Page 25 of Joel
“Of course you didn’t,” Mona says, working pins into my dress now that it seems silently settled that this isthe one. “No one on that Internet thing cares one damn bit about anything but the trunk filled with pirate gold. That’s the only story worth writing about. The legend gets lost in greed.”
“Do a lot of people come to North Haven to look for it?” I ask, hoping my curiosity doesn’t back me into a corner I can’t get out of.
“They did for a while,” Mona says. “But no one could locate it. Some drowned trying to figure out where it was. No one offers boat tours because there’s arguments about the coordinates. So eventually the people stopped coming.”
“I thought it was illegal,” Ella adds.
“Nothing illegal aboutlookingfor it,” Blakely says. “Just stealing it. The treasure, the wreckage, any of it is protected by the state. It would all end up in a museum. If it exists.”
Now I’m conflicted. Do I drop the coin back into the Bering Sea or do I take it to the museum? Do I want to go to jail? Or get slapped with a giant fine that’ll make it takethatmuch longer to pay off Todd?
Does the treasurewantto be found?
“I still think it’s a terribly tragic story,” Vanessa says. “No matter how much Jasper tries to romanticize it.” She looks to me. “He grew up here. Just like Joel.”
“Joel grew up here?”
“Nearhere,” Blakley corrects. “But he’s a born and raised Alaskan. You didn’t know?”
I fear the heat creeping up my neck has turned my skin as red as a tomato. I try to work it in my favor. “We’ve been a little busy with…other things.”
“You’re not just marrying him for the sex, are you?” Serenity asks, her blunt tone hard to pin.
I’m glad I don’t have a drink within reach. I’d have choked on it or spilled it on this beautiful wedding gown I don’t want to take off. That’s an entirely separate problem I’m not ready to mentally tackle.
“She’sjoking,” Mara says with a laugh.
“But if it’s the sex, that’s okay too,” Ella says. “We were a little worried with all those dates fizzling out that…”
“Ella!” Vanessa scolds.
“I promise, there is no issue in that department.” No issue whatsoever. Except I have yet to feel that deliciously large cock inside me.Tonight. If I have to skip town tomorrow, I’m going to make tonight a night neither of us will ever forget.
“I can get your dress altered today yet,” Mona says. “It’s all minor. Pick it up in the morning?”
I nod, wishing it were true.
Maybe I wish it werealltrue.
12
JOEL
The J-Squadand their wives host a rehearsal dinner for Kylie and me atThe Iceberg. Mike, the bartender, orders in crab legs fromThe Sea Shack. Drinks are on the house tonight. The local bar and grill is lively with celebration. If this were real, it would be exactly what I want the night before my wedding. I have no surviving blood family I claim, and the couples sitting around the three pushed-together tables are the closest people to me.Theyare my family.
And if Kylie were really marrying me tomorrow, they’d be her family too.
The whole thing has me feeling a bit guilty.
Tomorrow, I’ll have to explain to everyone that this was all just a prank.
“You okay?” Kylie asks, nudging me with her shoulder.
“You want to get some air?” I ask, slipping my hand onto her thigh and giving it a squeeze. Her skirt rides up, and I almost forget the guilt.
Almost.
“We’ll be right back,” Kylie announces to the table, her tone thickly suggestive. No one questions her. Hell, why would they?Kylie Robinson fits into our tightly knit group like she was always meant to be a part of it. Would it be so crazy to ask her to marry mefor real?
