by Kate Benson
“Well, it sounds like it’s going to be great,” Alex replies sarcastically under her breath, eyes widening with the same amused judgement I can feel in my own features. “Here,” she continues, pulling a bottle of whiskey out of her bag and shoving it into Dash’s free hand. “You obviously need this more than I do.”
“Thanks,” he smirks, his features smoothing back into General Tightass almost immediately. “Seriously, though. Please get the hell out of here. If there even is anything you two need to tell Evie …” he trails off, eyes moving between us long enough to see the immediate panic and uncertainty there before he rolls his eyes and waves us off. “Whatever. Do what you gotta do, just wait until after tomorrow.”
“Okay,” we say in unison, rolling our eyes as he makes a sweeping motion to usher Alex out into the hallway for a third time.
“See you later,” I mumble, edging Dash out of the way as I walk her to the threshold. I bend to give her a quick peck on the cheek but stop short when I hear a low sigh coming from behind me. “Dude.”
“What part of get her the fuck out of here are you not getting?” he asks, sticking his head out into the hallway before he faces her once more. “No offense, Alex.”
“No problem,” she smirks, waving back to me before she disappears across the hall and Dash pushes the door shut between us. My eyes move toward his immediately, stunned for some reason I don’t understand, before I throw my hands up. “Dude, what the hell?” I huff. “You’re fucking with my game, bro.”
“Your game,” he snorts, shaking his head as he reaches for his phone and presses something, pulling the phone to his ear. “Hey pussycat. Are you here yet?”
“Ass-”
“Mason, I’m on the phone. Act like your mama raised you right,” he cuts me off, my deadpan glare earning little more than a chuckle in return. “Okay, babe. I’m on my way.”
*
Evie’s hammered before we ever leave the hotel room.
Between her anxiety about getting everything ‘just right,’ Alex’s gift whiskey she lifted from Dash when he helped her up with her bag, the bottle of Bacardi she already had stashed in her bag and the bottle of tequila Amy brought when she showed up to surprise her last minute, she’s halfway done with her bachelorette party before she’s had a chance to start it.
Dash and I, on the other hand, were left with a twelve-pack and a dream once Evie struck.
He says he fought for it, but I know better.
Chump.
Anyway, as many years as I’ve spent dealing with drunks, you’d think I’d have been prepared for the fresh hell that was waiting for me tonight.
You’d have thought that, but you’d be wrong.
In all my years behind a bar, I’ve never encountered this many drunk jackasses at once.
The three of them stumble out of the room, hot pink plastic cocks and illuminated tiaras as far as the eye can see. Immediately, my sister makes a giggling beeline toward Dash, turning our wholesome – okay maybe not wholesome – drunken family celebration into the opening scene of a hotel hallway porno.
“Hmm…” Dash hums as I turn away. “You having fun without me?”
“Mhmm,” she whispers drunkenly. “But I brought you something.”
“Yeah?” he laughs. “What’d you bring me.”
She fumbles long enough that the girls start to snicker, making me hesitantly glance back in time to see her pulling a huge bottle of whiskey out of her bag.
“I stole this from Alex,” she whispers, far too loudly, before she breaks out in a fit of giggles against his chest. “Don’t tell her, okay? Just give her like… thirty dollars or something so we aren’t bad people.”
“Okay,” he laughs, taking the bottle and discreetly handing it to me. “I’m gonna save this for later,” he tells her, prompting her to stare back at him in offense. She’s about to argue, but he puts his finger over her lips and shushes her. “It’s for me and you, okay? For when we get back.”
“Okay,” she nods, failing miserably at a wink before she smiles brightly once more. “And then we’ll do the other stuff that Mason can’t find out about.”
“What is the other stu-?”
“Shh…” he shakes his head, eyebrows quirking together immediately. “You can’t know about it,” he says again, smirking wickedly when my features lose any semblance of amusement immediately. “Did you eat anything?”
