Page 6

6

TASHA

“ I could get used to this,” Josie commented as all of us girls laid out on the beach. I hummed in agreement, my eyes closed as I soaked in the warm sun. A girl could definitely get used to drinking margaritas while lounging by the water.

“What do you think the guys are doing?” Mila asked.

“Probably found some sport to watch,” Lydia answered. I didn’t have to look at her to know she was rolling her eyes. Not that she was wrong, either. They probably went to the bar in the hotel and found some game to watch.

“It’s important for them to have time off before the season starts. I can already tell Wyatt is biting at the bit to get back on the ice,” Josie said.

“Bryton is the same way. He’s been driving me crazy being home. I’m not sure how much more hockey talk I can take. Every few minutes, he’s telling me about some team and the stats or certain plays he can’t wait to try out with the guys.” Mila said with a sigh.

“Oh, you’ve gotten the play talk too?” Josie asked. “I love hockey, don't get me wrong, but I don’t need to hear any more trick plays, please. ”

“Thank God we love them,” Mila said with an amen following from Josie.

“Margaritas?” a voice spoke above me not even a second later. Opening my eyes, I found a worker from the hotel holding a tray filled with delicious-looking drinks. The margaritas screamed tropical with salt on the rim, pineapple on spears sticking out of the blended goodness.

“Oh yes!” Mila stood up and reached for one.

“Thank you.” I smiled at the guy, grabbing one of my own. My last one was long gone, so perfect timing.

“Okay, maybe the guys are useful for something.” Lydia smirked. Bryton definitely came through with getting us drinks on the beach.

“Well, here—cheers to amazing friends.” Josie held up her glass with a wide grin.

“Cheers to that.” I mirrored her smile, leaning forward to tap my glass with hers and the girls.

“We should leave the guys and move here,” I commented, lying back down on my chair.

“You know, I can get behind that.” Mila hummed, sipping her drink. “They won’t survive without us, though.”

“Especially Wyatt, he’s like a little baby around Josie,” I teased.

“I would deny that, but it’s the truth.” We all laughed with Josie. Both Wyatt and Bryton acted tough, hell they played hockey, but around their girlfriends they were softies. You could literally see the way their eyes lit up when they saw Josie and Mila. It was cute and nauseating at the same time.

“How is it going with Wyatt?” I asked Josie. We were so busy with work that we didn’t get much time to properly catch up.

“Things have been great. He’s just so…” Josie trailed off, her face practically glowing as she thought of her boyfriend. “I've never met someone like him before. ”

“Well, he has my approval.” I said.

“Oh, now he has the approval? We’ve been together for almost a year.”

“He had to prove himself.” I shrugged, grabbing my suntan lotion to rub on my legs. After her last ex, I expected the best for my best friend. Never again would I see her so insecure about herself or made to feel like she was worthless. I wouldn’t allow that if I could help it.

“I thought you immediately liked him.” Josie said.

I did but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to thoroughly question the man. What Josie didn’t know was I met up with Wyatt after we first met and asked a few questions. Was I a bit excessive in my questioning? Hell yes, but it just proved Wyatt was a good guy. He took my grilling with ease and answered all the questions I threw at him, letting me know he was nothing like Josie’s previous boyfriend.

Wyatt had my approval ages ago.

“You’re my best friend, what do you expect?” I raised my eyebrow at her. Josie just shook her head at me, used to my antics by now.

“Want to talk about the other night?” she asked a moment later. I knew she was referring to me being off when she and the girls came over. Over her shoulder, Mila and Lydia talked, leaving the two of us alone in our conversation.

“My mom called the other day while I was at work.” The word mom was like acid on my tongue.

“Figured as much. What did she want this time?” Josie turned on her chair so she was laying on her side, looking at me.

“To remind me to come to the gala in a few weeks.” At my words, she rolled her eyes. “It was more of a…demand than a reminder. You know how she is.” I sighed and relaxed back into my lounge chair, wanting to erase any and all thoughts of my mother .

“What did she say?”

“That I should bring a suitable date this time.” I clenched my jaw as a familiar wave of resentment washed over me whenever I talked about my parents. “Oh, and a jab at my job. You know, the usual.”

“Are you going to go?” Josie asked, but we both knew I couldn’t say no. Not when it came to Robert and Jennifer Davis. Even now they still had a hold over me.

“I’m not going to let myself think about it. We’re on this gorgeous island, and I’m not going to let them take that from me.”

“That’s the spirit. We’re gonna have so much fun you won’t even have time to think about your parents.” She reached out and squeezed my arm with a smile.

I fully planned on doing just that.

I was feeling pretty damn good, I wasn’t gonna lie. The seven alcoholic beverages we had were finally kicking in, making me feel like I was on cloud nine.

“God, this sand feels so good,” I moaned, wiggling my toes deeper into it. Grabbing handfuls, I started piling some on my legs. When I was little, I would try to cover every inch of my skin, until it cracked and fell apart. Didn’t matter that the sand would take ages to wash off. No doubt I’d be regretting this later.

