One Night - Forbidden Hearts Series Book 1

9. Jealousy With A Capital J

"Harp, you ready? All the lounge chairs are going to be taken!" Lanie called from outside my door.

I chose to share a room with Lanie; mainly because I didn't want to share one with Ryan. I figured the "girl time" excuse would work, and it did. Lanie knew my big bad secret. Well, she knew most of it. I was glad I had somebody to talk to about this situation besides Jackson.

"Be right out!" I answered as I checked my appearance in the mirror. Speaking of Jackson Reese...As he requested, I'm wearing my red bikini today. I was starting to get the impression that he really likes the color on me. I'm glad I chose a couple of red pieces of lingerie when I went shopping before the trip. I already decided to agree to his offer, but I needed to decide when to tell him. I kind of like the idea making him jealous.

I had my hair up in a ponytail and had a black cover-up over my suit. Let's just say, I'll take it off at the right time. I grabbed my bag with my towel, sunscreen and essentials before leaving my room.

"Where's Jamie and Danielle?" I asked her as she grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.

"Jamie just texted me and said they are on their way down."

"Okay," I said, grabbing my room key from the counter. "Let's go!"

As we took the elevator down, I thought about the upcoming plans while we were here. Tomorrow the whole family had a day at the beach planned, unfortunately, so me and the girls planned the bachelorette party for the day after. They wouldn't tell me much. They didn't want to ruin the surprise.

I was definitely in the mood to let loose and have some girl time at the bachelorette party. I've been so stressed with the wedding. I still haven't found a dress, I still have to do the whole maid of honor and bridesmaids thing, and of course...The actual wedding. Ryan really was a good guy, but the idea of spending the rest of my life with him made me nauseous.

I kept trying to remind myself why I needed to do this and what was at stake. The fucked up part about this was-- I understood. I understood why my parents were counting on me to see this through. I wanted to make them happy, and I wanted to make sure that they were okay. But a part of me, the selfish part of me, felt like I was being doomed to a loveless marriage and was going to live the rest of my life being miserable.

The ding of the elevator let us know we arrived to the lobby and it brought me back to the present. We walked out to the pool and I had to say, it was impressive. There were lounge chairs surrounding it, there were private cabanas, and servers bringing out drinks.

"There they are!" Lanie pointed to Jamie and Danielle on the left side of the pool.

We walked over to meet them and noticed they had to empty lounge chair safe for us. We all exchanged hellos and it wasn't long before the four of us were all stretched out trying to relax.

"So, Harp, you excited for your party?" Jamie asked.

"Yes! Just please, girls, nothing too crazy." That was all I needed right now. Some wild crazy night where I did something I would regret due to heavy alcohol. I also didn't want to start any issues with Ryan's parents. It would probably be the first to find out if anything happened.

"Why would we do something crazy?" Danielle asked innocently.

Lanie and I both looked at her and she shrugged. "I don't care. It's not every day one of us gets married. I mean, come on! Harper is the first one out of the four of us to tie the knot. How can we not in her single life with a great party?"

Lanie glanced at me as Jamie added, "That's true, Harp."

I knew these girls were relentless and they were going to throw some crazy party whether I wanted them to or not. I let out a sigh of defeat when I said, "Fine! You have free reign of my bachelorette party."