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“You knew we were going on a yacht,” Melanie said with wide, excited eyes. “Don’t ruin this for us, Rina.”
Marina groaned, “Not you too.”
“As if I would ever pass up a mega-yacht party.”
“I should have known,” Marina said with a sigh.
“You can go home if you want,” I told her. “But don’t let him take away a good night from you. You don’t owe him that.”
That sparked something inside of her. She would never let anyone else win. Not when she could make them pay.
“Fine. Let’s go on Nolan’s stupid yacht.”
Melanie linked arms with her, and they strode forward together. Ash shook his head as he wound our fingers together.
“She’s something,” he said.
“She really is. That’s why I love her.”
“You’re still okay with this, right? Not worried about the business?”
I was actually. Though I wasn’t sure how to tell him that. Not after my mom had gotten straight to the heart of the matter. How could I leave Ash to work? How could I leave work to be with Ash? It was a dilemma I wasn’t sure how to fix. I had planned to leave Sasha in charge in Savannah while I took over in Charleston. She had been working with me from the beginning, and she could handle it. But what would happen if I wasn’t in Charleston to get the business off of its feet?
My head felt dizzy with questions that I had no answers to.
So, I just smiled and nodded. “Let’s go.”
We were greeted with champagne flutes and escorted to the top deck, where a DJ had hits blasting through the speakers. The reason most of the women were in thong bikinis became evident by the massive pool in the center of the deck. There were nearly as many hunky, shirtless men in the pool, flirting with the women. It was complete with a champagne fountain, enormous buffet, and somehow … a helicopter pad.
“This is insane,” I said to Ash.
He grinned. “That’s Nolan. Always over the top.”
And then we found the man of the evening. Marina grabbed my other hand when she saw him. The world collapsed as he found us across the deck. Somehow, it was as if he only saw Marina. We’d dressed her in a skintight white dress that showed off her dark tan and curled her hair to supermodel waves. She looked like a vision, and Nolan was looking at her as if the very act of her stepping onto his yacht meant he owned her.
He approached us with two men and a woman at his side. His smile was straight feral. “You made it.”
He shook hands with Ash.
“Couldn’t exactly say no. Not in Charleston often enough to see you.”
“Hey, Ash,” one of the other guys said.
He looked a lot like Nolan. In fact, all of them looked similar.
“Rob,” Ash said with a head nod. “This is my girlfriend, Amelia, her cousin Marina, and friend Melanie.”
“Marina,” Nolan said, snaking around the syllables of her name as if he were ready to constrict them.
Marina ground her teeth together and said nothing.
Melanie smiled warmly though. “Nice to finally meet you. Heard a lot about you.”
Nolan arched an eyebrow. Then, he turned back to me. “These are my brothers, Rob and Ellis,” Nolan said. “And this is Rob’s girlfriend, Ever.”
Ever pointed at Marina. “We’ve met before, right?”
Marina jerked her head away from Nolan. “Have we?” Then, Marina blinked. “Oh, wait, shit. Don’t you work with Margie?”
Ever nodded. “Yes! I saw you at the company Christmas party.”
“Margie, my mom?” I asked in confusion.
“Wait, are you Amelia Ballentine?” Ever asked.
I nodded slowly. “Uh, yeah?”
“I own the marketing firm that your mom uses for her company. My best friend is a senior interior designer there.”
Whoa. Owns the marketing firm. Ever looked like she was barely in her mid-twenties. She must have been incredible to have her own company already.
“Small world,” Ash said with a smile. As if he’d set all of this up.
Rob put a protective arm around Ever. She leaned into it, even as he dug his fingers into her side. As if she craved that harsh touch.
“Enjoy my party,” Nolan said.
Nolan walking away was like letting the air out of a balloon. I glanced at Marina, who was still watching him like a prey tracking the predator in their midst. What a man.
“Come on. Let’s get another drink,” Ash said.
We fell into the fun of the party. Drinking the fancy cocktails from the bartenders, getting into the pool at one point, and dancing well into the evening. Even Marina seemed to calm down after Nolan disappeared. Like she was finally free without him. I made quick friends with Ever, who seemed like a hardworking girl. She had inexplicable bruises on her hips and thighs, made apparent when she shimmied out of her dress to get in the water. But she just winked at me when she saw me looking. Rob watched her like a hawk. I could only imagine what they did in the bedroom with bruises like that.
