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I wait for her short steps to reach me before responding. I take a slow exhale praying it lets escape of the anger and anxiety boiling just below the surface. "I figured I'd take a walk and call it a night." My gaze rises above her shoulder and spot Ariel and Laredo approaching. A slow, we have all night, stroll. They're chatting and even from this distance, I spot the wide grin on Ariel's face. I've seen this movie before, Laredo making inroads to places he doesn't belong. I turn and pace away.
"We're just getting started." Emily's words fail to penetrate. "Don't be like that." These words hit their mark.
I hear the disappointment in Emily's voice and stop. My default position is to please others. "Like what?"
Her warm eyes search mine as if she's trying to decipher a mystery. "I've been cooped up in my hotel room all day on work calls. The night is young. My next call isn't until eight in the morning. Ariel promised me some rock-star fun."
I raise a finger in Laredo's direction. "That would be that way." Right on cue, Ariel's laughter penetrates the evening air. This time, I don't look away. I can't.
Her unrestrained laugh has her grinning wide, bright, white teeth fully exposed along with her luscious lips highlighted in a deep-red lipstick she must've reapplied after the meal. Ariel is known for her intense focus and take no prisoner attitude. I get a sense few people get to experience this side of her. The laidback, laugh out loud, kicking it version. I allow my eyes to take a sip, knowing it won't take much to get me inebriated. Then I remember the one who makes her feel this way. Laredo.
"Want to give them a run for the money?"
Emily's question throws me for a loop. "What?"
She glances over her shoulder. Ariel and Laredo are within a dozen yards of us on the boardwalk. Emily strides up to me and doesn't stop until she presses her hand to my chest. "Whisper to me."
I lean down. "What? You want me to… do what?"
Emily tosses her head back and cackles. Funniest thing I ever heard, tickle my funny bone cackle that's so uncontrollable, all I can do is watch.
"Catch me," she whispers between laughs and performs a trust fall, her body going limp. My reflexes kick in, and I wrap my hands around her tiny waist. A matching grin appears on my face in response to her outlandish performance.
She peeks at me from her left eye. "Are they watching?" Her eye snaps shut, and she raises the back of her hand to her forehead and forces out a loud giggle. Her entire body shakes, and it takes both my arms to hold her up.
"So, this is where the party is?" Ariel asks, approaching and staring down at her friend. "Adam? When I saw Emily faint, I assumed you were just being your sweet self and had said something awe-inspiring." I lift Emily to her feet, and Ariel's focus remains on her friend. Her brow furrows before shifting her attention to me. "I didn't realize you had a wicked sense of humor, too."
Emily steps next to me and gives me a playful shoulder bump. "Kevin Hart had better watch out." She hooks her arm through mine and points down the boardwalk. "I call bumper carts."
Not my first choice, but my fate is sealed the minute Ariel speaks. "Gals versus guys." She and Emily race ahead, and Laredo hangs back with me. I snap my mouth shut and push my hands into my pockets, hoping he takes the hint. He doesn't.
"So, you dig Em?" he asks.
My feet slow, and I contemplate my response. I feel awful for doing this, but the sting from our shared history forces me to be wary. "She's good people. Just enjoying the evening."
Laredo's gaze shifts down the boardwalk, and my shoulders clinch. "Good. For a moment back at the studio, I got the sense you thought you had a shot at Ariel. Don't waste your time."
I huff out a breath and divert my gaze to the fading sun. His words don't deserve a response. They're words I don't need to hear to be reminded of how the world sees me. Ariel admitted as much, seconds ago, your usual sweet self. Every woman wishes the men in their lives were sweet. But when it comes to partners, sweet is one of the last traits they look for.
"Now lose the mood and let's have some fun," Laredo orders, and I'm surprised he noticed.
"I will the minute you stop being an ass."
"Yeah, good luck with that." I catch the smirk on the side of his face. The self-righteous, older twin brother look that tells me this is his way of saying we're good. Someday, Laredo will mature and become the man both Hailey and I know he's capable of being. But tonight, isn't that night.
***
AC/DC's Thunderstruck blares from the overhead speakers, and I twist the steering wheel to my too small for a grown man bumper cart and avoid a sideswipe from Emily. Her laugh is cut short when Laredo rear ends her, causing her sunglasses to fly from her hair. She reaches down to the floor of the bumper cart to retrieve them, but not before shooting him a death glare. He returns one just as deadly, both of them playing the game as if the fate of the universe hangs in the balance.
It doesn't.
Ariel is on the other side of the divider, battling two other carts, a couple who has decided to tag team her. She's holding her own, and I won't tip the scales. A teen girl with ponytails and braces slides up next to me, the rubber bumper from our carts grazing.
I twist away from her, and she pulls in front of me on the turn. Her side is exposed, and I could easily pin her to the guardrail, but I don't. My head snaps back as I'm rear-ended. I turn, Laredo.
"Dude!" He waves at the teen as if I've committed a cardinal sin.
"She's twelve," I yell back, having no clue if I'm right.
