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“Got caught up,” Drake murmurs. “Where are Oscar and Kylie?”
“They’re supposed to be here?” Otto scratches the back of his head. Drake’s face turns serious, and Otto busts out laughing. “I’m just kidding man. Hey, Jenny, you’ll have to pardon me. I’ve had a couple of drinks and they’re starting to really sink into my blood stream.”
“That’s okay,” I titter.
“They’re waiting at the reef,” he continues. “I had to get away from them. All of the sighing, compliments, and blubbering bullshit was blowing my buzz. Pussy-whipped, I tell you.”
“You say that now,” Preach says, chuckling. “But what about the girl we met in Texas. You bring her up all the time. I bet you miss that, huh?”
Otto stops walking to look at Preach. “Come on, man. That was a one-time thing. We swore not to bring that shit up again!”
“Writing her songs, showing up at her house—all of it.” Preach can’t control himself. He laughs so hard it bellows through the hallway.
Otto narrows his eyes and squares his shoulders. “Come on, man. That’s not even cool.”
I laugh. “What happened in Texas?”
“It was years ago,” Otto grumbles, avoiding my eyes as he walks past us.
“He fell for a chick for the first time. She attended one of the fights, he saw her in the crowd, hooked up with her afterwards, but got hooked on her way more than he thought he would.” Drake’s voice is soft as he explains it in my ear.
“Really?” I gasp. “Aww, Otto, I didn’t know you were capable of getting hooked!”
“That’s because I’m not.” He spins around and walks backwards. “I’m a new man. That shit in Texas was just for fun.”
“Yeah,” Drake scoffs. “Sure it was.”
Otto spins back around right before we meet at the staircase. He sits on the thick guardrail and slides all the way down to the bottom. Of course, there are other guests walking down already. It just wouldn’t be an act of Otto if he didn’t have a crowd.
Drake sighs as we walk down the stairs. I notice the word aquarium not too far away from where we are. Not too long, and the words Shark Reef appear.
“Drake?” I look up at him. He smiles down at me.
“You’ll love it,” he murmurs.
We walk through the entrance and I’m surprised to see Kylie and Oscar sitting on the bench close by. Kylie sees me and pulls away from Oscar almost immediately, running in my direction.
I grin and open my arms wide.
“Where have you been, baby love!?” she screeches, practically tackling me.
“I think the question is, where were you, crazy girl?” I laugh.
“Oh, Jen, I’m so freaking sorry. I got way too drunk last night! I don’t even remember half of what happened.”
“Yeah. She was pretty hammered.” Oscar walks up behind Kylie with a sly smile. Kylie turns and gives him a playful, evil-eyed glared.
“Yeah, well it’s your fault. You kept buying me drink after drink. You know how I am when I get drunk.”
“A naughty little thing?” Oscar fills in, smirking.
Drake and I choke on laughs.
Kylie spins around, jokingly smacking his arm. “You are such an ass.”
I giggle. “Kylie, don’t even worry about it. I didn’t want to interrupt anyway. I turned out to be okay.” I glance at Drake.
“She was fine. She spent the night in my hotel,” he fills in.
“She did?” Kylie’s eyes are wider than ever before as she looks between us. “Oh, babe. We have a lot to talk about.”
I feel my face growing hot. I look up at Drake and he lets off a simple shrug.
“Well, I’ve got the tickets. Are we ready?” Oscar holds up the tickets in hand.
“Hell, yeah,” Kylie chimes.
I nod and Drake steps up to my side.
Otto meets up with us, snatching one of the tickets out of Oscar’s hand. Oscar thins his eyes at his twin, but makes nothing of it. I assume he’s grown accustomed to his brother’s shenanigans.
Oscar hands the tickets to the woman behind the counter and then we are walking down a dimly-lit hallway.
Otto walks with Preach, laughing about God knows what. Probably about that girl in Texas. The other security guard is behind us, texting on his cellphone. He’s much quieter than Preach.
Oscar and Kylie walk hand-in-hand, a few feet ahead of us, murmuring to each other with big, goofy smiles on their faces.
I look at them, and it warms my heart. Kylie got her man back. I still remember the time Oscar saved her from Trace. But it’s the mere thought of Trace that leads me to remember what she said about him.
Trace was aggressive, just like Shane is. I know walking out of that room only added fuel to the fire. I shouldn’t care, but I hate feeling like I owe him for paying some of my student loans and bills.
Then again, I remember last night. His cold, blue gaze on mine. His hand gripped tight on my thigh. Relentless. Brutal.
