Chapter 10
I watched him walk away and went to open the door to our room. As I opened the door, I heard music playing, which was also weird. I walked around the bathroom and stopped dead in my tracks as I saw a thrusting, white, man-butt illuminated by the moonlight shining in through the balcony window.
“OH, MY GOD!” I screamed and stood there, stunned.
“Cassie! I put the Do Not Disturb sign on the door!”
“I didn’t know you meant I couldn’t disturb you!” I yelled back.
“Cass, get out!” she screamed.
“I’m leaving! Oh, my God!” I hollered.
I threw myself out of the room into the hallway.
I looked up and down the hallway, still a bit in shock and more than a little annoyed that I had been evicted from my own hotel room.
As I was standing in the hallway, trying to decide if I should sleep in the lobby or on a beach chair, I saw Justin heading back down the hallway toward me.
“Um, hi again. Jeffrey isn’t in our room. Did you find Cora?”
“Oh yeah, I saw her. I saw everything.”
He looked at me quizzically. “Tell me more.”
“She’s in the room. Jeffrey is in there, too. He’s gotten a pretty nice tan since you guys have been here, based on the shade of his white ass I just saw.”
“Oh, no. I guess that explains the Do Not Disturb sign. Were they…?”
“Oh yeah, my eyes can not unsee what I have seen. It’s especially disturbing when it’s your baby sister,” I groaned, closing my eyes and leaning against the wall. “I’m homeless.”
Justin laughed again. “Just come to my room. I suddenly have an open bed. We’ll put the Do Not Disturb sign on. If Jeffrey comes back in the middle of the night, we’ll ignore him and make him sleep in the hallway.”
“It’s okay; I can just wait here,” I replied, not totally comfortable with sleeping in a stranger's room, even though I had evidence he was a good Midwestern boy.
“I promise not to try anything. There are separate beds, and they haven’t even been slept in yet. Scouts honor.”
“Are you an adult Boy Scout?”
“No.”
“Were you a Boy Scout?"
“Also, no”
“Then, I’m sorry, but your Scout’s Honor doesn’t mean much.”
He rubbed his face and groaned, “Yeah, I don’t know why I said that. It was very uncool. Is being uncool enough evidence that I'll be a gentleman?”
I squinted at him, the buzz of the evening and alcohol wearing off, and a slight headache setting in.
“Under normal circumstances, no, but I’m starting to get a hangover, so it’s good enough.
I will warn you that I can outrun you and out-scream you, so if you try to murder me in the night, you will not succeed. ”
“No murder plans, although if that changes, I have been warned.”
We made our way down the hall to Justin and Jeffrey’s room, which was temporarily Justin and homeless Cassie’s room. Justin let me into the room, and it was clean and smelled like a fresh hotel room. It looks like they arrived and immediately left the room.
“Do you need anything to sleep in or anything in the bathroom?” Justin asked. “I can give you a shirt to sleep in.”
‘I’m okay. This dress is basically a nightgown. I’m going to scrounge around the complimentary bathroom supplies and try to find a way to scrub the tequila off my teeth before I sleep.”
“Help yourself to whatever; we can always ask for replacements in the morning.”
I went into the bathroom to get ready for bed with zero supplies and zero patience for the situation Cora forced me into.
Sharing a room with a stranger did seem better than sleeping in the hallway until she let me in.
I could hear Justin rummaging around the room; he was likely unpacking some of his stuff to get ready for bed.
I opened the bathroom door and walked out toward the beds. Justin had taken his clothes off and was wearing a pair of black boxer briefs. He was bent over his suitcase, digging through his clothes.
I stopped dead in my tracks and let out an, “Ope, sorry!”
He turned around to face me, and I got an eyeful of pecs, abs, and his package. “Sorry, I was trying to look for something to sleep in, but I wasn’t planning on a platonic overnight guest, so I didn't pack anything. Do not scream. I'm not trying anything.”
I giggled at his speech and his “robber caught in the act” hands in the air. “I won’t scream. I’m going to go to bed, and I do have a weapon hidden under my dress, so don’t try anything.”
“I bet you do.” He winked and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed.
I lay down in the bed that didn’t have his suitcase on it, prepared for a night of lying awake in self-preservation. Apparently, I was pretty tired because I didn’t even hear him come to bed.
The next thing I knew, my eyes popped open to the sound of banging on the door. It was clearly Jeffrey, trying to get back in the room. I rolled over and looked at the alarm clock—4:30 a.m. I saw Justin roll over in bed toward the alarm clock as well.
