Chapter 18 Tyler
Flames roar and sway in front of me as resort employees add more wood to the enormous bonfire they put together for tonight’s beach event.
Nearly our whole wedding party and some other guests fill the beach. There’s a DJ playing party music, coolers full of drinks, and a full moon tonight. It’s the perfect night beach party atmosphere.
I’ve been to a lot of parties, but I’ve never been to one like this before.
People are dancing, swimming, playing limbo, making smores, doing drinking games, and sneaking off to do who knows what in the dark.
“Hey, Ty!” Ryan calls out to me from the other side of the bonfire.
I walk over to him, already getting suspicious when I see one of the bridesmaids next to him. “Yeah, what’s up?”
“Have you met Becca yet?” Ryan asks me as he gestures to the slender blonde I’ve seen around.
“Not officially,” I reply before sticking my hand out to shake her hand and be polite. “Tyler.”
“Becca,” she says, her face lightly flushed from the drink in her other hand. “I always see you around, but I’ve never found the opportunity to come up and talk to you.”
“Becca is a nurse in Seattle,” Ryan explains to me. “She’s always saving lives.”
Becca smiles and shakes her head. “I don’t know about saving lives, but I’m always helping people.”
“That’s really good of you. Nurses aren’t treated anywhere near as fairly as they should be,” I say.
“Well, thank you. I agree,” she replies with a warm look.
“I saw you were alone, so I figured you could use some company,” Ryan says to me with a sly expression.
He really doesn’t have to play matchmaker. I’m more than capable of finding my own dates for the night.
Usually, they come to me.
“I was actually about to go talk to Marc and Jax. We need a few more pillows in our room for tonight,” I tell him before giving Becca a smile. “It was nice meeting you officially. I’m sure we’ll see each other plenty this week.”
Surprise ripples across her face for a moment, but she musters up a smile and nods. “Yeah, totally.”
I feel a little guilty. She’s pretty and seems nice, but there’s only one person in the bridal party that I’m interested in.
Ryan flashes me a confused look from behind her, but I ignore it and walk off to find the guys.
Maybe I should’ve kept chatting with Becca so that Ryan didn’t get all suspicious when I didn’t show any interest. I’m not acting like myself. Or how other people perceive me.
Truthfully, I just have no interest in talking to other women when Cassidy is barely ten feet away from me. I slowly slip through the scattered crowd, my eyes resting on her as she chats with some of the other bridesmaids.
A hand clamps down on my shoulder. “And where are you going?”
I whip around to face Jackson and Marcus. “Nowhere.”
“You were making a beeline toward Cassidy,” Marcus says, nodding in her direction.
“I was trying to get away from Ryan because he’s trying to hook me up with the bridesmaids,” I mutter as I adjust the glow stick bracelet around my wrist.
“Not interested?” Jackson asks.
“Not when I know something far better is around.”
Marcus nudges me. “She’s not just another fling. She deserves better than that.”
I give him a pointed look. “I’d never think of Cassidy like that. I’m just…not interested in anyone else right now.”
“Well, she’s off limits. Right, Jackson?” Marcus questions him.
Jackson rubs the back of his neck, his eyes straying from ours. “Right.”
My gaze narrows. “What’s up with you?”
“Nothing,” Jackson replies, answering too quickly. “I’m fine.”
“Bullshit,” I say, stepping closer to him to inspect him better. His stony face isn’t as rigid as usual. He keeps twitching. “You’re acting suspicious.”
Jackson scoffs, glancing in Cassidy’s direction. “I’m not. You’re being…weird.”
“I’m being weird? I’ve never seen you act like this before,” I scoff at him.
“Where did you disappear to earlier?” Marcus questions him.
I cross my arms, my eyebrow lifting. “Yeah, you left the pool without saying anything to anyone. Where did you go?”
Jackson sighs heavily. “Cassidy wasn’t there, so I went to check on her.”
I don’t even need any additional information. My eyes widen as I push his arm, my voice coming out in a harsh whisper. “You fucking slept with her?”
