Chapter Nine Damien
Istared at my phone, where I had my text thread with Kelsie open.
I’d sent her about a dozen messages throughout the day, and she’d only responded to about half of them.
I knew she was at the spa enjoying herself for most of the afternoon, so I tried not to take it personally, but there was no denying that the texts she sent were different from what we’d shared before.
Scrolling up on my phone, I saw dozens of messages exchanged between us in just the last couple of weeks.
Shared memes and inside jokes and random thoughts.
The proof of our deep friendship was right there on the screen.
But today’s messages were also proof of the way that things were different now.
Her responses today were short and to the point, telling me that she felt fine but nothing else.
“What are you looking at?” Ryan asked, sitting next to me at the tall table in the lounge of the resort.
Nearby, Jake and Ford were playing a game of pool, money sitting on the side of the table where they’d bet on the game.
It was amusing that they’d put down cash on it like that, considering that they were both terrible players.
The shots of Patrón they both did before the game started probably weren’t helping with their skillset.
There was a band playing in the lounge tonight, locals of the island who created music with a deep bassline and relaxed tempo. It wasn’t overpowering the room but providing a soothing background rhythm that complemented this laid-back bachelor party.
Ryan didn’t want to get too wild tonight, so he chose to celebrate here at the resort even though there was probably a strip club on the mainland, which was only a short boat ride away.
He’d sowed his wild oats before he even met Leanne, never quite the playboy that Jake was but still always up for a good time with a woman.
All of that changed when he fell in love with Leanne, and he didn’t feel the need to revisit that time by watching women spin around half naked in a club with over-priced drinks.
I wasn’t sure what exactly the girls were up to tonight, but I knew that they’d rented out one of the resort pools.
It was the smallest one, indoors with a swim-up bar and a baja shelf.
I figured they couldn’t get up to too much trouble there, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a lot of intense hangovers tomorrow on both sides of the wedding party.
“Hello? Earth to Damien,” Ryan said, nudging my shoulder with his own.
I tucked my phone into my pocket and picked up my beer.
We’d been here an hour, but this was only my second drink.
Most of the others here for the party were well on their way to being trashed, but I wasn’t interested in getting fall-down drunk tonight.
I could party just as hard as anyone with barely any negative lingering effects when I was in my early twenties, but I was going to be thirty in a few weeks, and my body didn’t bounce back from heavy drinking the way it used to.
I drank a little more than usual the night of the bonfire in celebration of being on this beautiful island, and I’d been paying for it since.
That was what put Kelsie and I in this awkward situation.
“So, what’s got you so distracted?” Ryan asked, smiling as Jake finally got his first ball in the corner pocket and let out a whoop of happiness that drew attention from everyone in the lounge.
I shrugged. “Just checking my messages.”
Ryan’s eyes shifted back to me. “So, how is Kelsie?”
“She’s fine.” I might’ve mentioned that I was worried about her.
There was a smugness in the way he smirked before tipping his beer bottle back again, already draining it. There were half a dozen empties already in front of him, and his eyes were looking glassy.
“Yeah, we know you think she’s fiiiiiiine,” he drew out the word playfully, making me chuckle. He was always a fun drunk.
“You’re wasted.”
“I’m getting married Saturday!” His voice rose like he was announcing it to everyone, and this time, everyone in the lounge looked at Ryan, but most of them were smiling.
“Yes,” I chuckled. “You are. And if you keep drinking like this, you’ll still be sweating alcohol at the altar.”
“Leanne’s mom is so excited about the wedding,” Ryan said, leaning back in his seat.
He had one of the thin cardboard coasters with the resort’s logo in his hand, and he started to absentmindedly tear it up as he spoke.
“If the flowers don’t show up tomorrow evening like they‘re supposed to, I think she’ll lose it. ”
“Is she driving you crazy?”
Ryan shook his head, a slow smile spreading. “Not at all. Before I started dating Leanne, I never knew a parent could care so much.”
