Aiden grins over his shoulder at Jude while he gets out of the limo.
What he just said sounds sweet, but I know my brother and he’s not full of hearts and rainbows while he’s imagining his girl right now. No, Aiden is thinking with his dick, especially now that he’s had more than a few drinks.
We started the bachelor party festivities with twelve of us, some guys from work, some friends of Aiden’s from college. The group has now dwindled to five.
The day started early with paint ball and then the driving range and batting cages before we started our late afternoon pub crawl through a few micro-breweries. Dinner happened on a chartered boat cruise with some gambling in a charity casino and more drinks before finding ourselves at a strip joint a little over an hour ago.
We only lasted that hour before Aiden insisted on choosing the next stop. This one.
“The next stop is home to bed, bro,” I told him. “I figured we’d close this place.”
“Meh. I’m done here. One more stop. Another drink not far from here. I know a place; I’ll give the driver the address.”
My brother looked happy. He’s looked happy all day. He’s slapped me on the back with a big grin multiple times, obviously enjoying his bachelor party.
I’ve had three warning texts from Carly’s friend Ally, who informed me that Aiden’s pretty face had best not get mucked up during his bachelor party or I would be paying for her Photoshop skills on the wedding pictures.
Aiden told me beforehand he wanted to skip the strip club, and when a few of the other guys whined, he agreed to go, but not until I got permission from Carly. He would not live that down any time soon judging by how the rest of the guys reacted.
I got permission but not before I made assurances.
Like - no lap dances. Like - no women would lay hands on my brother. Carly put forth these conditions after Aiden forbid her from going to a male strip show.
Apparently Aiden got wind that Ally had plans to take the bachelorette party to some Down Under male dancer show and this resulted in an argument between Aiden and Ally. Carly really didn’t care if she went or not, stated she was along for the ride and trusted her maid of honor to make the plans, but as soon as Aid got wind that a strip joint was part of tonight’s plan, he laid down the law.
No male strippers for Carly.
Then, finding out I’d made a strip joint part of our plans, I had to get on the phone and broker a peace deal on Aiden’s behalf.
Aiden wouldn’t lay hands on a stripper and I wouldn’t let them touch him.
“Someone touches him, I hold you responsible, Austin,” Carly told me, before passing the phone to Ally.
It was too late for Carly and the girls to go to that show that Ally wanted to take them to and for that reason Ally was pissed hearing I had a strip joint lined up, and I was informed that if Carly caught wind of any rules being broken tonight, the girls would belatedly go to that Aussie show and make sure Carly was centerstage getting given the star bachelorette treatment.
Seeing my brother go apeshit over the idea of his girl at a male strip joint was comical as he had never been the jealous type or even much of a commitment type. But he was convinced it’d be a bump and grind fest and I did not disagree. In fact, that idea likely stemmed from a conversation with Aiden and me a couple years back.
One of my exes made me sit through Magic Mike with her. It didn’t hurt that she was fully primed and ready for an all-nighter by the time it was over, but I wasn’t just bored, I was borderline disgusted at the level of hypocrisy. Aiden’s level of concern tonight was most likely down to the fact I’d been so verbal about it a week or so later during a night out where Aiden was there. I got into a debate with my then-girlfriend about how guys would be bounced out on their ear laying hands on a female exotic dancer, but the rules were different for the male strip joints. Evidently, Aiden remembered my rant. He didn’t want the woman he loved being manhandled by a male entertainer angling for dollar bills to be stuffed into his G-string.
And in fact, once we were there at our reserved booth, my brother looked bored with the girls trying to get in his space. He fucked around on his phone, turned his back to the stage repeatedly and waved away any women that approached. Except… then a dancer took the main stage and did an exotic belly dance number to that song Hips Don’t Lie. It struck me that the stripper looked not only like the artist who did that song, but she also looked a little like Carly. And Aiden’s neck twisted, and he was no longer sitting with his back to the stage.