She cocked her head to the side and narrowed her gaze which made me chuckle.
“I took a surfing lesson,” I said through the laugh “Will probably take another. That shit is fun.”
“I’ll go with you next time,” Cain said coming up behind her.
“Me, too,” she said excitedly bouncing on her toes.
Cain and I glanced at each other then looked away trying not to smile. Flannery wasn’t super coordinated when it came to sporty things so that might be funny to watch.
“Anyway.” She gave us both a shove because we weren’t all that successful at keeping straight faces. “Cain and I are going to get something to eat. I know it’s kind of late for lunch but we were looking for you to see if you want to come.”
“Nah. I told you I’m not here to actually crash your honeymoon.”
“Just come with us, asshole.” Cain snaked his fingers through his wife’s.
“Ok. So hostile.” I shook my head. “Let me run up and change.”
Back down to the lobby fifteen minutes later in cargo shorts and a T-shirt, the three of us went into the hotel restaurant where we could sit on the balcony looking out over the water. We were in the shade so the temperature remained perfectly comfortable. It was like all the times we’d hung out when Cain and I lived together. Flannery pretty much became a constant fixture in the apartment from the time they reconciled until we graduated.
Good thing I liked the girl.
She never even called me out for yelling at her in the hall at school after they’d broken up. I hated to do it but fuck me if those two didn’t need to figure things out back then and I had to do something. All that remained in the past and they seemed mostly over it.
Once we were done eating a meal that had me thinking I’d never have to eat again, the happy couple were heading down to the beach and I had no idea what I wanted to do. That thought went away when this small bundle of energy slammed right into Cain.
He huffed out a grunt because the girl’s shoulder got him right in the stomach. She fell backwards so he let go of Flannery and grabbed both of the girl’s arms to keep her from slamming into the ground.
“Sorry about that,” she laughed. She didn’t sound embarrassed as most people probably would have. “You ok?” She rubbed her right shoulder.
Cain had always been in shape. Between soccer and conditioning we both stayed pretty cut but I had a feeling he’d been hitting the gym with Adam since I wasn’t around anymore. Couldn’t blame him. I belonged to a gym in California. Even with all that, I wouldn’t have thought his abs were hard enough to cause the girl an injury.
“I think I’ll live.” He smiled.
Then again, she really did smack into him pretty hard.
“Where’s the fire?” I asked like a dumbass.
She glanced up at me with these big brown eyes that somehow sent a weird zing up my spine.
She was hot.
I’d had hot girls before but the way she looked at me like she was letting me know she’d cut through my bullshit if given the chance.
It was weird.
Her long dark hair complimented her skin’s tan hue. It wasn’t a suntan either. And she stood a half a head over Flannery which would make her maybe five foot four with a banging body to match. This could be an interesting turn of events. But damn she looked familiar.
“No fire,” she smirked right at me. “Just late for work.”
“You work at the hotel?” Flannery asked because that’s what she did. She wanted to get to know every single person she met whereas I barely looked at people. Wouldn’t recognize the waiter we just had at lunch if I had to identify him in a lineup.
“No. I’m a model. I have a shoot out on the beach.”
My eyebrows just about slammed into my hairline. No way was this girl a model. She was beautiful but she didn’t have the tall, fake boob look I’d seen every day in California on an “actress slash model”.
“You’re a model?” I asked.
That might have come out wrong. I can admit it. It sounded more like “You’re a model?” She pushed through the small opening between Cain and Flannery as Flannery smacked my arm loudly bringing a few curious glances our way.
That was gonna leave a mark.
“I didn’t mean that the way it sounded,” I called after her.
“Sure you didn’t.” The girl snorted. “Not that it matters but I’m a hand model.” As she said it she hid her hands behind her back like she knew I’d look.
“That’s awesome.” Flannery sounded more excited than she should have.
Probably overcompensating for my douchery.
“A hand model?” Why couldn’t I have just shut my mouth? And why did everything come out of my mouth like I didn’t believe what she said? What the fuck was wrong with me?
“Yeah, asshole. Now if you don’t mind I’d like to get to work.”
She turned away from us but threw up both middle fingers over her shoulders and no doubt that was directed right at me. I held in the chuckle fighting its way to the surface. There was something familiar about the way her brown hair swung across her skin. Shit. I knew this girl. Not knew her but had seen her before.
She was the laughing girl from the airplane.
“I like her,” Flannery laughed.
Yeah, me, too. There was no chance in hell those words were ever seeing the light of day. Instead, I turned to head up to my room. I could have sworn I saw Flannery run after the girl but I wasn’t going to look back to find out for sure.
I didn’t see any of them the rest of the day.
By the next morning I’d already decided to do the parasailing but wanted to get out there early. Not a chance in hell would I waste my time in a hotel room while Cain bent Flannery into every shape he could think of. He did send me a text at some point saying that they expected me to go to the luau at the hotel tonight. It wasn’t optional. He said Flan would be after me if I didn’t show up as planned. Message received.
