At the sight, I stopped walking.
Then I put my hand over my mouth.
Then I double-checked the cabin number.
Then I tiptoed a little closer to peer at it.
Yep. That was one of Cooper’s socks. One of Cooper’s dirty socks, to be specific. Straight outta the laundry pile.
Holy shit.A sock on the doorknob?!Was it a sex sock? Was Cooper in there doing unspeakable things with Bridesmaid Two?
Focusing on the bright side, there were no…sock noisesemanating from the room.
That was a blessing, at least.
Could it be a joke? Should I knock?
But the second I had that thought, I wanted to snatch it back out of my mind. You couldn’t pay me a thousand dollars to even touch that door right now, much less knock on it.
Honestly, I really didn’t know what to do.
As the astonishment wore off, I felt my whole body justsaturatewith disappointment.
Never mind that I wouldn’t be setting the record straight anytime soon. And never mind that I’d have to find another place to sleep tonight.
More than anything, I just… couldn’t believe it.
Because I’ll tell you something true. The reason that I hadn’t wanted to kiss Finn Turner tonight was because the person I really wanted to kiss…
Was Cooper.
And I guess, after all that lovely slow dancing, I’d been thinking Cooper wanted that, too.
This was the second time in my life I’d let myself like Cooper Watts—and the second time I’d thought he liked me back.
And—apparently—the second time I was wrong.
Really wrong. About as wrong as you can be.
I turned away and started making my way back down the hall the way that I’d come, and my reaction was physical. My breaths were shallow. I got lightheaded. I had to stop near the elevator bank, lean against the wall for balance, and remind myself how breathing worked.
Three seconds in, three seconds out. Where was my mom when I needed her?
Cooper… had put asock…on our cabin doorknob.
Cooper was in our room right now doing some kind of sock thing… with a sock person… who wasn’t me.
And whether this was fair or unfair, right or wrong, justified or not… it felt like the biggest betrayal of my life.
It felt like something I’d never recover from.
That’s what I was thinking as I walked back to the theater to find Ashley and ask if I could stay in her room. And then, after finding the theater emptied out, as I walked to Ashley’s cabin. And then, after hearing a few possible sock noises outsidethatdoor, as I walked down to Harmony’s room—which did not have a lei on its knob yet but was emanating sexy music like it was about to.
Was this whole boat justfornicating?
Maybe I’d just have to sleep outside on a deck chair.
I was making my way back down our hallway—toward the outdoor lounge—when I ran into Finn. Of all people.
