Page 31 of The All-Inclusive

And also a sign that what I’ve been thinking feels right. Something Trent said lit a fuse deep inside me and it hasn’t stopped sparking all day.

He might’ve shocked me with his confessions, but he also gave me the nudge that I needed to consider what I really want.

Not what my parents want, or my pastor, or even my friends.

Me.

Pulling my phone from the pocket of my robe, I find Trent’s contact still at the top of myfavorites.I type out a text I’ve composed in my mind for the last thirty minutes.

Come to my room at 10 a.m. Knock first this time.

CHAPTER 7

TRENT

Iread Sara’s text roughly six-thousand times as I’m lying in bed waiting for daybreak to come.

Come to my room at 10 a.m. Knock first this time.

I roll over in bed, barely aware that the world’s plushest pillow is cradling my head. Holyfield gave me a room for the night, making it clear that I wouldn’t be welcome to stay beyond that.

“This is a one-time exception to our resort rule about guests.” He sounded exhausted and I wondered what Sara had told him. “I want your ass on that plane home tomorrow.”

He also advised me to stay in my room unless summoned. He didn’t specify who might summon me, which turned out to be Sara’s soft cries.

She didn’t technically call out my name as she touched herself there in the moonlight. But I swear there’s a reason I knew to go walking last night. To peer up at her balcony just as she opened that satiny robe.

Some unseen force keeps pulling me to her. Pulling us together, in spite of the reasons I know I should stay away.

Does she feel it too?

Come to my room at 10 a.m. Knock first this time.

It’s just before six, so I get out of bed and do ten sets of thirty-rep pushups, followed by the same number of sit-ups. I also manage a few rounds of pullups on a bar I suspect was meant for more carnal acts.

And now that I’m thinking of sex, I rub one out quickly, picturing Sara touching herself in the moonlight.

God, I’m a pervert. If Sara is smart—which she is—I’ll show up in her room to a gathering of strangers ready to punch me in the junk. She’ll run away laughing, grateful she got out of chaining herself to my sorry ass for the rest of her life.

At least I made sure of that. After the secrets I spilled, there’s no way she could possibly be tempted to tether herself to me for the rest of her life. She’ll move on with some guy who deserves her. Who can give her the beautiful life that she’s dreamed of.

Picturing that hurts way more than getting kicked in the ribs with a steel-toed boot. Or rammed in the face with the butt of a rifle. Or hit with a?—

A heavy knock sends my heart skidding into my ribs. I’m sure it’s not Sara, but I can’t help hoping as I jog to the door and twist open the knob.

“Yo, Frogman.” Logan shoves a big plate of food in my face. “Eat up.”

I look down at the tray he’s just thrust at me. There’s a tall glass of orange juice, plus bacon and eggs and a lopsided stack of pancakes dusted with powdered sugar. A bowl of fresh berries sits off to the side, along with a big mug of coffee.

“Did you piss in it?” I look up to see Jarhead smirking. “You did, didn’t you?”

“Nope.” He strolls into my room, not waiting for me to invite him. I wouldn’t have done it in any case.

“Make yourself at home,” I mutter, glancing back down at the tray. There’s a weird little bowl filled with colorful pellets and I frown as I study them. “Are these pills?”

“Huh?” Logan turns around and sees what I’m looking at. “Oh, nope.” He chuckles. “They’re freeze-dried marshmallows. Like the kind you get in kiddie breakfast cereal?”

I must look at him oddly because the dickhead keeps explaining. “Lucky Charms, that’s the one.” He snaps his fingers as I try not to gape at him. “They’re like the marshmallows from that stuff, but minus the cereal, you know? I can’t get enough of ‘em, but maybe that’s me. I don’t know what the fuck frogmen eat besides the souls of their enemies.”

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