The Education of Sebastian & the Education of Caroline (101 page)

I shrugged. “Yeah, guess it seemed like a good idea at the time.” I’d had the Corp’s logo inked onto my shoulder. I’d almost had ‘Infidel’ in Arabic, but luckily I hadn’t been drunk enough to go for that. “Whatever, man. Let’s surf!”

The ocean was colder than a witch’s tit, the swell coming in from Alaska by the feel of it. But it was epic: me and Ches, just like old times. Until the asshat dropped in on me, grinning like a loon as I got trashed by a wave breaking on my head. I thought I’d snapped the leash the way that it was tugging on my ankle. When I broke the surface, the bastard was laughing at me.

“You’re out of practice, dude!” he crowed.

I decided I owed him for that—and I was going to get him so wasted, he’d wish he was going home in a body bag. Game on.

We surfed for a couple more hours and Del and Tyler joined us for a while. I was right about Tyler—the guy was seriously out of his depth. Even though he acted like a dick, I didn’t think it would be cool if the bride’s brother didn’t make it back from TJ. I don’t think he knew it, but Ches and I were tag-teaming him, just to make sure when we called time-out, he’d still be breathing.

But after I’d heard him complain about only being able to take a basic cold shower on the beach, I was ready to toss him back in the ocean. Ches just rolled his eyes, and the other guys ignored him.

Once we dressed and spiffed up for the rest of the day and night, we drove back toward TJ and left the van by the beach, taking a cab the couple of miles back to town.
La Revolucion Boulevard was the main strip where all the bars were lined up, ready for inspection. As soon as we got out of the cab, I saw a bunch of Marines and Navy guys who were already wasted, and about one minute from beating the shit out of each other. Ches spotted them at the same time, and we took a long walk around them, not wanting to get caught up in a turf war when there were plenty of other bars to check out.

As we looked for somewhere to eat, there were all these little kids, like six or seven selling gum. I mean, where the fuck were their parents? If they were my kids, I wouldn’t be letting them hang around the streets like that.

We decided not to waste time and money on a sit down meal, but loaded up at one of the taco stands that seemed to be on every corner. Ches insisted we all get some crappy TJ t-shirts as souvenirs, for fuck’s sake, and Tyler was taking photographs like a fucking tourist. I couldn’t help wondering if his camera phone would still be in his pants pocket by the end of the night. We zoned in on a bar called Papas and Beer. Jeez, what a fucking meat market for the young and willing. Tyler looked like he was about to blow his wad just by looking. When we scooted into a booth, I made sure I wasn’t sitting near him. Even though it was still early evening, there were people dry humping everywhere you looked.

Ches looked kind of uncomfortable, but I got the feeling it was going to be hard to get the other guys to go somewhere else.

“Hi! My name is Dina and I’ll be your server this evening.”

Vince and Del make no secret of eye-fucking our waitress. I couldn’t blame them—she was
hot
. She had this really pretty, auburn hair that was kind of curly. I know some girls paid a lot of money to get their hair permed that way, but hers looked natural. But, hey, no one was looking at her hair when her jeans shorts were cut so high, I could see the curve of her ass cheeks. And long, long legs. Nice.

“What do you guys need?”

“I need you to sit on my face,” said Tyler.

I’d really had enough of his shit. “Shut the fuck up, you douche!” I snapped. “Sorry about that, ma’am. He woke up an asshole and then got uglier.”

I shook my head in apology while Dina gave Tyler the stink-eye.

“Feel free to piss in his beer,” I said, not entirely joking.

Dina turned to me and grinned. “Well, I might just think about that! What would the rest of you like?”

“We’ll take a pitcher of beer, a bottle of tequila and six glasses, pretty lady,” said Vince.

As she walked away, the sway of her hips was really fucking fascinating. Every single one of us had our eyeballs glued to her butt-cheeks. Including Ches. There was no doubt about it: Dina was one hot mama.

