Chapter 17
Ash
We were officially on day four of this relaxing and rejuvenating retreat, and I was ready for the men to return.
I was fully refreshed and couldn’t wait to show Jake and Collin the adorable ornaments Laney and I crafted yesterday after a relaxing two-hour massage, facials, manicures, and pedicures.
This place was paradise for an exhausted mom like me; however, I missed my husband, and the buzz was that they may return tonight or tomorrow.
“Are we going for morning yoga?” Laney asked after we finished eating another delicious breakfast that this place spoiled us with.
“Why don’t we skip yoga and meditation classes and finish the ornaments? Then, we can take the kayaks out after that. What do you think?”
Laney nudged me in my side, “You, skip meditation?”
I smirked. “You all give me a hard time about being into all this stuff, but I’m not rigid about it. I just like to keep myself grounded and centered when I’m stressed, which happens to be often when I’m home,” I laughed. “Being here seems like a meditation on its own, you know?”
“I get that,” Laney said. “I have to say I like meditating now that I’ve gotten the hang of quieting my mind.”
“It’s easy to do it at a place like this,” I said, glancing at the light aquamarine water.
“It is,” Laney answered as we walked along the wooden dock-like walkway that led to the entryways of our over-the-water villas.
“So, what should we do?” I asked when we got to the front of Laney’s place.
“Let’s finish the last of the ornaments we were making for the kids. After that, I’d love to get into my bikini and kayak,” she said while I followed her inside.
“This place is so cute, but I’m going to get cheesy for a second and say I wish the guys were here to enjoy it with us,” I said, sitting at the table where our ornaments and paints sat out from the previous day.
Laney sat across from me. “I know. I feel bad saying this,” she cringed, “but I’m getting kind of bored. I’m ready for Collin and Jake to get back.”
“Who knows whether they will come back today,” I answered, dipping my paintbrush in the cobalt blue color and sliding it gently down the side of the starfish I was painting.
“From how we’re getting pampered over here, I’m confident the guys are being spoiled rotten on their side of the island with ziplines and who knows what else. ”
A knock at the door startled us both. I immediately wondered if the men were finally back, and I felt a jolt of excitement course through me at the thought.
“Avery? Nat?” I heard Laney say with her usual giggle of excitement.
I bolted up from the table and rushed to the door to see my best friend and Nat hugging Laney as they entered the villa.
“Ash, darling,” Nat pulled off her oversized, gold-rimmed Versace sunglasses, and her blue eyes dazzled with her usual daring expression. “You look radiant!” she said, pulling me in for a hug before I could say anything.
“Babe?” Avery offered an adorable smile, piercing clear-blue eyes beaming beneath her black fringe bangs. “You look fully refreshed. We’ll have to inform the Hawk brothers that their pitch to Jim and Spence was a brilliant idea.”
“What do you mean?” Laney asked as I finished embracing Avery and stepped back in confusion.
“Yes, well,” Nat said, eyeing the villa, “I suppose the whole Christmas-themed version of this could’ve been taken down a notch.
” She smiled at Laney and me, who stared at the women with confused expressions.
“You know, usually when couples do meditation retreats—or sexual retreats, as was my recommendation—the husbands typically stay with their wives. Kind of difficult to have sex when one partner is gone.”
“What the hell is going on here?” I asked before Laney could.
“Don’t hate us for this,” Avery said, “but we didn’t want to tell you two what the guys were planning to get Jake and Collin back for the last nutty prank they pulled because if you two knew?”
“We needed you gals to have complete deniability,” Nat said nonchalantly.
“What have you done?” Laney questioned nervously.
“I know it might feel sinful around the holidays,” Nat started, “but it was to last no more than four days, and while this silly little prank went on, you two were both to experience what Titus and his brothers pitched to Jim and Spencer after they invested in this Hawk Enterprises resort.”
“Can you stop speaking in riddles and tell us exactly what you planned,” I answered. “Did Jim and the others ruin Christmas for Collin and Jake by sending them to what they believed was a sexual retreat?”
“Well, if Jack was convincing enough, then no,” Avery said.
“Who is Jack?” Laney asked.
“Oh, that’s right. You probably know him as Gustoff, but his real name is Jack,” Avery continued. “If he’s been convincing enough, Jake and Collin will likely be returned to you both as two of the most spiritual beings on the planet,” she chuckled.
“I can see the looks on both your faces, and I know you’re upset you weren’t made aware of this,” Nat went on.
“That is why the next part of this Christmas vacation we’re all joining you on will be replete with holiday cheer, Santa, his elves, and Jakey popping the cork and serving us all champagne in his adorable monkey suit.
