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“She does not.” Law sighed. “She just digs around through her suitcase to find what she wants.”
“Want a drink?” Kincaid asked as the conversation continued.
“Yes, please,” Brian said fervently, walking up to the other man while the others argued about whether or not unpacking a suitcase while on a trip was a good indicator of being a serial killer. He had no idea. He just traveled enough that he didn’t like living out of a suitcase. For the short time he was there, he wanted to be comfortable.
For the first time, he wondered if that might have something to do with his upbringing. His parents had moved them around a lot, usually after they’d gotten evicted from somewhere. Especially after his dad left. His mom would get cleaned up enough to get a job and a place, then they’d be there until she inevitably started using again, and they’d get kicked out. He’d had to be ready to go in a hurry.
He hadn’t thought about that in years. Talking with Rae about his childhood must have brought up the memories.
“You okay?” Kincaid asked.
“Yeah, just… weird thought.” Brian shook his head, as though he could shake the thoughts away. And maybe he could. “So, what are we doing tonight? Has Mitch said?”
“No, but he did say he contacted the resort to send us a ‘surprise’ later.” Kincaid chuckled at Brian’s groan. “Yeah, exactly. With him, who knows what we’re getting.”
“He does keep things interesting. I feel like I should have been the one planning the surprises for his bachelor party, though.”
Kincaid shrugged. “It’s not the normal bachelor party. And who knew he and Domi would want to have a totally separated night on the last night?”
No one. Brian wished he’d known beforehand; he would have planned better.
“Other than the surprise, anything?” He took the mule Kincaid offered to him. Kincaid had a near-encyclopedic knowledge of what everyone’s favorite drink was.
“Dinner. Hanging out. Letting the girls have girl time.” Kincaid chuckled.
“We’re going to do a bonfire on the beach,” Mitch called out, making them both jump. They hadn’t realized he was listening in.
“Is that the surprise?” Brian asked, turning around to face him.
“You’ll find out.” The wink Mitch sent his way was somehow not at all encouraging.
21
Brian
The bonfire was not the surprise. The surprise was the stripper who showed up at the bonfire. Granted, she also brought s’mores, so she was more than welcome, but Brian was surprised that Mitch had requested a stripper… right up until he realized who the stripper was really there for.
Not for the groom… oh no, she was there for the one single man out of the group.
Him.
“This really isn’t necessary,” he said, sending a glare over at Mitch—who was cracking up—as the pretty brunette whipped her shirt off. “You can just chill and have some s’mores with us.”
“Hey, now… I worked hard to learn these moves.” She pouted at him. “Are you saying I’m doing a bad job?”
Ah, fuck. All his friends were now laughing at his expense because they knew questions like that were his kryptonite.
“No, of course not. You’re doing a great job.” Cue more laughter from his friends. Apparently, their laughter didn’t knock her off her game. “I just… I’m not even the groom.”
“The groom is taken; you aren’t,” Mitch called out. That was technically true, but it felt wrong to have another woman taking her clothes off for him and giving him a lap dance when he’d been spending the week with Rae.
The week they’d agreed there wouldn’t be anyone else. And the week wasn’t technically over. They were still on the island. Sure, they weren’t spending tonight together, but…
He knew it made no sense to feel like he was doing something wrong, yet he did.
“I’m normally a club sub, but I’ve been taking classes… I haven’t done it without a pole before, though.”
Crap. He was making her feel bad.
