Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
Maya
“This is unbelievable,” Dad mutters as Taint and his buddies pass around beers on the bus. They bought a few cases of warm beer from some guy in the airport parking lot and they’re all getting hammered on the way to the resort. A few are puffing on cigarettes, filling the bus with smoke.
It’s already chaos. They’re so loud and obnoxious, I can’t even.
I close my eyes and plug my ears, trying to put myself back on the plane next to Adrian.
I get all tingly when I remember the way it felt to have him holding my hands, his soothing whispers in my ears, telling me everything will be okay.
I shiver when I remember how it felt to be kissed by him.
It was incredible and so unexpected to have this rich handsome man kissing me like he was claiming my mouth.
I’ve never been kissed like that before. It’s something you don’t come back from.
I’m trying to remember every detail—the way his hard muscular chest felt under my tingling fingertips, the way his hand was cradling my jaw like I was a precious work of art, the way his hot breath felt on my flushed skin…
I’m picturing it all and am almost back there with him when I feel a hard jolt on my shoulder, yanking me out of my new happy place.
I look up in shock. Taint is standing over me with a warm can of beer, offering it.
“Wanna get fucked up?” he asks.
“No thanks,” I say, forcing out a smile.
He offers the can to my dad who’s sitting beside me. Dad just mutters something under his breath and turns to the window.
“More for us,” Taint says, cracking it open.
“Hey, hit me!” one of his idiot buddies shouts from the front. Taint throws the beer, even though it’s open, and beer rains down on everyone in the five rows between him and idiot number two.
The whole bus is our group, so it’s all friendly fire. My mom is sitting in front of us beside her sister Jennifer, and she gets the worst of it.
“Are you serious?” my dad snaps. “You just poured beer all over my wife.”
Taint chuckles like it’s all a big joke. “My wedding, my rules.”
Dad’s mouth drops open as Taint struts away, handing out more warm beers.
“This guy can’t get any worse,” Dad says as he watches him go with fire in his eyes.
And then Taint lights a big fat cigar, in the hot bus, and my dad shakes his head. “I stand corrected.”
I sink into the seat and try to ignore the chaos around me. My mind goes right back to the airport when we landed.
Adrian wanted me to come with him to The Aurelia. Practically begged. At one point, I thought he might throw me over his shoulder and steal me away—I think I would have liked that option.
But then my rambunctious group came out and I was absorbed back into the chaos. Dad complained about the service on the plane and my mom was appalled that Leah threw up all over the bathroom and she had to clean it with Jennifer.
I lost sight of Adrian as we went through customs and I never saw him again. Maybe he got stopped? I looked for him everywhere, but I couldn’t find him. He exited my life as quickly as he entered it.
My whole body gets numb and heavy knowing I’ll probably never see him again. I’m not ready to come to terms with that just yet.
I open my book and take out his business card—all I have left of him.
I rub my fingers on the rough surface as I read his name in glossy black ink.
Adrian Drake. It makes me feel a little better knowing that I have a piece of him, even if it is just a fancy business card.
At least, I know he was real and not just a dream.
I slink into my seat and pull out my phone to do some research as the bus rolls down the road.
I google Adrian and feel my whole chest light up when I see tons of articles, interviews, and photos of him with important people.
Wow. He’s everywhere. Award ceremonies, keynote speaking at huge conferences, and there’s even a photo of him at the Super Bowl in a private box.
I click on the top article and suck in a breath when I read the title.
Adrian Drake the tech billionaire taking the world by storm.
Billionaire?
I’m not surprised. I could tell he was genius-level smart. There was something behind those dark eyes. A gifted brilliance. A way of processing the world that was entirely unique.
I google a few more things. Mainly, Adrian Drake wife and Adrian Drake girlfriend.
Nothing comes up. I take a breath of relief now that I know there’s not some hot model girlfriend draped in Gucci waiting in a mansion back home.
But does it really matter anyway? I’m not going to start dating a billionaire. Not when my life looks like this.
“Drink up, fuckers!” Leah shouts as she stands up on the bus seat in the front and chugs a beer. “I’m getting married!”
“I’m getting a migraine,” Dad says and I snort out a laugh.
