32
Ava
The sun glitters across the water as it sets, casting the sky in gorgeous oranges that fade into a deep, sultry purple. The girls and I have moseyed down to the dock where we sit with our toes dangling over the water, dipping them in every now and then.
“Do you ever imagine just sitting here, dipping your toes in, when suddenly a shark surfaces from beneath and drags you in?” Jane wonders aloud.
We all stop swinging our feet, looking over at her sitting criss-cross applesauce on the dock with her bottle of water rubbing back and forth between her palms, Cheshire cat smile slowly spreading across her amused lips.
“Um… now I will never dangle my toes again,” Holly deadpans.
Sydney hums the theme song to Jaws, and we all laugh heartily.
I lean my back against a post and stick my bare legs out in front of me, wiggling my freshly polished hot pink toes.
I look out across the water, searching for a creepy dorsal fin. Nothing.
“Your toes are cute,” Jane declares with a look of concentration on her face as if she’s working up to saying something.
“Oh my gosh…” Sydney mutters, looking over to where the guys are.
“What?” Holly asks, curiosity filling her voice.
“She brought him.”
“She brought who?” I ask Sydney, turning along with Jane to see what’s going on. Brynleigh is here, and she brought Ted.
“Oh shit. Things are about to get interesting,” I state. There’s no getting around it. The guys are going to stir shit.
“Mmm-hmm…” Sydney hums in agreement. Jane shrugs it off and looks back out over the water.
“So, um, you guys–”
“We better get up there to save Bryn,” Sydney accidentally cuts Jane off, climbing to her feet. I join her. Jane looks like she’s about to finish her thought but changes her mind and stands, holding her hand out to help Holly up.
???
Mark
No fucking way.
“Did you know Bryn was bringing him?” I ask, nudging Colin in the ribs as he stokes the fire.
Trystan stops mid-reach for a beer and turns to see Brynleigh walking up to us, struggling with her big cooler in hand while her douchebag boyfriend trails behind her empty-handed with the exception of his phone.
Trystan curses under his breath, stands, walks over to take the cooler from her hands, and nods in greeting.
“Hey, Bryn. Give me that.” He glares openly at Ted, who doesn’t even notice.
“Uh, yeah, thanks, Trystan.” She looks shocked as she hands the cooler over before peering back over her shoulder at her date. “Guys, this is Ted,” she announces.
Ted doesn’t bother to look up; he just lifts a hand in greeting.
We all grunt and mumble our hellos to be polite.
He doesn’t even deserve that. Seriously, what does she see in this guy?
I frown at him with disapproval, then look to Brynleigh with my bug eyes, hopefully conveying the thought.
She skims her teeth over her bottom lip, clearly second guessing bringing him here.
“Brynnie, you want a drink?” Colin asks, and she flushes.
“Yeah, sure, that’d be great.”
Ted half snorts, still engrossed with whatever the hell he’s doing.
“Brynnie,” he mumbles under his breath with a smirk on his face. I’m considering wiping it off of there for him.
Colin walks behind Trystan, clapping him on the shoulder as he passes by before handing the hard cider to my sister.
“Thanks, Colin.”
“You bet.”
“Brynleigh!” Ava hollers in hello as the girls all show up en masse to greet her.
Apparent relief flashes across her features as they take turns embracing her.
This catches Ted’s attention. I watch Ted look up from his phone, gaze combing across each of the ladies with blatant curiosity.
We all notice the way he checks each and every one of them out.
What a sleaze. Trystan actually huffs in annoyance.
When Ted’s eyes skim over Ava’s legs for longer than I’m fucking comfortable with, I give him the dirtiest glare I can muster as I walk over and insert myself into his line of vision before bending and giving Ava a kiss on the top of her head.
He notices my death stare and looks away quickly.
Damn, this fucker can’t even hold eye contact or give me a smidge of ‘Hey, man, sorry I was checking out your woman while simultaneously disrespecting your sister.’.
Coward, pussy, asshole… I have lots of names for him right now. Fucking loser.
Everyone cozies up around the fire, and a few minutes pass as the girls chat.
Colin walks over and grabs a hard cider to take to Sydney.
While he’s walking behind the group, he does a double take over Ted’s shoulder, eyeing his phone.
His eyes flash to mine and Trystan’s before he subtly shakes his head in disappointment before tapping on Sydney’s shoulder and handing her the drink.
When he turns back around to head back, a smirk pops up on his face.
He “trips” and knocks against Ted, causing him to drop his phone at Bryn’s feet and spill his beer all down the front of his shirt.
“Oh, shit. Sorry. I tripped on the blanket back here. You might wanna grab that shit before– oops, too late…”
Brynleigh has already bent down to grab the phone and is frowning at whatever she sees. My hackles rise, big brother radar blaring like an ambulance on the mad dash. Ted might’ve lost some color to his skin, and that shit would excite me if I weren’t centered on fixing why my sister’s frowning.
“What the hell is this?” My sister looks over at Ted, eyes wary.
“Well, um–” Ted starts to mutter, fumbling over himself like the damn fool that he is. This might end spectacularly. A devilish grin sweeps over my face. I’ll help a little.
“I think you’d better start answering my sister’s question a bit faster.”
Ted shoots me a dirty glare, and I lean forward menacingly as I take a swig of my beer and hand it to Colin. That gets Ted moving.
“Bryn, can we talk?” he stutters out, staring at me as I begin to rise.
“That might be the smartest choice you’ve made this evening,” I mutter low, garnering the attention of everyone who hadn’t already noticed the shit unfolding in front of them.
