Page 7 of Third Chances (Men of Manhattan 2)

"If any of you touch me, I will punch you so hard in the boob," Alina said.

"That's why we tied her hands," Kristen said.

We all just started laughing harder.

"Oh my God, we should take that thing off her head," I said when I was able to breathe again. "We've already successfully kidnapped her."

"Not until we get to our destination," Kristen said.

Layla laughed. "There's no way she can get through security like that."

"Security?" Alina said. "Are we going to the airport? Where are you idiots taking me?!"

Kristen slapped Layla's arm. "Way to give it away. Fine, I guess we can let you see and untie you now that you know we're heading to the airport." She scooted over to Alina, pulled off the pillowcase, and untied her hands.

Alina immediately punched her in the boob.

"Shit that hurts!" Kristen grabbed her right breast.

"What is wrong with you guys?!" Alina yelled.

"What's wrong with us? You just titty punched me!"

"Yeah...I told you I was going to do that. I don't know why you didn't believe me." Alina started laughing. "Momma Bear! Why would you let them do this to me?" Alina collapsed on the seat beside me.

Momma Bear. I sighed. You would think being an accessory to kidnapping would rid you of the nickname Momma Bear. Maybe I needed to live on the edge more. Maybe I should date students' parents and drink champagne in the morning. Ugh. There was no way I'd change my mind about the first one. But champagne in the morning? Why the hell not? I took a sip from the bottle I had confiscated from Layla. Besides, I hated flying. Hopefully this would help calm me down before takeoff.

Chapter 3

Daphne

Kristen held the tickets to her chest. "Are you ladies ready to find out where we're heading this weekend?"

"Yes," Alina, Layla, and I all agreed.

"Well, too bad. All I'm telling you right now is that we need to go to gate A."

"Isn't that for international flights?" I asked.

"Mhm," Kristen said and clapped her hands together.

"Kristen, I didn't bring my passport," Alina said. "Why didn't you just tell me what we were doing? This is a disaster."

"Actually, you do have your passport," I said and unzipped the front pouch of her suitcase. I grabbed the passport and sticky note that Bryce had left her and handed them to her.

Alina smiled as she read Bryce's note.

"You're marrying the most agreeable, sweetest guy on the planet," Kristen said. "He was totally down for helping trick you."

Alina looked up from the sticky note. She looked so happy and so in love.

And there was that feeling again. Just a hint of jealousy had somehow weaseled itself into my thoughts. I tried to shake the thought away. When had I become envious of my friends getting married? How could I even be jealous when I wasn't even dating anyone right now? I was so far away from marriage it wasn't even funny. Maybe that was the problem. But it shouldn't be a problem. I was only 23. It was fine that I hadn't found my soul mate yet. I still had time. I had at least ten more years of prime fertility. There was definitely plenty of time.

"Earth to Daphne," Kristen said and waved her hand in front of my face. "Don't you have a guess about where we're going?"

Apparently they had been trying to get my attention while I was figuring out how long I had until I ran out of eggs. "Um...the Bahamas?"

"Layla already guessed that."

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