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That was noble of Dwayne. Still, Skipper is being naïve. I can already picture the whole scene. “Y’know what would have come next, right? This old perv who wanted to rent you and your cute teenie friends a cabana would’ve watched you like a gross horny bastard across the pool, then would’ve tried luring you guys to his room with drugs and alcohol, and then you’d spend the night tied down to his bed while he licked your nipples or tickled your toes or whatever creepy old men do. Is that what you want? To be tied up to some horny dude’s bed like a teenage sex doll?”
Skip rolled his eyes about five times during my tirade. “He wasn’t an old horny guy. He was young. Your age, actually. He—”
“Doesn’t matter. Don’t take handouts from anyone. We’re not charity cases.”
“Says the guy who works on the boardwalk and takes handouts from them all day.”
“Payment for a product or service is not a handout.”
“Even Adrian takes handouts.”
I glance out at the bonfire—and the boisterous crowd spread across Sugarberry Beach that still lacks one such Adrian. I’d be plenty happy if he ends up not coming, too busy with his latest weekend boy toy. “He’ll take anything. Even if it doesn’t belong to him.”
“Ugh, can you guys just make up already?” Skip huffs and hops to the sand. “I’m tired of going between you two all the time. It’s awkward and causes me all this unneeded stress. It’s just like Mom and Dad all over again.”
I shoot him a look. “How do you even remember that? You were, like, seven-ish when Dad left.”
“I remember everything.”
“And I know you didn’t just compare me and Adrian to Mom and Dad.”
“You’re right. It’s not the same.” Skip glares at me. “It’s worse.”
I sigh. “Skip …”
“Oh, there he is!” he cuts me off, pointing.
“Who?” I look to where his finger leads.
From the road walks—or rather, struts—the shape of my aggravatingly self-important other brother. Hooked to his arms are his boy toys of the weekend, as I predicted. Though I didn’t expect him to up his game with more than one. I guess you can say the increased business has just as easily increased his appetite for cock, too.
I’m about to make a snide remark when I realize that I know one of his arm candies.
It’s the boy-next-door cutie in the yellow trunks. The one who had my heart squeezed in his hand the second I saw him. The one I gave a freebie funnel cake to. Except he’s traded his yellow trunks for a yellow tank top instead, with denim shorts and sandals.
And he’s with Adrian. Fucking Adrian.
Skip is still pointing. “That’s him!”
I can barely pay attention to my brother’s yapping because I’m struggling to contain my boiling rage. “He just can’t keep his fucking paws to himself, can he?”
“Who?”
“Adrian. He always has to just …” I watch my brother lead the boys to the bonfire, strutting with his big dumb chest puffed out, like he’s bringing home boy-bacon to show off to his friends. My skin is literally crawling with anger. “… has to just ruin everything.”
Maybe I had it wrong from the start. Maybe the cute boy-next-door is just like all the rest of them: Here for a good time. Here for the hotties.
Here for free funnel cake.
No, that’s not him at all. That’s not the guy you met. You know better, Kent. Get your act together!
But do I know better? Do I know anything at all? I just met him once, he called me a player, and now he’s one of two boys hanging on my brother’s arms. You can’t know a person’s intentions from one single conversation through the window of a bakery, with all that confusing sugar and dorky unintended flirting going on.
I’ve never felt more confused.
Skip smacks my arm. “It’s the guy from the Elysian! The one with Adrian, the one on the left, in the yellow tank!”
Wait a sec. “What? Who?”
“The guy who—Really, Kent? I just said it nine times. That’s the guy who was nice to us, the one from the resort who stood up for us.” Skip frowns. “I don’t know what he’s doing with Adrian, though.”
I blink, then give them another look. Adrian and the two guys are standing near the fire with the others, but it looks like he’s already ditched them to get drinks. My guy in yellow crosses his arms, frowns, and seems to stare off at the night sky, aloof, his expression entirely unreadable.
Maybe I don’t know him at all.
Chapter 7 - Jonah
“I’ll get you boys some drinks,” Adrian tells us as he heads off. “Maybe that’ll loosen you up a bit, get you into the vibes.” He throws a wink from the distance.
And Rico is on me at once. “What is up with you?”
