Twelve #2
“So, tomorrow,” he told me, hand on the side of my neck, “we’re driving out to Haleiwa to meet up with the other five guys from our frat and their wives and partners and stay at this bed-and-breakfast out there.”
“Oh.” I nodded. “Okay.”
“No, jackass,” he said as he grinned at me, pulling me close to him. “Come with us. I’ll get you a room.”
I shook my head. “Aaron, I can’t—”
“You’re not intruding, J. It’s very casual and small. The town is quaint, and there’s a lot to do, and you can just hang out.”
“I shouldn’t—”
“You should,” he insisted.
And all his friends agreed that I should, and Jaden, especially, was adamant.
“Check out of your hotel tomorrow and come with me.”
Not being all alone in Hawai’i was much too tempting to say no to.
I had called and left a message for Sam so he’d know where I was, and I called Dane and told him where I was going and that I was with Aaron Sutter. I was frankly surprised when he had no problem with it.
“I thought you worried about me being around other men while Sam was gone,” I ribbed him.
“But Aaron Sutter is not a stranger,” Dane assured me. “I know all about him.”
The logic seemed lost on me, but that was okay.
I apologized to him again about not being there to train Pedro, and he told me, again, not to worry.
Pedro was wildly competent, and had already figured out quite a bit.
And he was excellent at making sure Dane was undisturbed except by clients. It sounded like it was going well.
Aaron was there in the morning to collect me and take me to breakfast, just him and me and Jaden.
After that, we had to make a run over to the Ala Moana mall, the largest one in the islands with lots of levels of outdoor, breezy fun.
And it was interesting to walk around and stroll into places like Chanel and Armani in shorts and flip-flops and still have people wait on us.
I was with Aaron, and they saw his Patek Philippe watch, saw Jaden’s Cartier diamond earrings, and fawned all over them.
I was the entourage, so I wasn’t shunned and was allowed to follow.
I loved being at a mall, any mall, because people-watching was one of my favorite things to do in the world. Just looking at Aaron and Jaden under a microscope was engrossing. The rest of the crowd was just gravy.
Jaden was gracious at accepting all the gifts that I had never allowed the man to get for me.
Silver cuff links at Tiffany & Co. were received with a kiss, clothes at Ralph Lauren were rewarded with a squeeze of the hand, and at the cologne counter at Prada, the lovely salesgirl asked if I was in the market for a new scent as well.
“Oh, no,” I said, smiling at her. “Thank you though.”
When we left, Jaden took hold of my arm. “I’m so sorry, Jory,” he said, startled for a second as I slid my arm through his so we were walking arm in arm. “You must be bored out of your mind.”
“No,” I assured him. “I like hanging with you guys.”
Jaden didn’t seem inclined to believe me, but when Aaron explained my penchant for the human condition, he let it go.
On the way out to the North Shore, we stopped along the side of the road and had lunch at a shrimp truck in Kahuku. It was incredible, and Aaron enjoyed watching me eat.
“It’s amazing,” he said with a chuckle, seeing the way Jaden picked at his.
“Oh my God, it’s heaven,” I assured him as I licked my fingers.
Jaden did not look convinced.
“Why couldn’t we stay at Turtle Bay instead of in Haleiwa?” Jaden asked Aaron.
“Because …” He smiled wide, shaking his head as he watched me eat. “I wanted it to just be me and my friends for the week and no one else. We can drive out there and have dinner if you want one night.”
He was silent.
“You want to?”
He shook his head.
“Oh, you know what would be cool?” I said excitedly.
Aaron leaned his cheek on his fist and looked at me. “What’s that?”
“Can we see the lava?”
“Wrong island.”
“Oh. How ’bout the black-sand beaches?”
“Nope.”
“Crap.”
“You want me to fly you over to the Big Island?”
“Is that where it all is?”
He nodded.
I thought about it. “No, I guess not.”
“I will if you want.”
But there was too much to do on the island I was already on.
I pointed at his plate. “Are you gonna eat that?”
“You have a brain like a gnat.”
“Why? Because I’m still hungry?”
He passed me the rest of his shrimp.
The drive was gorgeous, the mountains and all the green, and the air smelled incredible, so clean but always scented with some kind of flowers. In the back of the open Mustang convertible, I closed my eyes and let the wind hit my face and the sun bake me.