With a sleepy voice, he told me, “I made a promise. That jackass is sleeping in the hallway. I’ll let him in to get ready for breakfast.”
Jeffrey kept pounding on the door, and Justin yelled, “Go away, you aren’t getting in here. Should have stayed the night with your lady friend.”
We heard Jeffrey muttering some curses, and then the knocking stopped. I fell back asleep with a smile on my face.
I woke up around 8 a.m. Justin was already up, walking around the room, and getting ready for the day.
He was brushing his teeth and looked over at me with a big, tooth-pasty smile.
“Hey, Sleeping Beauty. I wasn’t expecting to wake up to someone other than Jeffrey’s ugly ass.
You want to go find our siblings and get some breakfast, or have you had enough quality time with me for the day? ”
I stretched and checked under the covers to make sure no boobs fell out of my dress during the night. I wasn’t sure I wanted to commit my day to the brothers, but he seemed to be a good ally for the confrontation that was about to go down this morning.
“Sure. I need to get freshened up and let Cora know we aren’t sisters anymore. Then I would be happy to meet you for breakfast since you survived the night.”
“I understand this was not what you had envisioned, but I consider this a roommate upgrade. Let’s go find those rascals.”
We didn’t get far before we found Jeffrey leaning against the hallway outside the door, fast asleep in last night's clothes.
Justin kicked his leg, and Jeffrey snapped awake. “Why the hell are you sleeping in the hallway?”
“How the hell should I know? I came back to the room last night, and you wouldn’t let me in.
I tried going back to Cora's room, and she didn’t answer.
So, this seemed as good a spot as any to sleep.
I’m just glad we are at the end of the hallway, so I didn’t get run over by the room service cart this morning.
Mind letting me in? I’d like to change and brush my teeth because I’m pretty sure a buffalo shit in my mouth during the night,” Jeffrey explained.
“Where is your key?”
“Beats me. I definitely could have used it to come snuggle with you guys last night if I knew where it was,” he shrugged.
Justin let him in the room and told him to meet us at breakfast. We walked off toward my room, and I let out a little giggle.
“What’s so funny?” Justin asked.
“Oh, man, if you knew me at all, you would not believe how out of character the last twelve hours have been. I’m not even that mad at Cora for kicking me out of my room and my comfort zone. She’s probably waiting back in the room for me to rain terror down on her.”
As soon as we walked up to my room, the door popped open. Cora screamed and pulled me into her arms.
“Oh, my God. I thought you were dead. In a Mexican jail! Sold to the Cartel! Swimming with the fishes!” She yelled while shaking my body back and forth.”Why didn’t you answer your phone? Why didn’t you come back to the room?”
“My phone is dead, and my charger was trapped in the room with the brother you were boning.”
“How do you know we boned? Where did you sleep?”
“Cora! I know because I walked in on you guys. How much did you drink?”
“I literally drank everything Mexico had to offer, so clearly the details are fuzzy!” she cried. “Where did you sleep? Where is Jeffrey?”
“I slept in their room. He is back in the room getting ready to meet up for breakfast.”
Her eyes bug out of her head. “YOU slept in a room with two strange men?”
“Just one strange man.” I looked over to see Justin smirk. “Jeffrey slept in the hallway because no one would let him into either of the rooms he occupied. Are you ready to go for breakfast?”
“Yes, give me a second to comprehend that you’re still alive and now someone who sleeps with strangers. Wait.” She looked between us. “Did you guys sleep together?”
Justin let out a laugh-snort. “I just barely had her convinced I wasn’t going to murder her in the night. I wasn’t going to try anything for fear she would murder me in response. I’m a little scared of her.”
“Me too, kid,” Cora agreed.
“Well, don’t let me scare you, but I’m going to go get ready. Why don’t you guys go get us a table, and I’ll be down in ten minutes.
“I really don’t want to have breakfast with my one-night stand. That kind of goes against my whole belief system,” Cora moaned.
While I understand this is an awkward situation for her—as I would probably have the same complaints—she had put me in a top-tier awkward situation the night before. I saw my sister having sex, was kicked out of my own room, and slept in a stranger's room.
“Well, Cora baby. I myself was in an awkward situation, and Justin saved the day, so I'm going to treat him to breakfast. " You're coming with me whether you like it or not.”
“Treating him to breakfast at an all-inclusive resort, really generous,” Cora mutters. “All right, you knight in shining swim trunks, let's go have breakfast.”