Page 91 of Forbidden Billionaires, Vol. 9

“I thought you’d at least scope the place out for me. Just like I scoped out the place and I have bad news…you have competition.” She nodded to my lifeguard’s teammate.

“I think they’re just friends,” I said. “He did ask me here after all.”

“So you’re definitely on a date?”

Yes? No? “I don’t know.”

“People on dates don’t usually ditch said date to hang out with another woman.”

Fair point. But she didn’t see how my lifeguard hesitated.

And tried to include me. And how he held my hand.

I watched his teammate laugh and flirtatiously touch his arm.

He proceeded to laugh at whatever she whispered into his ear.

Maybe Kristen was right. This certainly didn’t feel like a date.

Which was a good thing, because I didn’t want to date anyone this summer.

So why did my stomach suddenly hurt? And why did I suddenly want to bitch slap that bitch?

“Go be more assertive,” Kristen said. “You can’t let her walk all over you just because she’s taller, blonder, and tanner than you.”

I felt myself shrinking into my stool. Was that supposed to be an ego boost?

“Speaking of gorgeous people, I think I just found something I like.” She was staring at some guy across the bar. “I’ll catch up with you later.” She squeezed my arm without really even looking at me and walked away.

Bye, Kristen? I watched her walk over to the guy and start talking to him.

They immediately started laughing and he stepped closer to her.

She made it look so easy. I had never been good at stuff like that.

Aiden had been my only serious boyfriend ever, and my dating skills felt like they’d been stomped on and thrown to sea.

I heard someone cheering and looked back at the pool table. Apparently they’d won the game. My lifeguard high-fived the girl one last time and then walked back over to me.

"You two make a good team,” I said. Better to push them together than pretend I ever had a chance. It was for the best anyway.

"Me and Abby? No." He laughed. "She kind of sucks at pool. I thought she was going to make me lose."

Maybe he didn't realize that she liked him. "I don't know. She definitely likes you."

He shrugged his shoulders. "We're just friends.”

Huh. I hadn’t expected that. My ego started to re-inflate.

“Did you want to play something?" he asked.

"Ping pong?" I had seen that there was a table on the other side of the bar. It was the only thing here that I was any good at. My ego would be huge again in no time once I whooped his ass.

"Sure."

We walked over to the table. There were two people already playing so we waited in line. I leaned against the wall and he stood in front of me. I looked up into his eyes. It was easy to get lost in them, even when I tried to tell myself I shouldn’t.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he finally asked.

"I'm not looking at you in any way." Am I?

"Yes, you are." He laughed.

"Has anyone ever told you that your eyes are the same color as the ocean?"

He smiled. "I can't say that anyone has."

"Oh. Well. It's true." I felt a little buzzed.

“Is your friend still coming?” he asked.

“Yeah…she’s…” I looked around the bar but didn’t see her. “She’s somewhere. She got here while you were playing pool and wandered off.”

He looked around too. For a second I thought maybe he didn’t believe me. Like he thought I’d made up a friend and was a total loser.

“Her name’s Kristen,” I added quickly. God, it sounded like I was making her up by the second. “I swear she’s here somewhere.”

He nodded, although it was hard to tell if he believed me.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

"Starving actually." And so grateful for the change of topic.

"Okay, how about the loser buys a pizza?"

"It is not your lucky day, because I'm like, really, really good at ping pong."

"Really, really good, huh? I guess I'm in trouble. I'm going to go place our order now so it's ready when we're done. What kind do you like?"

"Plain is good."

"My favorite. I'll be right back."

His favorite? Everyone always made fun of me for ordering plain pizza.

I smiled to myself. I watched him go toward the front counter.

Another girl stopped him along the way and hugged him.

He seemed pretty popular with the ladies.

Which made sense, because he was gorgeous.

Really freaking gorgeous. I watched him lean against the counter and order the pizza.

He laughed with the girl at the counter.

It was the same way he had leaned against the counter at the ice cream shop yesterday.

I swallowed hard. Is this not a date? Did he just invite me here as a friend?

I was having trouble focusing. I shouldn't have had so much to drink.

I put my bottle down on an empty table. Geez, this isn't a date.

He was just a nice guy, being nice to the weird girl who was always alone on the beach.

Who made up fake friends. At least in his eyes.

I felt so embarrassed. I looked down at my flip flops.

Maybe I could just leave before he came back.

"Is it okay if we do doubles?"

I looked up. My lifeguard was standing in front of me with two guys.

"Um, yeah. That's fine." Now I was just reduced to one of the guys. I wanted to be okay with the turn of the evening. But for a while there, I’d given myself this small shred of hope that he liked me. My heart was still healing from the last blow and now it just felt like it exploded again. At least, whatever was left of it. I took a deep breath. It’s fine. It’s for the best.

"Stalkers aren't usually hot," one of them said. "Do you want to be my partner?"

I looked up at my lifeguard. He looked embarrassed.

Why? Because he had told them that I was a stalker?

Or because he hadn't realized that they'd talk about it in front of me?

Asshole. This definitely wasn't a date. I was just the weird, loner stalker girl.

"That depends," I said to the guy who had just talked to me. "Are you any good?"

"Yeah, we'll crush them."

"Perfect." The table had just freed up. I picked up a paddle. I wanted to win. I wanted to completely annihilate my lifeguard. He could have just told me he was inviting me as a friend. I felt like he had purposefully tried to embarrass me. And I was pissed. Or drunk. Drunk and pissed.

"You guys can serve first," my lifeguard said.

"You really shouldn't be cocky right now.” I served the ball. It bounced low and went perfectly between them so that neither of them went for it.

"Shit, nice serve!" my partner said.

"Eh, it wasn't my best." I served again. This time my lifeguard made contact with the ball but missed the table by about a foot.

After my five serves, we were up five to zero. I grabbed the ball that my lifeguard's partner had just flubbed and tossed it hard at my lifeguard. He caught it.

They only had three points when I slammed the winning shot.

"Dude, that was awesome!" My partner high-fived me.

"Should we switch up the teams?" my lifeguard's partner asked. It looked like he wanted nothing to do with my lifeguard anymore either. “It’s only fair that we each get a turn with the stalker.”

Seriously? I felt a lump forming in my throat that I couldn’t swallow down.

"Actually, I have to get going. Thanks for letting me play with you guys.

It was lots of fun." It felt good to win.

But I was losing my composure. I put the paddle down and walked away from the table toward the front of the restaurant.

"Hey!" I heard my lifeguard yell after me.

I kept walking. I was supposed to stay single this summer.

It was good that he had invited me here as a joke.

I never thought I'd need a reminder that all men were assholes, but here it was.

My eyes were starting to burn. I should have never come with him.

I wasn't ready for anything like this. I just needed to be alone.

"Jellyfish Girl!"

I stopped in the middle of the boardwalk and turned around. "That's not my name. Or Stalker. Not that you care." People were staring at me. This was so mortifying.

“I’m sorry, I…”

"Please just leave me alone." I needed to get away from all the prying eyes. And most of all I needed to get away from him. I walked across the boardwalk and onto the beach. The sand was cold at night. I slid off my flip flops, picked them up, and ran as fast as I could down to the water.