“Fair.” Demetri swore. “I panicked, man. I totally panicked.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time.” Jaymeson said from the corner as he examined his nails.
“Do you mind?” Demetri snapped.
“Not at all.” Jaymeson grinned. “Continue.”
“I told her I wasn’t ready!” Demetri yelled.
“You what?” Jaymeson and I said in unison. He sounded amused, while I was angry as hell.
“Why would you do that? You ass!” I smacked Demetri on the back of the head. “Is your goal to never have sex for the rest of your life?”
Jaymeson snickered.
“No comments from the whore gallery, please.” I pointed in Jaymeson’s direction and was rewarded with the finger.
“I know!” Demetri sat down and put his head in his hands. “The ring was literally five feet away from her in my damn pocket! And I just—”
“You’re an idiot.” Jaymeson interjected. “Why didn’t you just pop the question?”
“Because we were in a damn hot tub! Next to germs and God knows what else! I’m not going to ask her to marry me next to…”
“Bubbles?” Jaymeson grinned. “Nature? Air? Oxygen? Seriously, grow a pair and pop the question, it’s not like she hasn’t already gone to…”
Jaymeson’s voice died off. He stood abruptly. “Shit! A spider!” He jumped up and down and began stomping the ground.
“Something’s not right with England.” I rubbed my chin. “What do you know, Bond?”
Jaymeson stopped moving. “I, uh—”
He looked from me to Demetri and then made a beeline for the door. I grabbed his jacket just as he reached the knob and jerked him back.
“Talk.” Demetri glared. “Or I swear I’ll—”
“—Sing My Country Tis of Thee!”
“It’s not your song!” Jaymeson yelled.
I rolled my eyes. “Guys, focus. Jaymeson, man up, what do you know about Alyssa?”
“Tiffany’s.” Jaymeson swore. “I took her to Tiffany’s.”
“Talk faster before I end your life, Jaymeson,” Demetri said in a cold voice.
“Relax.” Jaymeson rolled his eyes. “When we were all in LA a few weeks ago, you guys were recording and I took the girls down Rodeo Drive. No big deal.”
Side note, it was a very big deal, as in, big enough to cause me to choke once I got the bill from Visa. In Nat’s defense I had told her to buy whatever. I hadn’t counted on Jaymeson encouraging her purchases, the bastard.
“Anyways—” He cleared his throat. “We walked by Tiffany’s, Alyssa saw a ring that sparkled or whatever the hell rings do to attract the female population like mating pigeons, and I took her into the store. The one she liked was… nice.”
“How nice?” Demetri leaned in. “Nice, nice? Or just nice?”
“Um, all three nices sound the same, I choose…” Jaymeson’s face contorted in confusion. “The third one?”
“Damn.” Demetri crossed his arms.
“Do you have it?” I asked my brother. “The ring?”
Demetri reached into his pocket. “I don’t want to lose it, so I keep it on me at all times.” He opened the blue box. I almost went blind — the diamonds were sparkling all over the place.
“No way!” Jaymeson snatched the box. “That’s—”
“It’s time!” Priscilla’s voice sounded on the other side of the hotel door.
“Quick!” I punched Jaymeson, who dropped the box onto the ground. The door opened just as Jaymeson bent down on one knee and held up the box in triumph.
Unfortunately it looked exactly how it sounded. Like the guy was proposing to Demetri.
“Uh…” Priscilla’s eyes widened for a second as her mouth opened and closed.
“This isn’t what it looks like!” Demetri all but shouted as Jaymeson froze with the ring box still held up in the air.
“Okay.” Priscilla nodded. “But even if it was… totally cool, I mean, it’s good to commit once you’ve found that special someone.”
Finally snapping out of his haze, Jaymeson thrust the box into Demetri’s hands and stood. “Sweetheart, if it was like that, you’d know it. Do I look like I bat for the other team?”
Priscilla tilted her head to the side. “Let me think. Arrogant, well-dressed, well-spoken, and foreign. Do you really want me to answer that question, Hollywood?”
Jaymeson swore. “I’ll prove it right now! I’ll have sex with women! Lots of women and—”
As if realizing what he was saying, he snapped his mouth shut and swore again.
“Whatever lets you sleep at night…” Priscilla held up her hands and slowly backed away from the door and walked down the hall.
“Shitty proposal man.” I hit Jaymeson on the back. “You didn’t even bring Demetri flowers.”
“How do these things keep happening to me?” Jaymeson was still staring at the empty doorway. “You think she was serious? I mean, I scream masculinity! I drive a Ducati for crap’s sake!”
“Motorcycles equal testosterone?” Demetri asked lamely. “Funny, I thought it was having balls, yet clearly you lack those since she just cut ’em off for you. So hmm, I’m stumped.”