“Marcus, I’ve got this. Explain yourself, Ted. Who the fuck is Melanie, and why are her tits plastered on your screen while you are sitting here next to me?”
Trystan chokes on his beer, turning red before eyeing the jerk across from us. Colin just smiles and enjoys the show.
“I’m not talking about this in front of everyone,” Ted sputters, embarrassed yet stupidly letting anger lace the tail end of his words. Like he’s offended that she is upset with him.
“But you were willing to sit here and engage in whatever the hell that is in front of my brother and all my closest friends?” Brynleigh waves her hand up and down near the phone to place his source of guilt front and center.
“Follow me.” Ted stands rashly, knocking over a drink into the fire and scattering a bit of ash. I bite the inside of my cheek, assessing and making sure everything in the immediate area is safe.
“Don’t order my sister around,” I state, letting him know that I have my eye on him, I don’t like him, and he better watch his step. Fuck, I hope Brynleigh tears his ass up. They stomp off from the group.
“Say the word, and I’ll happily go step in over there,” Trystan says next to me, eyeing their conversation closely.
“Thanks. It’s probably smart if I don’t directly get involved.”
“On that note, who wants another drink?” Holly asks loudly, trying to change the direction of the party. She pulls out a few and carries them over, asking along the line who might like one. As she hands them out, they happily accept. She taps Jane on the shoulder.
“Jane? Want one?” Holly questions, breaking into her conversation with Sydney.
“No, I can’t,” Jane says, waving it away nonchalantly, then freezes, eyes widening.
“Sure you can! It’s a holiday! Unless–”
All the girls gasp loudly, drawing the attention of the group. Garrett clears his throat and smiles proudly as Jane flushes with excitement.
“I was trying to tell you all on the dock, but you bitches just weren’t paying attention,” Jane explains as all of our ladies squeal with delight.
“Really?! A baby?!” Sydney’s smile is a watery expression full of love and excitement.
“Yeah, a baby…” Jane murmurs dreamily, staring over at Garrett with joy. He looks like he’s walking on cloud freaking nine as he gazes happily back at his wife.
“That’s wonderful, you guys!” Colin exclaims with a carefree laugh, standing to go pat Garrett’s shoulder.
We all burst into congratulatory hugs and pats.
Our little group is expanding, taking on a new dynamic once again.
I am thrilled for them. The girls are all giggling and sniffling with happy tears as they hug their friend, exclaiming about getting to be ‘aunties’. It’s cute.
Shit. Is some little squirt going to be calling me ‘Uncle Mark’ in a few years?
It makes an unfamiliar pang of longing unfurl in my belly.
The first warning firework sets off in the sky to the west of us near the shoreline, and suddenly, it feels like our new reality is changing at warp speed.
It’s overwhelming. In a matter of a year, I almost lost my best friend, witnessed his wedding, fell in love with someone on my ‘never’ list, grew into a larger group of friends that are now my family, moved in with my never girl, and now, we’re all looking at adding a baby, or two if Colin gets his way, to everything.
It’s been a wild ride, and I don’t think it’s about to slow down.
Ava slides up beside me, slipping her arms around my waist and sighing contentedly against my chest.
“Isn’t it crazy how much has changed this past year?” Ava says quietly as we take in our group.
“I was just thinking it before you walked over here,” I answer honestly.
“I think Sydney and Colin won’t be far behind them.”
“I’m pretty positive that you’re right,” I mumble, taking another sip of my beer while peering over at Brynleigh and Ted still arguing.
It is not a happy conversation, and it looks like she’s chewing his ass out.
He’s actually texting while listening, his body turned from hers.
It pisses me off even more. His whole demeanor screams about how little he actually gives a shit about my sister.
I have zero respect for this guy, never really did, but when he turns, face contorting in anger, and shouts at her to shut the hell up, my patience snaps.
I’m not the only one because Trystan locks up tighter than an arrow stretched on a bow line.
“Oh, that fucker just crossed a line he can’t come back from,” I hear him mutter as he hands Colin his beer.
He shoots me a look that clearly conveys that he’s on it.
Colin and I follow at a short distance in case Ted’s truly stupid and digs his hole deeper.
Trystan doesn’t deal well with disrespect toward women at all.
None of us do, but it’s his one thing that will spur him into action faster than anything else.
Let it involve one of his people and that person just signed their ‘fuck around and find out’ ticket.
Everyone just better stay out of his way.
I’m proud to call him a friend. I’ll take him in my sister’s corner or mine any damn day.
He’s happy to play the villain in my sister’s eyes if need be.
He doesn’t want her to look at me that way.
“Oh fuck. How bad is this going to get?” Garrett fake-whispers as he walks up to join the backup gang along with Ava.
“It could be epic,” Colin says with a smirk.
Trystan steps in and grabs Ted by the shirt, yanking the less than buff twerp up against his chest. Trystan is stacked compared to this guy, and Ted realizes his mistake very, very quickly.
We all chuckle as we take in the scene, wishing we could hear what Trystan’s saying because Ted’s face is colorless. Garrett snaps a pic.
“Is it just me, or does shithead not even compare as a man in the grand scheme of things chest to chest with him?”
The comment sends us into a raucous round of laughter. We’re all on the same page, knowing there’s zero threat of this going anywhere other than Ted leaving with his pride in shambles or a busted face.
Another firework sets off in the sky, illuminating us in red just as I hear a snarky voice that doesn’t belong echoing along the sand. Ava freezes at my side.