Situationship [Complete]

33 | The Rain

With my adrenaline pumping, I stare Brett down, daring him to give me a reason. The mere thought of him trying to put his hands on Teagan has me seeing red. I'm warring between wanting to drown him and not wanting to commit murder in front of his wife and multiple witnesses.

Ritchie leaves the tub. Jeremy and Chet make their way out as well. I watch as Brett leaves down the hall. I didn't expect anger and words like that from a group like ours, but no lies were told. We've all had it.

With distance between us, I let out a breath to calm down and sit next to Teagan. Her hand covers her face, and she has her knees curled up a little too tight. "Well, hot tubs used to be fun," I joke.

Teagan laughs from behind her hand. She moves it and wipes a tear from her eye.

"Babe, no. Come on," I pull her into a hug, resting my cheek against hers. "Crying because of Brett? Are you drunk?"

Her laugh sounds like a sob. "Yeah." She hugs me tighter, not allowing me to let her go. As if I would anyway.

Holding her calms me further. I run a hand up and down her back. My finger gets stuck in the tie of her bikini top, accidentally tugging it a little looser. Her leg floats against my side, threatening to wrap around my waist. My blood is rushing too much to focus on that right now.

As the last of the bridesmaids leave, only two staff members remain to clean up on the lower deck. I breathe a sigh of relief.

"You gonna be okay?" I ask her.

"Yeah, I'm just embarrassed," she cries again. "Mary is going to be so mad at me."

"She won't. You didn't start this shit."

"But I made it worse."

"We're all exhausted and delirious. Everyone just needs to sleep it off and we'll be fine in the morning."

She leans away from me with a groan. "Shit. I'm supposed to share a room with the bridesmaids."

"Yeah, well, I'm supposed to share a room with Ryan and Ritchie. Wanna trade?"

A sniffle interrupts her laugh. Such a cute, pathetic little sound. "What are we gonna do?"

It's not even ten o'clock yet, but after day drinking for hours after a redeye flight, it's only a matter of time. "Give it another thirty and everyone will be passed out."

She nods.

I know Teagan was stressed before any of us were even thinking about the wedding. This, mixed with a lack of sleep, has her raw. She wipes her eye again and keeps staring down into the water.

The night sky is full of stars I don't know if I've ever seen before. The LED glow of the hot tub dancing mesmerizing lines over her body. "Teags," I whisper. "What's going on?"

She doesn't look my way. "Is Jeremy right?"

"Which part?"

"That we should stop being friends," she says. I feel my brow tense. "I've said it, you've said it. We're friends of proximity. Jeremy is leaving. Ryan is making me reevaluate how close we can be without threatening his marriage. I fucking hate Brett."