Third Chances

by Smoak, Ivy

  "You're disgusting."

  "Yet you're all over me."

  "Because I have to be. Speaking of which, has it been 20 minutes yet?"

  "I don't know, I don't have a watch. I'm not a tool. James!" I yelled over to my brother. "How long have Daphne and I been snuggling?"

  "I heard the tool comment, asshole," he yelled back. "If you'll give me my phone, it's been ten minutes."

  "No can do."

  "Then it's been half an hour."

  "Fuck."

  "Thanks, Professor Hunter!" Daphne said and quickly got off of me.

  James slamming his book shut made me look away from Daphne's ass. He looked kind of pissed that these girls kept calling him Professor Hunter. Which was weird, because I knew for a fact that he got off when Penny called him that.

  "So you should probably, you know...go back over to your friends," Daphne said.

  "Yeah, I probably should."

  She looked disappointed.

  I climbed off the chair. "Don't worry, I'll be right back. I just need to check on my super sensitive older brother."

  James was glaring at me from his chair. What the fuck had gotten into him? I walked back over toward my friends and collapsed in the chair beside him.

  "You okay, man?"

  James ran his hands down his face. "No, I'm not okay."

  "Is this about calling Penny again? James, you have to learn to live a little. This is your last weekend as a single man. You should be the one over there flirting with a hot girl."

  "You're joking, right?"

  I shrugged. "That's what bachelor parties are for. It's time to let loose. Enjoy yourself. I got some extra cards from the front desk. You should use this one on the girl over there." I pulled out a card that said, "receive a motor boating," and tossed it at him.

  James picked up the card without looking at it and tossed it back at me. "I would never cheat on Penny. Ever."

  "You don't have to sleep with someone else. A good motor boating never hurt anyone, though. Come on, you old sailor." I motor boated a pair of imaginary breasts to emphasize my point.

  "Why did I make you my best man again?"

  "Because you love me."

  "Fine. Then if you love me at all, you'll let me call her back."

  "I'm not letting you call her because I love you, man."

  "Look, I feel sick to my stomach. And I've been having these chest pains all morning. I couldn't sleep well last night." He ran his hands down his face again. He wasn't kidding. He looked a fucking mess. His face was pale and his eyes were slightly bloodshot. And he seemed antsy and definitely agitated.

  "It's been one night since you've seen her and you're falling apart. Geez, you really are addicted to her, aren't you?"

  James glared at me.

  "Shut the hell up, Rob," Mason said. "I was going to call Penny tonight anyway, James. I'll make sure she's okay. Don't worry about her so much. Plus, Bee's hanging out with her tonight. They're going to be having fun. Which is what you should be doing too."

  "I just need to talk to her," James said.

  I pulled his phone out of my pocket. "Look, she hasn't even called you today. Whatever was bothering her last night clearly isn't bothering her anymore. And I talked to her last night. She was fine. She just misses you."

  "Yeah. I guess." He opened his book back up, but he didn't look down at it. He was just staring at the empty pool.

  "You have a very overactive imagination. She's in the safest apartment in the world with all your security measures. And whenever she does leave, you have that driver that's an ex-marine. She's fine. You're not actually worried about her, are you?"

  "Of course I am." He didn't seem completely genuine, like there was something else bothering him. And I knew my brother. He was embarrassed about something.

  "You're lying."

  "I'm not lying. I just..." his voice trailed off. "Never mind. Screw both of you."

  "Oh my God, you miss her. You can't sleep because you miss her." I started laughing.

  "So what?"

  "You're so cute."

  "I'm not cute. Mason misses Bee," he pointed over to Mason. "He called her last night and talked to her. And he got to calm her down about where we were. She thought he had taken us to an underground strip club or something. But I didn't get to calm Penny down. And I didn't get to tell her goodnight. And yeah, I miss her. I'm used to telling her goodnight every night. I want to do that. That's why I'm marrying her. I don't want a day to go by where we don't talk. I don't like this feeling." He ran his hand across his chest. "So if that makes me cute, fine. I'm fucking adorable."

