“Go away!” I scream with my pillow over my head. The banging on the door is louder than the banging in my head. Aaron must have lost his key card. Well, fuck him. I roll back over but the knocking continues.

“Tanya!” Megan’s muffled voice comes through the door.

Oh shit. I totally forgot.

I force myself out of bed and shuffle over to the door. “Hey, snorkel buddy!” Megan says as I open it. She’s all ready to go wearing a tank top and shorts over her bikini.

My eyes are painfully heavy after the lack of sleep last night. “You are way too chipper today,” I say, yawning. “I preferred hungover Megan.”

“I slept thirteen hours and am ready to go!” she says, jumping up and down.

“Great,” I say, barely able to stand on my heavy legs. I slept what, maybe two?

She checks her watch. “The bus leaves in twenty minutes.”

“What?” I ask, rolling my head back. “I haven’t had my-”

“Breakfast?” she asks, holding up a bag. She takes out a banana, a yogurt and an apple.

“Or a-”

“Coffee?” she asks, holding up a coffee to go. She knows me too well.

“Alright,” I say, letting her in. “You bought yourself out of being murdered. For now.”

“Perfect,” she says, barging past me into the room. “Now get your bikini and we’ll get our snorkel on.” She looks around the room. “Where’s Aaron? Is he at breakfast?”

“Yeah,” I say. He’s probably balls deep in some tart right now.

I still haven’t told Megan. For two reasons. I’m still a little hurt about Stephanie being the maid of honor and am not in the mood to confide in her but mostly I don’t want any drama to cast a shadow on her wedding week.

“This is the worst view ever,” Megan says, looking out the window as I get ready. “Did they not have any views of the garbage dump left?”

We head to the entrance of the resort when I’m all lathered in suntan lotion and wearing my bikini under my shorts and shirt. Stephanie sees us walking and runs over. Oh God.

“Hey, bestie!” she says, kissing Megan on both cheeks. She turns and glares at me. “Hello, Tanya.”

Now I really wish I hadn’t gotten out of bed.

Stephanie turns back to Megan. “Where are we going?”

“We’re going snorkeling,” I answer. “I don’t know about you.”

“I love snorkeling!” Stephanie says, clapping her hands together. “I’ll tag along.”

“Great,” I mumble, rolling my eyes.

“Actually,” Megan says, scratching the back of her neck. “I was just going to go with Tanya.”

Stephanie waves her off. “The more the merrier,” she says. “I’ll go get my stuff and meet you in the front.”

“We leave in forty minutes,” I call out to the back of her blond head.

“I’ll be back in ten,” she answers.

“Sorry,” Megan says when she’s out of earshot.

I take a deep breath and walk to the benches in the front of the lobby without saying a word. I just don’t get it. Why is she friends with her?

Stephanie comes back after only five minutes. Any hopes of us leaving the resort before she returned vanish with her nauseating presence.

The minibus arrives and Stephanie bounces up off the bench. “Shotgun sitting next to Megan,” she says. We get on the bus and Stephanie pulls Megan down onto the seat next to her. I sit in front of them and the large, sweaty Italian man who was standing behind me in the Speedo on the first day sits down next to me. His big, sweaty thighs press up against mine no matter how close to the wall I squeeze.

Heat is radiating off his body and the tropical sun is beating down on me through the closed window. I fiddle with the air jet but nothing is coming out.

“Why is the air conditioning always broken in the buses out here?” I ask.

“And the windows don’t open,” Megan adds. “Great.”

“I think it’s a safety issue,” I say. “Apparently Mexicans are prone to falling out bus windows or something.”

Forty minutes and a few suicidal thoughts later we arrive at the dock. We get herded into a small cabin and after a short initiation video that nobody understands we head to the boat. It’s a medium-sized, old fishing boat that is bouncing up and down on the water.

Stephanie pulls off her beach dress and I can’t help but roll my eyes. She’s wearing a really, really, skimpy, bright pink bikini that is like a banner saying ‘please look at my tits.’

The snorkel instructors on the boat are loving it. Everyone is watching her as she bounces around excitedly on the sand. The guys are all watching with arousal and the women are all watching with annoyance.

A young, muscular guy on the boat turns up the music, which sounds tinny as if it’s coming through a conch shell or something. “Woo!” Stephanie cries out, dancing on the sand with her arms in the air and her tits bouncing up and down.

Megan steps beside me and leans in. “Look at me, look at me. Shaking my ass and my tits for free.”

I join in the song. “Look at me, look at me. I’m embarrassing myself, come and see!”

“Look at me, look at me. Everyone is hoping that I fall into the sea.”

“Look at me, look at me. I’m an attention whore to the tenth degree.”

“Alright, that’s enough.”

“Agreed.”

Stephanie waves to the guys on the boat who are grinning back at her.

“So much for our alone time,” I say.

