Chapter 42

Anthony

What the actual fuck just happened?

Quietly, as if not to spook anyone in the room, I watch for thirty minutes as Jon pounds back glass after glass of amber liquid. Cooper gives him a wide berth but comments once or twice about calming down and how Andi is just acting like Andi.

While all of this is going on, all I can think is how the situation between Jon and Andi is more volatile and capable of causing a million more problems with the group than the simple fact that Joey and I are together. Now I understand Joey’s hesitancy in telling Jon or moving things forward with us. I think the shit between Andi and Jon was going to blow up eventually anyway, but I’m saddened that Andi knowing about us was what knocked that first domino down.

“Why don’t you just hit that already,” Dave says from my bed.

“I swear to hell if you puke in my bed,” I warn.

“She’s Joey’s best friend,” Jon explains with more composure than I expect from a man who just got into a screaming match with a girl he’s hyper-focused on. That’s not even taking into account the half of a bottle of Jameson he’s poured down his throat. “There’s a rule.”

With strangely sober accuracy, Dave finds my eyes before saying, “Fuck the rule.”

“I don’t shit where I eat,” Jon mutters before turning his glass back up again.

Well, there’s a visual.

“You’re shitting on her anyway, and I don’t think you even realize it until she confronts you,” Cooper adds.

Jon stands, his empty tumbler hitting the carpeted floor with a thud. I stand from the couch, ready to get in between these two friends. No one likes to be confronted when they’ve been fucking up, but trying to force information on a pissed off drunk guy isn’t the smartest plan.

Cooper and Jon stand, damn near nose to nose, for the longest minute in history before Jon shoves past him and toward the door.

“Let’s go fucking party,” Jon snaps right before he tugs the suite door open.

“Fuck,” Cooper complains before following his friend out of the room.

“You better go,” Dave urges as he snuggles deeper in my bed. “Coop may need your help with that crazy fucker.”

“Yeah,” I agree and grab my access card from the night table.

With the swiftness of a ninja, Dave grabs my hand before I can pull it back. His eyes find mine.

“I’m happy for you two.” I try to swallow past the lump in my throat and fail. “He really cares about you.”

“And I him,” I reply once I’m able to formulate the words.

“Hurt him, and I’ll fucking kill you.”

Smirking, I look down at his hand still gripping my wrist. “He’s not teaching you the ropes.”

He releases me as his laugh begins to echo through the room. “I’m not gay, dude. The only guy who will be sucking my dick is me.”

The fuck?

He just winks at me. “Better catch up. Jon is looking to beat ass tonight.”

“Right,” I say standing straight again. “You going to be okay in here?”

“Sleep on the couch when you get back,” he orders like he’s the one paying for the damn room. “If I wake up with your dick poking me, I’ll castrate you, and that will hurt Joey. If Joey gets hurt, you die.”

I’m chuckling as I make my way to the door.

“Watch out for Jon’s right hook,” he mumbles before I close him in my room to sleep.

It takes ten minutes to maneuver myself around the throngs of people walking around having a blast on their last night onboard. They all look tired, weather-weary, and kissed by the sun, but smiles are on everyone’s faces. Well, almost everyone, I realize when I finally make it to the table to find Jon glaring across the room while Cooper tries to distract him.

“Next round on me?” I offer as soon as I walk up, but the tension is so thick, and Jon is so hyper-focused that I’m not even sure he heard me.

Cooper shakes his head as if to say alcohol is the very last thing Jon needs right now. It’s then that I look across the club to see the same assholes from the beach yesterday dancing with Andi and…

“Motherfucker,” I hiss when I see douche number two with his hands on Joey’s hips as they all dance and laugh at some fucking joke I’m not privileged to hear. “Those are the assholes from the beach.”

“Only adding fuel to the raging fire,” Cooper warns.

Jon is simmering, close to boiling over with anger. Knuckles white from gripping the edge of the table, I’m afraid that hold is the only thing keeping him from shoving everyone out of the way and heading in Andi’s direction. This fucking game they’re playing with each other is out of fucking control.

“How about we head downstairs and spend some money in that little arcade,” I offer like Jon is just going to give up his seething jealousy and play a game of pinball.

“Already tried,” Cooper says.

“What do we do?” I mouth to Cooper who only shrugs.

“Never seen him like this before,” he mouths back.

“I’ll fucking kill him,” Jon threatens.

When I look back to the guys, I see Joey trying to shove one asshole’s hands off of him while the other guy holds Andi against his chest. Her eyes are on Jon, and she’s not even trying to push the guy away from her. It’s the vindictive ire in her eyes that’s the most concerning. I’m sure she will let this guy go as far as legally possible in public just to get a rise out of Jon, and that’s beyond fucked up.

The guy, completely unaware that a raging bull is about to charge, licks up the column of her neck. She cringes, hands getting ready to push him away, but she stops. Eyes focused on Jon, she tilts her neck even further so the guy can practically bury his face in her cleavage.

“Oh shit,” I mutter when Jon stands up.

“Don’t,” I hear Joey yell as Jon crosses the room in a matter of seconds.

The one trying to cop a feel of my guy is smart and sober enough to take a step back at the sight of our trio coming their way. The one on Andi isn’t so cognizant of his surroundings and catches Jon’s fist with the side of his face.

“Fuck,” the guy hisses looking over at us, confusion and pain forcing his eyes to cross before refocusing.

Cooper and I both reach for Jon, but it seems one hit is all he needed.

“Fuck off,” he hisses, shrugging both of us off and turning to leave.

“Jon!” Andi yells over the music as people turn in amusement to watch the altercation.

Having more brains than I thought, the two assholes that assisted in this mess are backing away.

“Jon!” Andi yells again, but he doesn’t stop as he storms out of the club.

Andi, not knowing when to leave things alone follows after him, and I have to grab ahold of Joey to keep him from doing the same.

“They need to work their own shit out,” I say close to his ear.

“I need a fucking drink,” Cooper mutters before walking away.

Before he can even get ten feet away, the chick from the sun deck is plastered to his side.

“We have to go after them,” Joey insists before I can agree with Cooper and follow him to the bar.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I counter. “They have to talk this shit out.”

“See what I mean?” Joey asks taking a step to the side of the dance floor when people resume dancing around us.

“You know as well as I do that this was coming even before I made an appearance in the group.”

“Maybe,” he half-heartedly agrees.

“He’s going to hurt her.” I know he doesn’t mean physically, but sometimes I wonder if emotional pain isn’t more detrimental.

“They’re hurting each other,” I tell him.

“I think Cooper has the right idea,” he mutters looking around the room.

“Please tell me you’re talking about getting a drink and not jumping from one bed to the next.”

“Silly man.” I freeze when he tilts his head and brushes a kiss to my lips. “I’ll only be jumping between my bed and yours.”

I don’t bother hiding the smile on my face when he clasps my hand and drags me to the bar.