Chapter Six
“You win,” Luke said to Cole when Tag approached.
“That I do,” Cole agreed, grinning at Tag.
“What the hell did y’all bet on now?” Tag asked, not sure he wanted to know.
“Whether or not you’d look like a lawyer when you got here,” Cole answered.
“And what did you win?” Tag questioned. “Wait. Don’t answer that. I don’t wanna know.”
The mischievous smirk on Luke’s mouth said it all. If Tag had to guess, Luke and Cole would be hidden away in some dark corner—only because this was a family cruise and not their own private fetish club where they could get down and dirty in public—sometime in the foreseeable future.
“Smart man,” Luke stated.
When the bartender made his way down to their end of the bar, Tag ordered a scotch.
“Xander’s over at the blackjack table with McKenna’s father and brother-in-law,” Cole informed him. “Alex, Kane, Trent, and Shane are dumping money at the craps table. Logan and Eli aren’t here yet.”
Tag glanced around, wondering where his father was. He was the only person that Cole didn’t mention, not that Tag was all that surprised. It seemed that these last few days, Jackson had been using this trip as his personal vacation. After the first dinner they’d all shared together, Jackson and Victoria had spent most of their time alone.
That only bothered Tag somewhat. The fact that his father had agreed to join them on the trip at all was shocking. The man spent his days worshipping his wife, not worried about anyone other than her. He could’ve asked Cole if he’d seen his mother, but Tag’s stepbrother looked otherwise occupied as he stared at Luke with a knowing smirk on his lips.
Before Tag had met McKenna, he’d allowed his father’s behavior to get to him. He had spent the majority of his life playing second fiddle to first, his own mother, and then to Victoria when Jackson had remarried after Tag’s mother’s death.
Tag could somewhat understand at this point in his life because he was infatuated with McKenna, wanted to spend every waking moment with her. Even now, after two years of being with her. But he still couldn’t imagine putting everyone and everything on the back burner. Certainly not the children he intended to have with McKenna.
“Get outta your head,” Luke commanded. “We’re here to have a good time tonight.”
Tag glanced over at Luke and nodded. “You’re right. Did you tell Sierra that they’d be staying with McKenna tonight?” Tag asked.
“I did,” Luke confirmed. “It took both of us to get her to calm down.”
Tag shook his head and laughed. “I wouldn’t doubt it.”
“What?” Cole asked, looking sheepish. “She’s a handful. Sometimes—”
“Don’t finish that sentence,” Tag said with a chuckle.
“Seriously, though, they’re all excited about the wedding. So, of course, when I told her that tonight’s McKenna’s bachelorette party, Sierra got on the phone.”
“With who?” Tag asked.
“Guest services.”
“About?”
“She wanted to see if they had male strippers on board.”
“Oh, Lord,” Tag said on a sigh.
“Good news,” Cole inserted. “They didn’t.”
“Bad news,” Luke added. “We volunteered to be the strippers.”
“We who?” Tag exclaimed, turning to face two of his closest friends, one of whom just happened to be his stepbrother.
“Well, after her parents go back to their cabin, and yours, if they join us tonight, we’ll be putting on a show for the ladies,” Luke explained.
“Are you fucking serious?” Tag questioned, praying that their somber expressions were part of the joke.
“They’re very serious,” said a voice from behind him.
Tag turned to see Logan approach, Elijah walking alongside him. “We’re apparently the entertainment for the night.”
“Oh, hell.”
“They were very accommodating, offering up one of the clubs for tonight’s performance.” Elijah smirked.
“I hope y’all don’t plan for me to strip,” Tag said, downing the scotch the bartender had just delivered before signaling for another.
“Oh, your name’s definitely on the roster.”
“Xander agreed to go first,” Logan stated with a laugh.
Tag’s gaze scanned the room, looking for the giant Dom.
“It’s not like we’re not used to gettin’ naked in public,” Cole countered.
“Y’all, sure,” Tag agreed. “Me, not so much.” Although Tag was a member of Devotion, and yes, on occasion he had been known to enjoy the public exhibition that the club afforded them, it was rare.
Regardless, stripping for a group of rowdy women was an entirely different story.
“Just think, maybe you’ll make a few bucks out of the deal,” Luke said.
Tag glared at his friends, wondering what they hell they’d been thinking when they’d decided this was a good idea.
But more importantly, he wanted to know when the hell Luke McCoy had become the optimist.
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“You should have something stronger than that,” Sam told McKenna when she joined them at the table. “It’s your last night as a single woman.”
