G-Men: The Series (149 page)

~ Taz ~

Okay, I felt like a semi-jerk with the way I’d handled things with Lindsey earlier. I’m not gonna lie, I could be a real asshole at times. But shit, I needed some male bonding time too, and she needed to get on board with that. I wasn’t going to be some pussy-whipped lap dog; that’s just how it was.

We’d already watched one bowl game and I was a hundred bucks up. Slate was pissed…just like he always was when he didn’t win, or at least come out ahead of me. Eli had soaked him for another hundred on point spread. Hah!

Colin and Easton had even joined us for the start of the next bowl game. I knew Brits considered football to be some kind of knock-off of the real sport of soccer, but I’d also learned that they recognized American football—note that the word “American” has to precede the word “football” in order for everyone to be on the same page here.

Apparently, Darcy and Ronnie had gone on a guided shopping tour for couture as Easton had put it. Thank God Lindsey wasn’t all hung up on that shit. Hell, being married to someone like Darcy would bankrupt someone like me pretty fucking quick; though I doubted if she had even made a dent in my brother’s wad.

“Sammie said she might stop down,” Slate, said, tossing a handful of salted peanuts into his mouth, and washing them down with a cold swig of draft from his mug. “She didn’t feel like doing any more shopping.”

“Say again,” I said, his words now registering in my brain.

“My wife!” he said loudly, as if I were hearing impaired. “She. Is. Going. To. Stop. Down…Here.” He annunciated each word as if he were talking to someone that had to read lips, gesturing with his hands at the same time.

“I heard you the first time, dickhead!” I snarled. “I thought she went with Lindsey to that fucking natural pond or whatever.”

Slate shrugged, obviously clueless. “She just texted me five minutes ago and said she was going to get a shower and then she’d be down. She’s been out by the pool. That’s all I know.”

What the fuck?

“Oh, I saw her leave the ship with Cain,” Eli piped up, rather quietly.

We all knew that there was shit going on between Eli and Cain, but I don’t nose into other dudes’ business like chicks do. Lindsey had brought the subject up the other day and I had only half-listened. The fact that Cain was with her versus Sammie, actually gave me a better level of comfort. Chicks had a fucking propensity to get lost in unfamiliar surroundings. Dudes possessed an innate sense of direction.

“Well, that’s probably better anyway,” I said, downing the rest of my beer. “I wasn’t too thrilled with the idea of Lindsey and Sammie going off to find some rock formations and natural pond without having a tour guide, but I figured if you were okay with it, Slate, then there was no need to worry.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean, douche bag?” he asked, his eyes fired up.

I leaned back in my chair and chuckled. “It wasn’t an insult, dude. Chill. It’s just everyone
knows
how over-protective you are with your wife, you know? Always checking in with her, coming
unglued
if she’s fucking late getting back from here or there. Hell, you blow Lindsey’s phone up when Sammie’s at our house sometimes.”

“Yeah, fuck you,” he quipped, waving the server over for another beer, and not getting his attention.

“I got it,” Eli said, getting up. “This round’s on me anyway. I’ll go up to the bar and get it.”

I was starting to watch the game again when Colin came over and nodded his head toward the door to the bar. “Can we talk outside?”

“Sure,” I said, pulling my legs off of the chair next to me where they’d been stretched out during the game.

I followed him outside of the bar and listened to what he had to say.

On the seventh day of vacay, my true love gave to me: A lesson in humility…

^{chapter 8}

On the eighth day of vacay…

~ Cain ~

I rolled over on the sofa in the living room of our suite. It was damn uncomfortable, but this is where I’d been sleeping since New Year’s. My feet hung over the edge and my back was stiff from not being able to stretch out fully.

Shit! Maybe I deserved all of this. This had turned out to be the vacay from hell as far as I was concerned. It was my own damn fault, too. What the hell had I been thinking making a pass at Ronnie? She had clearly given me no signals whatsoever that she felt anything but friendship.

Clearly, she had told Colin about it. I was fairly sure that whole erotic sex scene those two staged just after the New Year rolled in out by the pool was for my benefit. Christ Almighty! I had stood there like a fucking voyeur watching it and getting a fucking hard-on that wouldn’t quit!

It wasn’t that I hadn’t wanted to leave, but I just wasn’t sure if they had even known I was there, after I made my departure from our suite, looking for some solace and time to reflect on the bungling mistake I had just made with Eli.

So, I had walked down to the pool to reflect and calm myself and then, before I knew it, I had company. I moved back underneath the awning of the closed Tiki bar, hoping they didn’t know I was there. But it wasn’t all that far away and to leave the pool area, I would’ve had to walk right past them.

