by R. Linda
Reaching for the phone, I called the front desk for our complimentary room service and internally kicked myself when Indie came back into the room wearing my shorts and t-shirt. Was it too much to ask that she never wore anything other than one of my tanks ever again?
Room service arrived before Nate did, so we managed to enjoy half our breakfast on the balcony in peace. I expected things to be weird between us, a little awkward after all the flirting in the last twelve hours, but it wasn’t. We both simply relaxed.
I had just grabbed a bagel when there was a knock at the door. “That’ll be Nate.”
I answered the door and was disappointed to find not only Nate, but Jack-ass as well. “Ooh, bagel.” He clapped excitedly and took the bagel from my hand and headed straight to the balcony where Indie was wearing my clothes. Mine. Not his. I was a little smug about that.
“Baby cakes.” He really announced his presence no matter where he went. He was so loud and obnoxious. I didn’t see what Indie found appealing about him at all.
“Sorry, man. Thanks for giving her a place to crash,” Nate said as we walked outside just in time to see Jack about suck Indie’s face off. Where was that knife?
I didn’t know how much more I could handle watching him all over her every time they were together.
I needed to come clean about my feelings, but I’d wait until after the wedding tomorrow because I didn’t want to ruin it before it happened. At least I was considerate.
“So what’s the plan for today?” Jack asked, stealing an apple from the cart.
“I really just want to lounge by the pool or on the beach. I want a relaxing day,” Indie said as she poured a cup of coffee and added half a sugar. She handed it to me. Me. Not Jack-ass, her boyfriend. My chest might have puffed up a little bit at that.
“Sounds good,” Nate agreed, while Jack mumbled something that sounded like “yes.” But I was too focused on Indie, imagining her in her swimsuit.
“I’m definitely keen.” I gazed at her, making her cheeks heat up in embarrassment.
“Great. We’ll meet you down there in half an hour, then,” Jack said, pulling Indie out of the chair and throwing her over his shoulder. “Better make it an hour.” He winked and carried her inside, completely ignoring her protests and cries to put her down.
“I really hate that guy,” I mumbled to Nate.
He barked out a laugh and clapped me on the back. “Of course, you do.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I frowned.
“That you’ve hated any guy who has ever paid her any attention. You’ve always put a stop to it, but this time it’s worse because you weren’t there to stop this train wreck of a relationship from happening.”
“Just looking out for her. Don’t want her to end up with an asshole.” I left out the part about wanting her to be with me.
“Or anyone else,” Nate muttered.
“What?”
“Nothing, I’ll go tell the others we’ll meet them at the pool in an hour,” he said and left.
Chapter
Seventeen
Indie
“You really need to stop throwing me over your shoulder every time we leave a room together,” I hissed at Jack the moment he put me on my feet in my room.
“But it’s so much fun seeing him all riled up. He hates it when I manhandle you.”
“So do I,” I said and went straight over to the door that joined the two rooms and unlocked it. Jack threw his head back and laughed.
“Did you do that?” I asked, pointing at the door.
“Of course not! I’m offended that you could even suggest such a thing. But Bailey…”
So that was why she hung around yesterday while I got ready for lunch. What else did she do?
“You two are incredible!”
“Why, thank you.” Jack placed a hand delicately on his chest and tilted his head down with a shy smile.
“Not a compliment.”
“Maybe not to you. So?”
“So, what?” I knew what he wanted, but I wasn’t giving details that easily.
“What happened last night?”
“N-nothing.”
“That doesn’t sound like nothing.” Jack opened my suitcase and began rifling through it. “Spill.”
“Nothing. We danced, got caught in the rain, and watched a movie.”
“Dirty Dancing?”
“Yes.” I angled my head to the side. “How did you know we watched that?”
“What? No,” he said before ripping something out of my case excitedly. “Aha! I meant did you dirty dance together, not the movie. You actually watched that?”
“Yes. No. I mean—grrr, you’re so confusing sometimes. No, we didn’t dirty dance together. We waltzed, in the rain. And, yes, we did watch that movie. Linc’s never seen it.”
“I bet he looks mighty fine dripping wet in the rain.” Jack raised his eyebrows at me.
“Well, duh.”
“And then what?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re lying.” He narrowed his eyes and threw a bikini in my face.
“He kissed me,” I muttered and turned to walk into the bathroom, hoping to escape Jack before he realised what I said.
“He what?” Jack screeched as he followed me into the bathroom.
“It was nothing. He just walked into the bathroom, much like you right now, and took the towel from me and dried my skin then kissed my shoulder a little.”
“A little?”
“Maybe my neck too.” I felt the heat creeping into my cheeks. Why I found it so hard to talk about, I didn’t know, but it was embarrassing. Possibly because Jack tended to overreact.
“Yes! Baby cakes, this is what we’ve been waiting for our whole lives!” Jack wrapped his arms around me and spun excitedly. Overreacting.
“We?”
“Yes, we. I’ve dreamed about a guy like Linc forever, so I’m living vicariously through you. Tell me more.”
“There’s nothing else to tell. We fell asleep, and I woke to find his hand, umm…”
“Umm?”
