Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
LYRIC
Idrum my fingers on the refrigerator door to the beat of a song I can’t remember the lyrics to, or the title, but I remember the rhythm and that’s all that matters right now.
I’m not even sure if I’m hungry or just bored, but nothing inside the refrigerator sparks joy, so I swing the door closed without grabbing anything.
There’s a tapping sound that inspires me to switch up my drumming pattern to fit the new beat. The sound stops and starts up again a few seconds later. Oh, someone’s at the door.
I chuckle and go to answer it. Maybe it’s Yuri.
It’s been a couple of weeks since the night I slept over at his place and the hike to the carousel, and it feels like something’s shifted a little between us.
He stops by more often, and we sleep at each other’s places a lot, but we never talk about if or when he’s leaving, even if it’s always kind of in the back of my mind.
It’s not Yuri on my doorstep though.
Hennessey, Goose, and RePete are standing on my porch. Hen has Tupperware that looks like it might have brownies inside and Goose has changed his hair from pink to purple since I saw him last.
“Hey, Lyr,” Hen says.
“We were talking and we realized that we’ve hardly seen you this summer,” Goose says.
“I’ve been around.” Sure, I’ve been hanging out with Yuri more, but I’m still at the beach most days after he goes to work. “I think you guys are just too busy being all in love now to notice me bumming around on the beach,” I joke.
“Hey, I’m in love but I’ve also got my boyfriend running my ass ragged at the restaurant day and night,” Hen says.
“That doesn’t sound hygienic.”
He snorts a laugh.
“Seriously, we have the afternoon free, and we wanted to see if you want to do something,” Goose insists.
“Yeah, what’d you guys have in mind? You know I’m up for anything.” I step outside and close the door behind me.
“It’s a Sunday night, so the bar should be pretty quiet. We thought we’d set up camp at one of the tables, drink for hours, and play poker. I even have snacks, courtesy of the chef.” Hen holds up the container and grins.
“Guys, we already talked about this. We don’t have cards or poker chips, how are we going to play?” Pete reminds them.
“Boston has stuff, let’s just swing by his house and borrow it.” Goose shrugs.
“I don’t know how to play, but it sounds like a plan.” I definitely won’t complain about spending the night hanging out at The Sand Bar, getting to watch Yuri work while we all play cards.
“So, where have you been all summer?” Hen asks, bumping my shoulder with his before we all climb onto Goose’s golf cart, which is decked out for the season with an inflatable palm tree on top, wrapped in Christmas lights that blink in a pattern that make it look like a dick squirting a fountain of cum.
“Around,” I say vaguely with a chuckle.
I’m definitely not ashamed of how much time I’ve been spending with Yuri.
In fact, I’m willing to bet that at least half the guys on this island would give their left nut to have him in their bed, rasping their names, sighing against their lips every night.
But what about when he leaves? I don’t need everyone spending the whole off-season giving me sad puppy dog eyes because I got dumped.
And I really don’t need any of them to decide it’s their mission to find me love or anything next season. Better just to keep my mouth shut.
“I can’t tell if your whole ‘mysterious’ thing is on purpose or not,” Pete says.
“I’m mysterious?” I laugh again, pulling a joint from behind my ear and slipping it between my lips. I take a toke, then pass it around, and just as a light buzz is setting in, we pull up in front of Boston’s place.
We all hop off the cart and head up to the door. Hennessey knocks but no one answers.
“They’re probably already down at the bar,” Pete says.
I crane my neck a little and then grin.
“Goose, come here. Give me a boost.” I jog down off the porch and wave him over, pointing up at the open window.
“We are not seriously going to break and enter just to get a deck of cards and some poker chips, are we?” Pete bites his lip and looks around nervously. I wonder if he’s gotten to know Yuri much. I think they’d like each other. They’re both worriers.
“I won’t break anything,” I promise him, while Goose and Hennessey both come down and stand on either side of the window, making footholds for me with their hands.
I step up and grip the windowsill, and they give me a boost so I can scramble through.
It’s harder than I expected though. I kick my feet and pull myself clumsily through the open window, tumbling inside and knocking over a small table that’s right under the window.
Books and random trinkets scatter across the floor.
I gather everything up and put it back on the table.
Except, I’m not sure where anything goes, so they’re probably going to notice.
