by Jill Patten
“Ah, come on.” The other brunette leans over the counter, displaying her goods. “I’m leaving this weekend and I haven’t had a great week. You look like a good time.” Any other time, I’d take them up on their offer, but I’m just not feeling it tonight…or this week…or as long as Phoebe is in the picture.
My voice loses its playfulness and turns to a serious note. “I really appreciate you asking, but I’m going to have to say no.” Damn, I don’t think I’ve ever turned down a hot piece of pussy in my life. And if I’m being honest with myself, these two would make the perfect ménage à trois.
Phoebe McCormick, what the hell are you doing to me?
PHOEBE
Kristy and Tiffanny knew I’d gone surfing with Blue this morning, so when I text them asking where they are, they’re surprised to hear from me.
It doesn’t take me long to find them spread out on a blanket in the middle of the usual mass of bodies. “Do you think you two will ever wake up early enough to reserve us some damn chairs?” I ask as I squeeze in between the two.
“Don’t mind us,” Tiffanny says as she scoots over to make room for me.
“Thanks, don’t mind if I do,” I express cheerfully.
Kristy rolls over onto her back and lifts her arm to shield the sun from her eyes. “What happened with Mr. Hottie Surfer Pants? I thought he was teaching you how to surf.” She says surf like it’s a code word for something else. In her mind I’m sure she thinks of it as something sexual.
I blow out a big puff of breath. “Yeah, about that. Um, it turned out to be a disaster.”
Tiffanny’s head snaps up. “Oh, shit! What happened?”
My eyes squint behind my sunglasses when I think I see Blue. After staring for a few seconds, I realize it’s not him. Am I wishing it were him?
“Do you notice anything different about my hair?” I ask.
Kristy and Tiffanny sit up at the same time to look me over. It doesn’t take long for them to notice it’s a wadded up mess. I nod as I say, “Yup, the unthinkable happens to me the first time I fall off the board. Do I have the worst fucking luck ever or what?”
Tiffanny slaps her hand over her mouth and mumbles ‘oh my God’ over and over.
“Phoebe, I’m so sorry. What did Blue say? Was he an asshole? Because if so, I’ll kick his ass all over the state of Florida.” Her eyes narrow and her face turns a shade darker of red. That’s one thing I love and hate about my two best friends. Their no tolerance for bullshit when it comes to me is one to be reckoned with. It’s also a nuisance when they want to fight all my battles. I’m clearly capable of handling things myself.
I shake my head. “No, it’s not like that at all. He was…gah! He was so damn considerate about the whole thing. He consoled me, held me when I cried from embarrassment, and told me how damn beautiful I am. Can you believe the nerve of him?” Telling them my experience makes him sound almost unbelievable. There are no guys out there who are that endearing unless it’s your father or husband. Does he have an agenda? Is he playing me for a fool?
Kristy slaps the back of my arm. “Shut up! No fucking way he looks that good and is a genuine nice guy. Those two characteristics never come together in a package.”
“He made it pretty damn believable at the time.” And he did. Not once did I sense any false pretense. Looking back on it now still has me questioning his intentions, though.
Tiffanny situates herself in a sitting position so that she’s facing me. “Okay, start from the beginning and tell us exactly what happened.”
I proceed to tell them my morning from the time we met up until the time we went our separate ways. They both sat still with their mouths open in wonderment. Kristy and Tiffanny are so in love with him that they threaten to hook up with him if I don’t want him anymore.
Even though I don’t fully trust what his intentions are, I do kind of want to have more skin on skin time with him before I go back home.
****
It’s after eleven o’clock and all three of us are hanging out on our balcony having a few shots to get the night started. Hair, makeup, and outfits are on fleek. All we need now is to make our grand entrance.
We waltz into Club Le Vela and the bass vibrates through my bones. I love it. With Jameson running through my veins and my inhaler in my purse, I’m electrically charged and ready to dance my ass off.
The music volume is on a high level, making it difficult to carry on any and all conversations. It doesn’t matter, though, because I’m here to get lost in the rhythm. Other than the time Blue felt me up, I’ve barely had a chance to dance since I’ve been here.
