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“Hell yes!” Maisie yelps, clapping her hands together in excitement. “One correction though:youwill not be buying anything. It’s your birthday, Pheebs. You can just charge it to my account.” Maisie smiles, extending her plastic card out to the stylist.
“Maisie, are you kidding me?” I exclaim, my brows arched in surprise as the stylist leaves to swipe her card. “This is way too expensive.”
“You can just buy me a hot outfit on my birthday, and we’ll call it even,” she replies with a wink. “I’m not changing my mind, you might as well just accept it.”
I sigh; I know she’s not going to let me talk her out of this. “Thank you so much, Mais. You’re seriously the best,” I reply, wrapping my arms around her neck and giving her a tight hug.
“You’re going to look unbelievable. It will be worth every dime watching Colin lose his mind,” she laughs.
I give her a pointed look, holding her out at arm’s length. “Maisie, I already told you; I’m not into Colin. He’s a great friend, but nothing more.”
She snorts as she downs the last sip of her champagne. “Are you going to tellhimthat? He looks at you like you hung the moon. Plus, why the hell are you so against it? Colin is hot as hell and follows you around like a lost puppy.”
When we arrived at the boutique, the stylist greeted us with a tray of champagne flutes, not even asking to check our ID’s. Before I could reply, Maisie grabbed a glass off the tray and took a swig. So, I guess you could say we’ve done a little pregaming already.
“Exactly. I don’t want a stage five clinger. It would be too easy with Colin,” I reply with an eye roll. I’ve already told her this five times over, but once more doesn’t hurt.
“Do you hear yourself right now?” she scoffs. “Isn't easy what we all want? God, I wish I had guys falling at my feet. I would eat that shit up.”
Who I want is a man I can never have, one who has consumed my thoughts since the first day I saw him. A man who gave me the most intense orgasm of my life against his office wall.
“Just promise me you’ll let yourself have fun tonight,” she adds, grabbing my hand and giving it a squeeze. “You haven't seemed like yourself lately. It’s your birthday; forget about the stress of class, softball, whatever else you have on your mind. Don’t think about tomorrow. Just have fun and let loose. Tonight is all about you, Pheebs.”
“I promise,” I respond, smiling and squeezing her hand back.At least, I’ll try.
THIRTEEN
KNOX
“Dude, you wanna hear some crazy shit?” my friend, Slater, asks from across the table, taking a swig of his beer.
We’ve been at Bay Area Dive, a local sports bar, for the past couple of hours. This late at night, most of the patrons are shit-faced men placing bets on Sunday’s football games. Televisions surround the bar, showing highlights of the weekend's sporting events. Pool tables line the back of the bar, clouded with rings of smoke and glass from broken beer bottles. A fight broke out earlier, resulting in one of the guys busting a bottle over the other guy’s head. After security pulled them away from each other, they were both escorted out, yelling expletives at each other the entire time. Needless to say, this wouldn't be the best place to take your significant other for a romantic night out, but damn, if it isn't entertaining.
“Try me,” I respond. “My life has been a shit show, so I’m sure whatever you’re about to say won’t surprise me.”If he only knew I blew my load all over my athlete the other day.
“I don’t know, man. I had a crazy ass morning. Almost had to rescue a chick out at the buoys at sunrise.”
Slater is employed by Coral Cove Beach Patrol, where he’s responsible for enforcing safety rules and looking out for beach goers. People underestimate how hard their job is - they have to be in exceptional shape, in case they have to swim out to save someone. Slater was telling me about the insane fitness test he had to pass to get his certification, giving me some good ideas for strength and conditioning workouts.
Slater and I have been going out for beers on weekends since we met at the gym a few weeks ago. He’s a total beach bum that can't go a day without dipping his toes in the ocean. His hair is permanently bleached by the sun, and his wardrobe consists solely of t-shirts and board shorts.
“I could barely see her,” he continues. “At first, I thought it was a dead body floating out to sea. Freaked me the hell out, man.” He shakes his head.
“Is she okay? I’ve heard rip currents are bad this time of year. Hopefully, it was an accident that she was so far out,” I reply.
“I was thinking the same thing until she started swimming back like nothing was wrong. It was like she had no idea she was the only one in the ocean, drifting away by the second,” he replies, moving his hand like a wave. “Dude, you should have seen the fucking waves this morning. I’m still in shock she made it back to shore without my help. Hell, maybe I should ask her to apply to the patrol team,” he laughs.
“Damn, that’s crazy,” I say, shaking my head in disbelief.
“Yeah, she seemed fine other than her hand. She was too far out for me to see what happened, but I think she smacked it pretty hard on the buoy. It was already starting to swell by the time she made it back in. Honestly, though, I was kind of glad her hand distracted me. You should have seen the body on this girl.Holy shit, Knox.She had on this little bikini that made her ass look so damn good,” he swoons, chewing on his bottom lip.
“Maybe you should have asked for her number,” I quip, arching a brow and taking another swig of my beer.
“She thinks I’m a joke,” he laughs. “She saluted me like a fucking captain before walking off, her perky ass bouncing as she strutted away. I wouldn't stand a chance, bro.”
“She saluted you? That’s fucking hilarious,” I reply, my chest heaving with laughter.
“Not only did she salute me, but she called me ‘Captain’ while she did it,” he scoffs, shaking his head.