“You’re gonna be eatin’ something later if yo-”
“Okay!” he cuts her off, laughing hard at my expression as he clamps his hand over her mouth. “Your brother is still standing right here,” he offers, his lips spreading into a wide beam. “I like giving him shit, too, but that feels a little far even to me.”
“Yeah,” I nod, pinching my nose.
“Oh, hey!” she says, clumsily leaving his arms to fall into mine. “Mason’s here!” She smells like she’s spent the last hour swimming in the missing half of her stolen whiskey bottle. “Hey, I forgot to tell you before that I know a girl for you. She’s gonna come to the wedding and I want you to meet her.”
“Okay, sis,” I smirk. “Why don’t we worry about that tomorrow, okay?”
“What’s tomorrow?” she asks, eyebrows quirking together before her eyes go wide once more. “Oh, yeah! Hey!” she turns to Dash. “Babe! We gotta go to the wedding. Don’t forget, okay?”
“I won’t forget,” he laughs.
“Cool,” she smiles, nodding slowly before she returns her gaze to mine. “Hey!”
“Hey!” I chuckle. “You gonna be okay?”
“Hell yeah, I am,” she nods. “Let’s get married!”
The girls clap and sing their praises, egging on her excitement as we make our way toward the elevator. We’re waiting for the doors to open when I give Alex’s arm a gentle tug, pulling her more lucid eyes to mine.
“I thought you were going to watch her?”
“I did watch her,” she whispers back. “I watched her steal all my booze and when I took it away, I watched her try to order more from room service.” My features offer her the silent apology I know she deserves. “Anyway, when I saw how hard she was starting, I chilled out some. I’ve only had a few and none of us are driving. I’ll help keep an eye on her.”
“Thanks,” I smile, my voice still low. “I was thinking about what Dash said earlier. The whole if there’s anything to tell thing.”
“Yeah?”
“We’re going to be bar hopping all night,” I continue, biting the inside of my cheek. “Maybe until we know the answer to that, we should agree to kind of keep this between us.”
“I thought that’s what we were doing?” she shrugs. “I mean, we said we wouldn’t say anything until Monday, right?” I nod, glancing away. “So then…”
“I mean like maybe try not to hook up with anyone else tonight,” I finally manage. “I’ll do the same. I won’t talk to anyone else, but I want the same from you, too.”
She says nothing, her features not telling me one way or another if I’ve pissed her off or given her relief. When the elevator door dings, signaling its arrival, she’s quick to pull away.
“Are you seriously asking me to try my best to not fuck some random while we’re standing in a hallway?”
“I’m asking you to not make any drunk decisions while we’re not.”
Her jaw squares, something deep inside her eyes begins to shift and when it does, I have my answer.
I definitely did not offer this woman any relief.
“Well, you know I make all my best decisions when I’m shitfaced, Mason, so I really can’t make any promises,” she rolls her eyes. When the elevator dings its arrival, she’s quick to pull away with a wide, sarcastic grin. “Hey, instead of asking me not to fuck anyone else, maybe you can just go fuck yourself.”
alex
“You’re mad?” he asks as we make it out onto the street. Why he’d choose that question out of any other after he’d just spent the last sixty-three seconds watching me see
the in silence six inches away is beyond me. “Really?”
“Why do you even think you have to ask me that?” I hiss under my breath. “Do you think I’m some kind of whore who can’t keep control of myself for three hours?”
“No, I just-”
“Then don’t say stupid shit!” I cut him off.
I stomp on his foot quickly, pulling a low, unamused chuckle followed by a string of profanity from his lips as I push passed him and follow Evie to the car that’s waiting for us in front of the entrance. I’m settling into the second back row of seats when she spins around and faces the hotel.
“Shit!” she starts. “Babe, I have to pee.”
“Okay, princess,” Dash replies, moving to get up.
“I need to go, too,” Amy offers, gesturing for him to sit back down. “I’ll go with her.”