Not knowing Tiffanny and Kristy left me, when I walk farther into the club, they greet me with a fruity alcoholic drink. “Where did you get this?” I scream, knowing they can’t hear me.
Kristy leans up to me and yells in my ear, “At the bar, dumbass.”
I’m about to tell her I thought maybe someone bought them for us, but instead, I chuckle and shake my head at her. “Thanks!” I shout, hoping she reads my lips. When she nods, I know she understands me.
All three of us get lost in the works of the DJ, and I’m having the time of my life. My drink is gone, and I’m crunching on the ice to cool me down. Kristy and Tiffanny take off to grab us another drink, and I walk over to the wall to take a breather. My lungs are tight. I need night air, cool air, and my inhaler. I shoot Tiffanny a quick text to let her know I’m stepping outside for a little bit. She’ll know my reason why.
As soon as the breeze off the ocean hits me in my face, I inhale deeply. Facing my back to everyone, I discreetly slide my puffer out of my purse and fill my lungs. My heart pounds fast in my chest, and I continue taking calm breaths until I’m able to feel my pulse return to normal. My lungs slowly expand with each intake, and I finally start to feel like I’m ready to go back inside.
I go to open the door but a strong hand with thick veins beats me to it. My eyes shift up, and I’m greeted with the face of a Greek god. Dark hair cut short barely covers his head. His skin carries a deep tan that accentuates the muscles I see straining from his short sleeve-collared shirt. His eyes are dark and mysterious.
He smiles then winks at me. “Ladies first,” he says, gesturing for me to go before him.
Doing as he says, I walk past him in hopes that he follows behind me. Turning my head pretending to look for someone, I see him in my peripheral view. I continue walking back to where Kristy, Tiffanny, and I were dancing before. Every now and then I look out in the crowd to see if he’s still behind me. Much to my pleasure, he is.
Behind me, warm hands land on my bare shoulders. Goose bumps cover my arms. “Can I buy you a drink?” he shouts in my ear.
Without turning around, I nod. Warmth leaves my shoulders and I’m left alone again.
The songs are so good I’m unable to stand still. I join the crowd and dance along to the beat.
Kristy and Tiffanny are back with our drinks a minute before Mr. Dark and Mysterious shows up with ours too. They look at me, their eyebrows furrowed, then back at him. He looks at me with the same expression, then back at them.
To straighten out the confusion, I introduce them. “Kristy, Tiffanny, meet my friend…” I yell with my hand extended out to him.
“Shane,” he adds. He hands me my drink then holds his up in a toast. “Nice to meet you, ladies,” he says, trying to shout over the music. We clink our glasses then take a drink. Since I’m double-fisting, I take a huge gulp from both.
“Here, I’ll take that one off your hands,” Kristy yells as she reaches for what tastes like watermelon vodka. I swing my arm around out of her reach and quickly guzzle the drink until it’s dry. Giving her my best smile, I hand her the empty glass.
She returns a scornful glare then gives me the finger. I laugh it off.
The alcohol is giving me a great buzz, and my hips begin moving in tune with the song. Shane sidles up to me and matches my moves. His neck is level with my face, and he smells delicious
. He leans down toward my ear and yells, “So, I caught your friends’ names, and you know mine, now will you tell me yours?”
“Phoebe!” At that moment I realize I broke the golden rule. We’re never supposed to tell guys at the club our real names. Shit! Shit! Shit! Neither of the girls called me out on it earlier, so hopefully they’re too drunk to realize what I did.
We’re no longer dancing. It’s too much for me to scream over the music while trying to dance too.
“Where you from, Phoebe?”
“Tennessee,” I blurt. The lie rolls off my tongue as if I’m a pro. I screwed up once. I’m not doing it again. “What about you?”
“Here. Born and raised all my life,” he says with pride.
I nod. “Cool.” I didn’t know what else to say. He’s cute, but he’s kind of boring me. I really want to dance but all this talking is making it impossible. And going back outside is not an option. I just want someone to dance with and have a good time. Small talk is for another day.
