Chapter 18 #2
“He’s only thirty-one,” I say defensively. Which I am aware is ten years older than me, but still. He’s not some middle-aged weirdo.
“And you invited him to breakfast?”
“I did not invite him. If you’re going to blame anyone for his arrival, blame Hailey and her itinerary.”
Hailey holds up her hands to proclaim her innocence and—shock!—Theo steps forward to protect her. “Her itinerary is not the reason you’ve found yourself a stalker. How do you always manage to get yourself into these situations? You have zero self-preservation skills.”
“Woah,” I say, blinking hard. And to think, Addy and Theo have no idea I have some maniac back at college threatening to ruin my education if I don’t pay off my debts. “First of all: Jameson is not a stalker. Second: what are these other situations you speak of? Third: stop being so mean to me.”
“Oh, c’mon, you guys,” Melissa says in a light, airy voice.
“Evie has hit it off with someone, and maybe she wants to spend more time with him. We’re in Vegas!
And we’ve already accepted you”—she gives Theo a pointed look—“and the rest of the bach party into our circle. What’s the harm in one more? ”
“Thanks, Mel,” I say, hooking my arm around hers as I individually give Addy and Theo each the stink eye. At least someone around here has my back, even if it is only Addy’s college friend I barely know. “But also, it really isn’t like that. Let me go talk to him.”
I dash on ahead toward the bachelor party, who each look at me as if with a cry for help, except for Jameson, who smiles wide and cheerfully says, “Good morning!”
“You. Come with me,” I snap, grabbing a fistful of his shirt.
Plucking him out of line, I drag him around the corner and look him up and down, instantly feeling the color drain from my face.
There can only be one possible reason why he’s wearing swim trunks, too.
“You are not coming to the pool party with us.”
“I’m going wherever you’re going, Evie,” Jameson says coolly. He’s wearing an oversized button-up shirt, but totally unbuttoned, and it takes a lot of my damn strength to fight my gaze from naturally dipping to his bare chest. “Why’d you take off this morning without saying goodbye?”
“You were asleep.”
“You could have woken me.”
I nonchalantly roll out my shoulders. “I needed to get ready, and I thought last night was just some drunk fun. We gambled together, we fought, we ate some snacks, and we kissed. But it’s the next morning now. I’m sober, you’re sober. We can agree to go our separate ways now, right?”
“What if I don’t want us to go our separate ways?” Jameson challenges with a smoldering gaze. “What if I want to stick to my word? You try to rob me; I gatecrash all of your Vegas plans.”
I press my hands to my hips and stare back at him with indifference, but an unexpected tingle of excitement soars up my spine. “Then that’s harassment, dude.”
Jameson’s smirk relaxes into an easy smile as he laughs. “Call security if you really feel that way, but I think you want me to keep showing up in all the wrong places.”
“Which part of my face right now is giving you that impression?” I glare even more fiercely for emphasis.
“To be honest, Evelyn, I’m not looking at your face right now.”
And I know, I know—it’s right about now I should probably scowl at him in disgust for blatantly admitting that he’s checking me out in this bikini, but I can’t ignore the spike of endorphins that occurs inside my brain.
“Whatever. I’m hungry,” I say, waving him away dismissively as I turn and head back to join the others in line. Obviously, I am not at all surprised to hear Jameson’s footsteps following behind me. Secretly pleased, in fact.
“So . . .?” Addy says as I return, and I tilt my chin up and pretend to study the menu boards, ignoring all of the expectant stares from the group.
“So what?” Oh my God, they serve truffle hash browns.
“Are you going to introduce us all?” Addy presses.
“Probably not.”
Jameson steps around me and holds out a hand to Addy. “I’m guessing you’re the big sister and the bride. Hi, I’m Jameson,” he says, shaking Addy’s wary hand. “I met Evie last night when she tried to rob me.”
My eyes nearly bulge out of their sockets as I stare at Jameson in horror. He did not have to do me dirty like that, and so casually, too!
“What?” Addy and Theo splutter in unison, and I feel myself shrinking away in mortification as they both set their blue eyes on me, searching for answers.
“Yup. Tried to wrestle my watch off my wrist,” Jameson continues, holding up said wrist to show off said watch. Guess he can’t distrust me that much if the Rolex has managed to escape the confines of the safe deposit box back in his suite. “Clearly, she didn’t succeed.”
Liam and his buddies are invested in this revelation about me. They bunch up together like a group of morons, arms slung over each other’s shoulders, snickering as they listen in. Theo doesn’t find it so funny.
“Seriously? You tried to rob this guy?” he asks in disbelief, because it’s really not like me to stoop to such a low.
Us Sinclairs are definitely not a family of criminals—our parents are well respected in Boca Raton’s affluent community, so there’s wild confusion on both Theo and Addy’s faces as they question what kind of degenerate I have become.
“It was a joke, okay, and I didn’t end up stealing it, anyway, so what’s the issue?” I say defensively, crossing my arms over my chest and pouting in a brazen attempt at looking young and innocent.
We’re called forward to the counter, and it’s at this point everyone decides their breakfast is more important than this conversation. Even Jameson heads up to order, an amused smirk on his face as he leaves me behind with my enraged siblings.
“Stealing a Rolex is not a joke, Evelyn,” Addy says in a steely voice. “That’s a felony!”
Oh. I thought it was only petty theft. A misdeamenor, surely . . . “Really?”
“Yes, really.” Addy closes her eyes for a moment as she releases a long breath, and it’s such an Addy thing, to stop and regain composure. “What were you thinking trying to steal some guy’s watch in the first place? What possessed you to do that?”
“Drunk and stupid, I guess,” I mumble with a shrug, because no way in hell am I confessing the real reason behind my absurd behavior.
Theo casts Addy a sideways glance as he scoffs. “Drunk and stupid, she says.”
“Okay, well you’re officially on an alcohol ban today,” Addy tells me, and I part my lips at such audacity.
“You’re not Mom, Addy,” I remind her, my disgruntlement clear in my grumpy tone of voice. “You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
Addy steps closer to me with challenging authority, her perfect brows pinched together. “This weekend, here in Vegas, on my bachelorette party? Yeah, Evie, I do get to tell you what to do.”
“Maybe if your bachelorette party wasn’t so expensive in the first place,” I mutter under my breath as I walk away, because really, this weekend is only deepening the hole of debt I need to climb out of.
At the counter, it’s a chaotic scrum as everyone orders a variety of breakfast sandwiches, and I fall into the small gap by Jameson’s side, reluctantly, as he waits his turn.
“How about I turn that frown upside down by buying you breakfast?” he offers, despite the lethal flash of anger I look at him with. “Oh, c’mon. Don’t you feel like there’s a weight off your shoulders now that your secret thieving ways have been exposed? You can relax now.”
“Relax?” I repeat incredulously. “How can I relax when my sister has just imposed a drinking ban on me right before we go to a pool party? Thanks a lot for that. Last night when we stayed up chatting, I was starting to think you were actually a nice guy, but you know what? I take it back.”
Jameson nudges his arm gently against mine, an easy smile on his face as he attempts to soften my hardened demeanor. “You want a bacon, egg and cheese?”
Ugh. I do want a bacon, egg and cheese. Grudgingly, I glance up at him from beneath my lashes as my scowl eases. “Yes. And the truffle hash browns.”
“And the truffle hash browns,” he confirms with a saluting nod.
Five minutes later, when I’m shoveling those truffle hash browns into my mouth and they taste like absolute heaven, I decide I hate Jameson ever so slightly less.