Ches caught my eye and grinned. “Whatever you’re thinking, man, just don’t miss our morning surf or your ass is grass.”

“You’re joking!” laughed Tyler. “She’s gotta be like 35!”

“Seb digs older chicks,” said Ches, with a shrug.

I frowned as I looked at him, and he had the grace to look a little abashed. “Sorry, man,” he muttered.

Luckily Tyler didn’t make anything of it, or I’d have been tempted to rearrange his face.

When Dina returned with the drinks, she leaned down so her chest was almost in my face and I had to sit back in the booth or get two black eyes.

“I get off at two, honey. Stick around.”

Not going anywhere, baby
.

Only Ches heard what she said to me, but he didn’t comment. He pulled out his wallet to pay for the drinks, but I stopped him.

“No way, man! It’s your bachelor party—your money’s no good.”

“Aw! Is he getting married?” said Dina, with a sweet smile.

“Yup,” said Ches, proudly. “To the prettiest girl in San Diego.”

Now, I loved Ches, I really did, but calling Amy ‘the prettiest girl in SD’ was stretching things. She had great tits, true enough, but not even Ray Charles would have called her ‘pretty’. It was living proof that love is blind.

“Who’s the best man?” said Dina.

“My buddy, Seb,” said Ches, throwing his arm around my shoulders. “I’ve known this fucker for nine years.”

Dina smiled again, winked, and walked away.

Ches raised his eyebrows. “Don’t forget to love with a glove, man,” he smirked.

I saluted him in the usual way, “Go fuck yourself.”

We started knocking back the liquor and talking trash to all the tourist girls who were there—most of them down from San Diego. A lot of college girls came because the drinking age is 18 here, and they weren’t going to get carded.

Vince and Tyler were kind of assholes, yelling out, “damn look at that ass!” or “Hey baby, where you goin’?”

I told them that if they did that again when the girls were with any military guys, they were going to end up in a good ole beat-down. Dumbasses didn’t listen.

We were on about our fifth or sixth round of drinks when the show started. It was pretty tame—nothing I hadn’t seen before. Strippers, pole-dancing, tassels, fake tan, and fake boobs. Traditional for a bachelor party, you know. Half way through, I wandered up to the stage to order a lap dance for Ches.

“You want a
private
dance, honey?” said a woman with long black hair and a really cute Mexican accent.

“Um, yeah, for my friend, please, ma’am.”

“Not for you, baby?” she said, running a long fingernail down my t-shirt, and resting her hand on my belt buckle.

I caught her hand before it drifted any further.

“Thanks, but some other time. Just for my buddy. It’s his bachelor party.”

“Pity,” she said. “Which one’s the guy?”

I pointed out Ches, who was doing shots so fast, his hand was practically a blur. Man, he was going to be wasted in the morning. Served the fucker right after dropping in on me. Then I remembered I’d promised Amy to look after him—and she scared the shit out of me. So I decided to have a word with our server.

She saw me looking for her. Dina. Right.

“Hey, honey! You’re eager!”

“Well, yeah!” I said, honestly. “But, um, could you water down the drinks at our table? I don’t really give a shit about the rest of those a-holes, but I don’t want the groom dyin’ on me.”

She smiled and pinched my ass. “You got it, handsome.”

Ches got his lap dance, and Tyler got his face slapped by the dancer. Served the bastard right. The guy really was a dick. I hoped Amy had a different set of genes than her brother, otherwise Ches was in big trouble.

An hour later, I lined the guys up outside, ready to pack them into a taxi. I told Del that I’d meet them back at the beach in the morning. He was the only one who wasn’t falling over drunk. I had my own appointment to keep.

But then Tyler-half-a-brain, started yelling out to some girl.

“Hey, gorgeous! You wanna give me your number? I’ll show you a good time, not like that no-brain gorilla you’re with.”

Holy shit, the guy had a death wish. He’d just picked on a mean looking jarhead, with the swagger that spoke of a skinful of liquor.

“What you say, you fuckin’ pussy?” the gorilla slurred.

