Page 95 of You Kissed Me First

“If you want to test my aim, just let me know. I’ll be more than glad to show you.” I smirk down at her, watching her blush.

“Come on, fuckers!” Barrett yells.

“Seriously? There’re kids on this fucking beach,” Katie murmurs as everyone shoots daggers at Barrett.

“He doesn’t like it when the attention isn’t on him,” I remind her.

“All right, I could only get us one table, so we will have to take turns. Who wants to go first?” Brock says as he and Samantha join us, forming a semi-circle.

“How about where we got everything we go first? We can play against Katie and Dom?” she asks, looking at Katie and me.

“That work for you?” I ask Katie.

“Let’s do it.”

Katie takes our drinks from Nessa, and we wade farther into the water until we are waist deep. The beer pong table floats in the water, drifting back and forth. Katie places our drinks in the cup holders off to the side of the table and grabs twelve cups from Samantha. I take some from her and we dunk the cups into the ocean, filling them half up with water before placing them into their designated slots.

“You first,” Brock says, handing two ping pong balls to Katie.

Katie hands one ball to me.

“Ladies first,” I say as I step to the side.

Katie laughs as she stands centered on our end of the table. She raises her arm and takes a deep breath, taking aim before she tosses the ball toward the other end of the table. I watch the perfectly arched ball fly through the air and land flawlessly in the center cup on the other end.

“Son of a bitch,” Brock mutters from the other side. “All right, I got your number now, Katie. I’m watching you,” he tells her as he moves the cup to the side before taking a drink.

Back and forth, the four of us toss balls at our cups missing more than we make. By the time Katie and I win, Barrett is about to riot.

“Seriously, it can’t be that hard. You guys are purposely going slow,” he whines.

“You know what, how about you and Candice play next?” Grant snaps.

“We will,” Barrett says as he pushes Brock out of the way.

“Watch it,” Brock hisses.

“I feel bad for her,” Katie says quietly.

“For who?”

“Candice. She doesn’t know any of us and is stuck with him. He’s fucking embarrassing and there’s nothing she can do about it.”

“I never thought of that, but she came on this ship. She has to have her own friends. I don’t know why she is still hanging around,” I murmur into her ear.

“I overhead her tell Samantha her friend ditched her for a guy, so she’s all alone. Let’s just get this over with. The sooner the better.” She sighs.

Before we can establish who starts, Barrett tosses the ball toward us, missing the table completely.

“Motherfucker,” he curses, making Candice flinch.

I step away from the table, grabbing the floating ball. Once back at the table, Candice throws hers and bounces it off the rim.

“Seriously, you couldn’t make that?” Barrett hisses.

“Just stop, okay? It’s not like you did much better,” Candice says, looking at Barrett, hands on her hips.

Round and round we go. The more we make, the more irate Barrett becomes.

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