By cutting him off short, I hope he catches the hint that our conversation is over. I solidify that by turning my back to him and getting lost in the music. He follows suit by grabbing my hips and grinding me from behind. It’s fun, it’s innocent, and it’s exactly what I like.
Tiffanny and Kristy are in front of me shaking their asses, and by this point they’ve found a couple of cute guys to get their groove on with. We’re jumping around with our hands in the air then swaying our hips as the club gets turnt up.
What feels like hours later, we head outside to the terrace to catch our breath. At least, I am. The guys follow us out, bringing us all bottles of water. I thank Shane for my water. At the rate I’m going, if I don’t consume something other than alcohol, my night is going to end with my head in a toilet.
Shane sits down beside of me and sips on his water. The other two guys I’ve yet to learn their names, sit across from us with Tiffanny and Kristy.
“So when do you ladies go home?” the taller, beefier of the two asks. I’ve noticed he keeps following Tiffanny around like a dog in heat.
“Tomorrow,” I say without thinking. “We leave tomorrow,” I repeat while I stare hard at Tiffanny and Kristy, silencing them to play along.
“Ah, damn, that’s a shame. You three seem like a lot of fun,” says the guy with black, tousled hair who seems to have the hots for Kristy. If he’s all about having fun then he’s aligned himself with the right girl.
She murmurs something in his ear that causes a huge grin to spread on his face. Knowing her, she probably just propositioned him with sex. She might get her back door action after all.
“That sucks. I’ve just met you and you’re leaving already,” Shane says in a low voice for only me to hear. “Looks like we’ll have to make the most of it tonight then.”
I might be a little drunk, but I’m not stupid. If he’s insinuating we’re having sex then he’s going to be highly disappointed. I’m super attracted to him, but something about him doesn’t set off my endorphins. I can’t quite put my finger on it.
All I can offer his comment is a smile. Let’s hope to hell he doesn’t take it as an invite to my bed.
He hops up real quick and tells me he’ll be right back. I take the opportunity to go to the bathroom. My bladder can no longer hold another sip of any type of liquid.
I interrupt the fantastic four in the middle of their touchy feely tongue twisting marathon. “I’ll be back. I’ve got to break the seal.”
“Noooo,” Kristy whines. “Don’t do it. Try to hold out a little bit longer.”
“I can’t. I’ve lasted as long as I possibly can. If I don’t go now things will end badly for me.”
A few people sitting on the opposite side of the railing start laughing. Great, now everyone within a fifteen-foot radius knows I have to pee.
The bathrooms are in decent condition considering all the drunk ass girls taking turns puking in the toilets. I quickly wash my hands and rush out since I don’t have any money to tip the cleaning lady. When I walk back out to the terrace, Shane is sitting in the spot I currently vacated. The rest of our newly formed crew is still going strong with their PDA.
Shane hands me a glass of what looks like my favorite watermelon vodka. “Mmm, thanks,” I say before I take a big sip.
“You want to keep dancing or do you want to head out of here?” he asks as he tucks a loose chunk of hair behind my ear. Normally, when I’m into a guy, he can make the smallest gesture like Shane did, and my senses go into overdrive. With Shane, I don’t feel a thing and I’m pretty bummed about it. I was hoping to at least have a hot passionate kiss with a hottie tonight.
No sooner than that thought crosses my mind, Shane’s lips are on mine. He presses his tongue along the seam, asking for entrance, but I deny him. When I pull away, I glance behind Shane and find two crystal blue eyes staring at me.
Whether they’re filled with hurt or anger, I’m not sure, but I feel like I’ve just done something wrong.
BLUE
Not her.
Anybody but her.
A blaze of fury is what’s whirling around in my brain. My eyes can’t focus from the red flames flaring up in my line of vision. That fucking son of a bitch doesn’t know how to drop off the face of the earth.
The two girls from the Surf Shack are hanging on each side of me talking, but I don’t hear a word they say.
I’m on the verge of losing my shit, and I need an immediate distraction. “Molly,” I say through my clenched jaw as I stare Shane down.
Molly doesn’t need to hear any more. Once she notices what I’m looking at she jumps into action.
