by Ember Flint
My brother and I look at each other and then down at her. “That’s wonderful…”
“We really ought to start thinking seriously about building those extra cabanas ASAP, bro,” Weston mentions and I nod.
“Yeah… what was that company that you like called?”
“Silver Constructions.”
“We’ll have to have them and the others we are considering start working on the projects… see what we like best and—”
Mom slaps her hands on the middle of our chests, stopping us mid-walk. “Boys, boys! Enough about work…”
She starts to talk about us eating, maybe taking a nap before hitting the beach too.
“Mom, that’s all good, but I want to meet Elliot first. I have stuff I need him to do already,” I interrupt.
She rolls her eyes in an unladylike fashion that would have most of the Manhattan matrons of our acquaintance fainting.
“Pish posh, Damon! Live a little, boy! You just got here and already you want to get down to work…”
Now I’m the one rolling his eyes. “Well, technically, that’s what I’m here for.”
She waves my words away. “Oh, I know that, Son, but would it kill you if you took one measly night off to make your mother happy? Look at your brother…”
Weston’s fingers freeze on his iPad and he stops tapping what seems to be a reply to a work email, looking up at her with a deer in headlights’ expression that’s almost comical.
Mom goes on, blessedly unaware. “… he’s not talking about torturing poor Patrick with work matters, is he?”
I huff. “Alright. No working tonight, but can I at least meet the guy?” I ask.
She shakes her head like I’m actually asking her permission.
“What? Tonight it’s for partying, Son. I am sure Elliot wants to have some fun, get acquainted with coworkers and whatnot… you can get to know each other tomorrow. Have some fun for God’s sake, you’re thirty-seven not seventy-seven! The party starts in a couple of hours. You both need to do what I do: kick back, keep your identity hidden even, and just wander around the island and enjoy yourselves for a bit. There’s always time to let everybody know you’re the bosses around here and have them running scared when they cross you… don’t you think?”
Weston sighs. “I wouldn’t mind being just a tourist for the day, but I really want to go up to my suite and crash for a couple of hours first, Mom.”
She pats his cheek. “Of course, darling, you do that…”
“Mama’s boy,” I murmur through my teeth and my mom glares at me.
“Don’t pick on your little brother, Damon.”
At that Patrick full-out laughs and I just shake my head.
I think my mom’s proposal —all right, who am I kidding here? My mom’s order— over. I have to say the idea of being incognito for one evening and leave behind all the fawning of the phonies always catering to me to court my favor is kinda growing on me.
“Alright, Ma’: I’ll try to have some fun tonight and don’t think about work. Happy?”
She grins. “Ecstatic! Damon, you will never know how much… and you’re gonna thank me for it later, trust me!”
I see a little spark in her eyes that I don’t like one bit.
Oh this doesn’t bode well.
Chapter 4
ELLIE
I can’t believe I’m here already.
It feels like a dream.
True to her word, Regina made short work of dealing with my supervisor at Cyber Pear Tech, she dropped the Broderick name and as if by magic my notice wasn’t required and I was send away with glowing praises and a good severance check even if I was the one who quit.
I still can’t believe it.
Cali said no matter how big my ex company is, the Broderick Conglomerate is still bigger and that Adele, her boss, told her that no one with a lick of sense would displease a Broderick.
I now have this wonderful job, at least for a while, and unless my new as of yet still unknown boss turns out to be an absolute jerk, I’m going to love staying here.
From nine to five I’m gonna be doing the type of work I’ve actually studied for and afterward, I’ll be free to act like a guest and enjoy everything that Puesta del Sol has to offer.
Regina explained that all the resorts’ amenities are available for free to the employees during downtime.
The Broderick must be real good people. Scary too if they can put such fear of God in a company as big as Cyber Pear Tech, but nonetheless good.
And I get to be with my friends, which is an amazing bonus to me.
Cali and I have still managed to see each other every weekend during the last eight months since she moved here, but seeing Fay hasn’t been as easy, because, up until now, she used to live more than three hours away and this, aside from being constantly super-busy, since she crammed I don’t know how many years’ worth of studying in half the time they should have required.
Fay is the little genius of our trio. She went to college at seventeen, but never really felt like she could settle in that life or make friends, she’s very shy and that’s another reason why she needs to put money aside: she hated living in a dorm and wants to have her own place. We tried to tell her that this time around it might be different, since she would be twenty-one by then, but she doesn’t feel like risking again.
After she graduated a few months back, Calista got the idea that she would find her a job here and did.
Even though as an aromatherapist and beautician Fay had no one to work on up until the arrival of the first guests today, she’s been here since mid-July to help set up and decorate the spa in a sort of assistant of the assistant —her own sister— position under Adele.
We’re gonna have to soak up this time together as much as possible though, because as soon as mid-September rolls in, she’s gonna move five hours away to do her post-grad stuff and that means hanging out together is going to require us getting on a plane.