I must have dozed because Aaron had to shake me awake when we got to the bed-and-breakfast. There was a main house, like a plantation-style home, and then a series of seaside cabins, cabanas, bungalows—whatever you wanted to call them.
Aaron explained that I was an addition, and the owner was happy to welcome me.
My cottage opened on the beach, and I could walk from my tiny living room to the porch to the sand to the tide pools.
There was a giant hammock that I could sit in and put my feet up on the railing.
The breeze came off the ocean, and as I lay sprawled out, I could not remember ever being in a more picturesque and soul-soothing location.
The only way it could have been better was if Sam was sitting beside me.
“Jory.”
I looked up from my contemplation of the ocean to find Jaden on my porch. “Hey.”
He cleared his throat. “May I sit with you?”
“Course.”
When he sat down beside me, I was greeted with pale green eyes.
“Oh,” I said, grinning at him. “You wear contacts.”
“Yes.”
“You shouldn’t,” I told him. “The green is beautiful.”
His brows furrowed.
“Sorry, they suck. Better?”
He got up and paced a few feet away. “Are you really this fuckin’ clueless, or are you just a sadistic-ass bastard?”
I crossed my arms and looked over at him. “I guess the clueless one because I am completely lost right now.”
He nodded before raking his fingers through his hair. “Okay, so do you spend two hours a day, every day at a tanning salon?”
“Pardon?”
“I’m guessing not.”
“Please explain,” I pressed him.
“Do you own a tanning bed?”
I snorted out a laugh. “No.”
He sucked in a breath. “Do you dye your hair blond, or is it natural?”
“It’s called dirty blond,” I said, chuckling. “And I was born with it.”
His lips pressed together tight. “And have you had any work done to your face?”
I squinted at him. “What is this about?”
He took a step back and gestured at himself. “I work at this. You’re naturally beautiful, but I have—”
“Please,” I scoffed. “You’re—”
“I’m twenty-three. How old are you?”
“What?”
“You heard me. How old are you?”
“I’m twenty-seven,” I said with a yawn.
“Really?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“You don’t look it.”
I was so lost. “Could you just—”
“Jory, are you fuckin’ kidding? Look at me.”
“I am looking at you.”
“But you’re not seeing me.”
“I am,” I said, sitting up, really paying attention. “And can I tell you that I have the weirdest feeling that we’ve met somewhere before?”
“We haven’t, but I remind you of someone, right?”
“Yeah. Who?”
“You, asshole!”
He had so left me way behind in the dust.
“I’m sorry?”
“Jory, for fuck’s sake,” he yelled at me. “Aaron Sutter has made me into you. I had no idea, but then last night, when I met you, it all fell into place.”
“What’re you—”
“He got me all these different-colored contacts, you know?” He ignored me.
“But I started to notice that if I wanted something, if I was wearing the brown ones, I got whatever I asked for. If I wanted to seduce him, I had to have the brown ones in, and I gotta be honest, other guys have always told me how gorgeous my eyes are, but Aaron … it’s the brown ones that do it for him—big-time. ”
My stomach started to tighten.
“And I’ve had work done on my chin, my nose, to make them more delicate, and now I know why.”
“Jaden—”
He cut me off sharply, “No. Aaron bought me a tanning bed for my birthday last year.”
I got up and walked into the room to grab my duffel.
“What are you doing?” Jaden asked, as he’d followed me in.
“I’m leaving,” I told him, realizing how much I wanted to just pass out on the bed with the breeze blowing through the room.
“Are you kidding?” he almost shrieked at me, moving fast to bar my path. “If you leave, I’m dead.”
I turned to face him, and I realized that we were almost eye to eye. I had maybe half an inch on him. “After all that, you can’t expect me to stay.”
“Jory, don’t you realize that this is it for me? I have to show Aaron Sutter that the guy he has now is the one for him, and the guy he used to have—you—is not.”
“Okay.”
“So, if you could help out by being a total dick, I would appreciate it.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“You want me to be an asshole to Aaron.”
“Yes, please.”
I shook my head. “You get that Aaron Sutter and I have been broken up for, like, forever, right?”
“Yes.”
“How long have you been with him?”