“Alright,” he nods, holding Evie’s gaze. “You good, pussycat?”
“Mhmm,” she smiles. “I’m good, baby. How you doing?”
“I’m good, sugar,” he winks, laughing at her giggle before he settles back in and watches them move back into the building. Once she’s inside and definitely out of earshot, he glances back at Mason and me. “What the hell is up with you two?”
“Nothing,” we answer in unison, our voices giving away the lie immediately.
“Uh oh,” he sings. “First fight?”
“Shut up, Dash,” we answer, again in unison, ignoring his low whistle.
“Must’ve been a good one,” he says low, eyes still locked on the entrance where Evie and Amy slipped into. “I know it’s none of my business, but-”
“You’re right, Dash. It’s really not,” Mason interjects, making him smirk. “But you’ve never let that you before.”
“True,” he shrugs. “Listen, nine times out of ten, when you’re in a fight, it’s over stupid shit that doesn’t really even mean anything,” he offers. “Take a minute to be pissed off if you need it but dwelling on shit only makes it worse.”
“What’s your point?” Mason asks, both of us still glaring up at him, though the ice in our chests is noticeably beginning to thaw.
“No matter what you do for the rest of the night, the shit’s still not going to mean anything,” he says. “Not unless you turn it into something that does.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” I sigh, shaking my head.
“It does make sense, man,” he argues. “You start shit over nothing,” he tells Mason before gesturing toward me. “Now, I’m not saying she didn’t say something to set you off, but I do know you let your fuckin’ mouth run out your ass too damn much and I’ve been telling you for years that shit’s gonna catch up with you.”
“I don’t need your help,” Mason insists.
“I can see that,” he smirks, taking us both in before he shakes his head. “Whatever. You’re welcome. Kiss my ass.”
I glance over at Mason, arms still crossed over my midsection in determined annoyance as his eyes find mine. I’m still livid, lowkey hurt by what he’d implied upstairs, but I get Dash’s point, too.
Mason says some stupid shit sometimes, but I know tonight, that’s not what he meant to say.
I still just need to be pissed off for a few minutes.
“Evie’s coming. Act normal,” he suggests, glancing back at our matching scowls once more with an understanding smirk. “That ought to be easy for a couple hours.”
“So, what?” he asks quietly enough so only I can hear as we wait for the girls to get settled. “Are you just not going to talk to me all night?”
“You should probably listen to your friend,” I say low. “It would be in your best interest to just leave me the hell alone for a while.” I don’t miss the way he stifles a low groan of annoyance at my words. I don’t miss it, but I also don’t appreciate it. “I mean, I’ll probably be so busy trying to contain my natural whore instinct to talk to you anyway,” I snark back, eyes narrowed despite the wry smirk that falls over my lips. “Best to let it sit until morning.”
“You know that’s not what I said.”
“I heard exactly what you said, Mason,” I whisper back at him, my neck burning with a combination of anger and need as his cologne hits me. “And I really need you to stop talking because I’ve heard enough for one night.”
chapter twenty-two
mason
“Woohoo!” Amy bellows across the bar toward the obnoxiously built bartender, she and Alex both giggling like drunken idiots when he glances away from the drink he’s mixing to smile at them.
“Shake it, baby!” Alex shouts out, putting my sister into a fit of giggles that has her half a wrong move away from face planting in the middle of the floor.
“Oh, my God!” Evie squeals, throwing her head back as she leans against Amy’s arm, holding herself steady. “Y’all are some thirsty ass hoes.”
“Yassss!” they call out in unison, pulling another loud round of laughter from all of them.
“Whose dumb ass idea was this joint party shit?” I ask, leaning against the table as I sip my beer, giving Dash a judgmental look.