This was just a fun little gag for those two. So, let us fill you in,” Nat said.
“Unless you both want to stay in the dark in case Collin and Jake think you’re in on it too?” Avery said.
“Too late for that,” I said. “Besides, they’ve only been gone for four days. Sure, they came here for sex, but I don’t think they’d be that pissed for having to leave us for a few days.”
“Let’s just say Jake and Collin are experiencing a completely different version of this amazing vacation than you two,” Nat said, pulling a laptop out of her bag and opening it. “Come here.”
“Now, don’t lose your shit when you see this,” Avery said to us. “You’ll notice that this is all being recorded live, and you may recall Jake and Collin doing something similar to Jim, Alex, and Spence?”
“Oh, yeah. When they did that survivor prank on them and stole all their camping gear while they were sleeping in the tents?” I questioned. “They recorded the entire thing, and they left the men with only the one set of clothes they had—”
“Sweats and long johns,” Nat interrupted me with a laugh. “They hung cameras throughout that campground to make them truly believe they were lost in the wilderness with nothing but the clothes on their backs.”
“That was a good one,” I said, remembering Jake showing us the documentary at Jim’s birthday party and how Jim was hilariously trying to rub sticks together to light a fire. “They did good, give them credit,” I teased.
“They did so well that those men have been plotting revenge ever since. Now,” she pointed at the laptop, “this is a live view of why we were questioning whether you two wanted to be aware of things.”
I walked over to the table, and for any other group of friends, this might be unforgivable, but not for us.
The men in our friend group were like toddlers when it came to shit like this.
I could see now why Laney and I were being pampered beyond any woman’s dream.
They wanted to keep us busy. I was almost afraid to see what these men were putting Collin and Jake through, all while watching their reactions in real-time.
“Now,” Nat said, her nude polished acrylic pointing at a group of shirtless men sitting around some carved pole, legs crossed and palms facing up.
“Everyone here, from the meditation instructors to the men in the audience, are all a hired group of actors,” she said, smirking back at me.
“Although a trained spiritualist was consulted for various things, including herbal teas and the food they ate, so they knew what they were doing,” she chuckled.
“Oh…my God. What the hell did you guys do?” Laney said as we both looked closer. Everyone was wearing bright yellow loincloths, and Jake and Collin appeared to be in their own personal meditational zone within this bullshit scripted play.
“I can’t believe Jim hired actors,” I said.
“I know. You could’ve done this even better than them,” Avery playfully nudged me, “but those two goofballs would’ve never taken it seriously.”
My eyes widened as I watched the camera zoom in on Collin and Jake humming loudly, and I shook my head. “I want to laugh, but this is horrible,” I said.
“This is Jake, Jim, Collin, Alex, and Spencer,” Nat said with her eyes rolling, “and Collin and Jake had to know this would eventually come full circle and bite them in the ass.”
“Wait. Shh,” I said when the instructor—or should I say paid actor—started to talk.
“Very well done. Now, as we center and ground ourselves to manifest our desires, I want you to call out to your inner boy, and ask for what you truly need, not want,” the man said.
“That’s Jack playing Gustoff, a character designed to become Jake and Collin’s nemesis,” Avery said. “He’s been orchestrating everything from the beginning.”
“There’s going to be fireworks when they learn Jim and the guys did this,” Laney said truthfully.
“Totally,” I covered my mouth, trying not to smile when I watched all the men stand up and do the yoga tree pose. “Okay, fill us in on everything from the second this was planned, put into place, and we got thrown into the action. And God help us all if the second part of this vacation isn’t—”
“You girls better just be ready for some wild and rehabilitated spiritual men to rejoin you,” Nat said with a chuckle, “because you’re about to get two of the horniest and happiest assholes on the planet.
” She laughed at her joke while I stood in disbelief that Jim, Alex, and Spence had actually gotten those two tricksters back.
Nobody got one over Jake and Collin, but from the looks on Jake and Collin’s faces, they’d been beaten at their own game. If Jim and the guys were watching this live like we were, they had to be crying with laughter at how seriously Collin and Jake were taking their hired actors.
I truly hoped they had some form of backup plan for this vacation because Jake and Collin would not hesitate to retaliate, and this would end up being some Nightmare Before Christmas situation, which would probably last until next Christmas.
I wasn’t sure what would result from this doctor versus CEO game, but I could see Jake’s youthful and relaxed expression, and it made my heart swell with love.
Even though he was being duped, he went along with it, and I knew in my heart it was because he was trying his hardest to get through whatever they were being forced into so he could get back to me.