“Here.” I held my hand in front of my chest.
“He grabbed a fun bag?” Jack grinned.
“A what?” I asked, sure my face looked as shocked as I felt.
“A fun bag.”
“What are fun bags?”
I regretted asking at once. Particularly asking Jack, the one person who didn’t have boundaries.
“These, baby cakes.” He reached out and grabbed my breasts with both hands.
“Stop. What are you doing?” I tried to push his hands away, but it only made him squeeze them more.
“Playing with your fun bags,” he said and laughed.
“Why?”
“Because they’re fun, Indie, hence the name,” he said, jiggling them in his hands.
“Okay, enough now, please.” I squirmed.
Jack dropped his hands in defeat. “Just trying to help.”
“Well, stop. I don’t need it.”
“A solid C, remember?”
“Have I told you how much I hate you?” I grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him out of the bathroom.
He poked his head back through the door. “Nope. Because you love me. I know it.”
“Don’t get too cocky.”
He turned serious all of a sudden. “You know this plan of mine is going to work, right?”
“Hmmm.” I wasn’t sure what I thought about his plan anymore.
“Baby cakes, I love you, and I want you to be happy. Trust me?”
“Of course. But I feel wrong about lying to everyone.”
“No one needs to know we’re lying. Except for Linc when you two finally hook up.”
“We are not hooking up.” Oh God, what if that’s all Linc saw me as? A hook up. All this flirting and back and forth, what if he only wanted sex? I wanted more. I wanted everything. I couldn’t just be another girl, someone to pass the time while he was on holidays.
“You’re overthinking.” Jack rubbed his thumb between my eyes. “You’ll get wrinkles if you keep frowning like that. ‘Hook up’ might have been a bad choice of words. You don’t want to start off your relationship with Linc on a lie. You’ll have to tell him the truth, but no one else needs to know.”
“Relationship?”
“Yes. That’s why we’re doing this whole charade. Now quit wasting time and trying to use your womanly wiles to make me straight.” He winked and pulled the door closed, giving me a moment of quiet to change into my swimsuit, if it could be called that. Pretty sure it was missing a piece or six. What on earth would that cover?
I grabbed a robe from behind the door to cover myself up with once I was changed. Seriously, my underwear covered more than that bikini. “You didn’t happen to buy me some board shorts to go with this, did you?” I asked Jack the moment I was back in the room.
“How could you even ask such a question?” He smiled. Hope blossomed in my stomach. He had something I would be comfortable wearing. “Of course not! You’re not going to win Adonis’s heart by dressing like him.”
“Adonis?”
“I think it’s more fitting than Linc.”
“Right, well, for your information, Linc told me he prefers me in his tank than my clothes, anyway,” I responded with a smug smile. If I knew it wouldn’t start an immaturity war, I would have stuck my tongue out at him.
“Well, of course, he does. Seeing you in his clothes automatically makes him think about waking up next to you. Which in turn makes him think about you sleeping next to him. Which then leads to him thinking about ripping your clothes off and having his way with you, ultimately leaving you no choice but to wear his clothes to bed.” Jack opened the door and stepped into the hallway.
“He thinks about having sex with me?” I choked on air, gasping for breath. Hook up. Hook up. Hook up.
“About every three seconds of the day.”
I eyed him sceptically.
“Scout’s honour. It’s a guy thing. Trust me, I know. I am one.”
“Right. Let’s just go and meet the others.”
I didn’t want to discuss Linc with Jack anymore. All he did was make me panic and cause me to worry more.
***
The pool was quiet when we got outside, except for our friends splashing and making so much noise I was concerned someone would come and tell us to be quiet. But no one did. I lay back on one of the deck chairs next to Bailey and Kenzie, making myself comfortable and hoping to get a bit of colour on my skin.
The boys were all in the pool playing with pool toys. Kids’ ones. There were pool noodles and kickboards, a beach ball, a floating beanbag, a raft—that Nate was lying on—a blow-up basketball hoop and basketball that Linc and Brody were playing with, and a blow-up seahorse that Ryder was sitting on. Jack kicked off his shoes to join them, running for the pool and jumping straight over Ryder’s head, splashing water everywhere.
“Well, looks like they’re having fun. Where did they get all that stuff?” I asked.
“Stole it from the kiddie pool over there.” Bailey sighed and shook her head.
Of course. And I was willing to bet it had been Nate’s idea. He was a big child sometimes. I often wondered which of us was actually older.
I settled back in my chair and closed my eyes, once I realised Bailey had pulled out her book to read, and Kenzie had plugged in her earphones, drowning out all the noise around us. Fine by me. I wanted to relax, maybe have a nap, and this was the perfect way to do it.
Until I woke up as I was flying into the pool. I screamed just before I hit the surface, sucking in air and water at the same time. I came up spluttering and coughing. My chest burned, and my nose stung.
“You okay, baby cakes?” Jack stood on the edge of the pool with an amused smile on his face.
“No, I’m drowning, you idiot.”
“Doesn’t look like it to me.”
“Shut up,” I answered maturely and swam to the edge to pull myself out.
“Want to play a game?” Jack asked everyone, pushing me back into the water.
