Chapter 15 Cassidy
For the first full day of our wedding week, I start things off strong with a planned excursion just off the beach in front of our resort.
Snorkeling and sailing on a huge, beautiful yacht.
Sarah told me to not hold back when it came to excursions and activities, so I took her advice and booked just about everything that I could. This will be a week to remember for everyone.
In one way or another.
While no one seemed to notice my absence last night during dinner, I won’t get so lucky if I get sick while stuck on this yacht. I’ve been on boats too much to use sea sickness as an excuse.
All I can do is ride this wave and try to act as normal as possible.
Dance music plays from a portable Bluetooth speaker as at least twenty people ride on the yacht farther into the Pacific Ocean.
One group is already talking to the excursion guy who will help them properly and safely snorkel in the water, and the other group is lounging or dancing while enjoying the yacht’s bar.
I’m at a weird halfway point.
I can’t drink because I’m pregnant. I originally planned on trying something new and giving snorkeling a try, but I don’t think taking unnecessary risks is smart right now.
“Are you snorkeling, Cass?” Tyler calls out to me as he stands on the outskirts of the group huddled near the back of the yacht as it sails through the water.
“Um…” I trail off, mentally scrambling for an excuse to give that’s believable.
“Come over here!” Ryan says over the sound of the engine.
“Damn it,” I grit out under my breath before heading their way, passing by Sarah and some of the other bridesmaids as they tan on loungers with drinks in their hands.
When I get close, my eyes skirt off Jackson, Tyler, and Marcus as they stand there in just their swim trunks. I swear they look like underwear models or something. It’s ridiculous how hot they’ve gotten since high school.
“I think I’m going to pass and hang out with Sarah,” I tell them with a passive shrug.
“What? You said a while back you always wanted to snorkel,” Ryan says, making me curse my past self for opening my mouth.
“You can stick near us,” Jackson tells her as he holds a black snorkeling mask out to me.
Oh, now he wants to talk to me?
I purse my lips a little as I cross my arms. He has barely spoken a word to me since he arrived in Mexico. I get if he thinks Las Vegas was a mistake, but he doesn’t have to completely shut me out. We can all be friendly and civil.
I shake my head. “I’m fine staying on the boat. You guys have fun, though.”
“I think someone is nervous,” Ryan teases me as he drapes his arm over my shoulders.
Tyler chuckles. “Don’t tell me you’re scared, Cass.”
I’m certainly not too afraid to jump in the water with them, but if I need to act like a scaredy cat to get them off my back, so be it.
“There could be sharks,” I tell them. “I don’t want to get eaten.”
The guys chuckle. But not Jackson.
“If she doesn’t want to come, she doesn’t have to,” Jackson tells everyone before handing the extra mask to Tyler. “Let’s gear up and get ready to go. The yacht is stopping soon.”
I restrain myself from giving him a grateful look. After how he’s acted lately, I don’t know if he even deserves it.
“Have fun,” I say before walking away from their group and sucking in a deep, steadying breath.
How the hell am I going to get through this entire week and a wedding?
“Can I just get a water?” I ask the bartender once I make my way over to the bar.
He nods and digs a bottle of water out of a cooler nearby. “Anything else?”
“No, thank you,” I reply as I take the bottle from him. I rest it against the back of my neck first, closing my eyes as I hear the yacht’s engine cut off.
The boat slowly drifts to a near stop, the waves lightly rocking it. It’s not terribly hot today, but the sun is really beating down.
Cold water from the melted ice in the cooler runs off the bottle and drips down my neck and face. I almost didn’t wear my bikini because I was afraid someone would be able to look at me and tell that I’m pregnant, but I don’t have a baby bump yet.
I look just like I did before Las Vegas. Just probably more tired.
“Hey.”
Oh, man. This is turning into a nightmare.
I open my eyes and turn to face Derek. “Hey.”
“You okay?” Derek asks as he tilts his head, his eyes moving over me.
“I’m fine,” I reply. “Aren’t you snorkeling?”
Derek shrugs. “I thought about it, but I saw you alone over here.”
“And?” I question him.
Bitchy, maybe. But come on.
He dumped me and hooked up with another girl a week later. What could he possibly want from me?
Derek steps closer and motions for the bartender to get him a beer. “I wanted to check on you. I still care about you, Cassidy.”
