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“Rachey!” I hear Mom calling from behind.
I smack on my best I-am-so-happy-for-you smile and turn around. “Hey, Mom! Congratu—”
“We hired a babysitter for all the kids,” Mom says, her gaze pinned on Maria in my arms.
“Oh, you didn’t need to do that.” I look down at Maria, who is smiling at Mom.
Mom doesn’t appear to notice as she says, “Bryan and I thought it would be good to give all the parents a night off. You can bring Maria to that corner over there.”
Mom points to a corner in the distance and I follow it, finding three people dressed in bright yellow shirts playing with a group of five kids, none of them babies. I don’t think Maria is going to have any fun over there. The kids look too old to want to play with Maria.
“Oh, it’s okay,” I say while bouncing Maria. “I’m fine with carrying Maria.”
Mom huffs. “Really, Rachel, I didn’t spend all this money hiring three babysitters for you not to use it. Go over there and dump Maria off. You will have a better night if you do.”
I want to tell Mom to cool it, that Maria is fine with me, but she storms off before I can even get a word in. Hunter sighs and takes Maria from my arms. “Don’t worry. I’ll handle this,” he says while grabbing the large bag of toys and heading toward the far corner with the babysitters.
“Oh, my God,” I whisper, grabbing Lucas’s whiskey and downing the whole thing. I grimace and shake my head. I forgot how much whiskey burns. Definitely not my favorite drink. I’ll probably need five more.
“Wow,” Lucas murmurs. “You okay?”
“I need another drink.”
“No,” Seth says while rubbing my shoulders, “what you need to do is ignore your mother and try to have a bit of fun. Getting drunk will solve nothing. You will just end up with a horrid headache and a lot of regret in the morning.”
“How I hate your sound logic,” I groan.
“You know what, why don’t we have a look at the garden?” Alex says while taking my hand and guiding me away from the alcoholic beverages. “It looks nice and inviting.”
“Yeah,” says Lucas while following Seth, Alex, and me, “definitely more alluring than your mother’s guests. Did you see the stink-eye they were giving poor Maria.”
“Yes!” I wail.
Hunter joins up with us after dropping Maria and her large bag of toys with the babysitters, and then we are strolling through the manmade garden, looking over the edge, staring through the flowers at the city surrounding us. This is an amazing venue. If I ever marry, this would probably be my second choice. My first being our large yard in the back of our house. There’s something about getting married at home, being surrounded by everything and everyone I love, that I find so attractive.
“The babysitters seem trustworthy,” Hunter says while sniffing a rose. “They didn’t look angry when I handed Maria to them.”
“I say we pick her up in about fifteen minutes,” Seth says. “I will gladly look after her in the hotel room to get away from this group.”
“Hey!” I say while smacking his shoulder. “It hasn’t been that bad. My dad has been nice.”
“True,” Alex says with a nod. “And Diana. I think they are the only two people I actually enjoy being around outside our group.”
No one says anything to that, but I can tell everyone agrees with Alex. I frown when I see a little shed at the end of our path. “What’s this?” I ask while pulling on the handle, surprise the door opens rather than being locked.
“Looks like it’s a storage shed for the gardeners,” Lucas says while peeking inside. He waggles his eyebrows at me. “Do you think we have time to…look inside.”
I chuckle and cross my arms, knowing exactly what he is thinking. The reception is about ten feet away. They might hear us. But, then again, this is a hotel. A window to another room could be open, meaning many will think they are overhearing another hotel couple. Will they suspect it’s us? Do we have time for a quickie before anyone notices we’re missing?
“It’s definitely better than going back,” Seth says while stalking inside.
“But what if we get caught?” Alex asks, even though he’s following Seth inside.
“We won’t get caught.”
“We tell them we got bored?” Hunter says with a shrug. He steps toward me, his hand sliding into mine.
Well, having sex with my four boyfriends is definitely better than dealing with my mother and her snotty new husband. It’s not like anyone will miss us. I haven’t felt wanted since I arrived. At least this way I will be out of Mom’s way, and I can have a little bit of fun. Everyone wins, right?