  Mason laughed. "I really did have to calm Bee down. And it didn't help that she accidentally told Penny that I used to be a horrible person."

  "What?" James sat up straight.

  "She let some information about my old side business slip out. But it's fine, she calmed Penny down."

  "No wonder Penny called me a million times last night. I need to talk to her. I need to tell her I'm just sitting around a pool being adorable and talking about how much I miss her." He reached for his phone but I quickly slipped it back into my pocket.

  "Totally whipped. You do not need to tell her that. Don't you wear the pants in the relationship?"

  "Penny and I pride ourselves in barely wearing any clothes when we're together." He folded his arms across his chest.

  "Here's to that," Mason said and picked his magazine back up. "But really, don't worry, man. I'll talk to Penny tonight and make sure everything's okay. How about you just try to relax for a few minutes?"

  "Seriously," I said. "There's a group of hot girls over there that would love to hang out with us for the rest of the weekend."

  "I don't want to hang out with some girls that used to be in my class. That one girl basically stalked me."

  "Which one?"

  "The one will brunette hair. Kristen Dwyer."

  "So what? It's your bachelor party. Make her dreams come too. She's hot."

  "I feel like I need to say this one more time, to nail it into your head," James said. "I will never, ever cheat on Penny. Ever."

  "Fine. I totally get it. If she was my girl I wouldn't cheat on her either. She is so fucking sexy. And I promise, if you ever die in some terrible, fiery accident, I will totally make sure she stays sexual satisfied for you. Best man code."

  "I'm going to kill you in your sleep tonight." James picked up his book again. "And then I'm going to make Mason my best man."

  Mason laughed. "You should have just made me your best man to begin with. I never say anything inappropriate about Penny."

  "Ever since you started dating Bee. But before that, you had your fair share of comments too."

  "All I ever said is that I could hook her up with a great job and an amazing salary. No benefits, but still."

  "You wanted her to be a hooker."

  "Oh, shit," I said. "Mason, did I ever tell you that when I first met Penny, I thought she was a prostitute that James had hired for me?"

  Mason laughed. "Tell me that isn't true?"

  "No, seriously. It was hilarious."

  "I'm going to go get a drink," James said. He tossed his book on his chair and walked away from us.

  "He's going to the front desk to call Penny, right?" I asked

  "I'll give him one minute and then I'll run after him." Mason turned to me. "Lighten up on him a bit, though, will you? You know how he gets."

  "You mean you think he is addicted to her?" I had been through a lot with James. I had sat with him during withdrawal. I knew him better than anyone else did. Well, maybe not Penny. She had me beat.

  "I don't know." Mason dropped his magazine and stood up. "I just meant that he's in love and he misses her." He stared after James. "He seems different, you know? With her."

  "You mean he's fun again?"

  "And not obliterated, yes."

  "You always were the one that was a bad influence on him," I said.

  "Me? I'm pretty sure
that was you."

  I laughed. "Maybe he was the one that was a bad influence on us." I watched James as he walked around the pool. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't seen him like this before. That wasn't seriously the problem, was it? Withdrawal? He had been clean for years. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach as the realization slowly dawned on me. I wasn't sure why I had never realized it before. He had been clean since he started dating Penny.

  Before Mason could go after him, I stood up. "I'll go talk to him."

  Chapter 13

  Daphne

  I tried to casually glance over at Rob again, hoping he wouldn't notice. I had misjudged him. That wasn't something I usually did. There was so much more to him than the handsome, funny man front. Why was he hiding that?

  When he started talking about his time living in Costa Rica, I had been completely absorbed. Hopefully he had been too, because when I realized I was running my hands through the contours of his six pack while I listened, I couldn't seem to stop. I had never felt a body as hard as his before. It was like my hand was the opposite end of a magnet. It just wanted to be pressed against him. And I liked the way his muscles felt under my fingers. I liked the way he looked at me even more. It was as though he desired me. No one had ever desired me like that before.

