Beautiful Brute (Court University 3)

Cleo: Yep, all set for tonight. Sounds fun too! The girls have rented a yacht. I was kind of worried about that at first, but it sounds exciting. LOL.

How could this girl be fucking cute through a goddamn text? I wet my lips.

Me: You’ll be fine, Girl Scout. Anyone goes overboard you’ll save their ass *wink emoji*

Cleo: Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Haha. It does sound fun, though. I’m excited.

Me: Good. Like I said, you’ll be fine. You have fun.

Cleo: You too. *heart emoji*

Me: And no strippers will be there, right?

I couldn’t help myself. They may be on a yacht, but…

Cleo: Doesn’t sound like it.

Me: Doesn’t sound like or…

Cleo: Jax.

Me: Just check will you please?

Cleo: *eye roll emoji*

She could roll her little emoji eyes at me all she wanted as long as there weren’t dicks flying in her face.

Cleo: Okay, just heard back. There will be NO strippers.

Me: Are you sure?

Cleo: Zero strippers.

Me: Okay, good. Have fun.

Cleo: You too. *kiss emoji*

Now, that I’d take. Smiling as I put my phone away. I was going to help my buddy enjoy his night, chilling at a vineyard, then the club later tonight, a nice trade-off for some peace of mind, I supposed.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Cleo

Okay, so there were definitely strippers.

There were strippers in the suite the girls had booked. Then strippers again on the party bus heading away from the hotel room. The finale had been strippers once more joining us all on the party yacht, and I got to stare awkwardly through the spaces of my fingers during it all.

I honestly hadn’t lied to Jaxen. December had texted me, telling me there would be no strippers. Apparently, they’d been a surprise because when December opened the door to the suite her friends had rented for our “pregame” drinks, a couple of officers with thighs the size of great oak trees and arms the size of cannons not only made her drop her drink on the carpet but fall back into her friends. She’d invited Knight and LJ’s girlfriends, of course, Greer and Billie, but also her high school friends Shakira, Kiki, and Birdie. It’d been the latter to book the strippers apparently.

“Oh my god. Royal is going to kill me!” December’d said as they had swarmed the hotel room. She’d looked like a knockout, of course, raven-colored tresses pulled up and pinned out of her face. A few strategically placed, curled spirals fell from the front and back of her do, nothing but a bold red lip on her mouth while she rocked a “Bride to Be” sash on her deep black dress. The rest of us wore “Bride Tribe” sashes, her friends equally hot and gorgeous. For starters, her friend Kiki looked like a model and apparently, had done a lot of print work lately in South Korea. Her jet black hair fell to her butt like mine, and since all December’s high school friends were tall, I actually blended in with them pretty well. I guessed they used to all play basketball in high school. Shakira and Birdie still did in college.

They’d all hugged December and kept her from fleeing, assuring her things were fine.

“Ramses has got the guys covered,” they’d said, and I had definitely heard the name before since it was unique. I guessed December had chosen her guy friend as her man of honor. “We made him promise to keep the other guys busy. It’s your night, girl!”

“That fucker knew about this!” she squealed, but laughed when the strippers grabbed her hands. She shook her head. “Royal is going to fucking kill him.”

“That’s if Knight doesn’t first. Oh, God.” This from little Greer who looked definitely just as mortified as me when large as hell dudes appeared and quickly began stripping every shred of clothing but the little piece of metallic man-panties they wore. I definitely think she was the youngest, and she hugged up against me, the pair of us an awkward fit of giggles and mess when the guys sashayed around us. Billie, LJ’s girlfriend, on the other hand, didn’t necessarily look comfortable when the strippers came around, but she didn’t appear stiff either. She may have been around the block a few times and merely laughed, clapping the party on.