Also, I’m hoping it was wobbly before I knocked it over, because it definitely is now. I stick my head back out the window.
“Okay, I might have broken one thing. Hen, give me a couple of brownies out of that container, I’ll leave them on the table with an apology note before I go.”
“Good thinking,” Hen says while Pete mutters something under his breath and pinches the bridge of his nose.
The cards and poker chips are in a fancy leather box on the coffee table, so that’s easy to find at least. I find a pad of paper in the kitchen and write out a quick note.
B he rarely orders the same drink twice.
They all shout their orders out to me in no particular order, all talking over each other. Luckily, no one deviates from what I was already expecting, so it’s easy to keep straight. Cooper waits until everyone else is done and then shoots me a grin.
“Sex on the beach?” he asks.
My cheeks heat and I dip my head to hide my smirk. “Sure thing.” I get to work filling everyone’s order.
When I drop everyone’s drinks off, it sounds like they’re explaining the rules to Cooper. I squeeze his shoulder in a silent “good luck.” I don’t think poker is too complicated but memorizing how good any given hand is and bluffing probably won’t be his strong suits.
There are enough customers to keep me busy refilling drinks and being just friendly enough to earn decent tips without making them think they have a chance with me. Every time I stop back over to check on the guys, the pile of chips in front of Cooper has got bigger and bigger.
“How the hell is he doing this?” Trick mutters, throwing his cards down and shaking his head as Cooper pulls the pot towards himself again, not bothering to stack any of the chips nicely, instead leaving them in a messy mountain.
I try not to shudder at the disorganization. It takes everything in me not to shoulder him aside and fix the chaos for him.
“Beginner’s luck?” Easy guesses.
“Maybe I’m just a natural,” Cooper says, picking up the fresh set of cards Lux just dealt. I glance over his shoulder and fight to keep my face neutral when I see that he has three aces in his hand. He glances back at me and whispers, “Are the A’s high or low in this game?”
“High,” I whisper back, squeezing his shoulder again.
“Cool. Uh, one orange chip.” He tosses the fifty-dollar chip into the pot.
“We’re not letting him play again,” Boston mutters, folding his cards.
“Hey, Yuri, you want a brownie?” Hennessey asks.
“Brownies are a terrible poker snack, they’re too messy.” Boston groans. “My cards are going to be covered in chocolate smudges.”
Hennessey shrugs. “Take it up with Storm, he made them.”
“Thanks.” I reach across to grab one out of the container, lingering by the table while I eat it so I can watch Cooper win another hand.
“Oh, hey, Yur, I’ve been meaning to ask you, I’m organizing a bachelor auction for the beginning of August. Bird is in, and a couple of other residents are going to do it, I wanted to see if you’d be up for it.
” Boston glances across the table at Cooper, and I could swear I see a sneaky smirk on his face, but his expression looks pretty innocent when he turns towards me, so maybe I was just imagining it.
“Um…” I tap my fingers nervously against my thigh and try not to look at Cooper.
I know I can just say no without telling anyone we’ve been hooking up or seeing each other or whatever this is, but I’ve never been a good liar.
Maybe part of me wants him to jump in and tell them to fuck off, that I’m his and he’s not going to see me auctioned off to the highest bidder.
He glances up from his cards and I catch his eye, trying to silently communicate with him by raising my eyebrows and hoping no one else notices.
Trick clears his throat and it almost sounds like he’s trying to hide a laugh.
Cooper doesn’t really give me anything though.
He just looks back at his cards without a word.
“Uh…” I murmur again, chewing on my bottom lip and tapping my fingers a little faster. “Yeah, you know what, that’s fine. Why not, right? It’s not an explicit sex thing, is it? It’s just a date auction?”
“Right,” Boston says. “Obviously, you’re free to fuck them if you’re feeling it, but I’m not trying to pimp anyone out. I just thought it would be a fun draw. You can take the winner to a party on the beach or whatever, it doesn’t have to be anything major.”
“Okay, sure,” I agree, glancing at Cooper one last time.
The rest of the guys exchange looks that I’m not even going to try to decipher. It feels like I’m the butt of some kind of joke, but that might just be my anxiety talking right now, so I do my best not to read into it, and I hurry off to check on my other customers.