“Nothing, man,” I said quickly. “The asshole is trashed. He apologizes to your girl.”

“No, I don’t!” laughed Tyler.

That was when the gorilla threw a punch. I managed to block most of it, but Tyler still ended face down on the sidewalk.

Then the other Marines piled in. Ah shit, I wasn’t going to see Ches get all beat up. I waded in, pulled the big fucker off of Tyler and got a few punches in before his fist caught me in the ribs. Fuck, that hurt.

Luckily, Dina had been keeping an eye out for me. I saw her empty out a pitcher of beer into the mass of bodies. That cooled it down long enough for me to push the rest of them into a taxi and get them the fuck out of there.

Dina was waiting for me, a smile on her face.

“Wow, thanks for that, ma’am … um … Dina. You’re pretty spry.”

“I’m a lot of things, honey,” she said, with a huge smile. Then she whispered in my ear. “I do yoga—I’m very bendy.”

Holy fuck!

She linked her arm through mine to walk along the street.

“What’s your name, honey? I can’t keep calling you that…”

“Sebastian.”

“That’s a nice name. Unusual—suits you. Well, Sebastian,
I thought I’d take you home and rock your world! Do you think you can keep up with me?”

“Sounds good to me, ma’am, I mean, Dina.”

And it did. It sounded really fucking good. I loved Ches, but all this wedding shit was making me a little crazy. I wanted to be able to forget everything. It was easy to fall headlong into a bottle, but Dina’s idea was turning me on big time. I loved it when a woman talked dirty—especially if she could do it in Italian. I’d have to remember to ask her later. Yeah, Spanish would work, too.

“So what else are you guys doing in TJ, other than getting trashed?”

“Surfing, hanging out, you know. Maybe some swimming, body surfing.”

She laughed, then pulled me into a darkened doorway.

“Baby, the only body surfing you’ll be doing is on me. Right here. Right now.”

Shiiit!

My back thudded against the door, and Dina was digging her nails in, as if she was trying to crawl up my body. Fuck, it hurt, but it was
hot
.

“You want to be bad with me, Sebastian? Because I sure as hell want to feel your hard dick in my …
fuck me!
”

Yeah, that was the general plan. Wait,
what?

Dina had grabbed a hold of my junk, and sue me, but I was hard as hell.

“You got a stick of dynamite in there, honey, ‘cause that’s sure as hell gonna blow my brains!”

She wrestled her door key out of her purse while I attacked her neck and bare shoulders with kisses.

We fell into the stairwell, and it was so damn dark, we were literally groping around. I had no problem with that, until she accidentally kneed me in the balls, and I crashed against the wall, cursing like a squid (sailor, in civvy-speak).

Dina laughed her ass off while I was writhing around on the ground.

“Sorry, honey. Please God tell me you can still use that equipment.”

I groaned out something that might have been a yes, I still wasn’t sure. In fact the only thing I
was
sure about was that I’d deflated faster than a Fourth of July balloon.

When she finally finished laughing, she took pity on me and put some lights on to lead me inside. I staggered to my feet, and went after her. I could hear music, and I guessed she’d put on a CD. She was singing along and dancing to the song—it was kinda sweet. But the next thing I saw were her denim shorts, abandoned on the floor. I followed the trail of clothes through her apartment, until I stepped out of a glass door and into the yard.

Hot tub! Oh fucking yes!

Dina was leaning back, smiling up at me, while bubbles swirled and frothed around her. Her gorgeous tits were floating. I mean, seriously—floating!

“Join me,” she said, waving an arm, and I wasn’t sure if it was an order or a request. I didn’t care. And if her backyard was overlooked by a dozen different windows, well hell—I hope they enjoyed the show.

I yanked off my t-shirt, pretty certain a few seams had just ripped, then kicked off my boots and socks.

I saw she was staring at my tattoo.

“Hmm, Marine, huh? I like!”

Damn, that tatt was worth its weight in pussy.