  The story he had told me wasn't sexy at all. But he was so passionate about what he was saying. I could hear it in his voice. Which somehow resulted in his story sounding sexy. Everything that came out of his mouth somehow exuded sex. I was scared of my own reaction to him. I had never been this physically attracted to anyone in my life. I needed to calm down.

  When Rob stood up from his chair, I immediately closed my eyes. I shouldn't have been thinking about him anyway. It wasn't like I was just going to jump in bed with him. That wasn't me. I didn't have vacation flings, or any flings for that matter. He was right about me too. I was a serial monogamist. I believed in deep connections and long relationships.

  I jumped when I felt a large hand fall on my shoulder. My eyelids flew open. Rob was standing above me with a smile on his face.

  "You're not used to being touched, huh?" His thumb dropped slightly, stopping dangerously close to my breast.

  I shrugged away from his hand before I could let his touch effect me even more. "I'm perfectly used to being touched. It's not like I'm some prude virgin." Why the hell did I just said that?

  His smile got even broader. "Good to know. I just wanted to tell you that I'll be back in a few minutes. Did any of you ladies want something to drink?"

  Kristen rolled over onto her back and pushed her sunglasses on top of her head. "No thanks. We're leaving for a tour of the rainforest in a few minutes. But maybe we could all meet up for drinks later?"

  I pressed my lips together as I stared at her. She was basically setting me up on a date. Kristen always thought she knew what was best for me. But if she knew at all the way I was feeling right now, she'd know that I couldn't hang out with Rob anymore. Really, I should be avoiding him at all costs. Whatever this electricity was between us was only going to end badly. For me. Besides, I never just went out for drinks with a guy. It was always dinner. Drinks was basically just code for let's fuck. It didn't imply getting to know each other at all.

  "I think my friends and I would be up for that. Have fun in the rainforest, ladies. There's a beautiful waterfall near here. You should tell your tour guide to take you there."

  "Thanks for the tip," Kristen said. "I guess we'll see you later?"

  "Absolutely." He bent down and grabbed my wrist.

  For some reason I thought he was going to kiss my hand. The thought sent goose bumps up my arms.

  "I almost forgot." He pulled out a card from his pocket and swiped it across one of my bracelets. "That one was for the snuggling." He pulled out two more cards and removed my other two bracelets. "And that's because I don't like to share."

  His words combined with the way he was looking at me made me even wetter than I already was. I tried to cross my legs discreetly. Despite how sexy what he just said was, though, I couldn't help but wonder what was on the two cards he hadn't shown me. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that he'd make me do whatever was on them whenever we ran into each other next.

  "What was on the other cards?" I asked.

  He looked down at them and smiled before putting them in his pocket. "I guess you'll find out later."

  "Aren't the rules that I have to do the action on the card before you take off my bracelet?"

  "I just did you a favor. Now you don't have to worry about a bunch of guys on your tour trying to hit on you."

  "But I have to worry about you instead."

  He smiled. "Just me." He lightly touched the bottom of my chin. "That's the whole point, beautiful." He stopped touching me just as quickly as he had started and he turned around without another word. I watched his perfect male form run past the pool to catch up with his brother who had walked away awhile ago.

  "Damn," Kristen said. "He's almost as hot as his brother."

  "Almost? He's just as hot as Professor Hunter," I said more defensively than I realized. But Kristen was so far gone in her own obsession that she didn't even realize my tone.

  "He asked me to call him James. How sexy is that? I'm on a first name basis with Professor Hunter." Kristen squealed.

  Alina laughed and sat up. "I'm guessing that you didn't notice that he looked super uncomfortable around you?"

  "What?" Kristen asked. "He didn't look uncomfortable. I thought he looked happy to see me. Plus he remembered who I was."

