Page 7

T wo margaritas. A loose screwdriver. And a regretful Bloody Mary later…

“Who says a girl can’t shoot pool?” I said as I leaned over and tapped the end of my cue stick against one of the striped balls lining the green felt.

“Sweetheart,” Darren said, “ you prove that a girl can’t shoot pool. At least, not my girl—other girls, yes. You, not so much.”

“That’s sexist,” I snapped.

Dare shook his head. “Sweetheart, I’m not a sexist—I’m a Jamie-ist. Besides, that was my ball.”

“Oh.” I stood up and looked down at the table. “It was? Are you sure?”

Taylor snorted back his laughter as a waitress came by and handed him another beer. “I’m sure,” Darren said.

“Maybe you should try to teach her darts again,” Taylor offered helpfully.

Cody—just coming back from the bathroom—paused at that suggestion and visibly shuddered.

“Hey!” I said, “I wasn’t that bad.”

“You’re banned,” Darren and Cody announced. They looked at each other almost as soon as they had finished speaking in sync. After a brief pause, they nodded as if that was the end of that. But I was eyeballing that dartboard now. I knew I could prove that I wasn’t as bad as they claimed if I just got my hands on a few of those little red darts with the feathers on the end. Those were the fancy ones. I just bet that if I had those, I would be alright.

“She’s looking at it,” Taylor warned.

I turned an outraged glare on him. How dare he tell them! I hadn’t even gotten a chance. I narrowed my eyes. “You’re not getting blowjobs for the entire week,” I announced.

Taylor laughed. “That’s alright, cupcake,” he replied. “I like your pussy much better.”

“How much have you two had to drink?” Cody asked.

Taylor and I exchanged a glance. “Too much?” I replied.

“Not enough,” he said at the same time.

“Okay, maybe it’s time for dinner,” Cody said, taking my pool stick from me.

“It’s already dark out,” I said, pointing towards the long row of windows on the other side of the Rogue Lounge Bar we had found several hours before. “Hey, has anyone heard from Dex? Didn’t he say he’d call?”

“No, but I’ll text him and see where he’s at,” Darren announced.

“Can you text on a cruise ship?” Cody asked.

Darren shrugged. “I’ve got wifi so why not?”

The rest of us finished out our tabs which were conveniently taken care of since our suite had come with all access wristbands to the bars. Apparently, we could get up to fifteen drinks a day without paying. I was sure they must have cost a pretty penny—for which Dex probably provided—but I was already too tipsy to care.

“I’m hungry,” I announced.

“We’re going to dinner,” Darren said. “Dex said he’s at a restaurant called Cordelia’s.”

“Sounds fancy,” I commented.

“It probably is,” Cody said, wrapping his arm around my waist as he led me towards the elevators.

“Should we get changed?”

“Do you want to get changed?”

I debated as Taylor ambled ahead to get to the elevator button and by the time we stepped inside, I had decided. “Nope,” I announced with a pop to my ‘p.’ “I’m too fucking hungry to care if we show up like animals to Dex’s mom’s fancy restaurant.”

“Dex’s mom’s restaurant?” Darren leaned forward as we slowly ascended back to the main floors.

I wavered back and forth as we moved, my hand coming out to grasp onto Cody’s strong arm. He was such a gentleman, always helping me around. I really should have been rewarding him more often , I thought.

“I don’t know about that look guys,” Darren said, eyeing me.

“Look?” I parroted. “What look? I don’t have a look. This is my normal look.”

He smirked. “Uh huh.”

Cody looked down and I sighed as he settled me comfortably against him. “It’s the prettiest look in the room,” he said.

I leaned up and kissed him. I would have liked to do a hell of a lot more than that, but the elevator doors were already opening.

“He only said that because you were the only chick in the room,” Taylor said with a laugh.

I turned and slapped his stomach. Then when he merely chuckled and walked by, blowing me a kiss in his lazy, carefree, manner, I slowly pulled my hand back to my side and rubbed the soreness from it. Damn rock hard abs. Abs of steel. Abdomen of pain.

“How many drinks have you had?” Cody asked.

“None,” I said immediately. “I mean one. Two? I don’t know, why?”

“Because you were just muttering about abs of steel.”

“I was?”

“You were.”

I nodded. “Interesting.”

“Is it?” Cody’s cheeks were flushed with amusement as he led us after the other two. “I’ll have to take your word for it.”

“Jamie!” My head jerked up as Dex’s voice carried across the crowd. He stood outside the restaurant entrance with his hand in the air. We headed straight for him and Cody unloaded me at his feet.

“Dex!” I swung my arms up and went to my tiptoes as I smacked a kiss right on his lips. “I missed you!”

“Jesus, how much have you had to drink?” Dex’s eyes darkened as he shot the other guys a look.

“She’s fine,” Darren assured him.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were drinking?” he asked.

Darren frowned. “Dude, it’s a cruise. What else do you do on a cruise but drink? We’re in international waters.”

“She doesn’t drink a lot. She could get sick.”

“Dex, I’m fine,” I tried to assure him.

“No, you’re not fine.”

I leaned back. “I am,” I insisted. “Dex, what’s this about? What’s going on? Why are you getting so irritated?”

Dex gritted his teeth and looked away. “My mother’s inside.”

“Inside … inside the restaurant?” My eyes widened and I pushed away from his chest. “Did you tell her we were coming? Does she know?”

Dex gave me a look. I huffed. “I didn’t mean know know,” I said. Not about us—us being the five of us.

“I told her I was here with friends and my girlfriend.”

“She’s going to ask questions,” Cody said.

“I know.”

“What do you want us to say?” Darren asked.

Dex scrubbed a hand down his face. “I don’t know, but I haven’t told her that we’re all dating Jamie. She just thinks it's me.”

I nodded, biting my lip. “Do you want to tell her?” I asked, looking down.

Dex leaned closer, reaching for my hands. I kept my gaze trained on the floor. “Jamie.” I didn’t reply. “Baby, look at me.” I sighed and forced my eyes up without moving my head. “I want her to know about you,” he said.

“But it’ll be hard to explain about the others.” I knew. It was difficult. We hadn’t told anyone else’s parents. For all everyone else knew—aside from Roxi—I was only dating one of them. For Cody’s parents, I was just dating him. For Taylor’s, the same. For Darren’s … well, we hadn’t even gotten that far. “I understand,” I said. “But we’re all here on vacation together. She’s bound to see me without you, right?”

He inhaled and nodded. “You want to hide her relationship with us the entire week?” Darren asked. I turned my head and caught his look. He was frustrated, but I could tell that he understood. This was different from introducing your girlfriend to your parents. It would be a challenge to keep up the charade and to keep everyone else from feeling ignored.

“I’m sorry,” Dex said, sounding tired. “I know it’s a lot to ask.”

“Tonight,” I said. “We just do it for tonight. For dinner, but afterward, we need to have a family meeting. It has to be unanimous, Dex.”

He nodded. “I know. Thank you, Baby.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead before looking to the others. “Thank you and I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it, bro.” Taylor shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Now, are we gonna go eat or what?”

Dex nodded and Taylor ambled by with Cody. Dex and Darren exchanged a look. “Baby, why don’t you go inside with the others. We’ll be right there.”

I glanced between the two of them. “Are you sure?” I didn’t worry that Dex and Darren would fight, but I also didn’t want to take any chances.

Darren cupped my shoulder. “Go on, sweetheart. We’ll be fine.”

I bit my lip again and stepped away. “Okay,” I said, “but hurry up.”

“We will,” Dex promised.

I nodded and headed inside.