Chapter Nine
Christian
Mark grinned at me as I slid into the car. “Looks like you enjoyed that,” he said.
I snorted and buckled my seatbelt. “Is it that obvious?” I asked.
“Your dopey grin could probably be seen from space.”
“Watch it, driver, or I may just have to hire someone else,” I said only half-jokingly.
“It was good, though?” Mark pressed.
“It was amazing,” I said. “I don't think I've ever had a better massage. Although to be fair, I needed this massage.” I rolled my shoulders. “God, I feel loose.” I paused for a moment. “And the girl, Gretchen. She was pretty attractive as well.”
“Yeah, she is,” Mark agreed. “One of the hottest girls on the island, probably.”
“You know her?”
“Everyone knows everyone on this island, man,” Mark told me. “I don't know her well; we're not close friends or anything like that. But we both grew up here, so.”
“Oh, yeah. That makes sense.” I was a bit disappointed, and I only hoped that I hid it well enough from my tone. Apparently not, though.
“You were hoping I could give you the dirt on her?” Mark guessed.
“Yeah, something like that,” I said. “Although to be fair, we already had a pretty long conversation, and I learned a lot about her.”
“Did you get her number?” Mark asked. “Or better yet, did you have sex with her in the massage room?”
“No,” I said, suddenly wondering why I hadn't even bothered to ask for her number. Sure, I could come back to another massage, but I would rather not. I supposed it must be because she seemed like too much work. I was sure that I could get any girl on the island to go to bed with me, but she'd expect me to take her to dinner a few times first and to take things slow. There would probably be lots of kissing and stuff like that before we ever got to the main attraction. I had never really been that kind of guy.
“I'm sure you'll get her anyway, man,” Mark said, shrugging a little. “You get all the girls, right?”
“All the sexy ones,” I said, grinning.
“Hey, why don't I take you out to one of the local bars tonight?” Mark suggested. “We can chill, have a few drinks-”
“You can show me off to all your friends,” I said, guessing that that was the real purpose of the outing.
“Yeah, that too,” Mark said, grinning unabashedly. “But I know a great little local place, always a ton of hot chicks there. Maybe not quite Gretchen's level of hot, with her smoky eyes and all, but I'm sure you'd find someone to go home with.”
“That sounds like a good plan,” I agreed. “What time should I meet you?”
“This place that I have in mind, they also do a mean Hawaiian burger with pineapple and cheese and stuff on it. Or also a fucking sexy surf 'n turf burger. And a bunch of other things. So, we could meet at, like, six and get dinner over there before getting drinks if you wanted to make a night of it. Or we could just meet a little later and get drinks, up to you.”
“Burgers sound great,” I said. “I'll meet you down in the lobby at six.”
“Cool, cool,” Mark said. He winked over at me. “I'm excited to see The Great Christian Wall in action.”
I snorted and punched his arm. “Yeah, yeah, you freaky fan boy,” I said. “Don't worry. I'll be in fine form tonight.”
Inside the hotel, I went straight to the concierge desk, leaning down against it.
“Mr. Wall!” the woman, Cindy, exclaimed, standing up to greet me. “And how was your massage?”
“That's why I'm here,” I told her. “I'd like to book the same for tomorrow, if possible.” I didn't need another massage so soon, but I just wanted to see Gretchen again. Maybe I'd get her number this time.
“Gretchen's the best, isn't she?” Cindy said. “I can call her up and see what her schedule is like. Is there anything else you'd like to schedule for tomorrow, sir?”