Chapter 30

Anthony

“What happened last night?” I ask Joey as we wait near the front entrance of the port as Jon and Cooper grab their suitcases out of the trunk of the limo.

“Two bottles of wine happened.” He presses his sunglasses further up his nose. “I passed out waiting for Andi to fall asleep.”

“That sucks because I don’t think we can do anything on this cruise. It’s too risky,” I tell him.

I know he’s glaring at me even though I can’t see it through the dark tint of his sunglasses.

“My ass,” he spits, before realizing where he is.

God, what I wouldn’t give to have that ass again.

After he looks over his shoulder to make sure the guys are still busy, he turns back in my direction. “I have every intention of us fucking each and every night. Hell, even in the morning, midafternoon, and early evening. Our meat swords are going to be spending a lot of time together.”

Meat swords? What the hell have I gotten myself into?

“We aren’t fucking on this cruise, Joey.”

“Fine,” he huffs. “If all you want to do is suck dick for five days and four nights, then that’s perfectly okay with me, too.”

I begin to argue with him, but he spins on his heel and begins to walk back to the limo. Opening the door, he bends and peers inside. Fuck if the sight of his ass doesn’t add to the problem that was already beginning with his words. Sucking his dick for days actually does sound like the perfect vacation. So long as we’re sixty-nine and he’s swallowing my dick too of course.

“You actually have to get out of the car,” he says a little too loudly.

“I need Jon to carry me,” Andi says from inside of the long, black car.

“Fat chance,” Jon says still hidden from behind the trunk. “Remember three years ago when they wouldn’t let Dave on because he was too drunk to walk?”

These people kill me. Laughing, I join Joey in attempting to pull Andi from the car.

“I’m not drunk,” Andi insists once she’s standing on the sidewalk. “I’m just too hungover to function.”

“And the fun is only beginning,” Joey assures her, which only makes Andi groan at the suggestion of drinking more.

It takes us longer than I expected to get through all of the lines. I get harassed by every one of them when the first counter lady announces that I have VIP access because of the room I bought. Even though she urges me to head to the faster line, I opt to stay with the group.

“You know what that means?” Dave asks as we finally make our way through and are standing in the final line behind those waiting to board the ship. “We’re going to party in your room. It’ll be the only one ready once we get on.”

“I’m only going to his room long enough to drop off my backpack until my room is ready,” Cooper interjects. “Right now is the best time to scope out the selections.”

“Like food places? There’s an app—”

I hold up my phone as Cooper holds up his hand. Joey and Andi both chuckle behind me.

“The women, Anthony. The women are all that matter for the next five days.” Cooper’s smile is wide as he looks ahead and sees a chick looking back at him. “You might want to do the same. Every guy here is already making their choices. Don’t want to be left out.”

With a slap on my back, he walks ahead of us to talk to the redhead that caught his eye.

“I swear these chicks must have pedophile tendencies to find him attractive,” Dave grumbles.

“It’s his personality that makes him sexy,” Joey says, his grin faltering slightly when I look back and raise an eyebrow at him. “I mean, I don’t find him sexy, but I can see the appeal.”

“Good save,” Andi mutters. “Cooper is sexy.”

Cringing when Andi looks over and finds Jon talking to a group of girls behind us, I find myself wishing those two would just hook up already. I think a lot of my problems would be solved if they did.

Cooper, clearly already finding someone to hook up with later, joins us in my suite.

“You’d think there’d be a complimentary bottle of whiskey or something for the price you had to have paid for this room,” Dave complains as he looks over a liquor menu.

“Nothing is complimentary on cruises,” Jon says as he sinks down on the sofa. “This is hella nice though.”

“No one says hella anymore,” Cooper says with a laugh. “Dave, just charge a couple bottles right now. Better than waiting until later when you want to seriously start drinking.”

My eyes widen when I look over his shoulder and see the prices.

“Don’t worry, man. I’m charging it to my room.”

“Thank fuck,” I mutter. “I’m already in the hole since this was one of two rooms left. I think the other one was even more than this.”

“You could’ve stayed with me,” Cooper offers.

My lips form a flat line at the thought. After what Dave told me about his dalliances on last year’s cruise, I almost want to punch him, considering Joey will be the only one I’m hooking up with. Mentally, I smack my head. I decided last night hooking up with him right under his brother’s nose ended after Dave’s mom caught us coming out of the bathroom. It was too close of a call, and one I’m not willing to make while stuck on a boat.

