Page 29 of Knockin' Boats
Yeah, right.
I hit the throttle, picking up speed, and flew back toward the resort. The more I thought about it, the more pissed off I got.
Did Ash think I was into guys? Did he think I was intohim?What was his game?
My lips buzzed, as if he was still here in this boat, pressing his big mouth against mine. I scrubbed a hand over my face to dispel the sensation and docked at the resort.
I should really clean out the cruiser since I’d run a tour right before I gave Ash a ride home. But fuck it. I needed a drink if I was going to wrap my head around what just happened.
I went through the staff entrance and cut down the corridor toward the restaurant. I expected the place to be empty. Just me and a bottle of tequila while chaos rampaged through my brain.
But Cash, Brooks, and Skylar were sitting at a table near the bar, a bottle of whiskey—Sky’s preferred drink—sitting dead center.
It wasn’t tequila, but it’d do. I grabbed the glass in front of Cash and threw it back in one shot. It burned as it hit the back of my tongue, then trickled fire down my throat, all the way to my stomach.
“Hello to you too,” he said.
I pulled out a chair and collapsed into it. The three exchanged confused looks.
“You okay?” Brooks asked.
I hesitated, cutting a glance at Sky. “Can we all be friends for a minute? Not resort owners and employees?”
“You’re not my employee,” Skylar said.
I picked up the whiskey bottle to pour a refill. “You know what I mean.”
“We’re all friends here,” Brooks said, wrapping a protective arm around Sky’s shoulders. “Regardless of anything else we are.”
“Okay, then.” I sighed. “It’s Ash. He’s fucking with me, and I don’t like it.”
“Fucking with you how?” Brooks asked, sounded guarded.
No wonder. He knew how I felt about Ash. But this wasn’t some rant about Ash being immature out on the lake. This was… I didn’t even know what this was.
I shook my head. “He was giving me some bullshit line about regretting what happened in the past, and how he and Mel were never meant to be. He wasn’t involved with her anymore, and it had never been right with her, blah-blah-blah.”
“Okay…”
“And then she was there, waiting for him when I dropped him off.”
“Wait, back up. You dropped him off where?”
“At his house,” I said impatiently. “Hudson made me do it.”
Brooks snorted. “Okay, so her being there doesn’t mean?—”
“I’m not done!” I held up my glass unsteadily, and damn, okay, now the liquor was hitting me. “He fuckingkissedme! Like on the mouth!”
Cash and Brooks exchanged looks.
“How did you feel about that?” Brooks asked carefully.
“HowshouldI feel? He was just fucking around to prove a stupid point. As if he goes around kissing all his friends.”
“I really don’t think that’s how that works,” Skylar said.
“There’s no other reason,” I said. “Ash is straight. He dates women. He dated Mel. He’s probablystillhooking up with her and just wanted to distract me from his bullshit lies.”