“Maybe we’ll get lucky and she’ll get eaten by a shark,” Megan answers.

I shake my head. “Once they taste the silicone they’ll probably spit her back out.”

We both burst out laughing and Megan grabs my hand. “Let’s go,” she says, pulling me up the dock to the boat.

The boat is a little old and ragged and desperately in need of a paint job but it’s still really nice to be out on the water. The sun is out in full swing today and the water is an insane turquoise color that you normally only find on screen savers at the office. Megan sits between us on the wooden benches along the side of the boat. There’s a bench on the opposite side and all of the flippers, goggles, life jackets and snorkels are piled in the middle. There’s a small bar offering free drinks next to the tiny bathroom.

The engine roars to life and a fine spray of water refreshes our faces as the boat leaves the shore. The guide yells the instructions over the thunderous engine, never taking his eyes off of Stephanie the entire time. I guess she’s the only one who’s worth saving or maybe he thinks she’s so dumb that she’s the only one who can’t figure out how to work a snorkel. I like the latter option better. We’ll go with that.

“Now who wants a drink?” the young, muscular guide asks.

“I do,” Stephanie says, her hand shooting into the air. “Bloody Caesar, extra spicy.” Her voice even sounds sexual when she orders a drink.

The guide ignores the other hands that are in the air and pulls her to the bar. He holds up a small bottle of hot sauce with a skull and crossbones on the label. “It’s very spicy,” he warns.

“Good!” she says, strutting back to her seat. “I really like it hot.” She laughs as she squeezes on the bench between Megan and I. “This is so fun,” she says as she wraps her arm around Megan’s neck and digs her other elbow into my ribs. “My bestie and…Tanya.”

The guide comes back with her drink and smiles as he hands it to her. “Fuck,” she says, as she takes a sip. “It’s so spicy!” She dumps it over the boat into the beautiful turquoise water.

“I don’t think you can do that,” I say, looking over the edge. “The coral around here is really fragile.”

“Who cares?” she says, throwing the empty plastic cup over to join the drink.

She laughs when she sees my outraged face. “You’re not still mad about Aaron are you?” she asks. “It doesn’t count if it’s in a different area code.”

Megan cranes her head around Stephanie. “What?”

“Oh it’s nothing,” Stephanie says, waving her off. “Tanya is just overreacting.”

Megan looks at me, trying to read my face.

“Yeah,” I say. “It’s nothing.”

Megan is not buying it. “What happened?” she mouths when Stephanie is looking away.

“Nothing,” I mouth back. I still don’t feel like talking about it with her and especially with Stephanie sitting between us.

The boat slows to a crawl and the guide stands back up. “Okay,” he says, in his heavy accent. “Grab a life jacket and jump in the water.”

Stephanie grabs three snorkels and stands out of the way. “I’ll hold the snorkels and hand them to you when you’re in the water.”

I look at her funny. She’s being nice and that’s not like her. “Uh, okay,” I say. She walks over to the bar and starts chatting with the bartender as Megan and I sort through the cold damp life jackets for our size.

We get dressed up and watch the other tourists flip over the boat backward. Megan and I look at each other and laugh. We’re not the most athletic of people.

“Let’s go, klutz,” Megan says, sitting down on the ledge. She flips over backward and lands on her head with a splat. She pops out of the water rubbing her head.

I try next and am even less graceful, landing on my back. Stephanie reaches over the boat and hands us our goggles and snorkel with an evil smile on her face.

The guide tosses some ripped up tortilla pieces into the water and a school of fish pop out of nowhere.

“Ahh!” I scream as something brushes against my leg. There are fish everywhere.

Megan puts the snorkel in her mouth and dunks her head in the water as Stephanie flips backward over the boat perfectly. God, I hate her. Her hair is perfectly slicked back as she pops out of the water. The top strap of her life jacket is open and her big tits are proudly on display. Who is she trying to impress now? The fish?

I slip on my goggles, put the snorkel in my mouth and put my face in the warm ocean water. Colorful fish are darting around everywhere tearing the tortillas apart.

I breathe in through the snorkel just like the guide told Stephanie, and my mouth and throat fills up with liquid fire.

FUCK!!!!

I burst out of the water spitting out the insanely hot, hot sauce, not caring if every piece of coral in the ocean dies. I just have to get it out of my mouth. The next thirty seconds is a jumble of coughing, gagging, choking, crying, wheezing and gargling salt water.

When my eyes finally stop watering I see Stephanie laughing at me with the snorkeling instructors. Megan is swimming a few yards away, oblivious to what happened.

Stephanie’s face turns from laughing to a mean glare. “Oh, relax…Yawn-ya.”

It’s fucking on now.

* * *

I’m desperate for a nap when the minibus finally pulls up to our resort at the end of the day. I’m beyond exhausted. Not so much from the sun or from not sleeping, but from dealing with Stephanie all day. It just got worse after the hot sauce incident. She actually made out with the snorkel guide in front of a family of five. The image of his hand on her bathing suit, lodged in the crack of her ass is seared into my brain forever.