“I know I keep saying this,” Jaymeson muttered. “But sometimes I hate you guys.”
“We know.” I grinned. “Now, it’s time for me to get married.”
“Right.” Jaymeson exhaled. “Let’s go trounce through that sand.”
“Huzzah!” Demetri yelled thrusting his hand into the air.
“Still doesn’t work. You aren’t British,” I said.
“Damn it,” he whispered under his breath. “I’ll keep trying.”
“I’d rather you didn’t,” Jaymeson called from in front of us.
Chapter Fifteen
Demetri
“My tux is scratchy.” I pulled at the bowtie and swore.
“Stop acting like a two-year-old.” Jaymeson slapped me on the back. We were on the beach waiting for the girls to pull up so we could get the wedding pictures taken care of.
A car pulled up, and all three girls piled out. Alec had his back turned and was facing the ocean; I exhaled not really realizing how loud I was.
“How does she look?” he asked, his voice hoarse.
“Freaking gorgeous,” Jaymeson answered for me. “Lucky bastard, her dress is like…”
“Perfect,” I mumbled. But I wasn’t staring at Nat; I was looking at Alyssa. Her dark hair was curled and hanging in heavy waves around her face. Her pale pink strapless dress brought out her olive skin that much more.
“Hopeless.” Jaymeson shook his head. “Both of you.”
“One day, Jaymeson—”
“Don’t finish that sentence.” He held up his hand. “Every time you say I’m going to fall I get this weird sensation that the universe agrees with you, and I’m perfectly happy in my whorish state.”
“Guys! Not romantic — wedding day!” Alec cleared his throat.
The girls made their way toward us as the photographer snapped pictures of them smiling and laughing. I wanted this. I wanted what Alec and Nat had. I wanted to be the one with my back turned. I wanted to be the guy that whose woman was walking toward him with every expectation in the world. I needed to be that to her.
Alyssa and Nat were still taking pictures a few feet away from us when Priscilla made her way over to my side and sighed.
“They look beautiful.”
“So do you,” Jaymeson said in what I could only imagine was his lady killer voice, though it sounded like he was choking on a walnut.
“How original.” Priscilla turned toward him and smirked. “And easy.”
“Pardon?” Jaymeson adjusted his bowtie and smirked.
“Your lines. Tell me, how often do girls jump into your bed solely based on your good looks?”
Jaymeson seemed to think about that for a minute before answering. “At least eight times out of ten.”
“And when you tell them who you are?” Priscilla crossed her arms.
Where the hell was she going with this?
“Sweetheart, they already know who I am. Everyone does.”
I groaned into my hands.
“What?” Jaymeson threw his arms into the air. “It’s true! I’m not being cocky, just honest!”
“At least you know how to be honest.” Priscilla rolled her eyes. “That’s a bonus, don’t you think?”
“Big enough bonus for you and me to spend some time together later… alone?”
There he went with that voice again. Seriously, did he lose all his game on the plane?
“Uh, no.” Priscilla shook her head. “I mean, I’m flattered. I must be, what? The sixth girl you’ve propositioned in the past three hours?”
Jaymeson licked his lips. “Third, maybe fourth.”
Alec had his back still turned but I could see his shoulders shake with laughter.
“Right.” Priscilla nodded. “Tell you what… I’ll spend time with you when I’m your first.” Which basically meant never in Jaymeson’s book.
“Honey, don’t you mean, when I am your first? We all know you’re as pure as the driven snow.”
“Dude, put the damn shovel down and start groveling!” Alec whispered under his breath.
“Right.” Priscilla’s face tightened as color splashed across her cheeks. “So I guess that’s where this little affair ends. You’ll never give up your player lifestyle for more than five seconds.”
Jaymeson seemed to think hard for a few minutes while his eyes examined Priscilla, then his face broke out into a grin. “Admit it. It’d be a really great five seconds.”
“Oh look, Jaymeson just dug a tunnel to China!” Alec called out.
“China?” Alyssa repeated as the girls joined us. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” Priscilla said sweetly. “Just studying Jaymeson.”
“Studying?” Jaymeson sputtered, clearly liking the idea, if the giant-ass smile on his face was any indicator.
“Yeah,” Priscilla grinned. “Memorizing…”
“Really?” His grin grew.
“Of course.” She nodded innocently. “It’s important to be able to spot a whore in the wild. I imagine if I stare hard enough I’ll never fall for someone as idiotic as you.”
Jaymeson swore.
Alec stepped up beside him. “Sorry to break this up, but I’d really like to see my bride!”
The photographer shooed us all away as he went to the side and clicked a few pictures. One was of Alec looking at the ocean while Nat leaned against his back, it must have been killing him not to see her, but he didn’t move. The expression on his face was so serene that I was instantly jealous.
I glanced over at Alyssa as she wiped a tear from her eyes.