I drink my water to stop myself from laughing in his face.
“Look, I’m sorry for how things played out. I was…close-minded,” he says as he leans his side against the bar to face me. “I’ve really been thinking about things lately. Decisions I’ve made. The future.”
Maybe I fell off the boat and drowned at some point, and this is purgatory or something.
“That’s great, Derek. I’m sure you’ve come to some interesting conclusions,” I sigh as I place the cold bottle back against my forehead.
“Well, I have—”
“Hey, guys.”
My head snaps to the side as Jackson, Tyler, and Marcus stride over to us.
“I thought you were snorkeling?” I question them.
Why is everyone over here when I’m trying to have a moment?
“We need some water for the group,” Jackson replies before stepping between Derek and me, forcing Derek to take a step back. “Six waters.”
The bartender nods and digs around in the cooler full of ice.
“You should grab a pair of flippers before they’re all gone, Derek,” Tyler says.
“I don’t know if I’m going to go anymore,” Derek replies. “Cassidy and I were talking.”
“Well, you were talking. I was trying to cool down,” I tell him as I take the water bottle off my forehead. “There’s too much body heat over here.”
“Take these back to the guys. Meet you over there,” Jackson says as he shoves the water bottles into Derek’s hands.
Derek’s jaw clenches, and I pause for a second as Derek and Jackson stare at each other.
Derek works out a decent bit and is pretty tall, but he’s nowhere near the size of Jackson. One of them works behind a desk all day. The other climbs into burning houses.
Derek glances at Tyler and Marcus as they stare him down too. “Fine.”
My eyebrows raise as I watch Derek walk away. “You guys are being a little obvious, huh?”
Jackson steps toward me, his hand reaching out. He doesn’t touch me, though. He just grabs Derek’s untouched beer off the bar and takes a sip. “Sorry, did you want to talk to him?”
“No,” I say. “But he doesn’t need to suspect anything either.”
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Jackson replies. “All he’ll know is that we know the truth.”
“The truth?”
“He hurt you far more than you let everyone else believe,” Jackson tells me before stepping away from the bar.
I grab his arm to stop him. “Don’t say anything to Ryan. Don’t say anything to anyone.”
Jackson looks down at my hand on his arm. “We shouldn’t get close like this.”
With a huff, I release him. “Please, Jackson. I don’t want to ruin this week by telling my brother that his best man is an asshole.”
“I’m not saying anything,” Jackson assures me before moving closer to Tyler and Marcus. “Come on.”
Tyler flashes me a sympathetic look before following Jackson.
Marcus lingers behind. “I can stay if you want to talk.”
He’s always so kind. And Tyler is so funny. And Jackson is so protective.
They’d all be great dads, but I don’t know if any of them actually want kids. Marcus seems like he would want them the most, but what if I’m wrong? What if how he grew up makes him not want kids?
It’s not like I can bring up the topic of kids with them without inciting suspicion.
“It’s fine,” I tell him as my face softens. “Thank you. I just need to cool off and sit down.”
Marcus glances at the group about to drop down into the water before looking back at me. It doesn’t seem like he even wants to budge from that spot.
“Okay,” he finally says before rejoining the others.
I turn back around and take a long sip of water, listening to Sarah and the others laugh and sing to the music completely off pitch. Sitting alone at the bar is obviously drawing too much attention to me.
Breathing through the churning in my stomach, I head over to them, putting a smile on my face as they cheer at the sight of me. Before I can say anything, a fancy cocktail glass full of alcohol is pushed into my hand.
“Turn the music up!” one of the girls shouts, a few of them standing from their chairs to playfully dance and take videos of themselves.
Sarah clinks her glass against mine. “Having fun?”
I take a fake sip and nod. “Oh, yeah. Nonstop thrill ride.”
“I saw Derek talking to you. What did he want?”
“He was just asking if I was going snorkeling with the group,” I reply, internally wincing at how easy that lie rolls off my tongue.
I’m getting better at doing that lately. I’ve been forced to.
Sarah hums in interest. “You don’t want to?”
I shake my head. “I’d much rather dance to old 2000s pop hits.”
Sarah squeals in excitement as I grab her hand and pull her into the impromptu dance party, the music thumping in my ears.
I need this distraction.
As long as I stay busy, maybe I won’t make any more trouble for myself.