For once I’m happy that my room is literally in the lobby. I’m there in a few exhausted steps.

“Nice room, Tanya,” Stephanie says with a laugh. “Are you staying in the janitor’s closet?”

I just grit my teeth. I’ll get back at her but right now I’m too fucking tired.

Stephanie wraps her arm around Megan and pulls her away. “Come, Megan,” she says, glaring at me over her shoulder. “Let’s go back to our beachfront rooms overlooking the ocean.”

Megan glances back with the same ‘I’m sorry’ look that she’s been giving me all day.

I roll my eyes and turn back to the door. Grow a backbone Megan. But I guess I could say the same for me.

Aaron is in the room watching TV. The air conditioner is blasting and it’s beyond freezing in the room. He doesn’t even turn when I walk in.

“Can I have the room please?” I ask. “I’d like to take a nap.”

“So take it,” he says with a shrug. “But I’m staying here. It’s too fucking hot out there.”

“Please?” I ask again. I need him to be nice to me right now. I’m way too tired for this.

“You can sleep on the balcony,” he says with a smirk on his face.

“You don’t have to be such a dick,” I say. “You’re the one who cheated on me remember? You have nothing to be mad at me for.”

He just stares at the TV with a blank face. “I was here first.”

“Fine,” I say, grabbing my beach bag out of the closet. I check the pocket for the key card. It’s still there.

I slam the door and walk across the long resort to the VIP building. It’s much nicer than the regular buildings, with huge bouquets of fresh flowers every few feet, nice paintings hanging on the walls and staff that smile more than the staff in the lobby.

I find room 327 and take a deep breath before knocking. Even the door is nicer. It’s solid oak with an intricate carved design on it. When there’s no answer I slide Ethan’s key card in the slot and the lock clicks open.

He’s sitting on the balcony behind the closed sliding door reading All Angels Fall. He’s shirtless with that cute look of concentration on his face as he reads. The spectacular ocean is visible in the background and I stand there for a few seconds enjoying the sight of Ethan sitting shirtless in front of it.

His room is large and clean. His clothes are neatly folded in the large closet and his suitcase is tucked away under the desk, unlike Aaron whose clothes are still lying on the floor from the first day.

There’s a walk-in shower with a Jacuzzi in the bathroom and the bed in the middle of the room is massive. I moan as I look at the dozens of pillows and soft sheets. I just want to sink into it and sleep for days.

His cologne is on the desk under the large flat screen TV and I take a whiff of it as I walk through the room. The smell brings me right back to the dance floor last night.

He turns and smiles when he sees me in the room. His smile just gets bigger when I slide open the patio door. Wow, there’s a hot tub out here.

“How was snorkeling?” he asks.

“Wonderful,” I lie. “I didn’t get eaten by a shark.”

He puts the book down in his lap. “That’s always good.”

I shift my weight from foot to foot as the awkward silence fills the air between us. I try not to look at his big chest and ripped abs.

“What can I do for you?” he asks with a smile.

My shoulders drop. “I really need a nap.”

“By all means,” he says, jumping out of his seat.

“You don’t have to get up,” I say.

“Oh please,” he says, stepping into the room. He fixes the bed, opening the sheets and removing some of the pillows for me. He turns the lights off and closes the blinds.

“I didn’t mean to disturb you,” I say, feeling bad as he rushes around the room.

He stops and looks at me with a serious expression on his gorgeous face. “You could never disturb me.”

He takes the bag from my hand and places it in the closet. He slides his clothes over to one side on every shelf. “This is your side of the closet.”

“I wasn’t going to stay the week,” I say when he pulls out a stack of towels from the bathroom. He just ignores me.

“Your towels. Your drawers,” he says, tapping the dresser. “I’ll bring your suitcase over while you’re sleeping.”

I open my mouth to argue but I’m too tired. Plus, I don’t want to go back to my old room anyway.

“Okay,” I whisper as I slide into Ethan’s bed. The sheets are cold and crisp and feel nice on my sunburnt skin. My eyes are heavy and I’m already having a hard time keeping them open now that I’m finally in bed.

Ethan walks over and tucks the blankets over me. He leans in and kisses my forehead.

“I thought you’d try to jump my bones if I was ever in your bed,” I say.

“That will be later,” he says with a sexy grin. “But right now you really look like you need a nap.”

“Thanks a lot.”

He jerks his head back in panic. “I didn’t mean it like that.” He looks like I caught him off guard. Score one for Tanya!

“I’ll let you get some rest,” he says, grabbing his book off the balcony and slipping on a shirt. He winks as he opens the front door. “I’ll be back later.”

I drift off to sleep dreaming about what’s going to happen next.