Jackson shoots me a death glare. “Shut up. I didn’t plan to.”
A laugh bursts from me before I can stop it. “Of course, you didn’t. You went to her room with innocent intentions.”
“I did. I was worried about her,” Jackson grits out.
“Okay, okay. Calm down,” Marcus says, pushing us farther apart. “You were kind of on our asses about not sleeping with her, Jax.”
Jackson drags his hand through his hair. “I know. I’m a hypocrite. It just…happened. I swear I didn’t plan it.”
I stare at him for a few seconds before shaking my head. He was so quick to lecture us, and he’s the first one to break.
“This is weird territory for all of us,” Marcus says. “We just need to be smart, especially in public.”
And arguing about all of this in the middle of a crowded party is not smart.
“Is she doing okay? She seems a little off,” I ask Jackson.
Obviously, he has gotten some one on one time with her. Maybe she said something to him.
“She’s just stressed from everything,” Jackson replies. “She thought she had food poisoning when I showed up at her door. I think she just ate something that didn’t agree with her. Ginger ale and crackers did the trick.”
Marcus chuckles. “Ah, yes. The Mercer trick for stomachaches.”
“Hey, it worked,” Jackson replies with a shrug. “She felt better after that. I just think she needs to rest and not overwhelm herself.”
“If we can help her relax, we should,” I say.
Jackson flashes me a pointed look.
I lift my hands innocently. “Not like that. Like we should encourage her to go to the spa or something. I don’t know.”
“We’ll figure something out,” Marcus replies. “Whatever doesn’t get any of us in trouble.”
I nod in agreement. That’s a fine line to walk, though.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Jackson mutters, looking behind me.
I turn, my jaw clenching at the sight of Derek approaching Cassidy. “He just can’t seem to leave her alone, huh?”
“He must be wanting to get back with her. But it makes no sense. He dumped her,” Marcus says.
“He’s just toying with her,” Jackson replies, bitterness filling his voice. “He doesn’t care about her.”
“She doesn’t even seem interested in him. He can’t take a hint?” I say, watching Cassidy take a step back from Derek as he starts to talk to her.
“I’ll be right back,” Jackson tells us, walking off before we can tell him to stop.
“Damn it,” Marcus mutters. “He better not do anything stupid.”
Jackson usually has his head on his shoulders, but Derek gets under his skin like no one else. Cassidy completely throws him off his axis.
Derek pauses when Jackson walks up to them.
Cassidy’s eyes widen as she stares at Jackson, her body going rigid.
I can’t hear what they’re saying over the music and the crowd, but I have a feeling that Jackson is saying something sarcastic. He has a smug look on his face, and Derek looks annoyed.
Cassidy glances between them. She says something, but Jackson and Derek are too focused on speaking to each other to acknowledge her. She shakes her head in frustration and storms off, leaving them to keep making remarks to each other.
“I’m going to grab him before he starts a fight,” Marcus says before slipping through the crowd to reach Jackson and Derek.
If anyone can cool tempers, it’s Marcus. I head in the direction that Cassidy took off in, my eyes zipping back and forth to search the crowd for her. There are probably more than fifty people on this beach, though.
It doesn’t help that it’s dark, and the fire is casting a lot of shadows too.
“Where did you go?” I sigh as I place my hands on my waist, checking everywhere in my range of vision.
She’s nowhere to be found.
I do another slow lap around the party. Ryan, Derek, Sarah, and some other people in the wedding party are toasting marshmallows. Marcus and Jackson are heading back to the resort.
It’s just me.
I could head after Marcus and Jackson, but I don’t feel like going to bed just yet. Instead, I walk away from the party and head down the beach, roaming close to where the water rolls onto the sand.
The sound of the waves crashing is relaxing. I’m used to party noise, but sometimes it’s nice to find some peace and quiet.
Even if it doesn’t last very long.
I pause when I hear a faint sound ahead of me. Someone is crying.
I continue walking forward, finally able to make out a small shadow sitting on the sand with its head bowed. A familiar one at that.
“Cass?”