Tempt the Hookup (Tempt 3)

“It’s my fault.” She pushed away from me a bit. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

I stared at her for what felt like an eternity but was about two seconds before the group of assholes I was with started calling my name. “Luca.”

“Have a nice day, Luca,” she said and walked away from me. I watched her walk; she had the best ass I’d seen. I watched her until I felt something hit my head. It was a fucking cherry, so I turned and walked to them.

“Why can’t you guys behave like normal human beings?” I asked them even though I wasn’t sure they knew the answer. I grabbed the beer that Nick had in his hands and downed it.

“Let’s dump our shit in our room and head for some food,” Tom said, so we made our way to the elevator and down to our rooms.

We walked down the carpeted hallway with staterooms on each side. Some doors were even decorated with balloons and shit. A couple had a whiteboard on it with where the people were. When we finally got to our room, I was ready to walk in, but Nick stopped in his tracks. Two doors away from us, we saw four girls walk out of their own room, all laughing and giving us the once-over and smiling as they left. “I think my penis has found his first home,” Jason said, looking back at the girls. “Someone dump my shit,” he said and ran off down the hall to catch up with the girls.

“I’m with him,” Tom said, opening the door and literally just throwing his bag in there. He ran toward the group, and I looked at Nick.

“I will kick you in the balls if you make me do this alone,” he huffed, but we opened both doors and dumped Jason’s shit in theirs. “Okay, now let’s go,” I said, and we walked down the same hallway to the elevator and up to the eighth floor. The elevator doors opened, and who did I run smack into but the girl with no name.

I hear the back door open, and both Mona and Nick come outside, going to sit on their outdoor couch facing me. Nick hands me a beer. I take it and take a sip. “This is so fucked up,” I say and then look back at them.

“Did you guys hook up right away?” Mona asks, and I shake my head.

“Nah.” I lean back. “That first night, we watched the stars.”

Nick puts his head back and groans. “I swear it’s almost as if you’re a woman.”

I flip him the bird and while I do this, my phone beeps, so I take it out and see it’s a text from Eli.

Eli: I think we need to talk.

I answer her immediately.

Me: Name the time and place.

The bubble with three dots comes up.

Eli: We just got to our new home. Aiden is going to bed in about an hour, so you can come by then.

Me: Sure, what’s your address?

She answers back right away with her address, and I look back up at Mona and Nick.

“Oh my fucking God,” I say to them, and they both look at me, wondering how much worse it can get, and I’m about to tell them. “She’s my fucking neighbor.”

Chapter Four

Eliahn

“You can admit it at any time that this was a wonderful party.” I look up at my father who sits down in the chair next to me at one of the tables. I’m not sure how to answer that. For the past hour, I’ve been sitting at this table, my legs still weak from seeing Luca. Ever since I locked eyes with him, it’s almost as if I’m in a dream, a daze. I always imagined running into him again, always pictured when it would happen and nothing, absolutely nothing could come close to what actually happened. It seemed like just yesterday when I knocked into him, and my world turned upside down. “What do you say? Do you want to go check out the new house?”

I feign a smile, knowing he went through so much to make today so special. “Yeah,” I say. “That sounds like a great idea.” I look around and see that everyone is gone and the cleanup crew is starting to take action. I find my mother standing by the fence to the roller coaster, waving to Aiden who rides it all alone. “Aiden is going to soak in every single minute he has left.” I point at my mother.

“I’m so happy he had so much fun,” my father says, calling him over. “Aiden, my boy.” Aiden’s eyes fly to my father. “Want to go see the new house?” he asks Aiden when he gets off the roller coaster and runs over with my mother walking behind him. He finally gets to us, and his chest is heaving. He grabs the water bottle on the table and takes a big sip of it and then wipes the little bit from his lips with the back of his hand.