I tie my wet, dripping hair in a misshapen knot at my nape with an orange scrunchie and tighten the towel around myself as I look about the living room of the lovely little cottage I’m going to call home, hopefully, for at least the next six months and the smile already stretching my lips gets bigger.
I love it, it’s absolutely perfect and one of those places that just puts you in a good mood at first sight.
The décor is freaking amazing and the furniture is cute and comfy, all made of some heavy-looking dark wood and plush fabrics that I really like, and the living room’s walls are painted an energizing shade of soft buttery yellow that I absolutely adore.
And… I have working A/C and thank God for that, ‘cause the heat and humidity around here are even more unbearable than what I’m used to in Miami.
The employees’ cabins are different from the guest’s ‘cabanas’. Those have the typical look you would expect in a tropical setting like this, only a hundred times more luxurious. They are a mixture of modern and traditional architecture, all wood panels, thatched roofs and one-way glass walls and little adorable wraparound porticos.
Our huts really look like little cottages instead, they have a more country-feel to them, but they look absolutely adorable and really pop here in the hinterland of the island, in stark contrast with all the flourishing vegetation, the brightly colored flowers and the bluest ocean one could ever imagine crashing against the shore only a little way down the walkway, lined with hundreds of seashells and little flat rounded stones in tones of gray, pink and dark blue that Cali told me were harvested from the shore itself and are naturally this smooth and shiny because they were polished for countless years by the waters of the Gulf.
I’m all moved in already, I brought the last of my things over today with my brother’s begrudgingly lent help. He was happy that I got the job, but wasn’t too keen on me living so far from him and away from Miami in this little unknown island.
He calmed down after he took
a look around, but ran away like hounds from hell were biting at his heels when I asked him to stay for one evening and enjoy the grand opening party, not even when I reminded him that both Cali and Fay would also be here, he could be persuaded, if anything he was in an even more fired up hurry to leave after that.
Weird.
“If I don’t drink something cold, I’m gonna pass out.” Fay strides past me and straight into my kitchenette going for the fridge.
I sigh. “This heat is crazy… for a minute there when it started raining I figured the air would get a little fresher, but damn if it didn’t make things worse!”
“Welcome to the Keys, baby: die from a sunstroke and sweat your butt into nothing morning, noon and evening, year-round and in all kinds of weather!” Cali shucks her flip-flops on the small patio and walks inside trailing a little bit of sand behind her.
We went down the beach only for a stroll, but ended up going for a swim when the sun got to be too much.
I smirk, looking up into her dark blue eyes.
We’re all short and fluffy, but they’re both taller than me so I’m the real smurf of the bunch.
“They should definitely write that on their website or something. The freaking rain was hot for fuck’s sake!”
Fay throws me a cold bottled water and does the same to her sister. “You’ll see how much worse it’s gonna get tonight,” she says, tucking a strand of dirty blonde hair behind her ear, trapped crystals of salt shining in the lock.
My eyes bulge out as I open the bottle and take a refreshing swig. “What do you mean? Is it gonna get worse than last night?”
I’m from freaking Miami: I shouldn’t be scared of high temperatures and dampness, but this is insane!
Fay nods. “You’ve seen how, crazily enough, the humidity levels rise at night… well, a downpour like the one we just had, makes it that much worse. Makes you wish for snow, I tell you!”
I giggle. “Everything makes you wish for snow, Fay. You’ve got a fixation with that stuff.”
Inexplicably for a Florida-dweller who has never left our tropical shores one day of her life, Fay is a lover of all things cold and snow is her favorite thing in the world, aside from fluffy furry creatures, though she has never seen the real thing.
Fay sighs. “It’s just so pretty…”
Cali laughs, pulling her long brown curly hair into a messy ponytail. “Don’t worry, Lil’ Sis, we’re gonna take you to see the stuff before you turn eighty, I promise.”
Fay sticks her tongue out at her sister and starts to peel off the wet label from the bottle of S. Pellegrino.
They even spoil us with good Italian water. Gotta love this place.
My phone beeps away in my pink beach bag.
“Don’t you wanna see who is it?” Cali asks.
I shrug. “I have different beeps for some of my preferred numbers. That was Cole. I asked him to text me when he got home.”
Fay’s countenance darkens as soon as I mention my brother and I frown, battling with myself —and not for the first time— about whether I should ask her what the heck is all of this about or not.
When I see she’s stroking the blue orchid inked on the inside of her wrist, I decide not to. She does that when she’s feeling upset and I don’t want to add to whatever is going on in her head right now. Come to think of it, Cali does something similar: she has the same thing inked on the side of her ankle and drums her fingers on it whenever she’s sad. They got the matching tattoos to honor the memory of their mom —orchids were her favorite flower— a few years back. She passed when they were teenagers. Cali was sixteen and poor Fay was only twelve when it happened.
