Chapter 8
EIGHT
“I feel like I’m at a slumber party in sixth grade,” I tell Zach.
“Hopefully you weren’t drinking booze when you were in sixth grade,” Zach says playfully.
I bite back a grin. “Not yet. I did drink my body weight in Kool-Aid Jammers, though.”
“Sounds like we both had fun childhoods. Solid families. And now . . .” Zach frowns slightly and stares at his empty shot glass.
“My sister’s even more upset about this than I am.” I can detect a slight slur in my voice. The B-52s are definitely kicking in. “It’s stressing her out. Especially since she’s getting married soon.”
“When?”
“A few weeks from now. She wants me to squash this affair so it won’t ruin her day.
She wants both my parents walking her down the aisle without wanting to punch each other in the face, and at this point, I can’t guarantee that.
But she’s my baby sister. I need to help her have the best day possible.
” All this talk is making me feel sentimental.
“Phone,” I call, and Zach passes it to me.
I dial Mom’s room, hoping it’ll be her who picks up so maybe I can mess with her for making Gia stressed so close to her special day.
“Hello?” It’s Nicholas, and he sounds out of breath, like perhaps he was working out . . . or . . . ew.
I hit a bunch of the buttons so they blare in his ear and end the call. I shake my head at Zach. “Sounded like they were going at it.”
“Don’t they know there are other things they could be doing right now?” Zach says. “Don’t they like watching movies? My dad’s not normally so . . . active. Is your mom normally a really . . . physical person?”
I never considered my mom’s sexual appetite at all before recently. “No,” I say simply. “I don’t think she is, anyway.”
Zach runs his hand through his beard. “My dad’s charming.
I know that. But he always seemed so loyal to my mother.
Up until now, she was all he needed. People used to stop them in the streets to compliment them, you know?
To tell them what a beautiful couple they were.
The local rec center asked if they’d do a session for the community about healthy marriages. That’s how solid they were.”
“My parents too. All my friends looked up to them.” I’m about to say Jayden, too, but I stop myself for some reason.
It’s troubling that I can’t talk about my boyfriend in front of Zach.
What’s with that? It feels awkward and unnatural to bring him up—almost like, if I did, it would ruin the rapport we’re starting to build.
I tuck my hair behind my ear and shoot him a reassuring smile. “Well, we’re going to get your parents and my parents back on track. Deal?”
I hold out my hand and Zach grips it and shakes firmly—so firmly that it takes me by surprise and sends a current of electricity through my spine. If he shakes hands that passionately . . . what else does he do passionately?
My eyes widen as that thought fully registers. It must be the drinks or all the infidelity swirling around like a cocktail of deceit in the air. I have to check myself. Quickly. Before I say something—or do something—I’ll regret.
“What next?” I ask. “The crank calling obviously isn’t working. What else can we do to annoy the shit out of them?”
“We could knock on their door and leave weird stuff on their doorstep?” Zach suggests. “It might scare them and force them to leave their room. They might argue over what to do about it.”
“Like what? Spread ketchup all over the concrete in front of their room?”
He shoots me an amused look. “Tempting. But that might be a little too serial killer for me. I was thinking more like . . . a note?”
“Worth a try. We could blackmail them. I’m sure not everyone knows about their affair. We could threaten to tell everyone.”
Zach gets a pen and paper from the front desk and writes the message. Stop this affair. Or else we'll tell everyone. And we mean everyone.
Maren did say that I could create some kind of drama to break up an Aquarius and a Gemini and this screams dramatic. Worth a try.
We walk along the lantern-lit path, the shots causing us to stumble into each other every few feet. “Hey. Watch where you’re going, buddy,” I say, giving him a light push.
“No, you need to watch where you’re going,” Zach says with a laugh.
If I were sober, I would probably realize that our entire plan is incredibly juvenile but right now, it feels like it might actually work. Who would be able to sleep peacefully after reading a note—from a mystery writer who followed them to this resort—with a warning about exposing them? Not me.
Zach grabs a rock from around the garden, and places it on top of the note. “So it won’t blow away,” he whispers loudly, his speech coming out slightly slurred. He knocks three times on the door and runs to stand next to me, behind the wall where he and I met earlier.
The villa door swings open. Nicholas’s hair is slick with either water from the shower, or perspiration from extracurricular activities (yuck) and he’s wearing a white robe.
It quickly registers that he’s probably wearing nothing underneath, which gives me an unwanted mental image based on Maren’s penis size predictions last week.
“When I get back, we’re going to do the pretzel again, baby,” he calls into the room, and I hear my mom’s high-pitched laughter.
“Is that a promise, big boy?” she calls with a playful chirp.
Zach sucks in a sharp breath and makes a disappointed clicking noise with his tongue.
Bile rises in my throat. What the hell is the pretzel? When did my mom start calling people big boy? I thought Maren made that up when she was supposedly lip-reading. And when did Mom become so sexual? I think the most exciting sexual position that I’ve ever tried is doggy style.
The door closes again and I turn around, bumping into Zach’s taut body, not realizing how close he was standing behind me. “Do you know what the pretzel is?” I say into his chest. I take a step back, arch my body to look up at him, and bite my lower lip as I wait for an answer.
Zach takes his phone out of his pocket and types on the screen. He breathes in deeply, glancing at me like he’s bracing for impact, then shows me the screen. I skim over the detailed description, accompanied by two naked cartoon people demonstrating. I feel a blush spread over my face and chest.
We catch eyes for a moment and suddenly, completely unexpectedly, I step into him and our lips brush against each other’s.
Zach steps backward until he’s against the wall, pulling me so closely into him that I can feel his desire through his pants, making me want to rip his button-up shirt open to feel the skin of his chest against my bare shoulders and collarbone.
Ugh. I don’t know why I did that. I have Jayden.
I can’t get this close to someone else. The whole tropical vibe and the drinks—it’s all messing with my head.
There’s a creak that sounds like a door opening and my mom’s voice calls. “Who’s there? Who left us this note? What do you want from us?”
Panting for breath, Zach grabs my hand and leads me behind the villa, where we slide down the wall to a crouched position.
“Holy shit,” I splutter. Zach’s breath is warm against the side of my face, making me want to collapse into him, but I shouldn’t do that. I can’t do that.
Instead, I force myself to pull away from him and stand.
“As much fun as I’ve had tonight, I need to go back to my room now.”
Zach’s eyes scan my face. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”
“No worries. You’re fine,” I say and then turn and jog toward the garden villas, hoping that me literally running away will create the distance I need to break away from the charge between us.
I wish that what just happened did make me uncomfortable—but the truth is, it didn’t. It only made me want more.