I made it to the parasailing dock before the next boat left, paid my money and signed the release. The girl at the counter flirted with the best of them. I smiled and answered her questions. A vacation hookup could be fun despite my earlier reservations, but I didn’t think she’d be the one. Actually she looked too young. Not jailbait young but maybe barely. No thanks.
For whatever reason my brain conjured up the imagine of the girl from the plane. The tiny grin she gave me when she picked up her book. Her smirk at my supposed insult. The way she flipped her middle fingers over her shoulder as she walked away. I enjoyed the view of her walking away.
“Hey, would you mind sharing your sail?” Not jailbait asked bringing me back to the present.
I cocked an eyebrow because I literally had no idea if that was a euphemism or if she meant for parasailing.
“You’re the only single,” she explained. “I thought to save time you might not mind some company up there. It’s a little cheaper, too.”
“He doesn’t mind,” Cain said from behind me then clasped a hand around the back of my neck quickly before letting go. He needed to find a new trick because this one was old. He’d been grabbing me by the back of my neck since we were kids.
“Did I tell you I was coming here?” Because I didn’t think I did.
“Nope. I followed you.”
“Uh…stalker.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, sweetheart.” Cain grinned widely.
“So, should I keep you two separate?” Not jailbait asked her face in a semi-permanent wince, unsure if we were actually friends or not.
“Together’s fine,” I said with a sigh. “Where’s Flannery? Sick of you after two days?”
“Sleeping. And she figured you’d be doing something awesome so she sent me on my way.”
“Have I mentioned that she might be the coolest chick I’ve ever met?”
“Don’t I know it.” He smiled back like fool.
We listened to the instructions, put on these little l
ife preservers the company required everyone to wear and the boat headed out into the ocean. Cain and I volunteered to go first. This old guy who looked like he descended from an indigenous Hawaiian family, huge, dark toned, wrinkled skin, a tell-tale sign that he’d spent his entire life out in the sun, strapped us in and gave the last instructions. And then we were off.
When we were at the full six hundred feet I really wished they’d let us go higher but apparently this was as far as they’d go. It was peaceful. There weren’t any drops or flips like a roller coaster. The intense blue skies met the deep hue of the water. I swear I could see the entire island. Too soon we were dropping, being tugged back to the ship. Easy and gentle. Until we hit the water. We just dipped in, the water dragging over our feet and legs then we were back in the air, much lower than before.
“What the hell was that?” I asked loudly.
“The old guy asked if we wanted to be dipped and I said yes. You weren’t paying attention.”
“That was awesome.”
“Yeah it was.”
Back on the boat, we had four more couples to wait through which I didn’t mind. Being on the water calmed me.
It was a good day.
At eight I was dressed in cargo shorts and a short sleeve t-shirt, waiting in the lobby for my friends.
As Flannery and Cain stepped off the elevator, him with his arm around her shoulders pulling her to him, I almost bolted. They looked happy and secluded in a personal bubble, and I really didn’t want to be the third wheel. Then I remembered Flannery’s threat via Cain’s text, and I knew she’d follow through and I’d end up with another bruise on my shin.
So I stayed.
The sun had just started going down and bright colors reflected off the ocean. Maybe Hawaii wouldn’t be a bad place to live. But if I felt isolated in California while everyone I cared for was in Michigan, I knew it’d be so much worse in Hawaii. The sound of drums beating into the night air guided us down the beach and to the party already in full swing. A couple of guys near the stage had already drank too much as they hooted and hollered at the hula girls.
Douches.
Luckily for us, Flannery chose a table near the back so we wouldn’t have to deal with them unless they really got out of hand. We ordered drinks then sat back to watch the people and the show.
“Hey, isn’t that the girl who slammed into me the other day?” Cain asked touching the beer bottle to his lips to hide the smile he did a piss poor job of containing.
“Oh it is,” Flannery said a little too happily.
I might be fucked. I’d already insulted the girl. They couldn’t really be thinking of inviting her over.
“She’s by herself. I’m going to ask her to join us,” Flannery said as if it was a forgone conclusion.
She’s lucky Cain was in love with her otherwise I might’ve had to feed her to the sharks.
“I’d rather you not,” I said looking away from the girl and ignored the tightening in my stomach.
I felt bad I’d insinuated she wasn’t pretty enough to be a model because it was so far from the truth. So it wasn’t a stretch to say that I didn’t really want to interact with her any further. Who knows what I’d say.
“Yeah, I’m going to go ask the troll who couldn’t possibly be a model to come sit with us.” Flannery gave me an innocent smile and hopped up from the table before walking her bouncy little self over to the girl.
Fuck me.
Chapter Three
Cain chuckled under his breath as we watched his wife wrangle the unsuspecting stranger. He sure seemed to think there was something humorous about this situation.
I didn’t.
“Something funny?” I asked.
“I find lots of things funny.” He took another drink. “Stand-up comics are usually funny. Watching Kendra try to patch things up with Adam this summer was at times funny. This…this I think will be interesting.”
“What aren’t you telling me, asshole?”
He chuckled a little louder and didn’t get the chance to answer because Flan and the mystery girl stood at our table.
