“Says he needs magnum condoms,” Dustin tells her flatly. And very fucking loudly.
I’m going to kill him.
Silence descends on the other side of the door until I hear the click click click of her heels as she walks away. For once, I feel sorry for my mother.
“Really?” I groan, knowing Dustin is standing on the other side of the door and barely containing his laughter.
Snorts and smothered laughter is the only reply I hear before the sound of him running down the hallway lets me know he’s going to erupt out of earshot of my mother. How thoughtful.
Rolling my eyes, I toss the sheet off me, no longer interested in spending the day in bed.
Mood has been annihilated.
Bo peeks her head out the door, tears in her eyes from holding back her laughter.
“I think you’ve seen me at my lowest,” I grumble.
She doubles over as her body shakes with the suppressed laughter. Wearing nothing but my boxers, I walk by her and head into bathroom to shower. Ten minutes ago, I would be inviting her in here with me.
Now? I need time to regain some man points.
***
Bo is on the deck, wearing nothing but her bikini, as she stares over at Jane, who is setting up some equipment on the beach.
“What’s she doing?” I ask, coming up behind Bo and wrapping my arms around her waist.
She doesn’t stiffen at my touch for once. She melts against me as though this is the most natural thing in the world, and I try not to think too much about it.
“Dad is setting up for a photoshoot. Jane wants to be a photographer, and he has a magazine spread coming up. Dad’s helping her get her foot in the door by choosing her as his photographer for the spread. The magazine wants the shoot, so they’re rolling with it,” Bo answers.
Dustin’s voice cuts through the relaxing atmosphere, as he sidles over and hops up on the deck railing to watch the show. “Paradise equals hanging out with a rockstar in a multi-million dollar home, girls wearing nothing but bikinis all the time, and having awesome five-star meals every night. Best. Trip. Ever.”
Bo shakes her head, but she’s smiling. At least she’s warmed up to Dustin. Cody… I still don’t know what happened there, and neither of them want to speak about it, apparently.
Mom and Dad are walking up with Viv, all of them eyeing Jane as she starts taking a few shots of the sand. Vince is probably planning to make a grand entrance or something.
Just as my family steps onto the deck, Vince pops out, and my mother almost falls. Fortunately, my father catches her.
“For fuck’s sake,” my father grumbles as Vince struts by in a cowboy hat, shirtless, and wearing—
“Please tell me those aren’t assless chaps,” Bo groans, turning toward me with her eyes screwed shut.
“Those are definitely assless chaps,” I say immediately, wishing I could scrub the image of her father’s ass from my brain.
That man is on a mission to ensure my dick never works again.
“All chaps are assless,” Viv says, keeping her usual condescending tone as Vince winks at her and heads down the deck steps.
“You know it’s annoying when you do that, right?” I ask my spongy sister, but she just shrugs, still staring at Vince’s ass.
“Why is a rocker wearing cowboy stuff?” Dustin asks, completely unaffected.
“I can’t watch this,” Bo says while looking up at me and not daring to turn around.
“I can,” my mother quickly interjects, fanning herself.
My dad cocks an eyebrow at her, and she clears her throat before turning around and heading inside. “I think I’ll go check to see how lunch is coming along,” she says as she crosses the threshold, never turning back around.