Page 50 of Dirty Daria
“Reed,” I warn. He talks to the girls like that one more time and I’m going to be the one knocking him on his ass, and it’s going to be with my fist.
“I thought we were all friends,” Quinn says.
“Pfft.” Reed waves his hand in the air dismissively.
“Why don’t we go back to our room, put together a game plan for tomorrow,” I suggest to Reed.
“And leave thegood room? No way.” He sits down in one of the plush chairs on the deck.
I set the rum bottle on a nearby table and go stand in front of him holding out my hand. “Come on.”
“No.” He raises his chin in defiance, like a child.
“Are we friends, Reed?” Daria asks.
“Hardly,” he scoffs, not even looking at her.
“Then get the fuck out.Myroom,myfriends.”
He turns and glares at her, like he can’t believe she’s kicking him out. Whereas, I can’t believe she let him stay this long. He stalks out without glancing back. I hear the whir of the golf cart engine, and then the click-clack of the wood slats as it travels down the pier.
Guess I’m walking back to the room.
“Sorry,” I tell the girls. They wave it off, like I knew they would.
While Reed will openly defy me, he won’t push it any further than being a verbal dick with Daria or Quinn.
At least, I hope.
24
Daria
We’ve been here four days and I’ve yet to see David or his wife. According to Mack, they haven’t left the main hotel. I know they are staying in a penthouse suite, and if it’s outfitted half as nice as our villa, they have no reason to leave.
Still, it’s frustrating. For some reason I hoped we’d come down here and follow him directly to a hive of human traffickers, where I’d find the men responsible for Katya, and we’d take them all down. I know that it’s incredibly naive to think that way, but a girl can dream, right?
Mack has mostly kept his distance and I’m sure he is busy keeping Reed out of trouble. We’ve talked multiple times a day and shared meals with them a couple times. Though, for the most part, Quinn and I have stuck around our villa while Mack and Reed have done their own thing.
In my other naive “hopes” about how this trip would go, outside of catching all the bad guys on the first day, I also wanted to spend time with Mack.Realvacation time, quality time, sexy time, beach time, pool time. The two of us sliding around in the water, barely clothed, kissing, laughing, loving. Showering together, eating together, sleeping together.
Four days in and not a one of those girlish desires is even remotely close to coming true. I’m a pragmatic girl, so it’s unusual for me to have daydreams or unrealistic “fantasies” about how a trip will go. It frustrates me that I’ve got them this time, and that I’m disappointed the time hasn’t manifested in such a way as that they’ve come true.
Good lord, Quinn is rubbing off on me.
I laugh.
“What?” she asks from the lounger next to me, where we are enjoying coffee in the shade and watching the water.
“You’re rubbing off on me. I’m turning into a wimpy girl who daydreams.”
“Yay!”
“Not yay!”
“What are you daydreaming about?”
“What do you think?”
