Page 22 of His to Seduce
Chapter 8
David
“Surprised you met us out,” I said, walking up to Tyson and slapping him on the back.
He jolted and glared at me. Then, bringing his glass of whiskey to his lips, he grinned. “Had to come up for some air, man. At least for an hour.”
“Happy for you.”
He set his glass down, and Aidan and Declan joined us at the table. When Chelsea and Trina had come back to pick up Camden, they’d insisted my presence was required at the lounge bar in the resort with the rest of the guys.
I was going to be facing a ton of questions; but until those started, I had no problem giving Tyson some shit.
“Thanks, man,” he said. “And I heard you had fun last night, and maybe all day today?”
“Took Camden snorkeling.” No way was I going into the specifics of our night. I wanted more to happen later, and Camden kept everything close to her luscious chest. If she heard I was talking about what she was like in bed, I figured she’d want to cut my dick off.
I very much liked my dick as it was.
“She worth all this effort?”
The question came from Declan and the irony wasn’t lost on me. A year ago when he’d been helping Trina get free from her ex-husband, she’d been hurt in Chicago. I’d left a shift at the hospital to check on the ankle she’d injured. I’d asked him the exact same question.
I pressed the bottle of beer to my lips. “Was Trina?”
His brows arched in surprise. We all knew the answer to that question. He’d fallen so hard so fast for her, I was surprised they hadn’t eloped yet. “Not really the same thing, and you know it.”
“You tell her yet?” Aidan asked. My grip on my bottle tightened. When I didn’t answer, he sighed. “Can I give you some advice?”
“Sounds like you’re going to whether I want it or not.”
“Don’t be a dick to Aidan,” Tyson said, glancing at his watch.
Aidan rolled his eyes. “You guys gave me shit, always wanting to know why I went to Chelsea instead of you after Derrick died.” His voice trailed off, and tension mounted at the table. We all grieved his son, who had died unexpectedly. Derrick’s death was a wound that hadn’t yet healed for any of us. And yeah, we’d been concerned. Aidan had avoided all of us after the skateboarding accident but for some reason, he’d gone to Chelsea. “Couldn’t put it into words then, and I’m not sure I can now. And I don’t say this to hurt you guys, but she was easy to be around because she didn’t expect anything from me.” His serious and sad gaze roamed all of our expressions before he lifted a hand. “Before you can argue with me, I’m saying women have a sixth sense about that shit—what men need—sometimes before we do. Chelsea was hurting, too, knowing Derrick, but she gave me that time and that space to come to her with my problems. Camden,” he said, and turned to me. “She might be that for you, brother; she might not. But I’m saying give her a chance. Find someone to unload your shit on and get back to beingyou.For the love of God, I don’t know what you’re running from, what brought you back to us, and I’m not complaining, but sometimes there’s nothing better than the soft touch of a woman’s curves and the tenderness of her heart to soothe the storm inside.”
I pressed my tongue to the roof of my mouth. It did nothing to quell the rage he’d started. Or the pain lacing through my chest.Fuck.
Tension mounted around the table, thick and heavy.
I shook my head and grinned, but it was forced. “Damn, Aidan. You’re fucking pussy whipped.”
The joke was rough, sounding all wrong to my own ears.
He shrugged. “Might be. The rest of us might be, too, but we’re also fucking happy. Can you say that?”
With that parting shot, he tossed back the rest of his drink and sauntered to the bar to order more.
I looked at Declan and Tyson. They were staring at me like they wanted to add something, but what in the hell could they say that Aidan already hadn’t?
“Fuck,” I whispered and drained my beer.
“You gonna tell her?”
I had to. If at some point I wanted anything to move past a weekend where we could pretend we could actually work, I’d have to tell her.
“When the time is right,” I admitted reluctantly.
“My advice?” Tyson said, glancing at his watch again. “You don’t want it, but these girls have known Camden for years, and from watching her, I’m going to tell you the sooner the better. She finds out you’ve been lying to her, I’m gonna guess that girl doesn’t do second chances.”