“What?” I was cautious. Jack was unpredictable and could come up with the weirdest games.
“Marco Polo.”
“Ha, really?” I asked.
“Yeah, why not? It’s fun in the pool. Guys?”
A chorus of yes and sure followed. So I spent the next two hours playing Marco Polo in a swimming pool filled with accessories for six year olds, with five males in their twenties.
Good times.
Chapter
Eighteen
Linc
I loved the water. I could have spent the entire day in the pool, but after ten rounds of playing aquatic hide and seek with your eyes closed, I’d had enough of Marco Polo. We had to return all the toys to the kids’ pool once families started coming out for a swim, though we did manage to keep the basketball hoop for a little while and get a few games in.
Harper showed up later than the rest of us, and Nate made a beeline for her. The guys had grown tired of swimming and were relaxing on the deck chairs with the girls—Jack was rubbing sunscreen all over Indie, much to my disappointment—when I decided it would be the perfect time to go for a surf. Yesterday was perfect, and I hadn’t surfed as much as I wanted to, not that I was complaining when the alternative was spending time with Indie.
“I’m going for a surf,” I announced and grabbed my towel from the chair. I didn’t invite anyone, wanting the peace and quiet at least for a little while.
“Can I come?” Indie called to me.
I turned and walked backwards. “Sure, if you want.”
“Great.” She stood and started toward me.
“Wait for me, baby cakes. I wouldn’t mind a few more lessons.” Jack jumped out of the chair and followed.
Clenching my jaw, I chose not to say anything to him. Why was he here again? “Anyone else want to come?”
Thankfully, they all shook their heads, opting to lounge by the pool for the rest of the day.
We grabbed three boards from the kiosk on our way down to the beach and walked along the sand to find a less crowded place. The beach was busier than yesterday, bodies sunbaking everywhere. It took us a while to find somewhere, eventually heading around the point and away from the stretch of beach the hotel was on.
“This is perfect,” I said and walked into the water without waiting for Jack and Indie. Indie knew how to surf well enough, so I figured she could give Jack some tips and help him.
The water was warm but refreshing, and the surface was smooth and still until the waves broke. It was the ideal conditions. I paddled out beyond the break and looked over at Indie on the shore giving Jack advice. He was lying on his board in the sand and trying to jump onto his feet. On the flat sand, he wasn’t too bad. He got up smoothly and placed his feet in the right position. It was only when he was in the water he seemed to forget what he meant to do.
I left them to it. They’d get in the water when they were ready. Lying on my board, I waited for the next wave. I paddled forward as it approached, climbed to my feet, and slid along the surface of the water, riding the wave all the way to the end. There was no feeling like surfing. It was the ultimate. A rush. It was powerful and addictive. I loved every second of it.
I didn’t know how long I surfed, paddling back out, riding the waves back in. Over and over. Indie and Jack came out after a while. Indie managed to stay on the board most of the time. I guessed she was a little rusty. I doubted she surfed much while at uni, if at all. It had probably been a few years, but she did well. And Jack was getting the hang of it, even staying upright on his board a couple of times before wiping out.
Time passed quickly, the adrenaline pumping through my veins. I felt like a king out on the water. Untouchable. It wasn’t until I noticed I was out there alone that I realised it was getting late. We had the rehearsal dinner tonight, so I paddled back in, wanting to have a shower and freshen up. I didn’t wan
t to be late, because Leanne would kill me.
I was surprised to find Indie sitting on the sand, watching me. “What are you still doing here?”
“I like watching you surf.” She smiled, her arms wrapped around her knees. I liked that she liked to watch me. “You make it look so graceful.”
“Thanks.” I laughed, sitting beside her. “Where’s Jack?”
“He went back inside for a sleep. Surfing tired him out.”
“Really? It has the opposite effect on me. I’m full of energy now. What time is it?”
“Don’t know, but we should head back in and get ready.” She stood and brushed the sand from her legs, missing a spot.
“Wait, come here.” I grabbed her hips and pulled her to stand in front of me. I reached up and dusted the sand from the tops of her legs and her bikini bottoms, lingering a little longer on her ass than I should have. “There, that’s better.”
Indie cleared her throat. “Ah, thanks.”
I stood and grabbed both boards and carried them back to the kiosk.
“Do you have your key this time?” I joked as we stepped onto the elevator.
She dipped her fingers into her bikini top and pulled out the card for her room with a wink. “Yep!”
I couldn’t say I wasn’t disappointed she had her key. I liked when she relied on me. I liked coming to her rescue. Mostly because it meant she would spend more time with me.
I said goodbye to Indie at my door and watched her walk into her room. It was 5:30. We had to be in the ballroom at 6:30 for the run-through. I didn’t understand why they needed a rehearsal dinner. We sat down, we ate, did speeches, then danced. It wasn’t hard.
After I had showered and dressed, I knocked on the door that separated our rooms to see if she was ready to go. I was glad I knocked because as soon as I did, I heard raised voices. More specifically, Jack-ass yelling. I hesitated, unsure whether I should walk in there and see if everything was okay. It was instinct to make sure Indie was safe, to protect her from harm, as natural as breathing.