Fuck that!

I sat up on the couch, resigned to the fact I wasn’t going to be able to get back to sleep. It was time I dealt with the real issue though. My back was aching from the climb over those rocks yesterday, trying to find that fucking natural bridge with Lindsey.

We had just found it when out of fucking nowhere, her husband came to a screeching halt in some ATV he had commandeered, jumped off, and closed the distance between us as quick as lightning.

It had startled both me and Lindsey, and when I saw the expression on the dude’s face, I knew it wasn’t good.

“Lindsey!” he had hollered. “Get your ass in the vehicle—now!”

“Taz,” she started, clearly puzzled by his demeanor, “What’s up with you?”

“Just do it,” he growled, not taking his eyes from me as though I was some fucking predator out to cop a fuck with every dude’s wife.

“What about the jeep I rented?” she asked, looking back and forth between us.

“Cain can drive it back. You’re coming with me,” he snapped.

She turned and walked past him, going the forty yards to where he’d parked the ATV.

“You,” he snarled, jabbing his finger in the air as a show of force, “you need to fucking leave everyone’s old lady alone here. Got it?”

I nodded, not necessarily frightened by his obvious attempt at intimidation, but because he was right.

Let’s be clear: I had not made a pass at Lindsey, nor had I intended to do so. She had listened quietly while I told her everything that had happened a few days before with Ronnie. She had paid attention to me when I told her it had been a mistake…and nothing more than an attempt by me to deny what I was and had been feeling with Eli. And that feeling was fear.

Yes, I feared what I felt for Eli. So much that I wanted to deny to myself—and to him, that I felt it. Eli was the longest relationship that I’d been in—ever. I knew in my heart I could very easily spend the rest of my life with him. But it scared the hell out of me. It represented a permanent commitment and that was a reality I wasn’t ready to face. I had commitment issues; there was no doubt about that.

Lindsey had listened patiently as my story spilled out. Then she asked me if I wanted her opinion, because she had one. I told her I did and she gave it. Five minutes later was when Taz pulled up, going all alpha on us…figuring I was just some shit-stain that was making plays on all the chicks. Fuck me.

I got up, stretching and went into the bedroom where Eli was up and getting dressed for the day. I had heard him talking to the others about meeting them for brunch the night before.

“Are we ever going to talk, Eli?” I asked him as I stood in the doorway.

He scoffed, not looking over at me. “I think you pretty much said all you had to say a few days ago,” he replied.

“No,” I said, walking closer to him. “There’s more to it and I need to tell you about it. Actually, Lindsey is the one that helped me come to terms with it.”

“Lindsey?”

“Yeah,” I said with a laugh. “Despite what the others think, I’m not some whore-dog out to cop someone’s old lady—or old man—as the case may be. I’m someone who’s terrified of the feelings that I have for you and the commitment that goes with it.”

“I’m listening,” he said, finally turning to look at me.

“It’s going to take a while to explain it all, Eli,” I said. “Hey, I know you have plans, man. We can talk later.”

“We can talk now,” he said firmly. “I’ll order breakfast in. Because one way or another, Cain, you and I are going to decide if this relationship we’ve had for the better part of two years is worth saving, and if so, how we go about doing it.”

“I agree,” I said, smiling and going over to stand next to him, wanting to touch him, but afraid he wasn’t ready. “Lindsey even gave me some ideas on that as well.”

“She did, huh?” he said, inching closer, his lips now capturing mine. “She’s quite a girl, isn’t she?”

On the eighth day of vacay, my true love gave to me: A commitment to do “Couples Therapy.”

(Thank you, Lindsey!)

^{chapter 9}

On the ninth day of vacay…

~ Slate ~

What the hell was going on now? I fucking got up to take a piss in the middle of the night and found Lindsey asleep on the sofa in the living room of our suite. It was a good thing I had boxers on, because I usually sleep in the raw.

“Sammie,” I said, getting back into bed. “What the hell is Lindsey doing out on the couch?”

“Hmmm?” she murmured sleepily, starting to wake up. “Oh, yeah. Well, you had already passed out in here when she came over last night. Apparently she had Taz had some kind of fight and she needed some distance.”

“Ah,
shit.”

“It’ll be okay,” she whispered groggily. “I’m sure they’ll make up today.”

“They damn well better,” I growled, pulling her close to me in bed. “You know I like to have our play time without an audience here.”

“I know, Eric. Go back to sleep, baby.”