“Look at me, Lance,” she says with a calming voice, standing in front of me. Her hands rest on my shoulders, and she stands on her tiptoes, her eyes leveled with mine. She’s smart to block my view. If I had some sort of superpower, I’d be staring a hole through her. “It’s none of your business what’s going on over there. Phoebe doesn’t belong to you. He’s not going to hurt her. Her friends are with her to make sure nothing bad happens.”
I blink my eyes to really look at my sister. “Fuck her friends. They’re all drunk. You know what happens when we all drink too much.” It’s not Phoebe I worry about, it’s myself. It’s the destruction I can cause if Shane provokes me.
“Okay, so maybe they are, but you’re not, so you can and will control yourself. You can’t let him win, Lance. Not after everything that happened last year.” Her eyes are pained, and it hurts to see her disappointment with me.
“Fine!” I bellow, jumping up past her to walk inside. There’s no way I can stay here any longer and witness this shit.
“Hey, Blue, where you going?” the two girls ask in unison.
“Nowhere,” I grumble back as I open the door.
My body is halfway inside when I hear her sweet voice. “Blue!” If I have half a brain I’ll keep walking, but my feet won’t move. It’s as if she’s cast a spell over me and I’ve lost all control of my body.
I hesitate several seconds before I spin around. When I make that turn, she’s in my face all breathy. The faint smell of alcohol lingers in my nose. Hell, I don’t need to drink anything. I’m drunk on her already.
Her small hand wraps around my bicep, and I welcome the touch. “What are you doing here?”
I can ask her the same, but it’s none of my business, I remind myself.
“I thought you had to work?”
“I did,” I say with a clipped tone. My temper is getting the best of me, and it’s not fair for her to get the brunt of it. I inhale deep then start over with a better attitude. “Molly begged me to tag along with her tonight. Her whining gets out of control, so you have to give in in order for her to shut up.” I force a small laugh to ease any tension she might feel with me.
She smiles and it’s clearly a drunken one. “Well, I’m glad you’re here. You and Molly should join us,” she says, tugging on my arm as she tries to walk back to where her crew is sitting.
My feet plant themselves. There’s no way in hell I’m going anywhere near Shane. The sooner I can leave without him seeing me, the better.
Pulling back, I try to walk inside, dragging Phoebe with me or not. “I need to use the restroom. Maybe we’ll catch up with you guys before the night is over. I don’t want to intrude.” If she knew what she was asking, she’d leave well enough alone.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the ol’ prick himself. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen your face around, Lance.” As always he’s trying to provoke me. Let’s hope I can restrain from hitting him. Again. “Where you been? Staring at four walls again? Maybe reacquainting yourself with Big John?” He starts laughing in hysterics. Everyone looks at him like he’s a fool.
“Fuck off, Shane,” I say calmly. Spinning on my heel, I walk back inside. There’s no reason to bring my past to Phoebe’s attention.
“Wait!” Phoebe shouts, stopping me in my tracks.
I turn to face her.
“You two know each other?”
I shake my head. “Phoebe, just leave it alone. We’re not friends. And he’s definitely not your friend.” I probably shouldn’t have added the last part, but I can’t help myself. She needs to stay away from him.
“What’s going on over here?” Molly asks.
I silently thank her for the interruption.
“Well, Lance, why didn’t you tell me your lesbo sister was here, too? It’s like a fucking reunion!” he shouts. “Maybe this time your ass won’t end up in a cop car.” He snickers, showing signs he’s drunk.
My natural instinct takes over, and I step in front of Molly as if I need to shield her from the malicious words Shane’s capable of spewing. “You just don’t learn, do you? You keep shooting your mouth off until I shut you up. Your restraining order only lasts so long. I’m pretty sure it’s free for all now.” Heat rises from my core, through my neck, then up to my face. My chest rises and falls with short breaths.
Molly steps around me. “Stop! We’re not doing this again. Lance, go home. Shane, shut up,” she says, shaking her head in disgust. She’s been through this type of shit with people ever since she came out of the closet. She tries to act like she’s immune to it, but I know it has to hurt her, although she’ll never admit it.