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“With my coordination, I’ll be in the water more than on the board.”

“So will I. Come on.” She stands and offers me her hand. “We’ll look like fools together. It’ll be fun.”

“All right.” I take her hand to help me up and slice my eyes to Maren before walking away. “I’m going to call him, Maren, so when I get back, get over it.”

“Fine! I’ll call him for you! Will that get the stick out of your ass? This is supposed to be a fun weekend.”

“We’ll have fun after I know he hasn’t engaged the Charleston Police force, SLED, and FBI in a search party. It’ll be really embarrassing to have our evening out ruined by a raid. I bet he’s already called in reinforcements.”

She chews on the inside of her cheek and then sighs in defeat. “You’re right. Marcus knew I was planning something sneaky, but even this will surprise him. One call—that’s it. Tell him we’re safe, we’re behaving, and we’ll be home by eight tomorrow night.” She hands me her phone.

The guilt from earlier is like a punch in the gut. It’s obvious she’s gone all out for me to have a memorable weekend with the girls. Since I moved in with Walker officially, it’s been a whirlwind.

We still see each other often, but with the wedding planning and Trixsters business, we haven’t actually had any girls’ time. Everyone has been looking forward to this weekend for a while.

Not to mention, she and I decided to give in to Marcus and Walker’s request and will be going after our PI licenses when I return from my honeymoon.

Looking at her now, I know she genuinely wanted to make this whole Bachelorette experience something I’d never forget.

“How about this? I’ll text him for now, and then we’ll all go paddleboarding. I can call him later.”

Her face lights up, and she and Nina leap out of their lounge chairs.

I shoot off a quick text to Walker, hoping like God he isn’t going to strangle her.

Me- Hey babe, I’m sorry about the change in plans, but I swear I’m okay. Will call you in an hour and explain everything. Please don’t be mad. Maren only wanted a weekend away. I love you more than anything and I’ll make it up to you.

“Come here and shield me.” I wave to my friends, and when they’re completely covering me, I slip down one side of my bikini top and snap a shot of my boob, sending it with the text.

“Those piercings are hot. I’m jealous,” Rachel tells me when I throw the phone in Maren’s bag. “I should have Rico do mine.”

“Walker likes them, so I hope that picture will help tamper down his anger. Nothing like a boob shot.”

The four of us go to the beach hut and request paddleboards and a quick lesson. Two of the guys agree eagerly to assist us and tell us what we need to do on the way into the water.

An hour later, as suspected, I’m drenched, spending more time in the water than on the board. But I’m having the time of my life. Our instructors spend more time hoisting us back onto our boards than they do actually instructing us.

We’re too busy cackling and joking around to notice the men go still. Unfortunately, they have their hands on Maren and me, trying to get us back on our boards.

“Fuckity, fuckity, fuck fuck fuck…” Nina babbles, and I scramble, scared she saw something in the water.

In a way, she did see something in the water, because when I find my balance on my hands and knees, I look up to see Walker and Marcus wading in.

Marcus’s face is stone cold, his stormy eyes on Maren.

But there’s no time to process him because Walker is looking between me and the man at my right with a murderous glare.

“Listen, you may need to swim away. Go help Nina or Rachel, but whatever you do, get far away from me,” I advise him quietly.

He doesn’t budge, so for the safety of everyone, I use the paddle to start toward Walker. My knees wobble as I try to remember to balance with my core and make my way forward.

“I should have thought this through better.” Maren sounds anxious as she paddles up next to me.

“Told you they’d find us.”

“I was sure I covered my bases. Our trail was solid.”

“Did you forget Walker consults with SLED now. He gets a lot of favors.”