Chapter Ten
CHAPTER TEN
Bonnie
The rest of that day involved Sully actually clearing out a drawer in his dresser for me and relocating a third of his Hawaiian shirt collection to a shelf for me to hang my clothes, eating the takeaway feast his club brothers had ordered, and explaining to a few of said men what a gem art painting was and why I didn’t just do paint-by-numbers instead. The answer mostly being that gems didn’t require water.
Just when I thought I might get a little alone time with Sully, though, his president pulled him away. And, feeling awkward around the other guys, I excused myself back to Sully’s room.
But he didn’t return.
It was stupid, but I kind of hoped he would come back with me. We would watch more movies. Maybe he could sleep there again.
And as illogical as it was, since I was someone who did very much enjoy their own company, the longer he was gone, the more I felt my anxiety growing. It was the complete opposite of how I usually felt around people.
I went to bed early, just wanting an escape from the swirling negative thoughts that buzzed louder and louder in my ears with each passing moment.
I figured a nightmare would wake me up.
But, no.
It was music.
I grumbled at it, too sleepy to remember it wasn’t just my loud neighbors.
But this wasn’t their usual screamo music.
No, this was something vaguely familiar—about limes and coconuts.
My eyelids fluttered open just in time to see Sully throwing open the door holding a Bluetooth speaker in his hand and wearing—I kid you not—a women’s purple and black silk duster.
“What…” I started, sitting up.
“Come on. We have limes to put inside coconuts.”
“Am I drunk?” I asked, his words not making any sense.
“Not yet. But that is the goal,” he declared, dancing closer, then thrusting out his free hand to reveal another duster, this one in a baby yellow with lots of lace fringe. “We’re having midnight margaritas. And you have to put this on.”
“Why?” I asked, taking it because he was wiggling it in my face.
“I don’t know actually. The aesthetic,” he said, wiggling his fingers in the air.
“Is it really midnight?” I asked, throwing off the covers because, well, time with Sully sounded a lot better than restless sleep alone.
“On the dot. I may or may not have been waiting in the hall until the time was right,” he added with a boyish smile as I slipped into my duster.
“Okay. Now what?”
“Now, we dance. And drink. And watch movies about witches,” he told me, reaching for my hand and pulling me along with him, his hips wiggling as he went.
There was a moment of insecurity on my part until we moved into the common area to find it empty. Well, empty of other people, that is.
While I’d been sleeping, Sully had been hard at work setting up the living room into a perfect little movie night, complete with a bunch of burning candles instead of overhead lighting, blankets, pillows, and snacks.
The TV was frozen on the selection of Practical Magic.
“Come on, we drink!” Sully declared, pulling me into the kitchen where he had the blender set up with a bunch of ice. Beside it were two bottles of premixed margarita bottles. “We have regular or strawberry,” Sully said, picking each bottle up as the speaker played another song. This time, Stevie Nicks.
“Um, I have no idea. I guess you can’t go wrong with strawberry.”
“Why does it sound like you haven’t had a margarita before?”
“I haven’t,” I admitted.
“Wait… seriously?” he asked, looking suddenly very concerned. “You have had alcohol before, right?”
“Yeah. I mean… here and there. I’ve never really liked anything, though.”
“I think that will end tonight. These taste more like treats than alcohol. But I could make virgin ones if you’d rather that.”
“No,” I said, a little too fast. “No, I want to try it. I don’t really drink because I’m, you know, alone most of the time. Drinking alone isn’t a good thing.”
“That, I have to agree with. Okay. Fair warning, tequila can knock you on your ass, so don’t chug.”
“Agreed,” I said, feeling anticipation sizzle across my nerve endings. Usually, I struggled with excitement at times. It often felt just a little too close to anxiety, which meant anticipation could trigger a panic attack for me.
Somehow, though, I knew I was safe here with Sully. I mean, the man had set up a whole atmospheric viewing party. He’d donned a women’s duster to mimic the scene in the movie. He waited until exactly midnight to get the vibes just right.
This was a man I could let loose around.
Finished blending the drinks, he poured them into two margarita glasses that featured stems in the shape of cacti, then held his out to toast.
“To your newfound favorite drink,” he said.
I was dubious.
Until point-five seconds later, when I had my first sip. There was a slight bite of alcohol. But it was so overwhelmed by the sweet of the mix that it easily became unnoticeable.
So I sipped.
And sipped.
Before I knew it, my glass was gone. And my face was oddly warm. Hell, my whole body was overheated.