“Or with Joey,” Andi pipes up.

“Not funny,” Jon says as he glowers at the auburn-haired girl.

His reaction is exactly the reason I need to keep my distance from the only guy I can see.

Does he suspect anything? What’s so strange about two dudes in the same room together?

“You could’ve stayed with me, man.”

I thank Jon for the offer.

“Too late now,” Dave says with a chuckle. “So do we need five or six bottles of whiskey?”

“That’s way too much alcohol,” Andi complains, looking a little green still from her drinking last night.

Cooper and Jon chuckle, saying “Six,” at the exact same time.

“That’s what I thought.” Dave heads to my phone, and we listen on as he attempts to order the bottles of alcohol and has to argue with whoever is on the other line when they refuse to charge it to his room from my phone. “I’ll have to get them once my room opens up.”

Hanging up the phone with a snap, he plops down beside Jon.

“What do we do now?” I ask as the room fills with silence. All of them are clearly comfortable with sitting and not talking, but I fear my secrets will be whispered in the room unless someone is saying something stupid.

“We wait until the horn sounds for the sail away,” Cooper answers as he takes a lone chair to the left of the table.

“Then we have to go do that dumbass safety briefing,” Dave snarls. “Like we don’t know we’ll die if the ship crashes?”

“Every year you bitch about it,” Jon says. “Every year we still have to do it.”

“We could just stay in here until it’s over,” I offer.

“Can’t do that,” Andi chimes in. “They check the rooms.”

“We can hide in the bathroom,” Cooper suggests.

“Can’t,” Dave objects. “Remember what happened the first year?”

The entire group laughs at something I’m not privileged to, and it’s then that I know I’m still an outsider.

Even though I fight it, my eyes follow every step as Joey makes his way around the room. The tip of his finger running over the king-sized bed is felt on my stomach. The grip of his hand on the bathroom door is echoed on my cock. I’m sweating by the time he makes his way to the balcony. I picture the curtains blowing in the breeze around his naked body when they flutter as he pulls the door open. Romantic? Yes, but still the image is hot as fuck.

“Holy shit,” he screeches.

Yeah, baby. It’s all for you.

“What is it?” Andi asks standing from the floor where she sat earlier near Jon’s feet.

Immediately, I’m snapped out of my fantasy of the things I’ll never get to do to him in this room.

“What a waste,” I mumble and freeze when I realize I’ve said it out loud.

“What was that?” Jon asks, pulling his eyes from Joey and Andi looking in my direction.

“The balcony,” I say pointing that way. “It’s wasted on me since I’m afraid of heights.”

“Pussy,” Cooper jokes as he, too, gets up and joins Joey and Andi. “Check this out, Dave. We don’t even have to go anywhere to watch the sail away.”

“The roller coaster didn’t bother you,” Jon reminds me as he walks by.

I wait for him to call me out on the inconsistency, but he just joins them outside.

“There’s a pretty high guardrail,” Joey says coming back inside a couple of feet. “You’re safe.”

I feel like a child at the softness in his voice, but fuck if I don’t want to take his proffered hand.

“I’m not afraid of heights,” I whisper-hiss with everyone else outside.

“No?” The knowing smirk on his face tells me he knows it without me even saying it.

“I got caught fantasizing about fucking you out there,” I explain even though I don’t think I have to. “It’s the fastest lie I could come up with.”

“I can’t wait.” His bottom lip rolls between his teeth.

“For what?” I ask playing along.

“For you to fuck me out there.”

“Jesus,” I groan. “I’m not going to—”

“You should see the dolphins out here,” Andi interrupts. “I can’t believe you got a room at the very front of the ship.”

“It’s a great room,” I agree before giving Joey a chastising look and disappearing into the bathroom.

Walking around this ship, seeing his shirt cling to his muscled chest, and not being able to touch him or keep my cock from expressing interest is going to be fucking impossible. Locking the door, I strip and step into the surprisingly roomy shower. With the cold water all the way on, I stand and shiver until I convince myself that I’ll survive this vacation with my head still intact. I stand there so long I actually wonder if Joey will treat my wounds if I just go out there and tell Jon the truth.