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My jaw drops in disbelief as he glances around, his eyes finally falling on Emily. “Hey, wait a second,” he says as recognition flashes in his eyes. “You’re the lady that was at Lennon’s room this morning. How come you know Darcy?”
Emily flushes and looks down at her cocktail, clearly not sure what to say. Rick’s gaze flicks from her, to Cindy, then fixes firmly on me. He raises his eyebrows and sits back, crossing him arms over his chest.
“Okay, will someone please tell me what the hell is going on here?” he demands.
“Well, I may have played a little joke on… Lennon?” I say weakly, my words sounding like a question as I look down meekly at my own glass.
Rick unfolds his arms, leans forward onto the bar, and stares at me with narrowed eyes. “What kind of joke?” he asks suspiciously. I glance at Emily again, hoping for a little support, but I know this is all down to me.
“Um, well, I found out that you guys—or Lennon more specifically—couldn’t remember what happened at his bachelor party the other night, so I asked my cousin, Emily, to knock on his door and pretend she…”
My voice trails off, but I don’t need to finish the sentence, because Rick is laughing so hard, he nearly falls off his seat.
“Are you serious?” he splutters. I narrow my eyes back at him, which only fuels his laughter. “Oh, God. This is priceless. He’s going to kill you when he finds out. The guy is ripping himself apart, thinking he seriously fucked up. He nearly tore me a new asshole this afternoon, just for asking him if he wanted to go fishing. Honestly, I’ve never seen him so fired up.” He pauses for a second, then turns to me again, his face all lit up. “Hey, can I be there when you tell him what you did? I wanna get a pic for Facebook.”
“Fuck off, Rick. You really can be an insensitive ass, sometimes. I’m dying here over what I’ve done.” I feel the blood drain from my face as I take in Rick’s words. I know he’s completely right. Everything he’s saying is true. The worst thing is, I realize I’m the one who’s seriously fucked up. I’ve made the man I love doubt himself, made him feel pain and torment. Something I’d never want to do, ever. Yes, Lennon is going to kill me. I just hope he can forgive me.
“I have to go,” I say. Cindy and Emily stand and give me a hug as I kick my seat back, then race off, leaving my drink and friends at the bar. I know there’s only one way I can fix this.
I need to find Lennon… now.
***
My heart is racing, knots in my stomach as I take a moment to clear my head. Running my hands through my hair, I close my eyes and think. Where is he? I’ve looked everywhere, but there’s no sign of him. I even tried his parents’ hotel room. His mom had frowned, and looked me up and down like I was trash to her when she’d opened the door. She’d made it obvious I’d inconvenienced her for making her answer it. I’d never felt so uncomfortable in my life, and she was very quick to tell me she hadn’t seen him before slamming it in my face.
When I’m around his parents—and particularly, his mother—she won’t even hide the fact that she doesn’t like me. I’m not sure if it’s the fact I was his student, or just that no woman is good enough for her son, but I must admit, it hurts, and I wonder if it’ll always be this way.
Where did he go? Where would I go? Suddenly, it comes to me, but I try not to get my hopes up. I stalk out the back of the resort, through the gates leading to the beach, where I take my heels off and carry them with my purse, letting my toes sink into the soft sand. Sure enough, halfway down the beach, I can just make out a Lennon-sized body in the fading light, laying a little way back from where the waves are rolling in.
I sit down next to him, my heart racing, and relief flooding through me when I see he’s breathing. I’m sure he’s going to be angry at me and, to be honest, he should be. I cringe every time I go over it in my mind. What the hell was I thinking, playing a sick joke like that on him? How would I have felt if he’d done that to me? I lay down next to him. He turns to face me and manages a small smile, but there’s pain in his eyes. Pain that I caused. Pain that I put there.
