Four strangers from different walks of life meet on a cruise and spend an unforgettable week together. All of them on their own self-discovering journeys, and onboard for different reasons.
Texan heiress and ballet prodigy, Brooklyn Brankovich, lon...
Chapter Fifty-three: "Let's gather 'round the campfire"
Early September. Emmer's birthday coming up on the thirteenth, and Rick getting out of rehab in another thirty days, give or take.
It was a typical Friday, I spent a couple hours at the gym with Gael. And I don't know what's gotten into him, but he's in a better mood.
We were at Frank's per usual, lifting and cutting up like we did before the accident. Even though AJ was still in a coma and Terrance wasn't talking to, well, anyone, Gael and I seemed to be getting back to ourselves. Plus we figured we might as well enjoy the time off of work.
"-and get this: she said no sex," I told Gael as I used the dual pulley system.
"Damn. What'd you do?"
I released the pulley and sat up, looking at him with wide eyes. "I yelled at her," I gave the short answer.
Gael laughed and said, "Yeah, and what else?"
"That's it, bro. She said I'm mean," I told him, walking back to the locker room with Gael by my side. We opened the lockers we used and pulled our bags out.
I peeled off my sweaty shirt and threw it in there, digging for a fresh one.
"Well stop being fucking mean?" he suggested, using a towel to wipe the sweat off his forehead and chest.
"Fuck you," I laughed with him. I pushed him behind the bench and zipped up my bag. As I looked at Gael, I had to do a double take. Is this motherfucker smiling at his phone? And I thought I had it bad.
"What about Cassie? I'm actually hurt, I couldn't get you out the house, but she's got you smiling again?" I teased him, my hands on my hips.
Gael laughed, waving me off. He put his phone in the pocket of his shorts and said, "Something like that. I don't know... I can't stay away but I know it's gonna end badly."
I bobbed my head, in between agreeing and disagreeing. He had a point then I remembered Rick and Sky's advice.
"If you think it will, it will. You're already in deep, man, you know what I say: go for it."
Gael and I slammed the lockers shut in unison and walked out, passing Frank on the way. He put his elbows out for us to elbow back and shouted, "See ya, boys."
I swung my lanyard until we got outside and reached my Hummer, his bike parked beside it.
Gael finally replied to my advice. "You know me," he said.
"Sky's engaged," I announced with no emotion. Gael didn't say anything at first so I looked at him through squinted eyes under the golden hour sun and watched his facial expression change.
He busted out laughing and said, "Well at least you don't gotta worry about STDs."
I pushed him and we started wrestling but the sound of texts from both of our phones stopped us. We looked at each other then whipped out the phones to see the text. It was from Courtney. She said:
Employee meeting at The Playroom at 6.
Gael and I exchanged looks, both not sure about this, but it wasn't optional.
"I'll see you there, bro," he said to me, initiating our handshake.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
