Chapter Three
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Milly
It is so hard for me to go to sleep. I toss and turn for hours. I think about getting up and grabbing my tablet so I can at least read while being in insomnia misery, but I worry that I might disturb Rumer. I didn't dig it out of my bag before we decided to turn the lights out and go to bed. I know for a fact that if I get up to grab it I will make enough noise to wake the dead. The last thing I want to be is a bad roomie since it was super sweet that Rumer wanted to bunk down with me in the first place. I definitely don't want her to regret it now.
I always have trouble sleeping in a new place. It's like my body instantly knows this is not the norm and might not be as safe as the tiny apartment I share with my mom. It doesn't help that all the new faces from the day keep running through my mind like my brain is trying to process all of them and find a place to put them in my head.
I just start to drift off when a loud scream echoes through the house and pulls me from the sleep I was just starting to embrace. When I sit up it's to stare across the room at Rumer who is also sitting up in her bed.
"What the hell was that?"
I give her a shoulder shrug but before I can answer another blood-curdling scream rips through the air. Both of us are up and running for the door in seconds. I'm not sure what we're running to but clearly, something awful has happened in the cabin. Once we're out in the hallway we realize we aren't the only ones who heard it. Almost everyone is standing around outside their bedroom doors.
I got really lucky when Rumer said she wanted to share a room with me because four of the people are in the room with bunk beds on either side of the room. I was worried I was going to be one of those people until Rumer pulled me into a room with twin beds across from one another and told me we would be roommates for the next few days.
The couples of course have a room with a king bed in it and then Tinsley pitched a fit until she got a room of her own. Apparently, she has issues with sharing because she raised hell until the room was just given to her. Now I feel bad for thinking she was a big bitch because the screaming seems to be coming from the room she just 'had to have'.
As we all rush down the hall to Tinsley's room it hits me hard how different we all are. Since most of us were sleeping we're all in nothing but nightclothes.
"Someone was watching me! Someone was looking in at me from the balcony outside!"
The girls all gasp at Tinsley's words. The last thing we need to hear is some weird guy is trying to be a peeping tom. Considering what we are all in it's a big problem.
"Okay, okay. Mitch, come with me and Jag so we can take a look around outside. Rookie you stay here with the others and protect the ladies."
Rani pulls Charlie in for a quick kiss, "You be safe out there, Charlie Sinclair."
Before Charlie drops another kiss on Rani's head he answers her, "Always."
The rest of us are left to stand around and wait. Trinity tries to calm Tinsley down, but she isn't really in the mood to be calmed down. Most of the guys are in boxers or pajama bottoms while the girls are in many different styles. I take a minute to look down at my own nightgown. It has tiny dancing cacti on it with smiling faces. It's soft and that's really all that matters to me but looking at the other women I'm standing around I kind of feel...under-dressed.
Rani has on a sleek satin gown that has lace at the bottom and the vee of the cleavage which dips down kind of low. Her gown is red and looks like something you would wear on a romantic getaway with your man. Standing beside me is Betsy. Her gown is made of nothing but lace and gauze. I'm pretty sure I can see her nipples through the material and if the looks on all the guys' faces are any indication so can they. I feel myself stepping closer to Rumer who is in an oversized jersey.
Tinsley is in...underwear. I think it's supposed to be a teddy, but I didn't think you were supposed to wear them to bed. I thought they were only there to be put on and taken right back off by your lover. I wonder which man Tinsley was waiting for. I don't have to wait too long before it's painfully clear. She is on Jag the second he comes through the door.
"We couldn't find...whoa, you need to back up." He stops talking mid-sentence and takes a big step back from her. She was in the process of throwing herself at him and very nearly hits the floor before catching herself. "We didn't find anything outside."
I slide over a little as Jag comes closer to us. I look at the halo of blonde hair around Betsy's head and think that surely Jag has to be smitten. That's probably why he came over to our group. Betsy notices me looking at her gown.
"Is that what you wear to bed?" God, I wish I could stop talking sometimes but things just pop out before I can think them through.
"Yes." Betsy's back goes ramrod straight.
"It's pretty."
All the rigidness goes out of her, and she gives me a big smile. "Thanks, I like your cacti."
My mouth tilts up at her compliment and the fact she used the proper term for more than one cactus. Both of us smile at one another until we hear our names being called.
"Ladies, did you catch any of that, or were you too busy comparing sleepwear." A blush hits my face as one of the guys chides us for complimenting one another.
"Charlie thinks it would be better to put a man in every room just in case Tinsley wasn't just trying to get attention and someone really is trying to look in on us," Rani whispers until Betsy and I are caught up.
"I volunteer to go with Rumer." I look over as Rumer's eyes grow wide at Mark's statement.
Several of the guys start to chuckle. "We bet you will, Rookie."