That hung between us for a moment as I struggled to think of what to say. I knew Ryan’s dad was wealthy and his mom wasn’t in his life, but he didn’t talk about either of them much.
I thought about all the people who were already on the island for this wedding. Family members and close friends, the entire wedding party. But there was one person that had been noticeably missing.
“When does your dad arrive?” I asked.
Ryan’s smile slipped a bit. “He’s coming Saturday morning and leaving that night.”
Once again, words failed me. Ryan’s dad footed the bill for all of this, but money wasn’t everything. How could he miss out on the whole week leading up to the wedding, even tomorrow night’s rehearsal dinner?
“He says he’s busy with work,” Ryan continued. “Can’t get away from the office for longer than that.”
I felt like our conversation had taken a turn in a grim direction, but at that moment, Gordon and one of Ryan’s friends who flew in this morning for the wedding finished a game at the other pool table.
“Come on,” I said, standing. “Let’s see if you’re still sober enough to play.”
He really wasn’t, but it was hilarious to watch him try.
The next two hours were spent playing pool and darts, and Jake somehow found a woman in the lounge to dance with, twirling her around during two songs in a row while the rest us moved to more comfortable seating, arm chairs and couches by the window, which allowed for a hell of a view of the beach, which was light with red LED lights at night so as not to disturb nesting sea turtles.
We ordered Island Sliders off the lounger menu, which was an assortment of small sandwiches featuring barbeque pork and jerk chicken.
Our group consisted of about a dozen men, and half of them teased Ryan about settling down, as if his life was over.
He took it good-naturedly but soon shifted the conversation in another direction.
The next thing I knew, it was nearly midnight, and we’d been debating who among us could wrestle an alligator or fight a bear with our bare hands.
The ones that had drunk the most were pretty confident in their abilities, and it was amusing to listen to.
By the time the party wrapped up, Ryan was stumbling and smiling like a drunken fool, Jake was heading out of the lounge with a woman tucked into his side, and Ford had left early with some excuse about needing to make a work call.
I suspected he was lying because he’d seemed distracted all night long, but I didn’t call him out on it. I had my own secrets right now.
The rest of the group seemed fine to get to their rooms on their own, but I stuck by Ryan’s side as we left the lounge, a hand on his arm.
We were headed toward the lobby when we passed the pool where the bachelorette party was taking place.
The glass door allowed me to see what was going on inside.
Most of the woman were in the pool, but some of them were outside of it, dancing to thumping music that I could hear even with the door closed.
Leanne was wearing what looked like a cowboy hat with a penis on the front, which was almost as ridiculous as her gyrating dance moves.
Next to her, Kelsie also moved with loose-limbed boldness that was charming in the way that she obviously didn’t care how she looked doing it.
Her breasts bounced around in her red swimsuit, and my blood heated at the sight, but it was the joyous smile on her face that really captured my attention.
She was the most radiant woman in the room, especially like this. Freely laughing and carefree. She hadn’t truly been that way in days.
My chest ached, and I knew that I couldn’t keep letting things go the way they had been. I hoped the tension between us would pass over time, but it felt like we were stuck. Every time I took a step closer to her, she retreated. Each gain was followed by a loss that gutted me.
This didn’t feel like two friends that were dealing with the awkwardness of a one-night stand. It was somehow deeper than that, serious enough that I felt fear surge through me because I wasn’t sure we were going to get through this.
I wasn’t sure we’d ever be the same.
Ryan tugged on my arm, and I remembered that I was supposed to be taking him back to his room.
He was so drunk that he hadn’t even noticed the bachelorette party.
A sense of responsibility washed over me, and I started moving again.
He was easily distracted in this state, so it took a little time to get him across the lobby and onto the elevator.
His room was at the end of the hall, and I stuck around long enough to make him drink a bottle of water before I left.
It took a while, but I figured it was an important best man responsibility.
We were supposed to go on a group hike tomorrow, and I knew that he was going to feel like shit the whole time, but maybe the water would keep him from being too dehydrated.
But he had a good time tonight. That was all that mattered.