“Mine,” he admits easily, smirking at Evie as she begins to snort. “She makes me go out with the guys from work at least twice a month, but she hasn’t been out like this since we found out about the twins. All this is mostly for her,” he shrugs. “I don’t need a party, but she deserved a night to get crazy and I spent way too much time behind a bar to feel alright with her going into a bunch of them by herself. I figured this way, we both get what we want.”
I think on his words and can’t help but appreciate his thoughtfulness when it comes to my sister. Especially since we both know he used to be one of the guys he’s protecting her from now. I’m about to say as much, but as usual, he ruins it by running his mouth.
“Why’s it stupid anyway? Because you pissed your secret girlfriend off and now she’s getting back at you by hitting on the bartender?”
“Shut up.”
“That’s what I thought,” he smirks. “Drink your beer and chill out. She doesn’t mean all that shit, or she’d have already snuck into the bathroom with one of the ten guys that walked up to her by now. She’s just doing it to get you riled up.”
“It’s working.”
“Well, that should tell you something then,” he shrugs, draining his beer. “I’m ready for whiskey, bro.”
“Me, too,” I admit with a low sigh, heading toward the bar.
“Hey, do me a favor,” he says, pulling my eyes back to where he’s sitting at our table. “Be in a better mood when you come back over here. You’re bumming me the fuck out, man.”
I flip him off, pulling a chuckle from him, and make my way toward the bar. I make a feeble attempt at giving the girls space but also, not so much that I can’t hear what they’re talking about when the bartender approaches.
“There he is,” Amy smiles, leaning over the bar. “We thought you were ignoring us.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he winks, moving toward me. “Hey man. What can I get you?”
“Hey,” I start, ignoring the side eye I’m getting from Alex as I lean in so he can hear me. “Gimme four Jameson’s and another round for the table back there. You can put a round for these three on my tab, too.”
“Alright,” he nods, giving the bar a quick tap before he turns to walk away.
“Wait! Come back!” Evie calls out. “We want more liquor!”
“I’m coming for you next,” he laughs.
He rounds the corner and catches his apron on the door, loosening the tie just enough that he removes it altogether and tosses it to the side. The girls react with another round of appreciation.
“Yeah! Take it off!” Amy calls out, laughing when he starts to blush and pulls the beers from the cooler in front of him. “He’s fine as hell,” she says low, giving Alex a quick jab with her elbow. “Evie and I can’t do shit with him, but he’s been staring at you half the night anyway. You ought to get his number.”
�
�Yeah?” she replies low, pulling a nod from them both.
“Hell yes!” Evie insists, shaking her head as she glances back over at him. “Did you see the arms on him?” she asks, moving her gaze back to her friends. “I bet he’d just throw your little ass all over that room, girl.”
“Yes!” Amy laughs, thankfully loud enough to camouflage the low groan leaving my chest for multiple reasons. “Talk to him when he comes back over here or I’m gonna do it for you.”
“Alright, alright,” Alex laughs, assuring me Amy didn’t hide my displeasure nearly enough as she glances down at tits and turns toward Amy. “How do the girls look?”
“Good,” she winks, nodding toward him when he starts back over.
What the fuck?
“Here, man,” he says, pulling my attention back to him. “You want it all on your tab, right?”
“Yeah, that’s co-”
“So, what’s your name?” Alex asks, cutting me off.
“Derrick,” he smiles.
“Hmm,” she says thoughtfully. “You don’t look like a Derrick.”
“No?” he smirks, taking in her shaking head as she leans further over the bar beside me. “What do I look like?”
“You keep flashin’ them dimples over here and you’re gonna look a little like my next ex.”
This time, I can’t hide the sardonic laugh that leaves my chest.
“You alright, Mase?” Evie asks, peeking around the others to take in my bizarre expression.
“Mhmm,” I nod. “Yep, I’m good.”
“Kay,” she smiles. “Thanks for the drinks.”
“Yeah, Mase,” Alex glances over her shoulder, smiling sarcastically before she shoots me a wink. “Thanks.”
