swallowing a couple times, he opens his mouth to add something else.
My gut tells me I don’t want to hear whatever it is, so being the jerk I am, I grab my book and pull it up to my face. Quick. I only pause for a I good long drink of tequila and lime first, and then switch back to my book again.
“Babe, can you scoot over? You’re blocking the sunlight, and I’m really trying to get all bronzed goddess here,” I say, keeping my eyes on the words I’m not taking in at all.
Then I wink and blow a kiss toward Colton—convincing him, and almost myself, that I’m not annoyed at all. Burying my nose back in my book right after gives him no room for argument.
“Okaaay,” Colton says. It sounds more like a question than a statement, but the fishing doesn’t work.
After a second, he stands and heads out toward the water, just as Charli heads back to retake her chair anyway.
“What’s got your bikini in a bunch?” she asks me as she sits.
“This book,” I say as I toss it over into Charli’s lap. “It’s just not for me. I’ll never read it. You can have it. I know you like those friends-to-lovers stories. I didn’t realize that’s what this was when I picked it out.”
Charli wiggles her eyebrows at me with a smile and opens her new horny world to dive into the beginning. Digging in my beach bag for a different romance, I huff and sigh.
7
“So I vote we have some kind of competition to decide on what we do tomorrow,” Claire says from across the dinner table.
“Seconded,” Colton says, with a tilt to glass of whisky.
Honestly, I’ll agree to anything he says tonight since he came to dinner alone. No interloper. Well, okay—almost anything. I have my limits.
Usually.
“Let’s all throw out an idea, then the top two can be fought over by teams,” Tom adds.
“I love it,” Charli says, clapping.
Ray doesn’t say anything, but he’s looking a lot happier than normal with a red wine in one hand and a plate full of appetizers in front of him.
Finally.
Can I get a halle-fucking-lujah?
“Since it was my brilliant idea,” Claire starts, “I’m going to throw out a snorkeling tour. And don’t anyone dare boo me.” She eyes all five of us around the table. But it’s way less threatening than I think she’s hoping for, with one of her eyes narrowing more than the other.
Tom laughs, putting his arm around her, then reaches to squeeze her boob. It startles Claire enough for her to spill her drink on the table, making most of us laugh.
“That’s an idea,” Tom tries.
“Shut it,” Claire interrupts him quickly, smacking his cheek with a deep thwacking sound.
“What about the aquarium?” Charli suggests.
“Those places are so tragic. As bad as, like, zoos,” Ray finally chimes in.
“Oh, okay. Maybe a museum instead?” she changes her suggestion.
I want to replace the question mark with an exclamation point for Charli, but I resist. By swallowing down some wonderfully starchy pasta instead.
“I vote for something weird like a skateboarding tour of strip clubs,” Tom finally adds.
I groan. Not that I wouldn’t do it, actually it sounds kind of fun—minus the chance that I’ll break my ankle—but just to stir the pot. Feeling feisty.
“Well, then, what do you suggest?” he shoots at me.
I look to Colton who shakes his head, staying out of it, like the coward he is.
“Ummm…” I actually hadn’t thought of anything yet.
“That’s what I thought. Smart ass,” Tom says with a light tone and a big wink. Then he blows a kiss at me across the table before Claire pulls him in for a real one.
“Okay. Okay, let me think,” I try again. Taking a moment to look around the table, I’m grateful for everyone here. And everyone who isn’t.
With the ocean air winding around us and our feet actually in the sand, this might be the most perfect dinner ever. I’d be fine if every meal for the rest of the trip was like this.
“Hurry it up, Ev.” Colton pokes me in the side as he says it.
“You know, I’ve been wondering,” Ray lifts his chin toward Colton as he starts. “Why do you call her Ev, shouldn’t it be Em—short for Emma?”
I squirm, mirroring the knotting of my intestines, and fold my hands around each other.
Not that I’m embarrassed about Colton’s nickname for me. But I really don’t want to hear Ray’s take on it.
“She always wants everything. In college it was always her answer. What’s your favorite class? Everything! What app do you want to get at dinner? Everything! It was not annoying at all,” Charli says with a smile. And it sounds even dumber coming from her.
“I’ve got it,” I interrupt. “How about a pub crawl across the island. We can get a drink, maybe share an app, at every bar or restaurant we stop at as we walk the beach,” I say. And I’m proud of the idea, if I do say so myself.
“That sounds horrendous,” Ray says to Charli, like he thinks I can’t hear him.
“Well good thing you don’t have to approve of my idea for it to be included,” I reply. My smile is huge, as my eyelashes flutter, and Colton struggles not to choke on the bite of whatever he’d just put into his mouth.
“Yeah. Well, I’ll throw out that we all separate for the day,” Ray says. He gets a few glares, but Colton actually shrugs. So I kick him under that table.
Moral support, buddy.
“Any other ideas?” Claire asks with volume.
After a pause, Colton clears his throat since he’s the last. “How about I throw out that we wait until tomorrow to figure it out,” he says.
Claire wads up her napkin and actually chucks it at Colton’s head. Until it leaves her hand, I really think that she’s jus
t going to fake it. But girl beans him in the face with it.
Wide eyes face her for a moment.
Then, after another second, laughter starts, making it around the whole circle.
“That defeats the purpose of this whole conversation,” Claire says to Colton with fake anger in her voice. It would be a lot more convincing if she weren’t turning red from biting back a huge smile.
“You’re bad,” Tom says to her. And she shrieks in return as he hoists her over his shoulder after standing. There’s a ruckus as he carries her away from our table, from the restaurant altogether, and down the beach. She giggles and screams for him to grow up.
She’ll never mean that.
“Just to piss her off, you all should vote for my idea when they get back,” Colton says with a wink.
I shake my head then down my current drink without giving any sort of answer.
“Ev?” he pushes.
I almost successfully resist, but when he starts batting his long, black lashes at me—seriously, why do guys always have the most gorgeous eye lashes, it’s just not fair—I’m sunk.
“Fine,” I sigh. But after a second thought, I add, “But you owe me.”
“Anything,” Colton says as his arm winds around my shoulders. Then he yanks my chair closer.
A thought from earlier, about him, flits through me, and something weird happens in my stomach. The confusion washes through me like I’ve never understood a thing in my life.
“More drinks?” I ask, hoping I don’t sound as desperate to as I feel, to give myself a distraction. Desperate for a grasp on something real. Something that makes sense. And booze always makes sense.
I jump from my chair when everyone starts nodding and head over to the bar without giving my friends a chance to change their orders from earlier. I just ask the bartender to send another round of everything to our table.
It only takes a minute, but the whole walk there and back I have too much time to work on clearing my mind. Though, when I sit back down, Colton’s stiff drink looks really good, like the chill pill I need.
So I grab it without asking and throw the whole thing back.