“It’s like an exfoliant.” Josie said beside me, sprinkling the rough grains on her own legs.

“We should bottle this up and take it home with us.”

“We could start a business!” Josie exclaimed .

“We need a badass name!” I shouted, although I had no clue why. It was just us four on this part of the beach.

While Josie and I played in the sand, Lydia snored away on her chair, arms and legs spread out like a starfish, and Mila was busy texting on her phone. Judging from the look on her face, it was very inappropriate.

“Sand Band,” I said, testing the name.

“Coochie Sand,” Josie suddenly said, looking right at me with a serious expression.

“Coochie Sand,” I repeated. Seconds later, the two of us burst into loud fits of laughter. Cackling so hard, I fell over to the side into Josie.

We held onto each other as we cracked up over what she just said. Every time we made eye contact, it only made us giggle that much harder.

“Coochie Sand,” I wheezed.

A shadow appeared over me, which was weird since the sun was tacked in the sky and there weren’t any clouds. And then that shadow spoke. “There you guys are.”

Leaning my head all the way back, I found a pair of upside down legs right in front of me.

“Why are you in the sky?” I blurted. “Did you know your boyfriend can walk on clouds?” I elbowed Josie.

“That’s so damn cool,” she breathed. We were a lot more drunk than either of us realized.

“What are you two talking about?” The world started to whirl as I leaned my head farther back to see who was talking now, sand squishing further into my hair. It was a different voice than Wyatt’s.

“TREVOR!” I yelled once I caught sight of his face. He stood above me, staring down with raised eyebrows. “What are you doing here!”

Beside me, Josie reached out and grabbed Wyatt’s ankle.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep you down on Earth. ”

“Oh shit, don’t float away.” My own arm shot out to grab Trevor’s leg. “I got you!” An image of Trevor gliding up into space suddenly appeared in my head, making me giggle.

“You guys are drunk, aren’t you?” Trevor asked. I barely heard him over my own fits of laughter.

“No,” I responded at the same time Josie said, “Coochie Sand.” Once again, setting us off into hysterics

“Yeah, they're drunk,” I heard Wyatt say. Josie and I rolled around in the sand, laughing as Trevor and Wyatt watched us.

“How much did you guys drink?” Wyatt asked once our laughter died down a bit.

“We only had seven margaritas,” Josie replied.

“Yeah, wasn’t a lot,” I chimed in.

“Uh-huh.” Trevor said.

Wyatt and Trevor shared a look before coming around to our feet.

“Let's get you girls up and cleaned off.” Wyatt suggested, as both him and Trevor reached for us.

Trevor grabbed my hands and gently pulled me upward with little to no effort. Wyatt did the same to Josie.

“But I was having fun,” I whined as Trevor lifted me to my feet. He dropped his hands to my waist when I stumbled to the side. Woah, maybe I have had a lot to drink.

Glancing around, I saw Josie climbing on Wyatt’s back, Mila kissing Bryton like her life depended on it, and Lydia cradled in the arms of Landon.

“I think you girls have had enough fun. Come on.” With his hands on my bare waist—thanks to my skimpy bikini—Trevor maneuvered me toward my stuff. The calluses on his hands made me shiver. His hands were so big they nearly spanned around my entire waist. Immediately, inappropriate thoughts came to mind .

“You have very large hands,” my mouth suddenly blurted, the alcohol controlling the words coming out of my mouth.

“Do I?” Trevor kept walking us forward, but I could see the smirk that graced his lips.

“Yeah, they’re very manly too.” I was definitely going to regret what I was saying when I sobered up. “Bet you know how to use them.” If it wasn’t for the alcohol swimming through my veins, my face would be the same shade of a tomato. But drunk me had no filter. She also didn’t blush.

“Wow, you are way drunker than I thought,” Trevor noted before stopping beside the lounge chair that held my stuff. “Think you can stand on your own for a second?”

I nodded despite the world spinning in circles.

I watched, fascinated, as Trevor picked up my beach bag and made sure everything was inside of it. My eyes were glued to his hands. Hands that were making me think things I shouldn’t.

“Here you go.” He held out the cover up I wore over my bikini on the way down to the beach.

I shook my head. “I don’t want to.”

“You’re not walking around the hotel in just that.” Trevor glanced at the pale blue bikini I had on. His eyes lingered on my chest and the tiny bit of fabric that covered my nipples.

“Here.” He stepped forward for me to put my arms through it. I wouldn’t say the see-through cover up covered anything, but the intense look on his face had me doing as he asked.

Once Trevor was satisfied that my body wasn’t available for all to see, he grabbed my beach bag and held out his hand for me to hold. “Let's get you cleaned up.”

I didn’t even hesitate placing my hand in his. It was weird to think a person could feel something from just a palm slid against their own, but even in my drunk fog, I felt the zing that shot up my arm. The way my hand seemed to fit perfectly in his as he wrapped his fingers through mine wasn’t lost on me either.

I was vaguely aware of our friends around us as we slowly made our way back to the hotel. At least it wasn’t a long walk, but my foot coordination was slightly off, making Trevor tighten his hold on me.