  Alina laughed. "Sure. But what we should really be talking about right now is how Daphne can't keep her hands off of Professor Hunter's little brother."

  "That isn't true," I said. "He was using his stupid cards on me. I didn't have a choice."

  "Mhm. How did the Javier talk go? I'm guessing not great since you still had your bracelets when you came back."

  "The talk didn't go great, but I stole some cards so that I could take the rest of those stupid bracelets off." I threw their bracelets back at them. "Don't you dare put those on me again."

  "Wait, you stole something? You broke the rules? Are you feeling okay, Momma Bear?"

  That was basically the same thing that Rob had said to me. That I didn't know how to have fun. "I know how to have fun, you guys."

  "Does that mean you're going to have some fun with Rob later?" Layla had decided to jump in on their teasing too.

  "No. Absolutely not."

  "It sounded like you already shared a pretty spicy kiss," Kristen said.

  "He was exaggerating," I lied. Because it was true. Just thinking about that kiss made my head spin. "Besides, we're probably never going to see him again. He didn't even ask where we wanted to meet. Or what room we were in. Or anything." As I said it, I realized how I hoped it wasn't true. No, I didn't want to hop in bed with him. But I wouldn't mind sharing a few more of those kisses.

  "I'll just go tell Mason our room number then," Layla said and stood up. She had already walked over to Mason before I could tell her to stop.

  "We should probably go get ready for our rainforest tour," Alina said. "I can't wait to see the waterfall Rob told us about. I hope the tour guide will take us there. I'm even going to keep my bikini on under my clothes in case we're allowed to swim."

  "That's a great idea," Kristen said as she stood up and stretched. "Hopefully we get back in time to shower though. I have to look amazing for my date with Professor Hunter tonight."

  "You don't have a date with Professor Hunter tonight," I said. "And what would Tim think if he knew you were talking about another guy like this?"

  "Tim and I each have a few people on our 'allowed to fuck' list."

  "Your what?"

  "Our lists of people that we're allowed to have sex with outside of our relationship."

  "That's not a thing."

  "Of course it's a thing. It's mostly celebrities, obviously. But Professor Hunter is at the top of mine. Tim's fine with
it."

  "You two have the weirdest relationship ever."

  "Whatever you say, Momma Bear. I am going to be totally selfless tonight though. You haven't gotten laid in forever. So my main goal tonight is for you to get in Rob's pants."

  "I don't want your help with that."

  "Mhm." She winked at me.

  "Kristen, I don't. I'm not going to sleep with some guy I just met this morning."

  "Mhm." She winked at me again.

  "Stop winking at me."

  "We're all set," Layla said as she joined us again. "Mason's going to call our room tonight to let us know where to meet them. You're welcome," she said and looked right at me.

  "I don't know why you guys are focusing on me right now. It's Alina's bachelorette party. Let's make her do stupid stuff instead."

  "I'm actually greatly enjoying this," Alina said. "And I already know which dress you should wear tonight. First I'm getting my rainforest on, though. So let's get ready before we miss the tour." She linked her arm in mine.

  "When did bachelorette parties turn into torturing single girls parties?" I tried to focus on my question instead of the butterflies in my stomach.

  Chapter 14

  Rob

  I caught up to James right before he got to the front desk. "What's up?"

  James winced when he heard me. "Nothing. I just forgot my keycard and I need to get back in our room."

  "I thought you were getting a drink?"

  "I think I'm just going to take a nap instead."

  "Okay. Well, I have my key. I need to go grab a shirt anyway. I'll let you in our room."

  James looked at the front desk and then back at me. "Yeah, thanks." He shoved his hands into his pockets as he joined me. We walked in silence toward the elevator. When we got in, he leaned against the wall and looked down at the ground.

  "What's really bothering you?" I finally asked, breaking the silence.

  James shook his head. It looked like he wanted to talk, or at least like he needed to. But he didn't say anything.

  "You can tell me you know."

  "I'm just...I feel like I can't give her enough. I'm not enough."