I can’t imagine that type of pain. I already have a hard time struggling with the loss of a father I never got the chance to know enough to remember, since I was a baby when he was killed, but they actually have memories of their mom. Sometimes I’m a bit jealous of them and even my brother —who can recall a lot of stuff about our dad— and some other times, I feel like maybe it’s for the best that I have nothing to mourn.
I look down at my bottle and I realize I’ve downed the entire thing already. “I’m drinking like a fucking camel in the desert,” I mutter walking toward the fridge to pick something else to quench my thirst.
Cali shakes her head. “Thank God for air conditioning! The way Adele is making me go ‘round and ‘round like a crazy person I would have collapsed if most of it wasn’t done in-doors.”
“Is she still freaking out?” I ask.
“Big time: I’ve never seen her like this, but I understand. There’s a lot running on this party… it’s gonna be the resort calling card.”
Cali hugs herself and sighs.
She’s a little frazzled: her boss has been crazy for the entire week because of the big hoopla of tonight and as soon as guests started arriving at first light today, she lost the little bit of reason she had left.
Apparently, not only the head honchos are rumored to be on their way, if not here already, but amongst the most esteemed guests we even have a couple of princes, foreign dignitaries, more than a few billionaire magnates and even a bunch of high profile movie starts here incognito.
Fay looks at the screen of her cell. “We should really start to get ready for the party.”
Cali groans, covering her face with both hands and her sister giggles until I shoot her a look, shaking my head.
I nod, thanking God I don’t have to dress to the nines, since I’m not gonna be at Adele’s side. Fay too can pass muster wearing something simple, but apparently, Calista as the fashionable head decorator’s assistant must look the part.
My friend is a lover of all things elegant, feminine and classy as long as she’s putting them on anything but herself, so she’s not exactly happy about having to dress up.
“Of all the places to wear stupid fucking high heels, a beachfront party’s got to be the absolute worst!”
I pat her hand. “She actually wants you to wear shoes? On the beach?”
She shivers in abject terror. “Fucking stilettos.”
I smile at her. “Don’t worry, Cal… she’s not gonna make you keep ‘em on.”
“Why?”
“Well, she’s gonna see you traipse around like a jittery baby Bambi for one thing…”
Fay picks up where I left. “And for another, you’ll probably face-plant in the sand after ten steps, so she’s gonna see you’re a danger to yourself and others, not to mention to her own chic image and she will put you out of your misery.”
I look at her and we both burst out laughing at Cali’s glare and barely manage to move out of the way when she chucks her empty plastic bottle at our heads.
Chapter 5
DAMON
I’m standing at the counter with my brother, both of us having just barely escaped our mother’s attempt to introduce us to some girl or another.
Thank God, the entire resort is practically crawling with people or she would have managed to saddle us both with a couple of her ‘just perfect’ chicks by now.
Like we’re not hounded enough back at home!
I sigh, bringing the cold rim of my beer bottle up to my lips for a sip and look around.
The party barely started and it already seems like it’s being going on forever. Everyone looks like they’re having the time of their life. I’ve heard the guests whispering about the décor —amazing—, the food —mouthwatering, and the service —impeccable—, that’s exactly what we aimed for so even being less than an hour into the festivities we can already say this party is the success we were hoping for.
Our head decorator is definitely gonna get double the bonus we had thought of giving her.
“So are you eager to meet this… Kally? She really seems like something,” I tell my brother, smirking into my bear.
He shoots me a dirty look. “Nooope… fifteen more minutes and I’m outta here. This place is too damn crowded.”
I instantly sober up, turning to look at him. “You okay?”
He shrugs. “Nothing I can’t handle… at least dressed down like this no one is recognizing us.”
I nod. He’s right: we’re wearing your typical tropical holiday attire —khaki shorts, polos and flip-flops— that makes us blend in perfectly, not to mention the fact that even in suits we hardly look like businessmen.
Weston here, normally looks more like a bodyguard than anything else, and I’ve got one too many tattoos all over my upper body, down to both of my hands to remotely resemble what you would expect a billionaire CEO to look like, so we’re covered, especially here where no one as of yet knows our faces.
I squeeze his shoulder. “Gonna go for another run?”
He nods once, taking a swig at his own icy Sapporo.
I grimace when his countenance darkens and he starts to look downtrodden. I know what he’s thinking.
He’s very proud and takes even the small crack in his composure seriously.
“Don’t go there, Wes… you’ve been doing amazing for practically the past two years. This has probably nothing to do with your PTSD… you’ve always been a bear and hated parties.”
He chuckles. “True that. Still, I don’t wanna risk it, so I’m gonna slink off as soon as Patrick gives me the all-clear. Mom is on her way as we speak, but he’s trying to steer her toward Adele to distract her.”
I shake my head. “How do you know? You have Pat on an earpiece of some shit?”
He just smirks.
“You can take the boy out of the military, but you’ll never take the military out of the boy…”
He flips me the finger. “Call me boy again and I’ll rearrange your face. ETA five minutes, by the way.”