McKenna chuckled. “I haven’t been single for a long time.”
“Touché,” Sam stated. “But tomorrow’s the official day.”
There was no way for McKenna to hide the huge grin that split her face. She’d come down to join Sierra and Ashleigh at the ship’s outdoor bar an hour ago. She hadn’t been there for two minutes when Sierra’s excitement had gotten the best of her, and McKenna’s friend had blurted that tonight was the official bachelorette party and tomorrow would be her wedding day.
From that moment onward, McKenna’s nerves had been frayed, her excitement palpable. She’d also given considerable thought to what a night of boozing would do to her, which was why she intended to play it safe, stick with wine.
“I assume we’re gonna do something a little more exciting than this tonight,” Mercedes said as she pulled out a chair and took a seat beside McKenna.
“Oh, we are,” Sierra stated with a smirk.
McKenna glanced over at her friend, studying her face. Sierra was terrible at keeping secrets.
“Go ahead. Tell them,” Sam said, a matching grin on her face.
“We got us some male strippers,” Sierra said excitedly.
McKenna’s eyebrows lifted. “On this ship? They have male strippers?”
“No,” Sierra said quickly. “But tonight they do.”
“What does that mean?” Ashleigh questioned, looking just as curious as McKenna was.
Sierra leaned in as though she were about to tell a national security secret. “The boys are gonna be the strippers.”
“Are…” McKenna couldn’t get the question out because she started to laugh, imagining all of their men working it up on stage.
“Think Magic Mike, only … hotter,” Sierra added.
McKenna wasn’t sure that was possible. “You mean…”
“Yep,” Sierra confirmed. “Luke, Cole, Logan, Tag, Kane, Xander, Shane, Trent, and Alex are gonna strut their stuff for us tonight.”
Glancing around the table at all of her friends, McKenna’s grin widened. “And they agreed to this?”
“Everyone except Tag, but that’s because it was a surprise,” Sam informed them.
“Xander even volunteered to go first,” Mercedes announced. “Can you imagine?”
“Does he even have any rhythm?” Lucie asked Mercedes. “I can tell you that Kane doesn’t possess an ounce of it.”
“Not a lick,” Mercedes admitted with a chuckle. “But I can guarantee I’ll have my dollar bills ready.”
“Kane really agreed to this?” McKenna asked Lucie.
“I haven’t talked to him. But he’s always been a team player,” Lucie admitted.
Lucie’s husband, Kane, managed Club Destiny, the nightclub that’d originally been the front for the fetish club before Luke closed down The Club at Club Destiny and reopened it as Devotion. McKenna didn’t see much of Lucie and Kane. They spent their time working or with their daughter, Haley. From what Tag had said, the couple was trying for another baby, but as of yet, they hadn’t gotten pregnant.
“So when do the festivities begin?” Ashleigh asked.
“We’re waiting for McKenna’s parents to go to bed. We asked Tiffany if she and Matt wanted to join in, but she politely declined.”
McKenna was grateful for that. It would’ve been a little awkward to see her straight-laced brother-in-law stripping for a room full of women. Not to mention, Tiffany was a jealous woman, and McKenna doubted her sister would’ve been able to sit back and take all the women cheering him on.
“What about Tag’s parents?” Ashleigh asked.
“They’re here somewhere, but they didn’t commit to joining us tonight,” Sierra explained.
McKenna’s gut tightened at the thought of Jackson not wanting to spend time with his son. After all, Tag had been the one to extend the olive branch, inviting his father when he would’ve preferred to leave him back on dry land. Their relationship hadn’t improved over the years, neither of them putting forth much effort. Although McKenna never understood how a father could be so blind to his own children, she didn’t push the issue. She’d had plenty she wanted to say to the man, but for Tag’s sake, she’d always kept her mouth shut.
“Well, I can’t wait,” Mercedes said. “It’ll be interesting. Especially if Luke actually does follow through.”
Sierra grinned. “Oh, he’ll be up there. I promise.”
The twinkle in the other woman’s eyes spoke of secrets that McKenna didn’t even want to know about. That threesome never ceased to amaze her. Luke was opening up, and McKenna knew that all of the thanks went to both Sierra and Cole. It was incredible what love could do to a person.
It seemed as though it could even get an uptight man to strip on stage.
But as entertaining as she knew that would be, McKenna was most interested in seeing her own man up there. Because no matter what these other women said, Tag would definitely steal the show.