Page 5

Chapter 4

JORDY

The door clicked close, and a voice radiated through my apartment. “Jordy! Where are you?” my sister called out to me.

“In here, packing.”

Her head popped in and said, “Oh, there you are. Almost ready?”

I sighed. “Yep. Almost.”

“So, I have to ask. Who is your date?”

I continued packing but answered her quietly. “Dani.”

She stepped closer as I shut the top of my suitcase. “I’m sorry, who?”

I zipped my suitcase closed and said again, “Dani.”

“What! No.” Her hand slammed on top of my bag.

“Yeah. Dani is my date. Sue me.”

I gripped the handle, pulling the case off the bed before standing it on the ground. When my eyes latched onto Lenna’s, I thought she’d burn a hole through me. “As friends, right?” she asked cautiously.

I shrugged. “Not necessarily.”

Her brows furrowed as she reached out to stop me. “Do not hurt her. She’s your best friend, and she’s also my friend.”

“It’ll be fine,” I assured, walking out of my bedroom door and grabbing my suit off the hanger near my door frame.

She huffed out a laugh. “Famous last words.”

***

The airport was busy but our flight was extra packed. The entire King’s organization, for the most part, was heading to Jamaica for the Mendoza wedding. A few players booked private jets, but the Hughes kids decided to keep it casual, along with some other family and friends.

“Here you go.” Dani handed me my upgraded boarding pass, which she so kindly did for me so I could have extra leg room. Yes, I was a professional football player, but spending money made me feel… icky.

“Thanks mama,” I said with a smirk. She rolled her head to the side to try and avoid me and my newly appointed nickname.

She handed me a charger, which I was thankful for because I’d forgotten to pack my own. She narrowed her eyes on me and snapped, “I’m not your mama.”

I smirked again, inches from her face. “Perfect. I shall continue to call you by this ridiculous nickname.”

She muffled a groan. “Fine…Huey.”

We had a gentle stare off for a few seconds before leaning back against the chairs. As we did, our eyes locked with the couple across from us. Conrad and Lenna. They were watching us with amusement. I could guarantee that my sister did not believe me; she knew how much I valued my friendship with Dani and I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize that.

"Psst,” I said to Dani. She didn’t hear me, so I elbowed her instead. “Psst.”

Her head whipped around, taking out the earbuds she had just put in. “What!” she whisper-yelled at me.

“People are watching, should we… hold hands or something?”

She glanced around, noticing who I was talking about and she nodded her head. “Follow my lead.”

Looking up, Dani beamed at the couple. “So, Lenna is this y’all’s first big weekend away from Asher?” she asked.

My sister smiled, glancing at Conrad. “Yeah, my mom is watching him for the week. It’ll be nice to get away for a little while.”

This was most likely the first weekend Lenna and Conrad had away from their son, Asher. He was a cute little booger, but high-strung.

“He’s so sweet, and he has a great uncle too.” A soft hand brushed against mine, gripping my right hand and intertwining our fingers.

I smiled as I continued, “Yep. I’m the best.”

Lenna rolled her eyes. “You’re a shitty uncle and you know it.”

I groaned. “Oh please. Just because I don’t want to change Asher’s shitty diapers doesn’t make me a bad uncle.” I gestured to Conrad. “His own father doesn’t want to change his poop diapers.”

Conrad threw up his hands to signal his innocence.

Right on cue, they started to have a little healthy married argument about their son, which distracted them from me and Dani.

“You’re brilliant,” I complimented her as she released my hand.

“I know,” she sighed, popping her earbuds back in under her dirty blonde curly hair. I looked at her a little too long, long enough to know that I shouldn’t be.

The tingle of her touch on my hand still lingered. She’d never held my hand before, and I think I might have—I don’t know—enjoyed it.

***

Salty air and a warm breeze can send a calmness through your body, and the instantaneous feeling of wanting a drink at eleven in the morning becomes immediately acceptable.

The greeter at the resort handed us a glass of champagne as we all walked inside. It was a stunning resort; open, with exposed wooden beams that vaulted into the ceiling. We checked in, knowing that we were going to share a room, but no one needed to know we’d have separate beds.

Once we made it to the room and opened the door, Dani and I stood in the door frame, staring at a large king bed and a cot in the corner. “Whelp. This isn't right,” I murmured.

We walked back to the counter and handed them the key. “We're so sorry to do this, but this isn’t the room we booked. We needed separate beds,” I requested kindly.

The kind lady glanced at her computer and handed the same key back to me. “We understand the request, but we don’t have any other queen bed suites available. We did place a cot in the room if you need the extra bed.”

We both nodded and accepted our defeat, walking back into our room. “So… who gets the cot?” I asked, attempting a joke.

Her brows creased. “You. You’re sleeping on the cot. You forced me into this situation, therefore I get dibs on the king bed.”

On the outside, I wanted to fight her. How dare she make me sleep in a damn cot! But internally, I knew she was right. I sprung this on her and it was my own fault we were in this situation.

“Fine,” I relented. “But only because I’m such a gentleman.”

We settled into our room and unpacked our clothes into the drawers. We heard a knock at the door and Dani answered it before thanking whoever was at the door. When she walked back toward me, she held up a very large envelope. “Ooo, what mysterious letter is this?” I asked.

She sat on the bed and I flung myself next to her, leaning my cheek against her shoulder. “Open it. Open it,” I insisted.

“Chill out,” she muttered, ripping it open. Inside of the envelope was a very large and very detailed description of the week, outlining the competitions between couples. Each day we had one event that we needed to attend leading up to the wedding. Today was an easy one: dinner by the pool.

“What’s tomorrow?” I asked.

Dani leaned in to look at the paper. “It doesn’t say what it is, but it does say to wear your best swimsuit.”

“Those bastards. Of course they’d make this week a competition,” I complained. “What time is dinner?”

She looked at the paper and checked her phone. “In twenty minutes.”

“Twenty minutes! It takes at least thirty for me to look good!”

Dani shoved her shoulder against my face, stood up, and walked to the bathroom. “Actually you’ll have ten minutes, because I need to jump in the shower for a few.”

“Oh no you don’t!” I raced her to the bathroom, beating her and closing the door in her face.

She banged on the door. “You’re such a prick! I hate you!” she shouted.

“Join the club, babe.”

I showered, knowing that I was pissing Dani off more and more with every second I was in here. But I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the bathroom door to a fully dressed Dani. “Lenna was kind enough to lend me her shower,” she quipped. “She is such a nice person, unlike her brother.”

She stood in front of the mirror and applied a red lipstick stain. My eyes traced over the outline of her body in the black form-fitting dress. Dani was captivating—and I was sure as hell that having her with me would piss off Elena.

She smacked her lips together and asked, “Ready?”

I straightened my white button-down. “Ready as I’ll ever be”