“Hey guys, this is Miriam. This is my husband, Cain, which is really weird to say and this is the friend he’s taken pity on for years, Sam.”
“Nice to me you,” she said to Cain.
Me she only glanced at. Yet I couldn’t take my eyes off her. The draw to her made me uncomfortable in a way I hadn’t been in a really long time. This was the third time I’d seen her, hell I’d barely spoken to her and what I had said didn’t come out right. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but there was something different about her. Something I liked which I didn’t like feeling. I wanted to get away from her yet knew there’d be no way I could.
Her long, dark brown hair hung over her shoulder in a loose braid the way Flannery wore hers most of the time in college. Her eyes were so dark in the torch light, acting as heat seeking missiles sending a signal right to the lower half of my body.
What the hell?
Sure it’d been a bit since I’d had sex. Even so, I didn’t typically get hard in public just from looking at a girl. But her tanned skin looked soft and begged to be touched.
I really needed to get out of there. Between the way she looked and her take-no-shit attitude when we’d met before, this would mean trouble for me if I didn’t get some distance between us.
“I convinced her to hang out with us because parties are always more fun in a group.” Flannery grinned widely, obviously proud of herself.
“Everything’s more fun in a group.” I said it. It came out of my mouth, but I had no idea why. It sounded like I was talking about a fucking orgy and group sex didn’t even interest me.
“Gross.” Flannery shook her head as they took the seats across from Cain and me.
I could’ve said I didn’t mean what she thought I did, but for some reason, I chose not to.
“Anyway. Miriam, where are you from?” Flannery asked ignoring the fucking tornado happening in my body. Course she wouldn’t know about it anyway.
“I live in Santa Monica in an apartment with five other girls.” Her tone turned much less hostile than it had been the last time I heard it.
“Yikes.”
“Yeah, but we all travel so much it doesn’t really feel like it. What about you guys?”
Flannery jumped in with both feet which was her fucking MO.
I listened as they filled each other in on all the shit I’d avoided since high school. The get to know you junk I never cared about. But with Miriam, I found myself paying attention. As if I wanted to know these things about her.
As if it fucking mattered.
What intrigued me was that she didn’t look over at me once. Not even a glance. Why wouldn’t she look at me? Why did I care if she didn’t look at me? Something was going on with me, and I had to get the hell out of there.
“We should learn to hula dance,” Miriam said to Flannery when the music changed, still refusing to look at me.
“Oh it’s on.” Flannery slapped her hands against the table to push herself up.
I realized then that they were taking people up on the stage and showing them how to do just that. How the fuck much time had passed with me looking at Miriam like a damn school boy? Two hours. I’d watched her and Flan talk for two hours, and I don’t think I heard most of it.
“What’s up with you tonight?” Cain asked as soon as they were gone. He moved himself across the table from me.
“No idea what you’re talking about.” I looked away so he couldn’t see the truth in my eyes because I knew exactly what he was talking about.
He’d know it too if I looked him in the eye.
“This silent asshole thing you’ve got going on. I don’t think it’s working in your favor.”
I gave him my best scowl. The one that usually ended up with one of us getting in the other’s face. It didn’t faze him.
“She’s pretty,” he kept talking right through my warning look. “She’s fu
nny. You haven’t said anything since the group comment.”
“Nothing to say.”
“Listen.” He leaned across the table so we were closer together. Whatever he wanted to say he didn’t want others to hear it. “I’ve watched you fuck your way through girls for five years.”
“I didn’t fuck my way through girls.”
“Yeah you did. You may not have a huge number to go with it but anyone you were ever with…there wasn’t a relationship.”
Couldn’t correct him on that.
“And that girl—” He pointed across the party to where Flannery and Miriam were shaking their hips and laughing. “Is fuckable and yet you’re not trying to fuck. Explain please.”
“Not my type.”
He snorted. “They’re all your type when you want them to be.”
He wasn’t wrong. I didn’t have a certain thing I preferred. Blonde, brunette…didn’t matter. They wouldn’t be sticking around. I don’t do feelings.
“Too bad the five of us abandoned all social media,” he said.
“Why?” I didn’t see where he was going with this, though I should have.
We all closed out Facebook and Twitter accounts, though I think Kendra had a hard time separating from Instagram, when our world found out Flannery was selling her virginity for the money she needed to stay in school. Even when she didn’t go through with it, we never went back. We only saw the ugly beginning of what people were posting about Cain’s woman and no way did any of us want to see just how low it went.
We got enough of that in person.
“You could Facebook stalk her. No one would have to know.”
“Fuck you,” I said tipping my drink back against my lips. Jerk.
“I think it’s time we head out.” Cain snickered and stood, tossing a few twenties on the table for the waitress as the girls rejoined us, still laughing, holding on to each other and trying to shake their hips the way the Luau girls had been.
“We should do something adventurous tomorrow.” Flannery hadn’t let go of the new girl yet. Her arm hooked through Miriam’s like a needle and thread.
“That can be arranged.” Cain smirked in a way that told everyone in a ten-mile radius where his thoughts were wandering.
Up for Everything (Up for Grabs #3) Page 2
