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Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Maci strip off her shirt and reveal a bright blue swim top. My mouth parted slightly, and I turned my focus back to the rest of the hot tub. It was painful enough to see her in a sexy-ass dress and not be able to touch her the way I wanted to, but seeing her in a bikini was another kind of torture.
Unfortunately for me, she didn’t care about the kind of thoughts I had running through my head. She slid into the water across from me, completely unaware of her effect on me without even trying. She smiled when she saw me and scooted a little more toward Jared so Katie could slide in next to her.
As much as I tried to ignore her, I couldn’t help but offer a small smile back. She picked up on my mood immediately. She cocked her head and attempted to read my expression. I shook my head to tell her it was nothing and took another sip of my beer.
Katie eyed the silent exchange between us, which triggered another explosion inside me. I felt surrounded by the pressure that I couldn’t escape. All the thoughts built up in my headspace were overwhelmed with trying to keep it together since August, and I wasn’t sure how long I could last.
Suddenly, a hand smacked the back of my shoulder. Bryson stood behind me while a few people I recognized from outside Razzle’s took up chairs near the firepit.
“Do we still have that bottle of Jack in the freezer?” Bryson asked.
I nodded as Jared motioned for Bryson to walk around to him.
At the sight of Bryson’s arrival, Maci started a conversation with Katie and the two of them burst into hysterics. Even though Bryson was standing right behind her so he could get to Jared, she paid him no attention. I wasn’t sure what their argument was about outside of Razzle’s, but it was hard not to pick up the tension that brewed between them.
“Kennedy, bring out some of those solo cups, too,” Jared instructed Bryson. They bumped fists, and Bryson walked back toward the condo. Right before he stepped inside, a leech that was sitting by the fire got up to chase after him. He held the door open for her, and together they disappeared inside.
Maci rolled her eyes and shook her head. She tried to change her expression before anyone noticed, but Jared shifted his attention in her direction.
“What’s up?” Jared asked her. He knew that Maci was hooking up with Bryson, but he was very out of the loop when it came to the actual relationship they carried.
“Not a thing,” she lied and took a sip of her drink. Her response drew a few people's attention, and everyone returned to their original conversation.
Reagan tried to catch my eye, but I stared past her to the other end of the hot tub, where suddenly, being next to Heather didn’t sound half bad.
Bryson returned with the bottle of Jack and a stack of solo cups. He worked with Jared to pour and pass out shots.
“Don’t get any of that in the hot tub!” Heather shouted from her seat.
We all held our cups high above the water and looked in her direction.
“I was just about to toast your ass, and you’re gonna yell at me?” Bryson smiled at her, and she instantly calmed down.
“I could always bring the offer up to Bryson,” Reagan murmured and made direct eye contact with me.
Maci caught the sound of Bryson’s name and glanced over at our conversation.
“Good luck with that,” I challenged and chuckled at the thought.
Bryson would never fuck around with two girls who were obsessed with me—especially all of the crazy scenes he witnessed firsthand with Heather. If it wasn’t simple, Bryson wasn’t for it.
My eyes instinctively drifted to Maci, and she raised her eyebrows at the sight of me being so close to Reagan.
“To the host of our gathering this evening.” Bryson raised his cup, and the rest of us followed suit. He shot me a cocky grin, then averted his attention back to Heather. “It’s a treat knowing you, Heather.”
While Heather took his toast to heart, I knew Bryson was really thanking me for sleeping with her. Without my connection, we couldn’t have secured a second condo for the trip. We clinked our cups together right before everyone else downed their double shot of Jack. I slid my empty cup into Bryson’s, and he went around the tub to collect the rest.
“There’s Annie and those girls I mentioned,” Jared said quickly, kicking me under the water.
Reagan shot me a look, and I turned to see Annie and her friends undressing at a few of the empty chairs. Bryson patted my shoulder as he passed and nodded in Annie’s direction. She smiled at him, and her friends giggled. The redhead stared right past Bryson and made eye contact with me.
I waited for some sort of reaction to surface from a hot girl staring at me from across the deck, but nothing came.
Bryson rounded the corner of the tub and stopped when he got behind Maci. He purposely reached across her chest and whispered something in her ear. She rolled her eyes and whispered something back, which caused him to shoot her a dirty look. He shook his head and walked over to where the girls from Razzle’s were sitting by the fire.
I drained the rest of my beer and took a deep breath. Annie, her cute redhead friend, and another girl that was with them all took the empty seats next to Jared.
“This is Annie,” Jared said, and she waved awkwardly to the group.
