Ho Ho Hennessy

When he finished, Arin looked up, expecting to see him pleased. Instead, he was already moving away from her to step out of the shower. Jerking a clean, rolled towel out of a large wicker basket, he started drying off.

Embarrassed that he was quiet and ignoring her, Arin tried to be as blasé as what she imagined Jewell would be. “Do you have your own room? You could come to mine, but—”

“No.”

“No? No, you don’t have a room? Or, no, you don’t want to use mine?”

Wrapping the towel around his hips, he clutched the sink as if he wanted to rip it from the wall.

“If you don’t want to do either, is there somewhere else we can go? I’m not done with you yet,” she crooned, trying not to gag at the words coming out of her mouth.

“You’ll do anything I want?”

“Oh, yes … Just tell me what you want.” Stepping out of the shower, she playfully started to reach for his towel to dry herself off.

“How about you quit touching me and let me get the fuck out of here?”

His harsh request had her jerking her hand away from him, and hurt blossomed in her chest at the expression on his face.

He didn’t want her. He never did.

“Move.”

She jumped out of the way as he left, leaving the door wide open with her naked, stunned motionless, until she saw him cross the hall, and go into a bedroom opposite from Jewell’s.

Grabbing her robe when he closed the door, she took off running out of the room and into Jewell’s. Quietly closing the door behind her to lean back against it, Arin placed her hand over her mouth to keep herself from crying out, determined that the man in the other room wouldn’t hear her crying. Drawing her robe on, she rushed toward Jewell’s closet to grab her suitcases. Tossing one onto the bed, she quickly started taking her clothes off the hangers, shoving them into the case as fast as possible.

She was taking a teal blouse off a hanger when she heard the door open. She stilled until she realized it was Jewell and her friends returning. Their chatter stopped when they saw the open suitcase and clothes strewn around.

“What are you doing?” Dropping the bags in her hands to the floor, Jewell started toward her.

“Shut the door!” Arin hissed, shoving the rest of her clothes, hangers and all, into the suitcase before frantically trying to zip it closed.

Jewell shut the door then maneuvered around her open-mouthed friends to place a hand on the suitcase, preventing Arin from picking it up. “What in the fuck happened?”

“I’m leaving!”

“I figured that out. I want to know why.” Grabbing her by arms, Jewell pushed her down to sit on the bed. “Did something happen while I was gone? If you don’t want to play the game, you don’t have to. There’s no need to leave.”

“I made an idiot of myself,” Arin sobbed. “Marcus told me that no one would ever want me, and he was right!”

“No, he wasn’t!” Jewell snarled.

“The Last Rider in the room across from yours wouldn’t agree with you. He couldn’t get away from me fast enough after I gave him a blowjob, and I don’t think he wanted that. I thought he was just having a hard time getting it up like Marcus.” Arin dropped her head to her knees. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

“You gave one of the brothers a blowjob?” Jewell stared at her proudly.

Her friend’s reaction wasn’t the one she had expected. It had her raising her head. “Yes.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“I made a fool of myself; that’s the problem!”

“Get dressed.” Jewell handed her the red Santa sweatshirt and black leggings that she was about to pack. “Tell us what happened and let us decide if you have anything to be embarrassed about.”

She haltingly described what happened as she dressed.

“You have nothing to be embarrassed about. Whoever it was, was just being a rude son of a bitch.”

Arin could see the shock on Jewell’s face, as well as the others.

“It had to be Gavin,” Ember said, sitting down on the side of the bed next to her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

It was a possibility. Arin hadn’t thought about that.

“You told me that he was half-bald. This guy wasn’t.” Arin shook her head at Jewell.

“It couldn’t have been Gavin.” Jewell’s acknowledgment eased Arin’s fear. “He would have never come inside the bathroom with the door closed. It was closed, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then it had to be Razer. He wanted to leave town before Beth was ready. I was with her when he texted. Don’t be embarrassed …” Stori tried to comfort her. “He’s married. The fucker doesn’t let us touch him either.”

“It wasn’t Razer.” Sitting down on her other side, Jewell took her hand. “It had to be Hennessy, but he wasn’t supposed to arrive until tomorrow.”