Before I could strip off a layer, though, the music was getting more upbeat, and Sully was reaching for my hands, forcing me to dance with him. He showed me the steps, then turned me around and around until I was laughing and dizzy, falling back against him.
“It’s really hot in here,” I declared, fanning my face with my hands.
“Tequila, baby,” he murmured, his lips close to my ear, sending a shiver down my spine.
“What about it?” I asked. And maybe I let my head lean back on his shoulder. Hey, I was dizzy. I needed the stability. Or so I told myself, since all I wanted was to be close to him.
“Something about it making your clothes fall off,” Sully said. “Suddenly can’t remember the specifics,” he added, his arm sliding across my belly. “Feeling good?”
“Mmhmm. My mind is… quiet,” I added dramatically, waving out my arms.
“That must be a nice break, huh?” he asked, the side of his head leaning against mine.
“Midnight margaritas should be a regular thing,” I added.
“I can make that happen.”
“I’m a terrible dancer.”
“Nah.”
“I don’t even know how to slow dance.”
“No?” he asked as he reached toward his phone, clicking around. A second later, the upbeat song turned into a slow one from the movie soundtrack.
Then Sully was reaching for me and turning me to face him. His hands slid down my arms, grabbing my wrists, and sliding my hands up over his chest, then around his neck.
My chest pressed to his as his arms went around me, pulling me flush to his body.
Sparks erupted over every inch of skin, making me feel overly sensitive, aware of the way my shirt brushed across my skin, how his fingers splayed my hip, how his breath made my hair dance a bit.
His fingers pressed in harder, removing any space between our hips.
Before I could think on that too much, though, he was moving, swaying, leading me in the steps.
My instinct to get it right, to be perfect reared for a moment, but was quickly chased away by how good the moment felt.
To be held.
To be moving with him.
I just relaxed into him, letting my cheek press to his chest.
And we just moved.
Even as one song switched to another.
Finally, I lifted my head from his chest, glancing up at him, knowing my interest was likely written all over my face.
Sully’s gaze went from my eyes to my lips, then up again.
And I thought maybe—just maybe—he might lean down, press his lips to mine, make all my fantasies from the shower earlier come true.
But it was right then that there was a chorus of female voices in the common room.
“Sull, I’m all for drinking at midnight, but what the fuck is a ‘duster,’ and why did I need—” Layna’s voice called, then stopped short as Sully and I broke away from each other as she moved into the doorway. “Oh,” she said, looking at the both of us. “It’s a robe. You know, you could have just said a robe,” she declared.
“Don’t worry, I got you covered,” another woman said, appearing behind Layna wearing her own midnight blue duster covered in golden moons and stars, but holding another deep red one fringed in black lace for Layna. “Hi! You must be Bonnie,” the pretty, peppy blonde said, offering me a megawatt smile. “I’m Gracie.”
“Hi,” I said, giving her a smile too. And with the tequila still rushing through my veins, it was surprisingly easy to stay calm in the face of not one, but several, interlopers.
“I, uh, didn’t have a duster either,” another voice said, and Gracie moved aside to let a pretty dark-haired woman with warm golden skin move into the kitchen. “So, I went with a normal robe,” she added. Sure enough, she was wrapped in a big, fluffy lilac robe. It didn’t escape me that there was a little paperback sticking out of one of the pockets.
“This is Luna,” Gracie introduced. “Luna, Bonnie.”
“Layna, tequila,” Layna introduced herself to the bottle, giving it a kiss. “We meet again, old friend.”
“You get to have two drinks,” Gracie warned. “Last time you had more than that, I was picking up your clothes all down the road. And just barely got to you before you tossed off your bra.”
I couldn’t help but smile at that. And the rest of the banter between these three women who were clearly a tight-knit friend group.
I was so distracted by their dynamic that I almost missed the way Sully was standing right beside me, our bodies still close, his hand still at my hip.
“Round two?” Layna asked me and Sully, but she was already sloshing the frozen drink into our glasses before we could respond.
“Don’t let them pressure you,” Sully said, his lips near my ear, making my belly flip-flop. “You can just sip this one for the rest of the night if you want.”
“Okay,” I agreed.
Then Layna was lifting her glass, prompting us all to do the same. “To questionable life choices and the margaritas that make them seem brilliant!”
“I’ll drink to that,” Sully agreed, taking a sip of his drink.
“Your turn,” Layna said, looking at Gracie.
Oh.
Was this some sort of drinking tradition I didn’t know about? Did everyone have to come up with a toast?
