“And then what?” Matt said as the elevator doors opened, and we spilled out into the lobby. I spotted our other two brothers and headed their way. “The showdown with dad—the one that’s been boiling underneath the surface for the last five years—you’re finally going to have it out? How the hell do you think that’s going to go?”
I put up a hand to stop him. “What did I just say? Work no longer exists. All that exists is the gorgeous beach full of happy drunk people and my four favorite brothers.” With that, I greeted Jeremy and Ezra and led the way out of the lobby towards the back patio area where the luau was taking place.
* * *
Two hours into the festivities, Kyle pulled me aside from the rest of the party and steered me towards the outdoor tiki bar.
“Are you having a good time?” he asked, once we were a little further away from the crowd.
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m having a great time actually.”
“I noticed you haven’t checked your phone all night.”
“I’ll do you one better,” I said. “I don’t even have my phone on me. I left it in the room.”
“Bold,” Kyle said. Then he clapped me on the back. “Nowthat’sthe David I remember from college. The never does anything he doesn’t want to do David, never takes shit from anyone David.”
“Never holds the elevator door, David.”
Kyle turned around and I peeked over my friend’s shoulder to see the red-head from the hallway sitting in a chair at the bar, her legs crossed, twirling the umbrella she’d just plucked from her drink around between her two fingers. She smiled when she spotted me.
“Remember me?”
“I swear I meant to hit the button that would hold the doors open, but I accidentally hit the wrong one.”
“Likely story,” she said. “I’ll have you know that we had to wait for the elevator for another five minutes, and then when we got to the party, we arrived just in time to see a bachelorette party swoop in and take all the seats at the bar. I’ve been waiting for almost an hour and a half to get this seat.” Just then, the woman sitting next to her got up and waved to one of her friends. The red-head swooped in like a hawk and kicked her feet up on the now free stool.
“And now you have two seats,” I said. “Nice work.”
She smiled a sarcastic smile at me and got her phone out, started texting, which I took to mean she was done berating me.
The bartender leaned over the counter and asked what I was drinking, but Kyle answered for me. “He’ll have a whisky,neat, and I’ll take another beer, thanks.”
The bartender nodded, then went to go get our drinks. The moment the ice-cold bottle was in Kyle’s hand, he smiled mischievously at me and started to walk away. “Hey, where are you going?” I asked.
“I’ll be around,” he said. “You stay here. Make nice with your new friend.” He waggled his eyebrows in a way that made me want to scoff, then walked away. I stood with one hand around my glass and one hand in my pocket but not because I wanted to flirt with this woman. I was just enjoying being away from the chaos for a bit.
A few seconds passed, then a guy got up from his chair and I sat down in the seat next to the one the red-head was saving. “Hey wait!” she said. “I was going to nab that one too. For my other friend.”
“Sorry,” I said. “But you can’t save them all.”
She frowned at me. “Watch me.” She put her purse down on the one she had been using as a footstool, then spun around and started to stare intently at the man sitting on her right, seemingly trying to intimidate him into moving. I rested my elbows on the bar and sipped my drink, my eyes trained forward. I had grown bored of this woman’s quest for open seats, so I listened to the soft ukulele music playing from the speakers behind the bar and enjoyed the peace of mind that came with not having to think about work for a change.
I heard the sound of movement and looked down at the stool next to me to see a pair of delicate hands with long, pink nails, removing the purse that the woman had left as a placeholder. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I said. “That woman is on a mission to get her friends a couple of seats and—” I looked up and made eye contact with an absolute stunner.
She was blonde, and she had strikingly large eyes, hazel in color. She smiled at me, and I saw a row of perfectly straight, white teeth flash from behind plump, glossed lips.
“On second thought,” I said. “Throw that purse in the ocean. That seat isall yours.”
The woman held my gaze as she gently put the purse down on the bar and sat on the stool. “It’s okay,” she said. “I’m one of the aforementioned friends that this seat was being saved for.” She cocked her head to the right but didn’t look away from me. “That’s Michelle. I’m Lily.”
“Ah,” I said, nodding. “Soyou’rethe one your friend was calling to in the room. You know she is dead-set on blaming me for not holding the elevator, but I think you should share some of the blame here. If you had gotten ready quicker, then you two would have beat my brothers and me down the hallway, and thenwewould’ve been the ones who got left behind.”
Lily opened her mouth to say something, but then the bartender appeared nearby and asked her what he could get her to drink. She ordered a rum and coke and the man started making eyes at her as he poured it.
As a general rule, I wasn’t the jealous type. In all my previous relationships—of which only one was serious, and even that one didn’t last all that long—I couldn’t care less if other guys flirted with my girl. It came with the territory of dating very attractive women. But at that moment, watching this man muster up the courage to deliver what I had to assume was going to be a very cheesy pick-up line, I was filled with envy. I was jealous over the attention of a girl I hadjust met. The feeling was so unexpected, so illogical, that I nearly laughed at myself.
Still, illogical or not, as the guy slid the glass across the bar and smiled, I leaned in to hear what stupid thing he was going to say next.