Everyone is cheering, except for us and the bus driver who’s giving the bride shit and asking her to sit down. Leah just ignores him and then falls into the aisle like a sack of potatoes when he takes a turn a little sharper than necessary.
We arrive to more chaos at the resort. There’s an unruly crowd of cranky tourists trying to check-in with only two overwhelmed workers at the reception desk to do it. Our group just adds to the pandemonium.
“Bride coming through,” Leah shouts, wobbly on her feet as she pushes and elbows her way up to the front.
Some people already in line take issue with that and they start going at it with Leah, mouthing off to each other. Taint tries to hold Leah back when it looks like it’s going to get violent and that really sets Leah off, and the bride and groom have a shouting match in front of everyone.
The whole thing is a disaster. It takes us over an hour and a half to get our room cards and everyone is starving and in a foul mood by the time we do.
Dad asks where to get a bellboy and of course, there aren’t any. We lug our bags over to our room, passing the massive pool on the way.
The music is ear-piercingly loud and the DJ keeps shouting unintelligible things into the microphone, making it even worse.
All the chairs are taken and there are wet towels laid out on every inch of available concrete.
There are towers of empty cups stacked everywhere and cigarette butts litter the inside of the plants and flower boxes.
I look in the pool and cringe when I see a bandaid floating in the water.
It’s horrible. Worse than we thought.
“I guess this is what $449 gets you,” Dad says, looking ready to leave.
I’m sharing a room with Aunt Jennifer and it’s as disappointing as you could imagine.
My view is a brick wall and the bed is as hard as a rock, the stained sheets like sandpaper.
I don’t even want to unpack and have my stuff touching anything in here, so I just leave it all in my suitcase and meet my parents in the hallway so we can go get something to eat at the buffet.
We finally get a seat in the noisy buffet of chaos. The family next to us are in their wet bathing suits. The mom is wearing a G-string bikini bottom with no cover-up.
The food looks hazardous too. You can get anything you’d like—salmonella, norovirus, ebola. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next pandemic outbreak will originate here.
We get some bread and a few boxes of cereal—too afraid to touch anything else—and sit down. Dad is outraged.
“We have to go through all this and they’ll be divorced in three months,” he says, picking his dinner roll apart like it’s made of cyanide.
“Maybe marriage will straighten both of them out,” Mom says in a hopeful tone.
We both stare at her stone-faced and she sighs. “Yeah, that was silly.”
Aunt Jennifer comes rushing over when we’re almost done.
“What’s the matter?” Mom asks when she sees her sister’s ashen face.
“The wedding is off,” Aunt Jennifer says.
“Thank Christ,” Dad says way too loud. “I mean, oh no, what happened?”
“Leah blew up. She’s in a taxi on the way back to the airport.”
Dad smiles for the first time today. “So, we can leave?”
“I guess so,” Aunt Jennifer says, holding her elbow.
Mom gets up and comforts her while Dad stands up, grinning from ear to ear.
“I’ll call the airline and get us on the first flight out of here.”
I pull Adrian’s business card out of my pocket and slide it through my fingers, thinking. “I’m going to stay here, Dad.”
His face drops. “Are you insane? You’ll get food poisoning. You’ll get murdered. You want to stay here?”
“Not here,” I say, taking a deep breath. “I… met someone on the plane. He invited me to spend the week at The Aurelia with him.”
Dad looks even more unsure now, but I remain firm. I’m staying.
The first thing I do is text Adrian.
The wedding is canceled.
I feel an energizing rush of adrenaline surging through my body when I see that bubble with the three dots appear.
So soon?
It was actually longer than we thought lol
Come stay with me.
We just met…
I know all I need to know. Stay with me.
How would I even get there?
I’ll send a car to pick you up. It will be there in 10.
Are you sure?
More sure than I’ve ever been.
Can I actually do this? Can I spend a week with a mysterious man that I just met?
Maybe I should just stay here and meet up with him for dinner or something…
I spot the mom in the G-string standing in the buffet line as her children grab food with their bare hands. She scratches her bare ass with the tongs and my decision is made.
Okay. I’ll come.