“Drunk on our first day on vacation. Why am I not surprised?” Trevor teased.

“Hey, Mila was the one ordering all the drinks,” I said, defending myself. “Who am I to say no?” Who passed on free alcohol?

“Hm.”

“Don’t be jealous.” I patted his arm. A very nice arm, that was. “I can get you some. I know a guy.” I even went as far as sending him a wink. The sober side of me wanted to smack my hand to my face to hide my embarrassment.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” I could tell Trevor was trying not to laugh as we made it up the walkway to the hotel.

“Party baby!” Josie suddenly yelled behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to see her waving her arm in the air as she was being carried on Wyatt’s back. The look on Wyatt’s face made me giggle. She yelled right in his ear, making him wince. When Josie got drunk, she tended to be louder than normal.

“Woo!” I echoed just as flamboyantly. A few heads turned to stare at us as we walked by. Wyatt and Trevor shared a look before shaking their heads. I had no clue where Mila or Lydia ended up, too busy trying to ignore the feel of Trevor pressed against me and failing. Between him and the alcohol, I wasn’t sure which was making my head swirl more.

As we neared the front doors, we passed by one of the hotel workers carrying a tray of drinks. Trevor quickly flagged him down.

“Can we get a couple of water bottles by chance?” I couldn’t tell if he recognized Trevor or if he saw the desperation on Trevor’s face more than anything, but he quickly handed over two waters from his tray. “Thanks, man.”

I stood there watching, not fully registering anything, as Trevor graciously helped Wyatt open the water and hand it to Josie before turning to me.“Drink this.”

I stared at the water bottle in his hand like it was a snake.

“Why?” I frowned and narrowed my eyes at the drink. A margarita sounded better.

“Tasha, drink.”

My eyes widened at the demand. The way his voice got low and husky made my entire body shiver, not with fear, no it was all excitement. Looking up at his face, I found him staring down at me with those gorgeous green eyes, his jaw clenched, clearly not budging.

“Tasha,” he warned again. Reluctantly, I reached out and grabbed the bottle, downing half of it in one go. “Good girl. There you go.” The praise did something weird to my chest and stomach.

I just stood there silently, staring up at him, the water bottle now clenched in my hands. Because of the damn alcohol, I couldn’t quite grasp the emotions that brewed inside of me, nor the expression clearly written on Trevor’s face.

“Let’s get you back to your room, yeah?”

All I could do was nod as he put his arm back around my waist and started for the front doors of the hotel.

With each sip of the water, I started to feel a bit better, my head clearing slightly, which was probably a good thing. I already knew I embarrassed myself to no end in front of Trevor. Although, it really wasn’t my fault that the margaritas were so strong. They sure didn’t skimp on the alcohol at this place.

The ride up the elevator was slightly awkward. Josie and Wyatt stood off to the side, Josie now wrapped around his front like a koala bear. The two of them whispered to each other, and I looked away, minding my own business. I glanced down at my feet only just realizing I was barefoot.

Trevor stayed pressed against my side, arm around my waist as if he was afraid I would topple over at any minute. I wasn’t going to complain. Drunk me was more than happy to have his arms around my body. Something sober me would never admit out loud.

I didn’t say a word as the elevator slowly made its way up to our floor. I didn’t trust what would come out of my mouth. Not when my stomach was tangled in delicious knots that only came from one thing.

Thankfully, the doors opened a moment later, cutting through the weird silence that enveloped Trevor and me. This was the closest we had been since that night five months ago. The closest I let us be without making some excuse to get away.

“Think you’ll be okay to go to the bonfire in a few hours?” Trevor finally spoke when we reached my room, which was right across from his. I didn’t know what time it was or how long we had been out on the beach. Didn’t help that my body was still off from the time difference.

“Yeah, I’ll be good.” I just needed a nice long shower and maybe some food. Standing there, I brushed a bit of sand off my arm. More than likely, it was stuck to me in other spots too. If I didn’t get cleaned up soon, it’d cause an uncomfortable and irritating itch that I wanted no parts of.

Trevor looked a bit doubtful but dipped his chin to his chest after a minute. Handing me my bag, he finally took a step back, the warmth from his body suddenly gone. I shifted under his gaze, not sure what to say or do.

As I fumbled in my bag for my room key, Trevor watched my every move. When my keycard unlocked my door, and I pushed it open, I glanced back over at him. Standing there in the hallway, hands now in his pockets, his broad shoulders were more relaxed.

“I’ll see you in a bit?” He said it more like a question, and I found myself doing the most embarrassing thing ever—I gave him a thumbs up.

Yet, the longer we stood there staring at each other, the stronger the urge came to do something stupid. Like kissing him again. Needing to get away, I quickly turned and entered my room before shutting the door behind me.

I sagged against it, head whirling. What was going on with me? When I was around Trevor, I tended to lose the tight grip I had on myself. The one that kept me from doing anything out of line. It was like one look from him disarmed my entire security system. Didn’t help that my slightly drunk self was more than happy to give up the password.

I still wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not