And when I realized I was staring? Well, that was when I noticed she was staring right back. The lingering glances, a slight bite of the lip, eyes roaming across my body down to my cock. Sam and the others were oblivious (though maybe not Mason, but if he wasn’t, he didn’t say anything) and talked with M-something as she led us to the elevators, discussing the amenities, the wedding, and everything Sam was getting out of the fat stack he was dropping here.
The old boy was going all out for his wedding. Outside of the usual — the private beach and banquet hall for the afterparty, all the food and the open bar, the fireworks and decorations and cake — he was also flying and housing close to three hundred guests and giving them free reign of the resort for the weekend on his dime. He’d tried to get the Knights to agree to letting him cover everything for us too, but we’d steadfastly refused on the grounds that, if he tried, we’d have to kick him out of the club for being too poor after he covered our liquor bill, let alone our suites.
The five of us had rented out the other rooms on the same floor as the girls’. Sam, fancy fecker that he was, had rented the penthouse just above us, giving our party complete control of the top two floors of the south tower.
As we rode up, the girl, M-something, moved to stand slightly in front of me and, to my surprise (but not resistance), she reached a hand back and brushed my upper thigh with long fingernails, all while keeping a conversation with Henry about room service.
I grinned. So my drunk goggles weren’t malfunctioning. I reached a hand out, the one nearest the wall, and ran a thumb firmly over the spot where her full ass met her leg. She didn’t stiffen or acknowledge that I’d touched her, but my cock was nearly there at the thought of what was coming later.
In the hall, M-something pointed out each of our rooms to us and then said, “I’m going to show Mr. Callahan to his suite, but if you have any questions or needs, here’s my card. You can reach me at this number at any time.”
At the word needs, her eyes flicked to mine, but quickly looked away. “Beck and her friends have arrived at the airport so they should be joining you shortly,” she added before she and Sam left in the elevator.
“Pool then?” Henry asked us as the doors closed behind them. “We can wait for the girls there.”
“I’ve got someone to meet,” Twain said quickly. “I’ll catch up with you later.” He jabbed the down button and a second pair of doors opened immediately. He darted inside and was gone before any of us could say a word.
“Any bets on the next time we’ll see him?” Mason asked dryly.
“He better at least make it to the wedding,” Keegan said. “But beyond that, no idea.”
“My money says he’ll reappear for the rehearsal dinner, but he’ll be blackout,” Henry said. “And I’m not going to be the one to deal with him.” The others didn’t comment, probably thinking as I was — that we’d see about that in the moment.
To move on from the hopeless mess that was Twain and onto a more immediate target, Henry turned to me. “You’ve been awfully quiet for a while there, Mac.”
Shit. The encounter in the elevator and the mental effort to keep my dick from straining out of my suit pants had sobered me since the ride from the airport, but it looked like they were catching on regardless.
When backed into a corner, I went on the aggressive, another habit learned in childhood. “And what the hell is it to ya?”
Henry snorted. “I thought I saw you put away a bottle on the plane. Go lay down before Sam finds out you’re already trashed.”
“I’m not trashed and I don’t give a feck what Sam thinks anyway.”
Mason cleared his throat behind me, and I refocused on my incoming date with M-something. “I’m fine,” I said firmly. “Now which one is mine?” I asked, pointing down the hall.
“Look at your key, idiot,” Keegan said, already walking away toward his room. “And I’m hitting the pool so some of you fuckers can join… or not. The more ladies for me.”
“Isn’t your girl on her way?” Henry asked after him.
Keegan grinned. “Yeah, but she doesn’t mind sharing.” He spread his massive arms wide, walking backwards. “There’s a lot of me to love, boys.”
He disappeared into a door, leaving me with Henry and Mason. Mason was on his phone, texting someone, before slipping it back into his pocket. “I’ve got a work thing to handle,” he said. “Call with my dealer. I’ll join you later. Just let me know where you end up and if you move.”
Henry nodded and Mason left as well.
“You coming then?” Henry asked me.
“What was that chick’s name?” I asked instead of answering.
“Which one?”
“The one who came up here with us.”
His brow furrowed. “Mariana, I think,” he said at last.
I nodded and he paused, opened his mouth, looked like he wanted to say something, and then shook his head. “You know what?” he said. “I don’t actually give a shit. Just don’t make this a problem for me. Or Sam,” he added as an afterthought. His face split in a grin. “Look at that. I’m actually not the most selfish fuck in the group for once.”
“Just give it a minute,” I said.
Henry checked his watch, ignoring me, and then jerked his head down the hall. “I’m getting changed. Come down with us. You’ll be able to see your girl again.”
He left without waiting for a response, leaving me looking after him questioningly.
What girl was he talking about? Mariana?
Whatever. It didn’t matter. What bothered me more was the other thing he said, about me being selfish. Mason had said that too and it couldn’t be further from the truth. I was looking out for the brotherhood, Sam most of all.
Well, I didn’t care if they had a stick up their asses about this week. All the warnings and ominous, distrusting bullshit was starting to get irritating. I got it coming from Mason — the guy expected disaster to strike around every corner. But Henry too? It was in Henry’s typical, round-about, I-don’t-really-give-a-fuck manner, but the fact he brought it up at all meant it was on his mind.
I considered just calling Mariana up to my room to ‘answer a question’, screw her brains out, and prove that I could make decisions without the world imploding.
But I decided against it. There would be plenty of time for that, and I didn’t want to risk the guys running into her in the hallway. I’d head down to the pool, meet these friends of Beck’s, and play the part they wanted from me — the shit friend going along with Sam’s delusions.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so fecking bad to screw everything up. Maybe it would knock some sense into the guy.
I banished the thought and found my room, threw my luggage into a bedroom, changed into black swim trunks and a white t-shirt, and chugged a bottle of water. Then I went back into the hall just as Henry was leaving his room. Keegan was waiting by the elevator, his tall frame leaning against the wall as he played that basketball game on his phone that he was obsessed with.
“Finally ready, ladies?” he asked, not looking up from his phone.
Henry rolled his eyes. “It was ten minutes.”