Damnit.
My brain wasn’t going as quick as it usually would. That tequila was thick and sticky in my head.
“To the women before us, the magic within us, and the tequila in front of us,” Gracie declared.
“Oooh, good one!” Layna cheered as she raised her glass. “Luna?”
“To being just witchy enough to be mysterious, but not enough to get burned at the stake,” Luna said after a moment.
“Hear hear,” Layna agreed. “Though you’re not really living if some old-timey man didn’t want to declare you a witch.”
“To tequila,” Sully said, giving me another moment to come up with my own toast. “The only spirit we’re summoning tonight.”
Then, just like— ha! —magic, it came to me just in time.
“To exes who don’t want to stay buried, and the shovels that make sure they do.”
“Girl, heavy on all of that,” Layna said, draining her glass and turning to work on another batch as Sully’s chuckle vibrated into me. I was never so proud of myself as I was right then. Maybe that was sad, but it felt good to feel part of a group, to fit in, to say the right thing for a change.
Layna stole my glass to refill, and I turned toward Sully as another hot flash moved through me, making me strip out of the duster. “Hold this,” I demanded, shoving it at him.
“Gladly,” he agreed, giving me a sweet smile.
But then I was dragging off my shirt, and panic filled his eyes.
“Uh-oh. Not another stripper,” Gracie groaned.
“I have another—“ I said, struggling against the arms of my sweatshirt. “Shirt. On. Under. Help,” I grumbled, trapped.
There was another chuckle from Sully before his hands grabbed the shirt and carefully extracted me from it, leaving me standing there in the loose tee I had on underneath.
“Thank you,” I said as the cool air washed over me.
“Better?” he asked.
“Much. Give me back my duster.”
“Oh, thank God,” Gracie said, the genuine relief making me wonder just how many times she had to deal with drunk friends who shamelessly stripped out of their clothes in public places. “See, Layna? She’s putting clothes back on .”
“Because she’s not drunk enough yet,” Layna said, passing me my glass back. “Don’t worry. We’ll get you there.”
By the time we made our way to the living room for the movie, I was wobbling on my feet.
“Don’t worry,” Sully said beside me, his hand slipping across my lower back and sinking into my hip. “I’ve got you.”
Way too tipsy to think better of it, I leaned in and took a deep breath. “You smell good,” I said. “Did I tell you that?”
“You haven’t.”
“Peaches and vanilla,” I added with a nod.
“Shampoo and a matching lotion,” he told me.
“I like it,” I told him as we moved into the living room just in time to see Layna grab Luna’s arm and pull her off the couch, leaving it open for the two of us.
“I have to give Fallon credit,” Layna said, rubbing her hands up and down the arms of the matching chairs she and Luna now occupied. “These were a good purchase.”
“There was never enough seating around here,” Gracie agreed, sitting in one of the recliners across from them. “Okay, let’s get this movie going. I have brunch with Willa tomorrow morning.”
“What? How come I wasn’t invited?” Layna asked.
“Because we both know that you never peel yourself out of bed before noon. Later on weekends.”
“Hey, what can I say? I work a nighttime profession.”
“That kind of makes you sound like a sex worker,” Gracie said with a drunken little giggle.
“Oh, speaking of sex workers. Did you see Tammy’s new post?”
“Who is Tammy?” Luna asked.
“Big Tit Tammy,” Layna declared.
“What?” Luna asked, eyes going comically round.
“She’s a sex worker who does a bunch of posts on social media about her escapades,” Gracie said. “A fact I know against my will, I must add. Layna plays her podcast in the car whenever we go anywhere.”
“Hey, we have to support the girls who are doing good.”
“What kind of good?” Luna asked, dubious.
“Well, for one, she tested out that new sex toy I was considering getting and said it was a waste of money. So, there’s that.”
“Okaaaay,” Gracie said, sighing. “Movie. On now. Please.”
Sully, smiling at the girls, did as requested.
The movie played.
We finished our drinks.
We snacked.
Slowly but surely, all the girls started to pull down their blankets and snuggle in.
Sully pulled one off the back of the couch, spreading it across the two of us.
And maybe I was feeling just warm and fuzzy enough to lean into him. And maybe when he reached for my legs to pull them across his lap, I helped him along.
But before I could enjoy much more of the closeness, of the intimacy, the tequila went quickly from ‘fuzzy and fun’ to ‘bone-deep tired.’
I was asleep before the frogs started to invade the aunts’ home.
With Sully’s arms around me.